The New Age: A Pagan And Materialistic Religion
So far in this book, we have concentrated on the pagan Far Eastern religions like Hinduism, Shintoism, Confucianism, Jainism, Shamanism and Taoism and their influence on Asian cultures. However, this influence is not restricted to the Asian continent alone. In time, these superstitious far eastern teachings found followers far from the lands in which they were born. Their influence began to spread owing to the carefully targeted propaganda of certain circles whereby these pagan religions literally became an important part of Western culture.
There are a number of reasons for the interest in superstitious Far Eastern religions. One of these is the depiction of their perverse rituals and rites as full of enigmatic features. The way of life, dress code, pagan beliefs, philosophies and strange sermons of the followers of these religions are wholly different to Western societies. The presentation of these differences in a positive manner creates a sense of curiosity and interest in the Western mind. People who choose to enter or practice these pagan religions do so not because they believe in them or find them rational, but because they are influenced by the so called “mystical” aura surrounding them. However, there is another reason behind the continuing spread of these superstitious religions in Western society besides the excitement and interest: they are pagan, materialistic and atheistic.
New Age: Atheistic Religion Comprising The Heretical Teachings Of Far Eastern Religions
The introduction of superstitious Far Eastern religions into Western society began in the 19th century. At that time many European “scientists” traveled to the Far East and the west learned about the cultures of the east through their published travel accounts. Translations of scriptures from the superstitious faiths in question further increased the interest in the east. However, the West’s current intimate acquaintance with Eastern cultures began in the 1960's.
The actions of opponents of the Vietnam War spread across the whole country and soon turned into “opposition to the established order.” Christianity and the Church were among the targets of young people influenced by materialist culture.
The clothes, dances and musical rhythms of the songs of the ’68 hippy generation bore a close resemblance to Far Eastern culture.
The sixties were a dark turning point for Western societies. The destructive effects of two world wars, the atom bombs dropped on Japan, the Vietnam War, the hysteria around the justified struggle against communism and successive political scandals like Watergate created a great sense of rebellion in American youth against the establishment. However, this reaction while perhaps understandable, was emotional in nature, and was not based on a rational and reasonable framework, and this was used as a path to turn people away from religious moral values. The situation was no different in Europe. All the institutions of the Christian church were portrayed as a part of the “system” and the hostility towards the various governments of the democratic West was also directed at the church. In this era many young westerners and intellectuals left their traditional Christian beliefs in the search for a different way of life. Some irrationally chose atheism, others chose superstitious Far Eastern religions. The search for new ways of life was partly driven by the sense of “rebellion” as well as “attention seeking”.
George Harrison, who inspired an enormous interest in Hindu culture among Beatles fans, wearing Hindu clothing alongside the Indian musician Ravi Shankar.
This trend was intentionally, or unwittingly, manipulated by those who shaped popular culture. The Beatles were one such influence. The news that band member George Harrison had chosen Hinduism created an admiration for this religion among millions of Beatles fans. Not just members of the entertainment industry but also many renowned intellectuals and scientists acquired superstitious far eastern teachings and supported their spread among the youth. However, the motives for their support were different: the compatibility between superstitious Far Eastern culture and the materialist aspects of Western culture. Those who adopted and promoted the superstitious Far Eastern culture were usually western materialists. The Judeo-Christian community on the other hand, remained distant to Far Eastern religion and never missed an opportunity to criticize them.
The “hippie” culture of the 1960’s and 1970’s lost its appeal and disappeared from the public mind, but the Eastern cultures that gripped the West never lost their pull on certain sections of society and developed and grew in power. Far Eastern religions then went one step further by becoming a new heretical syncretic movement with a new name that combined the pagan aspects of all Far Eastern religions, was atheistic, yet revered man instead (Allah forbid). The New Age Movement was driven by the dream of uniting the world under this “one single religion”, thereby pronouncing the end of all Divine religions.
The Christian researcher Wilbur Bruinsma examined the development of this movement from the 1960’s onwards in an article titled “The New Age Movement and Entertainment”. He points out that the youth’s rebellion against the system and quest for peace led them to the use of marihuana, LSD and other drugs, and then to seek supposed salvation in Hinduism and Zen Buddhism (A movement popularized in the West by the Japanese philosopher D. T. Suzuki, who combined Buddhism with various Japanese beliefs. The word Zen means meditation in Chinese, and superstitious practices such as these represent the basis of Zen Buddhism). He then proceeds to describe the effects of this pagan trend on the present day:
In the 1960's, and perhaps even more so in the 1970's, as in no prior time in history, there was a synthesis of Eastern and Western mysticism; the Eastern religions of Hinduism, Zen Buddhism, and Chinese Taoism were blended together with the radical occultism of Western mysticism. Given the well-fertilized seedbed of humanism, the fundamental teachings of mysticism have taken solid root in our country and culture and even throughout the world. This is the New Age Movement.139
As Bruinsma states, the New Age Movement is a continuation of the hippie culture of the 1960's, but its actual origins can be traced back to the 18th century. The Theosophical Society (theosophy is a Greek word meaning "Divine Mind") which was founded in America and then emerged also in Europe, aimed to introduce the pagan religions of the Far East into the lives of westerners and was the first instance of this movement.
The Theosophical Society
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
The Theosophical Society was founded in New York in 1875 by Colonel Henry Steel Olcott and Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, both ignorant admirers of superstitious Hinduism and Buddhism. The reason behind its creation was stated to be the research of religions, philosophies and sciences, but in practice it aimed to revive some antiquated teachings. Helena Blavatsky was an explorer who took a great interest in occultism, superstitious practices that claimed to make contact with the spiritual world, sorcery, mysticism and the pagan rituals of the Far Eastern religions. She had traveled many times to countries like India, Tibet, China and Japan in her quest to gain an insight into these teachings. She had written extensively about sorcery, the worship of the snake, contact with spirits and alchemy. Blavatsky was considered to be one of the main influences promoting occultist ideas and she frequently intimated that she had acquired supposedly supernatural powers. She claimed that she had been a student of Buddhism in Tibet and a number of gurus (guru means in Sanskrit “worthy of respect” and in Hinduism stands for a spiritual leader) and that she was a medium who could communicate with the spiritual world.140 The Indian media was singularly unimpressed and gave her negative publicity and printed articles accusing her of fraud.141
Helena Blavatsky’s teaching made no reference to a belief in Allah but attributed divinity to man instead (surely Allah is beyond that). According to her erroneous ideas, man was a supernatural being and had to unveil these powers by means of sorcery, meditation, contacting spirits and yoga. Blavatsky’s heretical beliefs formed the basis for the Theosophical Society.
Each of her dubious beliefs was irrational and misleading. It is Allah the Lord and Creator of man and the universe. He is eternal and infinite, Almighty and all-powerful. Man on the other hand is a helpless being, wholly dependent on Him and it is our most compassionate Lord Who created man from nothing, gave him life, power, intelligence and all other faculties. Without Allah, man has no power and no will. The situation of those who disregard Allah’s wondrous Creation is described in the verses as follows:
Does not man see that We created him from a drop yet there he is, an open antagonist! He makes likenesses of Us and forgets his own Creation, saying, “Who will give life to bones when they are decayed?” Say “He Who made them in the first place will bring them back to life. He has total knowledge of each created thing; He Who produces fire for you from green trees so that you use them to light your fires.” Does He Who created the heavens and earth not have the power to create the same again? Yes indeed! He is the Creator, the All-Knowing. His command when He desires a thing is just to say to it, “Be!” and it is. Glory be to Him Who has the Dominion of all things in His Hand. To Him you will be returned. (Surah Ya Sin: 77-83)
Man came to be by Allah’s command “Be!” and lives his life according to his destiny as determined by Allah. He will meet the angels of death at the time chosen by Allah and will account for all his actions in his life. It is therefore nonsensical and irrational in equal measures to believe that man, helpless and dependent as he is, could acquire by his own efforts supernatural powers. This fraud that “places man at the center of existence and depicts him as unaccountable to anyone” has been promoted by circles of a materialistic worldview.
Or were they created out of nothing, or are they the creators? Or did they create the heavens and the earth? No, in truth they have no certainty. (Surat at-Tur, 35-36)
In reality, Blavatsky’s teachings are nothing but a version of the same atheist worldview and the “theory of evolution” was the other factor that shaped this society’s ideology. Professor Rama P. Coosmaraswamy, history professor at the St Thomas Aquinas School of Theology, and known for his papers published on theology and philosophy, describes the Theosophical Society founded by Blavatsky as follows:
“Strongly influenced by the evolutionary thinking of that era, the Theosophists also believed in the existence of "masters" who were either "spirit beings" or men who were supposedly more highly "evolved" than the common heard... Theosophists were from the start against all orthodox forms of Christianity, and above all against the Roman Catholic Church. They attacked it both from without and from within - the latter by forming various organizations such as Esoteric or Hermetic Christianity and later the so-called Liberal Catholic Church.”142
The Theosophist Society’s ideology correlated to the materialistic and evolutionary worldview. They also irrationally rejected the existence of Allah, explained the universe’s creation with coincidences and claimed that man supposedly evolved physically as well as spiritually and still continued to do so. Superstitious karma and reincarnation, the basis of Far Eastern religious beliefs, was claimed to be an expression of this evolutionary process. They believed that man would attain deep insight and a divine status, or even supposed godhood, (Surely Allah is beyond this) as a result of perfection achieved by continued successive new lives. (For more details on the heretic belief of karma and reincarnation see: Chapter: Erroneous beliefs of death and afterlife in Hinduism). In reality it was a perverse and fraudulent philosophy that had no rational basis, and this nonsensical belief formed the basis of the Theosophical movement and the other pagan beliefs that succeeded it. Alan Morrison is a Christian researcher and ex- New Age follower of many years who converted later to Christianity. He has written many books and articles on the heretical practices and beliefs of the New Age movement. Morrison explains the deceptive idea of “spiritual evolution” coined by Blavatsky as follows in his article entitled “From old Gnosticism to New Age, A Historical Analysis of the Mystery of Iniquity from the 6th Century to the Present Day”:
“One of the Theosophical Society’s contributions to New Gnosticism is the term ‘spiritual evolution’ used in the comprehensive works of Blavatsky. Just as man has evolved from lesser forms of life he continues to evolve towards a powerful, cosmic being. Each individual will continue to be subject to reincarnation thousands of times until he reaches a state of perfection. Blavatsky was not alone when defending spiritual evolution. As one author put it, this belief was expressed in various ways after Madame Blavatsky by Teilhard de Chardin, then Bergson and Nietzsche, but towards the end of the 19th century, no one else besides Blavatsky exercised such influence over people. New religious movements moved in to fill the void left by Christianity’s decline. Blavatsky did not base her spiritual evolution theory on natural selection or coincidental developments. She was speaking of a master plan for the evolving universe, according to which the next step in evolution would bring about the golden age, thus giving people hope.”143
There is no doubt that these doctrines consist of totally fictitious tales devoid of any rational foundation. In the same way that living things never evolved physically, neither did they ever undergo spiritual evolution. Allah created man with earthly desires and a conscience with which to avoid earthly temptations. Someone who heeds the voice of his conscience is always on the right path that Allah will find pleasing. But everyone who is deaf to the voice of his conscience is suffering a grave loss. Human beings come to Earth only once, as Allah breathes His spirit into them, and they die as the time ordained for them in this world comes to an end. But after death, the life of the hereafter that will last for all eternity begins. It is impossible for anyone who has died to come back to this world.
As Alan Morrison states, the lie of spiritual evolution became the inspiration for sworn Darwinists like Chardin and Bergson and fanatical enemies of religion like Nietzsche. John Carlo Rosales, a Christian researcher, defines this perverse movement’s central doctrine in his work entitled “A Closer Look at the New Age Movement” as follows:
“In the modern sense, theosophy is a modern Gnostic movement which attempts a synthesis of religious, philosophical, and scientific insights drawn from many traditions, but primarily from Hindu philosophy and occult sciences. We find Theosophists denying fundamental Christian concepts about the nature of God and the soul… The evolution of the soul is a fundamental doctrine of the Society.
… Evolution, in the theosophic sense, is a process of self-realization or manifestation carried on by the Cosmic Life by means of repeated incarnations. Its alleged purpose is the perfecting of man and all creatures…In summary, the four key doctrines that are generally accepted among Theosophical societies, not excluding the New Age Movement, are the divine origin of the soul in a pantheistic sense, evolution, reincarnation, and karma.”144
The belief in spiritual evolution is a great fraud that forms the basis of many erroneous beliefs besides those of the Theosophical Society. There is no evidence provided by these groups in support of this belief they advocate. The only thing they can do is, in their own eyes, to embellish their claims with pretty and philosophical expressions in the hope that people will believe in the reality of their imaginary world.
The only source from which we can learn the truth about the human soul is the Qur’an, and Allah says the following on the soul:
They will ask you about the Spirit. Say: “The Spirit is my Lord’s concern. You have only been given a little knowledge.” (Surat al-Isra’: 85)
As stated in this verse, man has only limited knowledge about the soul and the little he knows is revealed in the Qur’an. We are told in verses that:
When your Lord said to the angels, “I am creating a human being out of dried clay formed from fetid black mud. When I have formed him and breathed My Spirit into him, fall down in prostration in front of him!” (Surat al-Hijr: 28-29)
Then formed him and breathed His Spirit into him and gave you hearing, sight and hearts. What little thanks you show! (Surat as-Sajda: 9)
Your Lord said to the angels, “I am going to create a human being out of clay. When I have formed him and breathed My Spirit into him, fall down in prostration to him!” So the angels prostrated, all of them together, (Surah Sâd: 71-73)
Annie Wood Besant
Allah Who created the whole universe from nothing gave man a breath of His own soul. Man is the only being with a soul in nature. He has conscience, has willpower, can think, speak, imagine, decide, compare, love, enjoy and be happy. All these are the features of his “soul” and not his body which is a mass of flesh and bone. On death, the soul leaves the dimension in which man lives, transcending to another dimension leaving his body behind. Whilst the dead body decays and disintegrates, the soul begins a new existence. Therefore the soul does not evolve or attain another “sacred status” as people of heretical beliefs claim. (Surely Allah is beyond that)
When Blavatsky died in 1891, another admirer of Hinduism became the leader of the Theosophical society who was also keenly interested in sorcery, the occult sciences and psychic experimentation. Annie Besant was well known for her atheist identity and her speeches on the subject.145 She was on the one hand working on the theosophical sciences and writing “fantastic” books and on the other, she led the society to focus on the lie of spiritual evolution and metaphysical disciplines.146 Even today, her works are some of the most widely read books by those who follow these heretical beliefs and adopt a way of life dedicated to sorcery and other nonsensical activities.
Besant fervently defended Hinduism, an irrational and idolatrous religion that can be easily recognized as such by anyone capable of rational thought. She participated in the Indian independence movement by founding the Central Hindu College and in 1916 the Indian Home Rule League. In 1917, she was elected chairman of the Indian National Congress. Besant’s influence over the Theosophical Society and India was noted in great detail in an article published in the Hinduism Today newspaper, which also revealed that she had had a direct influence over Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojini Naidu, C.P. Ramaswami Aiyer and many other Hindu leaders.147
The Theosophical Society played an important role in introducing Far Eastern religion to Judeo-Christian Western with a detrimental effect. The New Age movement began with Alice A. Bailey, an ex-member of the Theosophical Society. Bailey was an atheist admirer of Far Eastern religions of heretical beliefs much like the founders of the Theosophical Society. She claimed to be medium receiving inspirational messages from a Tibetan leader by the name of Djwal Khul. Between 1919 and 1949 she wrote 24 books containing these imaginary messages. These books were works of propaganda of occult sciences, esoteric teachings, sorcery and perverted beliefs. She revealed the perverse foundations of her new movement in the two volumes of her work entitled “Discipleship in the New Age”. The New Age movement adopted all the heretical beliefs of the Theosophical Society and contained also many perverted beliefs of pagan religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Shamanism and Taoism as well as occult sciences.
After Bailey, the New Age movement grew rapidly and became a major influence within Western culture in some communities. This teaching is however incompatible with reason, logic and common sense, contains much nonsense, promotes pagan practices like sorcery and fortune telling prohibited by Divine religions and on the whole leads people away from the reality revealed by Allah and into an imaginary and superstitious world.
The New Age Movement: A Pagan Religion Consisting Of Heretical Beliefs
The Maharishi Mehash Yogi, who introduced the superstitious tradition known as Transcendental Meditation to the West, makes a deceptive worldly promise to those wishing to attract attention to themselves.
Initially the contact between superstitious Far Eastern religions and Western culture was confined to the Theosophical Society and materialists. However in a very short period of time this atheistic movement became a pagan religion itself. This superstitious religion was New Age and it was marketed as the “so-called religion of the 21st century” by materialist circles who wanted to curb the growing influence of the true religion, at least in their own eyes.
The New Age movement is unique in the sense that it rejects the certain existence of Allah is not based on Divine revelation, has no scripture, no central authority, no membership or leadership structure and cannot be pinned down in its beliefs or practices with certainty. You can add to this false belief or remove some aspects thereof at will. The New Age teachings are founded on Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Shamanism, Shintoism, Gnostic traditions, Spiritualism and Wicca (sorcery). Alan Morrison expresses the common ground of this religion as follows: “The core of the Blavatsky theosophical teaching is rooted in a syncretism which pulls together strains from Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism and gnostic Christianity — all of which deny the Transcendent Creator God and use practices to bring about the [so-called] "divinisation" of the individual.”148
Especially in recent years, groups which promote atheistic and materialistic worldviews have accelerated the propaganda efforts of the New Age culture, for which they are making use of the mass media. Their primary objective is to curb the increasing influence of Divine religions, in particular Islam, in western societies by which they hope to assist the cause of pagan religions. They are trying to impose these pagan religions by means of well-designed advertising campaigns and messages aiming at the sub-consciousness of people rather than presenting them as for what they are. They are promoting idolatrous religions and erroneous philosophies led by fraudulent spiritual leaders called gurus. Famous people well-recognized in society play an important role in this propaganda effort. For instance, Shirley McLaine, once a well-known actress, is one of the foremost advocates of the New Age movement with her books and TV shows and appearances.
Meditation, depicted as a means of attaining inner peace, calm and happiness, is in fact a deception. Because the essence of meditation is “concentrating on emptiness.” This neither relaxes nor bestows peace on anyone. Quite the contrary, it leads to unease and a proud and troubled state of mind. The brain, which regulates all the functions of the body, is a highly efficient and important organ. Emptying the mind and concentrating on nothingness is therefore equivalent to “paralysis of the brain.” In addition, such practices result in a reduction in brain functions. This is like the deletion and elimination of all the programs in a powerful computer.
Only someone who believes in the existence of an absolute Creator, Who created the entire universe from nothing and rewards the good and punishes the wicked with infinite justice can ever find inner peace. As our Lord tells us in verse 28 of Surat ar-Ra‘d: “Only in the remembrance of Allah can the heart find peace.”
The New Age superstitious belief, kept in the public mind by atheist and materialist groups by various means of propaganda, aim to divert people to erroneous practices from belief in Allah, and the goodness which derives from religious morality. For example yoga, meditation, healing, bio-energy and transcendental meditation occupy an important place in the New Age philosophy and astrology, tarot, fortune telling and mediums are part of that culture. Beliefs of karma, reincarnation, reiki, feng shui, astral body projection, clairvoyance and exorcism by means of magic spells are yet other symbols of the New Age movement. Today, these terms are widely recognizable because of the propaganda activities carried out by materialists. Some of these erroneous beliefs can be listed as follows:
Sorcery and magic are important in the New Age movement. All the magic rituals of the superstitious Far Eastern religions, sorcery based pagan beliefs like Shamanism, and every kind of twisted occultism have been revived by this idolatrous movement. Fortune telling and sorcery are evil and immoral acts forbidden by Allah Who says in the Surat al-Ma’ida: “You who believe! Wine and gambling, stone altars and divining arrows are filth from the handiwork of satan. Avoid them completely so that hopefully you will be successful.” (Surat al-Ma’ida: 90) It is related in verses that the Prophet Moses’s (pbuh) encounter with magicians is as follows: “… Magicians are not successful.” (Surah Yunus: 77) “… Magicians do not prosper wherever they go.” (Surah Ta Ha: 69) In other words, those who believe that sorcery will bring them happiness, prosperity, salvation or success are wrong, because unless Allah wills it it is impossible for any man benefit or harm anyone else. Allah reveals the following in the Surat al-Baqara:
… People learned from them how to separate a man and his wife but they cannot harm anyone by it, except with Allah's permission. They have learned what will harm them and will not benefit them. They know that any who deal in it will have no share in the hereafter. What an evil thing they have sold themselves for if they only knew! (Surat al-Baqara: 102)
Some people, caught up in trends such as the New Age movement, spread lies to the effect that they possess spiritual powers or the gift of prophecy. Fortune-telling or the Taro cards are other ways of deceiving people. The fact is, however, that nobody can obtain knowledge of hidden things through his own efforts or trying to contact the spirit world. Allah only imparts such knowledge of His servants He so chooses, and to the extent of His choosing.
** Fortune telling, consulting the tarot and contacting spirits are a fraud; outlandish claims of being able to foresee the future by means of mediums are part and parcel of the New Age culture. Gurus resort to deceiving their unwitting followers through lies such as claiming they have the ability to prognosticate the future or speak directly with the spirit world. In reality it is only Allah Who knows and sees the unknown. Allah reveals in the Surat an-Naml as:
… No one in the heavens and the earth knows the Unseen except Allah. (Surat an-Naml: 65)
And Allah reveals in the Surat al-Jinn that:
He is the Knower of the Unseen, and does not divulge His Unseen to anyone–except a Messenger with whom He is well pleased, and then He posts sentinels before him and behind him. (Surat al-Jinn: 26-27)
As these verses make clear, Allah can choose to reveal the unknown to His beloved messengers, but no one else can acquire the knowledge of the unknown by his own efforts, or by trying to make contact with spirits. Within the perverse New Age movement there are people who try to draw attention to themselves by claiming to be mediums or fortune tellers. They are hoping to win the respect and admiration of people, but more importantly, they have material gain in mind.
Unless Allah decrees otherwise, it is not possible to tell the future by looking at some pieces of paper or gazing into a crystal:
The keys of the Unseen are in His possession. No one knows them but Him. He knows everything in the land and sea. No leaf falls without His knowing it. There is no seed in the darkness of the earth, and nothing moist or dry which is not in a Clear Book. (Surat al-An‘am: 59)
At present, certain groups are trying to make the New Age movement fashionable. Well-known celebrities are used to present a thinly disguised propaganda on behalf of these perverted practices, and use their public recognizability in order to create followers. Such heretical beliefs, which are of no benefit to people, are advertised on TV and through printed media and people, influenced by the suggestive power of such means, begins to practice the suggested beliefs without really knowing what they are getting into. The “Reiki” fad, well documented recently in the public mind, is the product of the same fraud. Attention seekers and others who like to be seen as “unique” in some way are influenced by this propaganda. In reality Reiki is yet another fraudulent practice like all the other Far Eastern beliefs.
The idolatrous Japanese belief is that Reiki is one of the cosmic energies thought of as a “universal life and healing energy”. It is claimed that certain people have control over this energy and can either use it to heal or pass it on to others.149 The person falsely claiming to have Reiki energy opens his palms towards the heavens and allegedly transfers this energy to other people or animals by touching them. In reality, Reiki is no different to the practice of ritual healing or the exorcising of evil spirits in the sorcery-based religion of Shamanism. Shamans also claim falsely that they can heal people with their powers being derived from magic and the incantation of spells. These are nonsensical beliefs that anyone invested with even a small modicum of common sense can easily discern as nothing but a gigantic fraud, because it is not possible for anyone to heal anyone else unless Allah wills it. It is only Allah Who is “The Intercessor". He has the attribute of healing by which He does away with illness. Unless Allah wills it, no doctor on earth, no technological innovation and not even the latest wonder drugs, combined with all the false beliefs of Far Eastern religions, can heal the sick person. The Prophet Abraham’s (pbuh) wholehearted prayer is revealed in the Qur’an:
And when I am ill, it is He Who heals me; (Surat ash-Shu‘ara’, 80)
… He knows what is before them and what is behind them but they cannot grasp any of His knowledge save what He wills. His Footstool encompasses the heavens and the earth and their preservation does not tire Him. He is the Most High, the Magnificent. (Surat al-Baqara, 255)
No stone or mineral can prevent any evil, misery or disease outside the will of Allah. This is nothing but a heretical and superstitious belief.
- Quartz
- hematite
-diamond
The heretical practices of the New Age movement are too numerous to be recounted in full. The belief in the healing powers of stones and minerals are some of these. Followers of this erroneous belief believe that quartz crystals are very effective in magic and healing. It is also believed that hematite can give the power of correct decision making, that diamonds cleanse the body from negative energy, and that corals prevent the evil eye. Many other kinds of stones and minerals are accredited with such imaginary powers; in truth, all these beliefs are false and nonsensical. It is most certainly impossible that a stone or any other object can protect someone, empower them in any way, or destroy negative influences. No man can prevent harm irrespective of how hard he tries, or no matter what method he employs unless it is the will of Allah. The only Protector is the most compassionate Allah. In the Qur’an He reveals:
Say: “Who rescues you from the darkness of the land and sea? You call on Him humbly and secretly: ‘If you rescue us from this, we will truly be among the thankful.’” Say: “Allah rescues you from it, and from every plight. Then you associate others with Him.” (Surat al-An‘am: 63-64)
Obviously if man encounters problems, he needs to solve them. For instance a sick person should consult a doctor, follow his advice and use the prescribed drugs. However, it must be known that these measures by alone have no power in and of themselves, but Allah can make them trigger the healing process. Certainly it would amount to ascribing partners to Allah to believe that other beings, idols of stone or wood, stones or minerals could protect, destroy, harm or bring benefit. As we have stated often, ascribing partners to Allah is an unforgivable sin. Those who ignore the fact that there are no other protectors or helpers besides Allah, and who insist on disregarding His gifts will experience devastating regret. Allah reveals the situation of such people in the Qur’an:
Say: “Can any of your partner-gods bring Creation out of nothing and then regenerate it?” Say: “Allah brings Creation out of nothing and then regenerates it. So how have you been perverted?” Say: “Can any of your partner-gods guide to the truth?” Say: “Allah guides to the truth. Who has more right to be followed – He Who guides to the truth, or he who cannot guide unless he is guided? What is the matter with you? How do you reach your judgment?” (Surah Yunus: 34-35)
A New Fashion from Chinese Pagan Beliefs: Feng Shui
Yukarıda garip objelerin insanları koruyabileceğini öne süren Feng Shui öğretisi büyük bir kandırmacadan ibarettir.
Another superstitious teaching among New Age beliefs is Feng Shui. This, an extension of pagan shamanist beliefs, is a superstition that has lately become fashionable as a result of widespread propaganda. Relevant web sites describe this teaching as “directing the powers and energy of nature.” People learn a superstitious Chinese tradition at the Feng Shui courses they pay large sums of money to attend. This tradition is described as “arranging the décor of one’s environment in such a way as to increase positive energy by eliminating negative energies.” Such courses teach which talisman should be hung where, and which charms and stones will allegedly be beneficial. For example, it is believed that a mirror known as the Pa-kua, hung on doors, will protect the door and the building. A small statue known as the frog of plenty will allegedly bring material wealth. Many other superstitious beliefs involving talismans are to be found in Feng Shui.150
The fact is, though, that these superstitious beliefs are all deceptions. It is impossible for any stone or charm to protect anyone or anything outside of Allah’s choosing. Human beings’ sole protector, their friend and guardian, is Almighty Allah, Lord of the Worlds.
Feng Shui is a deception that teaches that the strange objects below are capable of bestowing protection.
One of the reasons for people to practice irrational and illogical techniques such as yoga, meditation and reiki, is that they seek contentment and peace in the wrong place and imagine that by these means they can escape the stress and sufferings of their everyday lives. Advertisements for such pagan practices make frequent use of terms like “inner peace, spiritual balance and inner happiness”. People are all too easily misled to believe that these erroneous practices can deliver them from the selfish, competitive, conflicting, loveless and cruel way of life of the materialistic society in which they live. In reality however, these false practices cannot deliver inner peace and spiritual fulfillment. To the contrary, by practicing these superstitious Far Eastern religions they become people who have lost the ability to reason and act rationally, who expect help from stone and wooden idols, and hope to find solutions in sorcery and heretical rituals. Societies in which the superstitious Far Eastern philosophies are influential reveals the existence of many people who display the signs of psychological damage, apathy and a schizophrenic state of mind removed from the reality of life.
It is a clear fact that the only way to find true contentment and happiness and deliverance from every kind of evil, cruelty, hopelessness and despair, is to submit to our Creator Allah and to lead a life He approves of. Allah says:
… All those who follow My guidance will not go astray and will not be miserable. But if anyone turns away from My reminder, his life will be a dark and narrow one and on the Day of Resurrection We will gather him blind. (Surah Ta Ha, 123-124)
The governor of the heavens and earth, our Lord, reveals that salvation can only be found by following the guidance of the Qur’an. Allah says the following in the Surah Ibrahim:
... This is a Book We have sent down to you so that you can bring mankind from the darkness to the light, by the permission of their Lord, to the Path of the Almighty, the Praiseworthy. (Surah Ibrahim: 1)
All those who totally and foolishly deny or disregard the existence of Allah and follow the path of evil will suffer a great loss in this life as well as the hereafter. They will receive their fair return for wasting their lives by following false practices which were of no benefit to them. Whilst they engage in false practices in the belief of doing right, they will come to realize that they lived in error. Allah reveals the situation of such people in one of the verses of the Qur’an as follows:
The metaphor of those who take protectors besides Allah is that of a spider which builds itself a house; but no house is flimsier than a spider’s house, if they only knew. (Surat al-‘Ankabut: 41)
But as for anyone who rejects faith, his actions will come to nothing and in the hereafter he will be among the losers. (Surat al- Ma’ida: 5)
As made clear in the verse, those who chose the path of denial yet believe themselves to be right have in reality gone far astray. All their efforts will come to naught, and they will witness on the Day of Judgment that all their partners, and all the spells and sorcery they hoped would protect them cannot help them. Allah reveals:
On the Day they see the angels, there will be no good news that Day for the evildoers. They will say, “There is an absolute ban.” We will advance on the actions they have done and make them scattered specks of dust. The Companions of the Garden on that Day will have better lodging and a better resting-place, (Surat al-Furqan: 22-24)
Say: “Shall I inform you of the greatest losers in their actions? People whose efforts in the life of the this world are misguided while they suppose that they are doing good.” Those are the people who reject their Lord’s Signs and the meeting with Him. Their actions will come to nothing and, on the Day of Resurrection, We will not assign them any weight. (Surat al-Kahf: 103-105)
New Age, Darwinism And Atheism
Thomas H. Huxley, one of the leading proponents of Darwinism in the 19th century.
As stated before, one of the reasons behind western societies’ great interest in pagan religions like New Age is the atheist, idolatrous and materialistic context of superstitious Far Easter religions. The materialistic entities, distanced from the West’s Judeo-Christian culture, approve, support and promote all the superstitious beliefs of Far Eastern origins.
Materialistic Western culture believes in the lie of the coincidental Creation of the universe, and answers questions as to how man and life came to be in terms of Darwin’s evolution theory. This unscientific view rejects the existence of the human soul and maintains the lie that man is nothing more than a highly evolved animal species. It utterly and foolishly rejects the notion of a life in the hereafter or the belief in hell and paradise. This view is of course erroneous, yet it is compatible with superstitious Far Eastern religions. A great majority of these religions, especially Buddhism and Hinduism, reject the manifest existence of Allah and mendaciously attribute the sources of life to nature itself. These perverse beliefs reject the existence of hell and paradise, which is one of the reasons for the great support they get from the materialistic culture of the West.
The foremost evolutionists have supported Far Eastern religions since the 19th century, with Thomas H. Huxley being the most prominent name of those responsible for rallying support behind Darwin. His arguments with scientists and men of religion who advocated the belief in creation, and his fervent speeches and articles in support of Darwinism, made him the most famous Darwinist of the 19th century. Huxley’s interest in superstitious Far Eastern religions, in particular Buddhism, is less well known.
The 18th century atheist and hostile-to-religion philosopher David Hume
Huxley fiercely opposed the representatives of Divine religions like Judaism and Christianity and regarded Buddhism as a suitable religion for secular western civilization, at least in his own opinion. This subject is examined by the article titled “Huxley’s Buddhism in Evolution and Ethics”, published in the magazine Philosophy East and West. The article printed the following excerpt from Huxley’s book Evolution and Ethics:
“... [Buddhism is] a system which knows no God [Surely Allah is beyond that] in the Western sense; which denies a soul to man; which counts the belief in immortality a blunder and hope of it a sin; which refuses any efficacy to prayer and sacrifice; which bids men look to nothing but their own efforts for salvation ... yet [it] spread over a considerable moiety of the Old World with marvelous rapidity and is still, with whatever base admixture of foreign superstitions, the dominant creed of a large fraction of mankind”.151
There is no doubt that the above extract shows what a great error and perversion Buddhism actually is. Huxley was an admirer of Buddhism because of these perverse aspects. According to the author of the article entitled “Buddhism in Huxley’s Evolution and Ethics” Vijitha Rajapakse,from the University of Hawaii, Huxley’s admiration for Buddhism was partly due to the similarities he identified between Buddhism and the ancient, pagan and atheist Greek philosophy:
“Huxley's evident tendency to link Buddhist thought with Western ideas, which comes to the fore strikingly in his comments on the concept of substance, was further exemplified at other levels of his discussion as well. He found the nontheistic stance taken by the early Buddhists to be analogous to the outlook of Heracleitus and referred, in addition, to "many parallelisms of Stoicism and Buddhism."152
Friedrich Nietzsche, one of the atheist ideologues of 20th century fascism.
Rajapakse notes not only Huxley’s, but also some other 19th century atheists’ great admiration for Buddhism. One of the parallels drawn at that time between Buddhism and Western philosophy involves the thought of David Hume’s. The 18th century Scottish thinker, Hume, was an atheist and anti-religious philosopher. Rajapakse says that interestingly, even the first western commentators on Buddhism recognized correctly the similarities between Buddhism and Hume’s philosophy, and then proceeds as follows:
Mrs. Rhys Davids [an early pioneer translator of Buddhist texts from Paali into English], for example, remarked that "with regard to the belief in an indwelling spirit or ego, permanent, unchanging, unsuffering, Buddhism took the standpoint two thousand, four hundred years ago of our own Hume of two centuries ago.153
As Rajapakse states, in Victorian England many other philosophers had taken a keen interest in Buddhism as it was compatible with atheism and Darwinism, the popular philosophies of that era.
Friedrich Nietzsche was another atheist who warmed to Buddhism for similar motives. He was deeply hostile towards Christianity, but conciliatory towards idolatrous culture and morality. His views became the ideological basis for fascism and Nazism. His hatred for Divine religions was not just driven by these religions’ morality but also, and more significantly, by his fanatical atheist views. His foolish hostility toward religion was limited to Divine religions whereas pagan religions escaped unscathed. He held pagan religion in high esteem and praised it lavishly, especially Buddhism. Jason DeBoer, editor of the “Eighteenth-Century Studies” says: “...Nietzsche, although one of the fiercest atheists in history, was in fact not entirely anti-religious... [He] respected and admired many of the aspects of other religions, including paganism and even Buddhism.”154
On the same subject, English academic David R. Loy, states the following in one of his articles:
The Darwinist paleontologist de Chardin, one of the founders of the New Age movement
“Comparing Nietzsche with Buddhism has become something of a cottage industry, and for good reason: there seems to be a deep resonance between them. Morrison points out that they share many common features: both emphasise the centrality of humans in a godless cosmos and neither looks to any external being or power for their respective solutions to the problem of existence. For Nietzsche the problem is overcoming nihilism, for Buddhism it is the unsatisfactory nature of our lives. Both understand human being as an ever-changing flux of multiple psychophysical forces, and within this flux there is no autonomous or unchanging subject (“ego”, “soul”). Both emphasize the hierarchy that exists, or can exist, not only among individuals but among the plurality of these forces that compose us.”155
No doubt, these concepts shared by Nietzsche with Buddhism are erroneous. The cause for this error lies in man’s arrogance and ignorance. Every person who studies nature and the universe with reason and conscience will see the clear evidence for Allah’s existence. This fact is supported by scientific discoveries of our present time. Nietzsche’s and other atheists’ beliefs have been disproved by scientific discoveries like the Big Bang and the Anthropic Principle theories. Science has delivered clear proofs of the fact that Allah has created the universe and maintains it in a perfect order. (For details on the collapse of atheism see: The Rise of Islam, Harun Yahya, 2003, published by A. S. NOORDEEN). Evidence for Darwinism’s invalidity both supports and proves that Creation is an indisputable reality. The thoughts of 19th century thinkers like Freud, Marx and Durkheim have either been disproven by scientific discoveries or social developments one by one.
Theodosius Dobzhansky, one of the proponents of the deception of psychological evolution
The architects of atheist and materialist Western culture are witnessing the collapse of their theories and are desperately trying to find another solution in promoting pagan beliefs in order to curb the rising interest in Divine religions, ay least in their own eyes. The New Age movement, created for this purpose, is a false “spiritualism” injected into materialism.
But why does western culture perceive this need? The English writers Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln have researched the ideological development (and degeneration) of the Western world of the past 2000 years. They state that the Western world has been plagued by an “identity crisis” in the 20th century. In other words, the materialistic philosophy and way of life imposed on western societies, has distanced people from Allah and their worship of Him, thus rendering their lives meaningless. According to Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln, “Life became increasingly bereft of meaning, devoid of significance - a wholly random phenomenon, lived for no particular purpose.”156
The materialistic theories’ destruction on the scientific level, combined with this cultural identity crisis has reignited peoples’ interest in Divine religions, which is why religion is on the rise in all Christian, Jewish and Islamic societies. The proportion of people who believe in and practice religion is constantly increasing and religious practices and values play a greater role in society. (Especially the Islamic faith, which is growing with unprecedented rapidity in the western world).
The pagan New Age movement is being promoted to divert people who are struggling with the “identity crisis” to this false path of salvation. These are only erroneous and futile teachings followed by people who seek some form of “spiritualism”, but cannot or will not free themselves from the atheist and materialistic dogma. A little thought, coupled with some reason, is sufficient to recognize the futility of such teachings. In the face of the threat posed by these false beliefs people of faith have an important role to play here: they must teach Allah’s certain existence and the morality of religion. In order to curb the influence of the New Age propaganda, the message of Allah’s infinite power and might must be delivered to all people and they must be invited to faith. If Islamic morality is explained well, and all the goodness derived from a life dedicated to the cause of our Lord is demonstrated, people will not heed the call of false spiritualism.
Aldous Huxley, one of 20th century Britain’s best known writers, also had an interest in Far Eastern religions. Grandson of Thomas Huxley, one of the forerunners of the New Age movement, Aldous Huxley can be seen to have been strongly influenced by the false Far Eastern religions in his books, such as Brave New World, Eyeless in Gaza and Island. Known as a materialist and atheist, Huxley’s last book, Island, was set in a utopia on a Buddhist island.
The evolution theory has played a significant role in the development of the New Age movement. Most of the followers of the New Age movement acknowledge Theilard de Chardin as their spiritual leader. Theilard was a paleontologist who played a major role in the history of the evolution theory. He was also one of the key figures in one of the greatest ever “science” fraud scandals recorded by history: the Piltdown man.157 The following words are sufficient to explain the degree of his allegiance to Darwinism:
“(Evolution) is a general postulate to which all theories, all hypotheses, all systems must henceforward bow and which they must satisfy in order to be thinkable and true. Evolution is a light which illuminates all facts, a trajectory which all lines of thought must follow.”158
His own words bear testimony to the fact that Theillard de Chardin was one of the most dogmatic advocates of the evolution theory ever. He swallowed and perpetuated the lie that man has not only a physical evolution, but a spiritual evolution as well. He imagined that once man has supposedly evolved enough socially, he will attain a state of spiritual perfection. This state he called the “omega point”.
Besides Theillard, many other evolutionists like Julian Huxley and Theodosius Dobzhansky are counted among New Age ideologues. Dobzhansky’s erroneous idea that “whilst the evolution process gave rise to man, it became the first only time its own consciousness in the history of the universe” this a frequently used expression by New Age advocates. The geneticist, Francisco Ayala said the following after Dobzhansky:
Perverted New Age beliefs seek to justify all the injustice, killing and torture in the world. This wicked idea, which would inflict total disorder on the whole world, is a terrible deception. Human beings are responsible to Allah, to whom they will have to account for their every action, their every word, their every decision and their every sin.
“Dobzhansky was a religious man, although he apparently rejected fundamental beliefs of traditional religion, such as the existence of a personal God.... Dobzhansky held that in man, biological evolution has transcended itself into the realm of self-awareness and culture. He believed that mankind would eventually evolve into higher levels of harmony and creativity.”159
Countless scientific findings have proved that this irrational belief of Dobzhansky's is untrue. We have seen that the New Age movement focuses on the life on earth and places man at the center of everything. Whilst foolishly rejecting belief in Allah, it ignorantly ascribes divinity to man himself (Surely Allah is beyond that) and gives him the attributes of Allah. One of the foremost advocates of this perverse movement, Shirley McLaine, a famous singer and actress at one time, wrote: “You must never worship anyone or anything other than self. For you are God.”160 (Surely Allah is beyond that), thereby revealing the perverted beliefs of the New Age movement.
According to the ideologues of the New Age movement, whose primary objective is to create an atheist society by guiding people away from the belief in Allah, man is his own guide and judge. This perverted belief suggests that man will attain perfection by means of meditation, yoga, reiki, contacting spirits and the help of crystals; this perversion leads people to an even worse aberration. It ultimately causes people to believe that man is a divinity and is beyond right and wrong, sin or goodness. In other words, according to the New Age belief, everything that man does, is right. Prof. H. Wayne House, from the theology department of Michigan University, points out in one of his papers that according to the perverted beliefs of the New Age movement, man as a divinity cannot judge or be judged by another, and that rights and wrongs do not exist.161
It follows that all murders, torture, robberies, plunder, atrocities and injustices taking place on earth must be considered as beyond judgment. This is a clear mistake as man is not hold unaccountable. There is a Creator who sees everything he does, knows all he thinks and Who will judge, and either reward or punish him after his death. Our Creator Allah, has created man with a soul, reason, willpower and the faculties of comparison and judgment. Even if man has instincts that drive him, he has been created with these faculties with which he can choose that which is right instead of evil. Someone who is easily agitated and of little or no restraint, can consider himself and his opponent as animals, and injure him without thought and can be similarly cruel even if he is facing a defenseless child. In contrast, someone aware of the soul within given to him by Allah, will be rational and self-conscious at all times and exercise self-control when he feels anger building up inside. His judgment and conscience will be clear and he will refrain from even the smallest bad deed that he will be held to account for in the Presence of Allah. Those who act differently will have committed a crime. They chose to do wrong and commit a sin because they do not believe in Allah, do not believe that they will be answerable to Him, and therefore do not exercise restraint. Allah reveals in one verse that He has given man the ability to do right as well as wrong (Surat ash-Shams: 7-10). Therefore he knows right from wrong and only does wrong when he does not follow the voice of his conscience. Every person has a soul given to them by Allah and is ultimately answerable to his Creator. In one verse we are told:
He Who has created all things in the best possible way. He commenced the creation of man from clay; then produced his seed from an extract of base fluid. Then (He) formed him and breathed His Spirit into him and gave you hearing, sight and hearts. What little thanks you show! (Surat as-Sajda: 7-9)
Does man reckon he will be left to go on unchecked? (Surat al-Qiyama: 36)
Allah reminds people who think of themselves as unaccountable of their Creation and their resurrection following their death:
Does man reckon he will be left to go on unchecked? Was he not a drop of ejaculated sperm, then a blood-clot which He created and shaped, making from it both sexes, male and female? Is He Who does this not able to bring the dead to life? (Surat al-Qiyama: 36-40)
The American materialist philosopher John Dewey
The erroneous belief that puts man at the center of the universe is central to the perverse New Age religion and also forms the basis for one of the Darwinists main arguments. Julian Huxley was one of Darwin’s main advocates, and his “evolutionary humanism” idea represented a strikingly similar perversion that aimed “to aid the evolution process to achieve its maximum”. This was not contained to the survival of the fittest and their reproduction, but also foresaw man as able “to attain the highest forms of his abilities”. In other words, efforts would be made to enable man to attain higher levels of physical and mental development. “Humanism” was defined by Huxley as follows:
I use the word “Humanist” to mean someone who believes that man is just as much a natural phenomenon as an animal or a plant, that his body, his mind, and his soul were not supernaturally created but are all products of evolution, and that the is not under the control or guidance of any supernatural Being or beings, but has to rely on himself and his own powers.162
Huxley lists the principles of evolutionary humanism as follows:
“The beliefs of this religion of evolutionary humanism are not based on revelation in the supernatural sense, but on the revelations that science and learning have given us about man and the universe. A humanist believes with full assurance that man is not alien to nature, but a part of nature. His true destiny is to guide the future course of evolution on earth towards greater fulfillment”.163
The religious humanism movement launched by the materialist philosopher Dewey was in any case manifestly a deception. However, the 50 million people who lost their lives in the Second World War are further confirmation of that fact.
In reality Huxley’s movement was a baseless and grave error, because Allah, the Lord of the Universe, is the force behind the perfect Creation seen on earth. Man, so ignorantly exalted by Darwinists, has been created from nothing by Allah and he is a helpless being dependent on him. Allah reveals that life on earth is one of his miracles:
As for the earth, We stretched it out and cast firmly embedded mountains in it and made everything grow in due proportion on it. And We put livelihoods in it both for you and for those you do not provide for. There is nothing that does not have its stores with Us and We only send it down in a known measure. We send forth the pollinating winds and send down water from the sky and give it to you to drink. And it is not you who keep its stores. It is We who give life and cause to die and We are the Inheritor. (Surat al-Hijr: 19-23)
Huxley’s irrational ideas suggested that the so-called “sacred” purpose of mankind was to quicken his own evolution and these ideas deeply influenced the American philosopher and education reformer John Dewey.
Dewey developed this idea further, and founded in 1933 a new movement by the name of “religious humanism”. He was one of the thirty-four signatories of the famous Humanist Manifesto. The main principle proclaimed in this manifesto was the lie that the time had come to replace Divine religions with scientific progress and social solidarity.
The deaths of over 60 million people in the Second World War was a “scientific progress” (!) that shook the optimism of the Humanist Manifesto. Following further blows to the system, Dewey’s followers were forced to revise the manifesto which resulted in the proclamation of the second Humanist Manifesto in 1973, in which it was acknowledged that science could occasionally be harmful, but the Manifesto's core philosophy remained nevertheless unchanged. According to this unscientific and nonsensical assertion, man was now competent to guide his own imaginary evolution, and science was to be the guiding principle. It said:
“Using technology wisely, we can control our environment, conquer poverty, markedly reduce disease, extend our life-span, significantly modify our behavior, alter the course of human evolution and cultural development, unlock vast new powers, and provide humankind with unparalleled opportunity for achieving an abundant and meaningful life.”164
Every evolutionist aspires to these errors that reveal the core perversions of the false “evolution religion” knowingly or unwittingly. First they dream up an imaginary evolutionary process and assumes that this process is the basis of all “creation”, that it will lead to man’s salvation and finally that his so-called “sacred” purpose is to serve this process. In short, the supposed evolutionary process is considered to be the supposed creator, as well as a sacred purpose; or in other words, a deity to be worshiped in an utterly foolish manner. (Surely Allah is beyond that.) However, the developments of the 20th century’s scientific world exposed Darwinist claims as a fraud. Developments in the recent past in microbiology, biochemistry, paleontology, genetics and anatomy have largely invalidated the evolutionary theory and revealed that life is the product of a sublime mind, in other words, Almighty Allah. The claim that scientific developments would accelerate human evolution thus rendering Divine religions unnecessary was exposed as fraudulent, as science tend to confirm rather than disprove creation. Allah’s existence was therefore revealed with clear evidence.
John Newport, honorary professor at the Theological Faculty of the Southwestern Baptist University in Fort Worth, Texas, wrote in his book titled The Worldview Crisis and the New Age Movement that the thought that man could attain a supernatural spiritual status by his own efforts was a fundamental lie of the New Age error. Newport says:
“It is all based on the same idea that we can become divine- We do not need a Savior, we do not need the basic thing that is present in Christianity,”165
This idea is of course an illogical one with no rational foundation. Human beings are created weak and are in need of Allah. Man’s only salvation lies in sincerely submitting to Allah and leading a life of which He will approve.
Another commentary on the subject is put forth by the renowned evolutionist Jeremy Rifkin, a fervent advocate of the New Age movement. Rifkin sets out his illogical ideas in his book entitled “Algeny – A New World”:
“Evolution is no longer viewed as a mindless affair, quite the opposite . ... one eventually winds up with the idea of the universe as a mind that oversees, orchestrates, and gives order and structure to all things. We no longer feel ourselves to be guests in someone else's home and therefore obliged to make our behavior conform with a set of preexisting cosmic rules. It is our creation now. We make the rules. We establish the parameters of reality. We create the world. And because we do, we no longer feel beholden to outside forces. We no longer have to justify our behavior, for we are the architects of the universe. We are responsible for nothing outside ourselves, for we are the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever.”166
Mankind! You are the poor in need of Allah whereas Allah is the Rich Beyond Need, the Praiseworthy. (Surah Fatir: 15)
Rifkin’s statement reveals why Darwinists feel so close to the New Age movement. The perverse materialistic worldview has for centuries rejected Allah’s certain existence and credited coincidental developments with the creation of the universe. They represent the same view that puts man at the center of existence like the New Age movement. As we have mentioned before, in reality man is a helpless being created from nothing by Allah and wholly dependent on our Lord, Who has created the whole universe and the world so perfect for our needs, with all the beings it contains created to unequalled standards of perfection. Each being exists in its ideal environment with a bodily order perfectly adapted to it. It is possible to see our Lord supreme creation in everything that exists in the universe. Allah reveals the perfection of his system in the Surat al-Mulk:
He Who created the seven heavens in layers. You will not find any flaw in the Creation of the All-Merciful. Look again – do you see any gaps? Then look again and again. Your sight will return to you dazzled and exhausted! (Surat al-Mulk: 3-4)
The following are other verses on the subject:
Say: “Am I to take anyone other than Allah as my protector, the Bringer into Being of the heavens and the earth, He Who feeds and is not fed?” Say: “I am commanded to be the first of the Muslims,” and, “Do not be among the idolaters.” (Surat al-An‘am: 14)
Their Messengers said, “Is there any doubt about Allah, the Bringer into Being of the heavens and the earth? He summons you to forgive you for your wrong actions and to defer you until a specified time.” They said, “You are nothing but human beings like ourselves who want to debar us from what our fathers worshipped; so bring us a clear authority.” (Surah Ibrahim: 10)
People who ignorantly ascribe divinity to man and regard him as a being of power and might are simply ignoring their incapacity. It is a great irrational perversion for someone who is helpless against an invisibly small virus, who cannot intervene in the faultlessly functioning system of his body and who can not delay the appointed moment of his death by Allah by even one second to claim a divine status, in his own eyes. Every human being came into existence by Allah’s command of “Be!” In this life on earth, our Lord is trying each human and will hold him accountable for his every action.
It is revealed in the Qur’an that the Prophet Eber’s (pbuh) people were idolaters who persisted in rejecting Allah but remained loyal to the worship of their fictitious idols. The Prophet Eber’s (pbuh) reminder to them is related in the verses:
I have put my trust in Allah, my Lord and your Lord. There is no creature He does not hold by the forelock. My Lord is on a Straight Path. (Surah Hud: 56)
