More on Harun Yahya as Mahdi

Last updated on: May 7, 2013 at 6:41 pm by Svend White

More on Harun Yahya as Mahdi 2013-05-07T18:41:56-05:00 Svend White

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

It has occurred to me that the fact the
title of my last entry ("Rejecting a "Mahdi" vs. rejecting the idea of the Mahdi") refers to the Mahdi while the link leads to a Harun

Yahya-affiliated website concerning not the Mahdi but rather the
Promised Messiah (i.e., the Second Coming of Jesus Christ (as)–a
belief shared in some form by Muslims and Christians alike) might cause
some confusion, or at least cause the reader to wonder whether I know the
difference between the two.

To clarify, I wrote that title after reading an article ("Harun Yahya or Adnan Oktar: The Promised Mahdi?") purportedly by a former associate, that
alleges that HY has believed himself to be the Mahdi since the late
1980s. While I again don’t know whether HY has truly made this claim,
the suspicion clearly exists at least in some quarters and the fact that some of his followers are so interested in these esoteric matters seems to warrant the suspicion.

The author of this article, Edip Yüksel, is well
known on the Internet for his defense of Rashad Khalifah‘s numerological theories about the Quran in the past. It is interesting to such a refutation coming from a "Submitter" given how they reject all hadith. (Should a Submitter really care who claims to be the Mahdi?)

If Yüksel’s characterization of HY is correct (i.e., if HY really has claimed to be the Mahdi), the fact that Harun Yahya’s promoters are discussing Hazrat Jesus is intriguing.

I’d love to know whether they believe that both figures (i.e., the Mahdi and the Prommised Messiah) have arrived and been identified. If they designate another individual, my money is on them putting forward Said Nursi (d. 1960) as the other millenial figure rather than a living person. (This would not reflect negatively in any way on Nursi, of course. It would be quite natural for his legacy to be invoked, especially in the Turkish-speaking world.) Are they busy scanning the skies of Damascus for a UFOs (i.e., a guy floating down from the heavens onto a white minaret)? (If you think this year’s moon sightings were controversial…) Or do they perhaps believe that HY is both Mahdi
and Promised Messiah?

I doubt we’re likely to get a explicit statement either way, given how controversial such claims are and how easily they are exploited by political opponents. Which is unfortunate, as silence forces observers to rely on rumors and the accusations of potentially biased critics (e.g., Yüksel).

Again, I have zero interst in promoting any
particular interpretation or candidate (whether Harun Yahya or anybody else). Beyond a healthy suspicion
towards literalistic interpretations of all these ahadtih (e.g.,
my guess is that the Dajjal will not be some Godzilla-like monster), I remain
firmly "agnostic" on this difficult questions, which are secondary matters that are open to speculation and debate.

The only thing I am very certain about is that the people who hold forth on this the loudest and with the most confidence often turn out to be the most woefully ignorant and simplistic in their analysis. If we’re not even sure who the various mujaddids were and what they really did as mujaddids (i.e., What parts of a mujaddid’s writings are divinely inspired and what are their own fallible opinion? What do we do when mujaddids appear to disagree?), how can we speak on these far more complex and ambiguous matters with precision and certainty?

Allahu `alim.

P.S. This article makes charges about personal conduct that I am not endorsing or trying to disseminate. (To the contrary, I would be more comfortable if it did not get into these matters.)

I know nothing about HY beyond the English translations of his writings on Evolution that have been distributed around the world. I’m only sharing this article because it discusses the issue at hand and because all its charges appear to already be in the public sphere (e.g., it states that these issues have been discussed in the Turkish press).

Islamic Thought

Previous Post

November 25, 2005

Rejecting a "Mahdi" vs. rejecting the idea of the Mahdi

Next Post

December 1, 2005 Must Muslims reject Evolution?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category American Politics Animals in Islam Anti-Semitism Christian Jihadism Christianity Culture & the Arts Current Affairs Denmark Dogs in Islam Family life Film Gender Great MP3s Hate in America Imam W.D. Mohammed Interfaith Dialogue International Affairs Islam and the Left Islamic Thought Islamophobia Jihad Judaism Legos Link of the Day Marriage Misc Modernity/Post-Modernity Mormonism Multiculturalism Music Muslims in the Melting Pot Must-Listen Podcasts Non-Muslims and Islam Pakistan Pictures Pigs in Islam Polygamy Pork Progressive Muslims Race Relations Really Important Stuff Religion Required Reading Robert Spencer Scandinavia Science Science Fiction Sex in Islam So-called Globalization South Asia Star Trek Strange but True Studying Arabic Stupid Muslim Tricks Sufism/Tasawwuf Television The "Miami 7" hoopla The Corporate Media The Danish cartoons The GWOT The Jihad against Islam The Middle East Vikings! Wahhabism/Salafism Washington and the Middle East Web/Tech Women in Islam

Select a Month March 2014 February 2014 November 2013 September 2013 July 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 September 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did the Israelites grumble about after crossing the Red Sea?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Boredom Lack of water Too much sun Wild animals