al-Masih ad-Dajjal ( '''', Arabic for "the false messiah"), is an evil figure in Islamic eschatology. He is to appear pretending to be ''Masih'' (i.e. the Messiah) at a time in the future, before ''Yawm al-Qiyamah'' (Judgment Day), directly comparable to the figures of the Antichrist and Armilus in Christian and Jewish eschatology, respectively.

Name

'''' is a common old Arabic word (دجال) not common at this time, with the meaning "deceiving" or "the Placebo" or "impostor" '''', with the definite article al- ("the"), refers to "the deceiving Messiah", a specific end-of times deceiver.

Qur'an

The "Dajjal" is not mentioned by name or referenced in the Qur'an.

Hadith

According to ''hadith'', Muhammad is said to have prophesied that the Masih ad-Dajjal would be the last of a series of thirty ''Dajjal'' or "deceivers" (false prophets).

Muhammad is reported to have said:

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Ali was reported to have said:

}} Anas b. Malik reported that Allah's Messenger said: There is never a prophet who has not warned the Ummah of that one-eyed liar; behold he is one-eyed and your Lord is not one-eyed. On his forehead are the letters k. f. r. (Kafir).

Signs of his coming

''Hadith'' attributed to Muhammad give many signs of the appearance of the ''Dajjal'', and exhorted his followers to recite the first and last ten verses of Sura Al-Kahf, as protection from the trials and mischief of the ''Dajjal''.

The following signs are ascribed to Ali in the coming of Dajjal:

People will stop offering the prayers

Dishonesty will be the way of life

Falsehood will become a virtue

People will mortgage their faith for worldly gains

Usury and bribery will become legitimate

Imbeciles would rule over the wise

Blood of innocents would be shed

Pride will be taken on acts of oppression

The rulers will be corrupt

The scholars will be hypocrites

Adultery will be rampant

The liars and treacherous will be respected

There will be acute famine at the time

There will be no shame amongst people

Children would challenge their mothers

Youngsters would perform marital relationship with their parents

Many people would worship Satan

There would be no respect for elder people

Homo-sexuality

Eschatology

The ''Dajjal'' will appear somewhere between Syria and Iraq and will travel the whole world preaching his falsehood, but will be unable to enter Mecca or Medina. Isa (Jesus) will return and the ''Dajjal'' will gather an army of those he has deceived and lead them in a war against Jesus, who shall be accompanied by an army of the righteous.

Defeat and death

Sunni beliefs

Sunni Muslims believe that Isa (name of Jesus in islam) will descend on Mount Afeeq, on the white Eastern Minaret of Damascus. He will descend from the heavens with his hands resting on the shoulders of two angels. His cheeks will be flat and his hair straight. When he lowers his head it will seem as if water is flowing from his hair, when he raises his head, it will appear as though his hair is beaded with silvery pearls. He will descend during ''fajr'' (morning prayer) and the leader of the Muslims will address him thus, "O' Prophet of God, lead the prayer."

Isa will decline with the words, "The virtue of this nation that follows Islam is that they lead each other." Implying that he will pray behind the imam (the man that leads the prayings) as the word of God was completed after revelation of Qur'an and Muhammad being the last prophet of God.

After the prayer, Isa will prepare himself to do battle and shall take up a sword. An army shall return from a campaign launched before the arrival of Isa. Isa shall set out in pursuit of Dajjal. All those who embraced the evil of Dajjal shall perish even as the breath of Isa touches them. The breath of Isa shall precede him as far as the eye can see. Dajjal will be captured at Lud. The Anti-Christ shall begin to melt, as salt dissolves in water. The spear of Isa shall plunge into Dajjal’s chest, ending his dreaded reign. The followers of Dajjal will be rooted out, for even the trees and rocks will speak out against them. Isa will break the cross and kill pig (the animal). Then all battles shall cease and the world will know an age of peace. Then truly the sheep will lie in the shadow of the wolf without fear. The rule of Isa will be just and all shall flock to him to enter the folds of the one true religion, Islam.

Shīa beliefs

Shias believe that Dajjal will be killed by Muhammad al-Mahdi.

See also

Belial

Devil (Islam)

Mahdi

References

http://www.alislam.org/library/books/revelation/part_6_section_2.html

External links

Ahadith on the Dajjal (muttaqun.com)

More Ahadith about Dajjal

">"Seeing with Both Eyes" (Text of a lecture given on the Dajjal by Shaykh AbdulHakim Murad [Timothy Winter)]

The Detailed Information on Dajjal (Translation of the book ''DAJJAL'' originally written in Urdu by a PhD scholar)

Category:Islamic eschatology Category:Messianism

ar:الدجال (إسلام) de:Daddschal fa:دجال id:Dajal is:Dajjal it:Dajjal ml:മസീഹുദ്ദജ്ജാൽ ms:Dajal nl:Dajjal pt:Dajjal ro:Dajjal ru:Даджаль ta:தச்சால் tr:Deccal

name	Adnan Oktar
residence	Turkey
other names	Harun Yahya, Adnan Hoca
birth name	Adnan Oktar
birth date	February 02, 1956
birth place	Ankara, Turkey
known	Islamic creationism, Anti-Zionism, Anti-Masonry
occupation	Author
religion	Sunni Muslim
website	www.harunyahya.com
weight	}}

Adnan Oktar (born Ankara, February 2, 1956), also known as Harun Yahya, is an author and Islamic creationist. In 2007, he sent thousands of unsolicited copies of the ''Atlas of Creation'' advocating Islamic creationism to American scientists, members of Congress, and science museums. Oktar runs two organizations of which he is also the Honorary President: ''Bilim Araştırma Vakfı'' ("Science Research Foundation", BAV, established 1990), which promotes creationism and ''Milli Değerleri Koruma Vakfı'' ("Foundation to Protect National Values", established 1995) which claimed to promote Turkish nationalism. In the last two decades, Oktar has been involved in a number of legal cases, both as defendant and plaintiff.

Biography

Adnan Oktar was born in Ankara, Turkey on February 2, 1956. He grew up in Ankara, and lived there through his high school years where he studied the works of Islamic scholars like Said Nursi, a Muslim Kurdish scholar who wrote Risale-i Nur, an extensive Qur'anic commentary which includes a comprehensive political and religious ideology.

In 1979, Adnan Oktar came to Istanbul and entered Mimar Sinan University. These years were marked with violence and repression which led to the installation of a military junta following the coup of September 1980. The environment in Turkey was one of political and cultural instability, threatened by Cold War politics, and a clash between Kemalist secular modernisers and a rising tide of Islamic militancy. In this environment he regularly went to the Molla Mosque in Fındıklı locality, close to the academy of fine arts where he studied interior architecture, to pray regardless of threats. Edip Yuksel, who knew him during those years, described him as a "Sunni zealot."

In the early 1980s, he gathered young students around him to share his views of Islam. These students belonged to socially-active and prosperous families of Istanbul. From 1982 to 1984, a group of 20 to 30 was formed. They were joined by private high schools students who were from socially active and well-known families with had a high economic status who had become newly religious. Edip Yüksel said he presented his teachings "gently and in a modern fashion to the children of the privileged class, without intimidating them... a refined and urbanized version of Said Nursi."

In his religious teachings, he argued against Marxism, communism and materialistic philosophy. He attached special importance to refuting the Theory of Evolution and Darwinism because he felt that it had been turned into an ideology used to promote materialism and atheism, and numerous derivative ideologies. He personally funded a pamphlet entitled the ''Theory of Evolution'' which combined "mysticism with scientific rhetoric."

In 1986 he enrolled in the Philosophy Department of Istanbul University. Adnan Oktar appeared as the cover story of ''Nokta'' (The Point) magazine, reporting how he gathered with his friends and held lectures in a mosque. Many university students, mostly from Bosphorus University, one of the most prestigious universities of Turkey, started to participate. Adnan Oktar's name began to appear regularly in the press, sometimes in the headlines. Later that year he published a book titled ''Judaism and Freemasonry'' based on conspiracy theories that state offices, universities, political groups and media were influenced by a "hidden group". Adnan Oktar later qualified those remarks. (see "Conspiracy Theories" below)

Oktar was arrested, charged with promoting a theocratic revolution for which he served 19 months, though he was never formally charged. He was confined to a prison clinic, and then Bakirkoy Mental Hospital, where he was diagnosed with an obsessive-compulsive personality disorder and schizophrenia. Although doubts exist as to the accuracy of the diagnosis, and whether it was personally or politically motivated . Military doctors later declared him mentally sound, he says, but he complains that Turkish media propagated the idea that he was a lunatic. Oktar also claims he was thrown in a mental institution as punishment after the publication of his first book.

Throughout the 1980s and early ’90s, Oktar built up his community. His followers were especially active recruiting in the summer resorts along the shore of the Sea of Marmara. The social organization within the group become more hierarchical and took on a Messianic nature. Oktar says that due to the anarchy and terror in those years, he was unable to continue his studies. He had already begun working on his books, so when he left school he devoted his energy to his books.

In 1990, he founded the ''Science Research Foundation'' (SRF, or, in Turkish, ''Bilim Araştırma Vakfı'', or BAV). Oktar founded the ''Science Research Foundation'' to hold conferences and seminars for scientific activities "that target mass awareness concerning what the real underlying causes of social and political conflicts are", which he describes to be materialism and Darwinism, though some media describe the BAV as "a secretive Islamic sect" and "cult-like organization, that jealously guards the secrets of its considerable wealth". Members of the BAV are sometimes referred to as ''Adnan Hocacılar'' ("Adherents of Adnan the Hodja") by the public

In 1994 the Islamist Welfare Party (Refah Partisi), the predecessor of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), won control of the municipalities of Istanbul and Ankara. The new mayors (in Istanbul this was Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, now Turkey’s Prime Minister) sought broader support. The journalist and editor Fatih Altayli claimed that Oktar made business agreements with municipalities under the control of the Welfare party. This claim was denied by Oktar, and resulted in libel suits against Fatih Altayli with various results.

In 1995, Adnan Oktar founded ''Foundation for Protection of National Values'' (FPNV or in Turkish ''Millî Değerleri Koruma Vakfı''), through which he networks with other conservative Turkish nationalist organizations and individuals based on the ideology of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey.

In 1997, after another military intervention, the “bloodless coup” of 1997, the government of Erbakan stepped down and the Welfare Party disbanded. According to the ''New Humanist'', the current AKP government avoids political connections with Oktar and his organization.

In September 1999 Adnan Oktar was arrested and charged with using threats for personal benefit and creating an organization with the intent to commit a crime (see "Legal issues" below). After a court case lasting two years the charges were dismissed.

After September 11, 2001 and the WTC attacks, Oktar published a book called ''Islam Denounces Terrorism''. Oktar spoke more of interfaith dialogue, attempting to unify believers of all stripes. Muslims, Christians and Jews should unite against the corrupting influence of Darwinism, which he held responsible for fascism, anti-Semitism and the holocaust.

Between that time and present, BAV has organized hundreds of conferences on creationism in Turkey and worldwide. He built a large publishing enterprise with publications sold though Islamic bookstore worldwide. He is considered "one of the most widely distributed authors in the Muslim world". His television show is viewed by many in the Arab world. Adnan Oktar has been preaching about the “Turkish-Islamic Union”, which would bring peace to the entire Muslim world under the leadership of Turkey.

In 2007 he sent out thousands of unsolicited copies of his ''Atlas of Creation'' advocating Islam and creationism to schools and colleges in several European countries and the USA.

The next year the 1999 case was reopened by another court (see "Legal issues" below). Adnan Oktar was convicted and sentenced to three years in prison. But the verdict was appealed and in May 2010 it was overturned. During these years he engaged in numerous libel suits with various results (See "Legal Issues" below). In some cases he was successful in blocking high-profile websites in Turkey for slander (See "Blocking Internet Sites" below), including that of Richard Dawkins, as well as the complete Wordpress-site.

In 2010, Adnan Oktar was selected as one of the top fifty of ''The 500 Most Influential Muslims'' in the World by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre of Jordan for his dissemination of creationism in an Islamic context, and other extensively distributed publications on Islamic topics.

Writings

Oktar has written numerous books under the pen name Harun Yahya. Harun referring to the biblical Aaron and Yahya referring to the New Testament John the Baptist.

Oktar's books on faith-related topics attempt to communicate the existence and oneness of God (Allah in the Qur'an ) according to the Islamic faith, and are written with the main purpose of introducing Islam to those who are strangers to religion. Each of his books on science-related topics stresses his views on the might, sublimity, and majesty of God. These books attempt to display for non-Muslims what Oktar claims to be signs of the existence of God, and the excellence of his creation. A sub-group within this series are the series of "Books Demolishing the Lie of Evolution", a critique of the ideas of materialism, evolution, Darwinism, and atheism.

These publications argue against evolution. They assert that evolution denies the existence of God, abolishes moral values, and promotes materialism and communism. Oktar argues that Darwinism, by stressing the "survival of the fittest", has inspired racism, Nazism, communism and terrorism. A claim not unexpected in Turkey when during the political turmoil before a 1980 military coup, communist bookshops touted Darwin's works as a complement to Karl Marx.

Truman State University physicist Taner Edis, who was born in Turkey, says the secret to BAV's success is the huge popularity of the Harun Yahya books. "They're fairly lavishly produced, on good-quality paper with full-color illustrations all over the place," he says. "They're trying to compete with any sort of science publication you can find in the Western world. And in a place like Turkey, Yahya books look considerably better-published than most scientific publications.". Many of Oktar's books have been made into high-resolution videos which are freely downloadable on the Internet.

Creationism

The spread of organized Christian creationism to Islam began in the 1980s, when the Muslim minister of education in Turkey turned to the ''Institute of Creation Research'' (ICR), a Christian institution in Dallas Texas, for help in developing twofold curriculum that would teach evolution and creation side by side.

In 1990, the ''Science Research Foundation'' (BAV in Turkish) was formed in Istanbul, headed by Oktar.

Oktar for many years drew on the writings of young earth Christian creationists to develop his case against evolution. However, Islam does not require belief in Young Earth creationism, and making use of the fact that earth may have existed for billions of years, Oktar later produced material which was more similar to Intelligent Design. So similar in fact, that Harun Yahya's website was listed as an 'Islamic intelligent design' website by the Discovery Institute. However Oktar does not embrace use of the term 'Intelligent Design' due to its lack of specific mention of God, calling it 'another of Satan's snares'.

In early 1998, the BAV launched its first campaign against evolution/Darwinism. Thousands of free copies of Adnan Oktar's book, ''The Evolution Deceit'', and the booklets based on this book were distributed throughout Turkey. They regularly ran full-page ads against evolution in daily Turkish newspapers and even ran an ad in the U.S. magazine TIME. The funding of the campaigns is unknown. BAV spearheaded an effort to confront Turkish academics who taught evolutionary biology A number of faculty members were harassed, threatened and slandered in fliers, leading to legal action against BAV (see "Legal Issues" below).

In 2005, Professor Ümit Sayın summed up the effect of the BAV's campaign when he said to ''The Pitch'':

In 1998, I was able to motivate six members of the Turkish Academy of Sciences to speak out against the creationist movement. Today, it's impossible to motivate anyone. They're afraid they'll be attacked by the radical Islamists and the BAV.

In September 2008 Oktar issued a challenge offering "10 trillion Turkish lira to anyone who produces a single intermediate-form fossil demonstrating evolution". He has claimed, "Not one [fossil] belongs to strange-looking creatures in the course of development of the kind supposed by evolutionists." Dr Kevin Padian at the University of California has criticized the notion that such fossils do not exist, stating that Oktar "does not have any sense of what we know about how things change through time. If he sees a fossil crab, he says, 'It looks just like a regular crab, there's no evolution.'"

However, the reaction of scientific community is negative and dismissive.

Taner Edis has said "there is nothing new in the Yahya material: scientifically negligible arguments and outright distortions often copied from Christian anti-evolution literature, presented with a conservative Muslim emphasis" concluding it "has no scholarly standing whatsoever". According to Richard Dawkins, Oktar "doesn't know anything about zoology, doesn't know anything about biology. He knows nothing about what he is attempting to refute".

In France, scientists spoke out against the book, and American scientists are unimpressed.

The Atlas of Creation

Oktar published volume 1 of his ''Yaratılış Atlası'' (''The Atlas of Creation''), with Global Publishing, Istanbul, Turkey in October 2006. Volumes 2 and 3 followed in 2007. A dedicated website (yaratilisatlasi.com, English atlasofcreation.com) registered to Global Yayıncılık (Global Publishing), Istanbul, went online also in 2007.

At 11 x 17 inches and 12 pounds, with a bright red cover and almost 800 glossy pages, most of them lavishly illustrated, “Atlas of Creation” is according the New York Times "probably the largest and most beautiful creationist challenge yet to Darwin’s theory, which Mr. Yahya calls a feeble and perverted ideology contradicted by the Koran". Tens of thousands of copies of the book have been delivered, on an unsolicited basis, to schools, prominent researchers and research institutes throughout Europe and the United States.

However, the book has been widely criticized and dismissed by scientists.

Biologist Kevin Padian from University of California, Berkeley, said that people who had received copies were “just astounded at its size and production values and equally astonished at what a load of crap it is." adding that "[Oktar] does not really have any sense of what we know about how things change through time.”

Gerdien de Jong, one of five biologists at Utrecht University who received a copy of the book, has described its reasoning as "absurdly ridiculous"..

Biologist PZ Myers wrote: "The general pattern of the book is repetitious and predictable: the book shows a picture of a fossil and a photo of a living animal, and declares that they haven't changed a bit, therefore evolution is false. Over and over. It gets old fast, and it's usually wrong (they have changed!) and the photography, while lovely, is entirely stolen."

The Council of Europe's Committee on Culture, Science and Education wrote in its report on this book that "None of the arguments in this work are based on any scientific evidence, and the book appears more like a primitive theological treatise than the scientific refutation of the theory of evolution."

Conspiracy theories

Oktar propagates a number of conspiracy theories, beginning with his 1986 ''Yahudilik ve Masonluk'' (''Judaism and Freemasonry''). The book suggests that the principal mission of Jews and Freemasons in Turkey was to erode the spiritual, religious, and moral values of the Turkish people and, thus, make them like animals, as stated in what Oktar refers to as their use of "Distorted Torah." Oktar asserts that "the materialist standpoint, evolution theory, anti-religious and immoral lifestyles were indoctrinated to the society as a whole" by Jews and Freemasons.

Oktar's theory of a global conspiracy of Freemasonry is expounded in his book ''Global Masonluk'' (English ''Global Freemasonry'') and on his websites ''Masonluk'' and ''Global Freemasonry''. According to Oktar, Freemasonry is "the main architect of the world system based on materialist philosophy, but which keeps that true identity concealed." Oktar claims that the theory of evolution is a Masonic conspiracy initiated by the Rosicrucians.

Oktar's recent publications declare Darwinism and Materialism to be conspiracies responsible for anti-semitism and terrorism. In recent publications and interviews (since 2004), Oktar qualifies his condemnations of Zionism and Freemasonry by adding the word atheist before them, as in ''atheist Zionists'' and ''atheist Freemasons''.

According to a July 2009 interview, Oktar's position is essentially merely against atheism as he has met Christians and Jews worldwide. He stated his objectives of a religious alliance "include waging a joint intellectual and spiritual battle against the worldwide growing tide of irreligiousness, unbelief and immorality." The interviewer noted, "But even more unusual is their agreement with regard to the need to rebuild the Jewish Temple, a structure that Mr. Oktar refers to as the 'Masjid (Mosque)' or the 'Palace of Solomon.'"

Holocaust Denial and Affirmation

In 1996, BAV distributed its first book, originally published the previous year, entitled ''Soykırım Yalanı'' (''The Holocaust Lie''). The publication of ''Soykırım Yalanı'' sparked much public debate. This book claims that "what is presented as Holocaust is the death of some Jews due to the typhus plague during the war and the famine towards the end of the war caused by the defeat of the Germans."

A Turkish painter and intellectual, Bedri Baykam, published a strongly worded critique of the book in the Ankara daily newspaper ''Siyah-Beyaz'' ("Black and White"). A legal suit for slander was brought against him. During the trial in September, Baykam exposed the real author of ''The Holocaust Lie'' as Adnan Oktar. The suit was withdrawn in March 1997.

In 2001, the Stephen Roth Institute, of Tel-Aviv University, listed Oktar as a Holocaust denier due to the publication of ''The Holocaust Lie''.

Three years later the Stephen Roth Institute expressed the opinion that Adnan Oktar had increased his tolerance toward others, asserting that "he now works towards promoting inter-religious dialogue". calling upon all Muslims to have "a tolerant and friendly attitude toward other religions".

In 2006, BAV published a book affirming the Holocaust, called ''The Holocaust Violence''. ''The Holocaust Violence'' states "The Nazis subjected European Jews to indisputable and unforgivable cruelty during World War II. They humiliated, insulted and degraded millions of Jewish civilians, forcing them from their homes and enslaving them in concentration camps under inhuman conditions... Certainly the Jewish people, of whom 5.5 million died in concentration camps, were the worst victims of the Nazi barbarity."

In a 2007 interview with ''The Guardian'', Oktar denied writing ''The Holocaust Lie'', a claim that ''The Guardian'' stated was "hard to believe.". The next year in an interview with Der Spiegel, Adnan Oktar stated that "The Holocaust Lie," had been written by a member of his organization who had published his own essays using Oktar's pen-name "Harun Yahya", upon his own initiative. Oktar disclaimed the first book, and said the second book reflected his own opinions.

In 2009, Oktar expressed his views for Jews in his own words, "hatred or anger toward the line of the Prophet Abraham is completely unacceptable. The Prophet Abraham is our ancestor, and the Jews are our brothers. We want the descendants of the Prophet Abraham to live in the easiest, pleasantest and most peaceful manner. We want them to be free to perform their religious obligations, to live as they wish in the lands of their forebears and to frequently remember Allah in comfort and security." In 2009 and 2010, Oktar published several websites of Jewish interest.

Other legal issues

In addition to the slander trial over ''The Holocaust Lie'', Oktar has been involved in other cases. Although most are unrelated to creationism or religion, a BAV spokesperson says Oktar is being persecuted “because of his ideas.” Physicist Taner Edis of Truman State University, who has followed the case closely, says given the political pressures on Turkey’s justice system, that’s “not entirely implausible.”

In the summer of 1986, Oktar was arrested for his statement "I am from the nation of Abraham and Turkish ethnicity" in a newspaper interview. According to the ''New Humanist'', Oktar was arrested for promoting a theocratic revolution for which he served 19 months, though he was never formally charged.

In 1991, Oktar was arrested for possession of cocaine, which he claimed had been planted in one of the books in his library by the security forces, who, he said, also spiked his food with cocaine. He was later acquitted.

A number of faculty members who taught evolution were harassed, threatened and slandered in flyers that labeled them "Maoists". In 1999, six of the professors won a civil court case against the BAV for defamation and were each awarded $4,000.

In 1999, Oktar was arrested and charged with using threats for personal benefit and creating an organization with the intent to commit a crime. BAV's lawyers claimed there were several human rights violations during this police operation, as well as the use of violence during the arrest and afterwards. The judicial process lasted over two years, during which most of the complainants retracted their claims. As a result, cases against Oktar and other BAV members were dismissed.

The 1999 case was reopened by another court in 2008. The indictment from the prosecutor’s office, made public by ''Cumhuriyet'', claimed blackmail and extortion. Among other things, it claimed that BAV used its female members to attract young scholars from rich families with the promise of sexual favors in exchange for attending events. It was claimed that the sexual activities of thousands of people were videotaped with hidden cameras for the purpose of blackmail. Members who wanted to leave the group were threatened that the tapes would be made public. In the face of all these allegations against BAV, the Chairman of the Court announced in the hearing on February 29, 2008, that testimonies obtained through unlawful means may not be considered as evidence based on article 148 of the criminal code.

Oktar was convicted of creating an illegal organization for personal gain. He and 17 other members of his organisation were sentenced to three years in prison. Oktar appealed the verdict. In May 2010, the Court of Appeals overturned the conviction and dismissed the charges.

Blocking of Internet sites

Since 2007 Oktar has successfully had the Turkish government block public access to several websites. In April 2007, Oktar filed a libel lawsuit against the owners of Ekşi Sözlük, a virtual community similar to everything2. The court reviewed the complaint and ordered the service provider to close the site to public access. The site was temporarily suspended so the entry on Oktar could be expunged and locked. Then access to ''Süper Poligon'', a news website, was also restricted following Oktar's complaint. In August 2007, Oktar got a Turkish court to block WordPress.com in all of Turkey. His lawyers argued that blogs on WordPress.com contained libelous material on Oktar and his colleague, which WordPress.com staff was unwilling to remove.

In addition, Edip Yuksel, a Turkish writer who knew Oktar in the 1980s and is now critical of him, had his website banned in Turkey from Oktar's complaints. In addition, Yuksel wrote a Turkish-language book about Oktar called ''The Cult of the Antichrist'', but he has yet to find "a publisher willing to brave Mr. Oktar's lawyers."

On September 19, 2008, a Turkish court banned Internet users in Turkey from viewing the official Richard Dawkins Web site after Oktar claimed its contents were defamatory, blasphemous and insulting religion, arguing that his personality was violated by this site. The ban was lifted on 8th July 2011. Also in September 2008, a complaint by Oktar led to the banning of the internet site of the Union of Education and Scientific Workers (Türk Eğitim Sen). This was followed by a block of the country's third-biggest newspaper site, ''Vatan'', in October.

Television broadcasting

On March 21, 2011, Oktar started television broadcasting on A9 satellite channel where his interviews and night lectures are broadcast live.

Bibliography

thumb|128px| A Call For Unity [of Muslims, Christians and Jews]	thumb|128px|The Signs of Jesus' Second Coming
thumb|128px|Islam Denounces Terrorism	thumb|128px|Wisdom and Sound Advice from the Torah
thumb|128px|Only Love can Defeat Terrorism	thumb|128px|Islam Denounces Antisemitism

Oktar's books and brochures appear in Turkish with "Vural Yayıncılık" ("Global Publishing"), Istanbul. English translations of Oktar's books appear with "Ta-Ha Publishers", London, UK; "Global Publishing", Istanbul, Turkey; "Al-Attique Publishers", Ontario, Canada and "Goodword Books", New Delhi, India.

Publication media includes: Books, Booklets (Pamphlets), Children's Books, Journals, Documentaries, Audio Books, CD's, Posters and over a hundred websites. The total number of books and brochures published by Oktar number in the hundreds. The works are lavishly produced, on good-quality paper with full-color illustrations and sold in Islamic bookstores worldwide.

References

External links

Official Harun Yahya site

Harun Yahya: Catalog of works

Taner Edis: Harun Yahya and Islamic Creationism (2003)

Richard Dawkins on Harun Yahya's Atlas of Creation

Category:Article Feedback Pilot Category:1956 births Category:People from Ankara Category:Turkish Muslims Category:Living people Category:Turkish prisoners and detainees Category:Islamic creationists Category:Conspiracy theorists Category:Internet censorship Category:Anti-Zionism Category:Anti-Masonry

ar:عدنان أوكطار az:Harun Yəhya bn:আদনান ওকতার bs:Harun Yahya bg:Аднан Октар cs:Adnan Oktar de:Harun Yahya es:Adnan Oktar fa:هارون یحیی fr:Adnan Oktar id:Harun Yahya it:Adnan Oktar jv:Harun Yahya hu:Adnan Oktar ml:അദ്‌നാൻ ഓൿതാർ ms:Adnan Oktar nl:Harun Yahya pl:Adnan Oktar pt:Adnan Oktar ru:Аднан Октар sq:Harun Jahja sd:هارون يحيٰ so:Cadnaan Oktaar sr:Аднан Октар fi:Harun Yahya tr:Adnan Oktar

Name	Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips
Birth name	Dennis Bradley Philips
Birth date	January 07, 1947
Birth place	Kingston, Jamaica
Occupation	Islamic preacher
Religion	Sunni Islam
Website	www.bilalphilips.com
Footnotes	}}

Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips (born Dennis Bradley Philips January 7, 1947) in Jamaica is a contemporary Islamistic scholar, teacher, speaker, and author, resident in Qatar. He appears on Peace TV, which is a 24-hour Islamic satellite TV channel broadcasted to many countries around the world. According to Investigative Project on Terrorism he follows a strong anti-Western agenda and is connected to radical and terrorist Islamistics.

Biography

Education

Philips was born January 7, 1947 in Jamaica, but grew up in Canada, where he converted to Islam in 1972. He received his B.A. degree from the Islamic University of Medina and his M.A. in Aqeedah (Islamic Theology) from the King Saud University in Riyadh, then to the University of Wales, where he completed a PhD in Islamic Theology in the early 1990's. Philips comes from a family of educators, as both his parents were teachers and his grandfather was a Christian minister and Bible scholar.

Islamic Information Center

In 1994 he founded (and continues to direct) an Islamic Information Center, now known as Discover Islam, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Islamic Online University

The Islamic Online University has been founded by Dr. Bilal Philips as a completely tuition-free institution that is offering an online intensive, undergraduate, and graduate courses in Islamic Studies. The university offers a four year bachelor of arts degree in Islamic studies program.

The IOU was initially launched in 2001 from UAE with an offering of a few short courses. After a five year interlude, it was restarted in 2007 from Qatar with a greater offering of completely free short courses.

Controversies

In an interview given, Philips accused the Australian authorities of "blindly following American allegations and unsubstantiated false accusations" claiming that investigations in the UK, Canada and Australia had found no evidence that he was in any way connected with terrorism. In this interview, he also pointed out that he had not entered the USA since 1995, characterizing media claims that he had been deported in 2004 as an "outright lie". Philips also called the statement that he was an "unindicted co-conspirator” in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing "really a joke", claiming that it was based on a "supposedly leaked report" of over 100 prominent Muslims who were never charged. In April 2011 he has been banned from re-entering Germany as persona non grata.

At a conference in Toronto during the city's Pride Parade on July 3, 2011, Philips briefly reiterated his view that homosexuals caught in the act should be executed in countries governed by Islamic law.

Publications

Books

'' Fundamentals of TAWHEED (Islamic Monotheism) International Islamic Publishing House; ISBN 9960964809 '' The Evolution of Fiqh (Islamic Law & The Madh-habs) International Islamic Publishing House (Edited by Bradley Philips); ISBN 9960672867 '' True Message of Jesus Christ Islamic Book Services 2006; ISBN 8172313608 '' Purpose of Creation 84pp, Islamic Book Services 2002; ISBN 8172313586 '' Funeral Rites International Islamic Publishing House; ASIN 9960850846 '' Polygamy in Islam Islamic Book Services; ISBN 8172317158 '' Islamic Studies Al-Basheer 2002; ISBN 1898649197

Videos

Sundry videos at LightUponLight.com

See also

List of Da'ees

Dawah

Islam in Canada

Zakir Naik

Jamaal al-Din M. Zarabozo

Muhammad bin Jamil Zeno

References

External links

Bilal Philips' official website

Bilal Philips' Blog

Bilal Philips audio and video lectures

Interview with Bilal Philips on Famous Muslims

Lecture: Hardening of the Heart

Bilal Philips' Islamic Online University

Category:Converts to Islam Category:Canadian Muslims Category:Canadian people of Jamaican descent Category:Alumni of the University of Wales Category:Living people Category:1947 births Category:Muslim scholars Category:Islamic studies scholars Category:21st-century imams Category:Salafis

ar:بلال فيلبس da:Bilal Philips de:Bilal Philips ms:Bilal Philips ur:بلال فلپس

The Gog Magog Downs (also known as the Gog Magog Hills or simply the Gogs) are a range of low chalk hills, extending for several miles to the southeast of Cambridge in England. The highest points are marked on Ordnance Survey 1:25000 maps as "Telegraph Clump" at , Little Trees Hill and Wandlebury Hill, both at . The area is undefined but is roughly the elevated area lying north west of the col at Worsted Lodge.

Unlike the nearby hills of the Newmarket Ridge, which have steep sides but very flat tops, these hills have large drops between summits and as such have quite a distinctive appearance; Little Trees Hill looks particularly good from Huckeridge Hill near Sawston. The hills therefore have relatively high topographic prominence. Other tops include: Limepit Hill — Mag's Hill — Copley Hill — Meggs Hill — Fox Hill — Clarke's Hill — White Hill

History

The earliest mention of the biblical name Gog and Magog for this region is found in a decree of 1574, forbidding students to visit the Gog Magog Hills on pain of a fine. Random excavations around the hills revealed the remains of defences at Copley Hill and Cherry Hinton, not older than the Iron Age but the sites themselves are now known already to have been occupied in the Bronze Age. The better-preserved hill fort known as the Wandlebury Ring, which is now situated in a public park, had several concentric ditches and earthen walls, which were kept in place by wooden palisades. It was already inhabited in the Bronze Age and archaeological findings include bronze and iron objects and pottery, including "Knobbed Ware", dating from the Bronze Age.

"Telegraph clump" functioned as one of the locations for the semaphore line, an optical telegraph system, between London and Great Yarmouth from around the 1820s to around 1850.

The dowser and archaeologist Thomas Charles Lethbridge claimed to have found some ancient hill figures buried in the chalk under the surface of the hills. These purported to represent a sun-god, a moon-goddess and a warrior-god. Lethbridge's claims, however, were controversial and are not widely accepted.

In 1989 the Magog Trust, a charity and registered company created for the purpose bought of the downs for £330,000 so it could be returned to chalk grassland and opened to the public.

However the bulk of the chalk downs have been converted to a golf course since 1901 by the Gog Magog Golf Club.

See also

Army Manoeuvres of 1912

Beechwoods nature reserve

Chalk Group

East Cambridgeshire

Guildhall, London for the characters Gog and Magog. How their names came to be attached to these hills is unknown.

References

Mapping

External links

Ritual activity at the foot of the Gog Magog Hills

Fortean Traveller: The Gog Magog Hills, Cambridgeshire

Category:Bronze Age sites in England Category:Hills of Cambridgeshire Category:Iron Age sites in England Category:Visitor attractions in Cambridgeshire Category:Archaeological sites in Cambridgeshire Category:Former populated places in England

he:גבעות גוג מגוג nn:Gog Magog Downs