Adnan Oktar, who writes his books under the pen-name "Harun Yahya", is an idealist person who devoted his entire life to share his views on the existence and unity of God and the graces of the Qur'anic morals with other people. Starting from his university years, he has spent every moment of his life, serving to this cause and never dreaded facing difficulties. Today, he still stands firmly against all the pressure and slanders that he confronts by displaying the same patience and fortitude.

Below, you will find the brief biography of Adnan Oktar, whose works you will find on this website under the pen-name Harun Yahya.

Adnan Oktar was born in 1956 in Ankara and spent his life in Ankara until the end of high school. His commitment to Islam got even more steadfast during high school years. Reading various religious books during this period, he gained profound knowledge about Islam. Moreover, he himself grasped important facts and decided to share these with the people surrounding him. In 1979, Adnan Oktar moved to Istanbul to attend Mimar Sinan University. It was by this time that he undertook the mission to call people to the faith and morals of Islam.

Years in Mimar Sinan University

By the time Adnan Oktar entered Istanbul Mimar Sinan University, the school was already under the influence of various illegal Marxist organisations and militantly atheistic views were prevalent in the university. Everyone, be him a faculty member or a student, was a materialist adhering to the atheist way of thinking. Indeed, instructors took every opportunity to propagate the materialistic philosophy and Darwinism in their lectures albeit irrelevant with their topic.

In an environment where each and every religious and moral value was disrespected and outright rejected, Adnan Oktar started to call the people around him to the unity and existence of God. As may be understood, under such circumstances, any theistic idea was not given an opportunity to gain ground. As Mediha Oktar, his mother, relates, during that period he only had a few hours sleep each night, spending his time reading, taking notes and keeping files. He read hundreds of books, including the basic works on Marxism, communism and materialistic philosophy and thoroughly studied the books on secular ideologies, both classical works and rarely-read ones. He worked on them, marking the significant sections and taking notes at the back. He became highly knowledgeable about these philosophies and ideologies, far better than their own advocates. He also made extensive research on the evolutionary theory, the allegedly scientific basis of these ideologies, and gathered documents and information about it.

Having gathered ample information on deadlocks, contradictions and lies inherent in these philosophies and ideologies based on the rejection of God, Mr. Oktar used this accumulation to tell the facts. He told the existence and unity of God and the truth of the Qur'an in the light of rational and scientific evidence almost to everyone, including the students and instructors in the university. In the course of a conversation in the school cafeteria, on the corridors or during breaks, one could see him refuting the materialist philosophy and Marxism, quoting from these ideologies' own reference books.

He particularly gave emphasis to the theory of evolution, i.e. Darwinism. This theory, advanced against the fact of creation, was widely adopted by university students. Under the guise of science, the theory was actually challenging the faith and moral values of the youth. Unless the main purpose of this scientific fraud was disclosed, it was inevitable that generations, totally devoid of spiritual, moral and religious values, would emerge.

His First Booklet on Darwinism

With this purpose in mind, Adnan Oktar primarily concentrated his efforts on proving the invalidity of this deception. As Darwinism was advanced in the name of science, he thought science would serve as the best means to disclose its fallacy. He wrote a booklet titled The Evolutionary Theory, which was a summary of his extensive researches and studies. He, himself, paid all costs of this booklet by selling some of the estates he inherited from his family. Then, he started distributing free copies of this booklet to university students and discussed it with anyone he met.

This booklet was indeed a comprehensive work revealing that the evolution theory was a fraud which had no scientific and rational value whatsoever. Many people who talked to him could clearly comprehend that the evolutionary theory did not have any scientific validity. Consequently, one could easily understand the fact that no living being could come into existence by sheer coincidences and that they were deliberately created by God. However, some students who were blindly attached to the materialistic thought, despite clearly seeing the reality, openly expressed their insistence on denial. Some of them even dared to say: "Even if I saw God with my own eyes, I would still wage war against Him."

Furthermore, some militant students at the university were straightforwardly threatening Oktar stating that he would put his life to risk if he did not stop his activities. Yet, all these pressures and threats made Oktar even more committed and resolute. Strong reactions and concerns of materialist and atheist circles were concrete evidence that Adnan Oktar was on the right path.

In a university under the Marxists' domination where terror was reigning, the religious people were harassed because of their beliefs. At that time in Turkey, many young people were murdered because of the ideological tension. Under such circumstances, Adnan Oktar was openly preaching the existence and the unity of God, and the righteousness of the Qur'an. In a school where people never dared to disclose their faith, he regularly went to the Molla Mosque and fulfilled his prayers, never being intimidated the reactions and threats he encountered.

The Anxiety of the Atheist Instructors

Adnan Oktar always entered the lectures with scientific documents and research files he always kept with him and had discussions with the instructors about the materialist philosophy and the evolutionary theory. At that time, there were two well-known faculty members who were continuously talking about evolution and making atheist propaganda. Thus, they were popular among Marxist students and earned their respect. However, their desperate efforts to defend their ideas throughout the discussions they had with Adnan Oktar, and the illogical answers they provided revealed the futile and unrealistic nature of their ideologies.

One day after the lecture, one of these instructors made a brief, yet efficient discussion about the deadlocks of the evolutionary theory with Adnan Oktar. This person could bring no reasonable explanation and answer to the scientific and rational arguments provided by Adnan Oktar. All he could do was to leave that place immediately.

However, that he met such a defeat before the very eyes of the students was what most distressed him. From that time on, this person, who used to wander around the corridors and hold serious lengthy philosophical conversations with his students after the lectures, started to hastily run to his room all alone to avoid Adnan Oktar.

Most of the students who attended Mimar Sinan University at that period were also aware of this situation.

Alone for Three Years

Adnan Oktar was alone when he started communicating Islam at Mimar Sinan University. For more than three years, there was no one supporting his views. However this lack of support did not change his commitment. He knew that God was his sole Companion and he did all this to earn the good pleasure of God.

Now and then, there were young people who listened to him and shared his ideas, finding them to be all true. However this was no more than a passing interest which never turned into a wholehearted support. Three years passed at Mimar Sinan University and in the course of this time, Adnan Oktar carried out an ideological struggle against Marxism and atheism all alone by his own personal means.

His First Friends

Adnan Oktar made a remarkable exam score in the entrance exams of the Mimar Sinan University. He had an exceptional ability in drawing. If it was what his goal, he could easily have a degree in fine arts and make a brilliant career. He could normally think, "First let me make my career and then I can start communicating Islam"; but he didn't. He devoted all his time, energy and means to only one purpose.

Having no support throughout these years, Adnan Oktar could simply think his efforts to be vain and simply give up. But he did not. With determination and commitment, he continued to convey the words of God to people around him. Keeping in mind the words of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, "The skill is not to have many listeners but to earn the good pleasure of God", he went on.

In 1982, for the first time, a few young people who were new at Mimar Sinan University, decided to support Mr. Oktar in his ideological struggle. As months and years passed by, the number of young people embracing the same views increased. The evidence for creation, the invalidity of Marxism and materialist philosophy, which was then a dominant ideology, were the major subjects of Adnan Oktar's conversations with these young people. His main ambition was to guide them in being honorable people. From 1982 to 1984, a group of 20-30 young people was formed.

In 1984, some young people, children of prominent families of Istanbul, who attended private high schools, were introduced to him. These young people, during their conversations with Mr. Oktar, thoroughly comprehended the importance of moral values and started to lead a life accordingly. They belonged to socially active and well-known families which had a high economic status. Therefore, their adherence to the morals of Islam deeply impressed the community they belonged to.

During the two years following 1984, conversations held with young people, who were then attending private high schools in Istanbul, were about moral values. During these years, Oktar did not attend Mimar Sinan University. He enrolled to a new faculty, Istanbul University, Philosophy Department.

Young people who met Adnan Oktar felt great sympathy for him and were greatly impressed by his good manners, views and character. Since these young people introduced also their friends to him, a great number of high school students had the opportunity to meet him.

His name appeared in Nokta (The Point) magazine for the first time in 1986 and this was the first time he became to be known by the general public.

First impression in the press

The news about Adnan Oktar appeared as the cover story of Nokta (The Point) magazine after the visit of Rusen Cakir, a correspondent for the Nokta (The Point) magazine, to the mosque where Adnan Oktar gathered with his friends and held conversations. The story published under the headline "Disciples from Colleges" covered basically Adnan Oktar and the way he communicated the message of Islam to the young people who shared his ideas. During this period, many university students, mostly from Bosphorus University, one of the most prestigious universities of Turkey, started to participate in the conversations of Adnan Oktar.

Until the beginning of the summer of the same year, press organs made a full coverage of Adnan Oktar almost everyday. Many newspapers carried his name to the headlines. Adnan Oktar, who spread the message of Islam into the section of society which seemed to be the most secularized, was understandably startling for the media.

There has been several campaigns of persecution against Mr. Oktar because of his faith and ministry. He has been arrested many times, kept in custody for many months, but always found innocent at the end. At this picture, he is seen while being taken to the court by gendarmes.

The First Persecution

The powers in the Turkish society who are at odds with Islam, which are traditionally organized under the banner of Freemasonry, were greatly disturbed by the ministry led by Adnan Oktar. On the other hand, some distinguished families of Istanbul were concerned about their children who changed their way of living and started to observe their religious duties. Essentially these two factors initiated a campaign of persecution to halt the activities of Adnan Oktar.

In the summer of 1986, Adnan Oktar was arrested for a crime he never had the chance to know. As was related later, he was arrested because of his words "I am from the nation of Abraham and Turkish ethnicity." This statement appeared in an interview which was published in a newspaper. This was also the time when false reports, unfounded information and slanders started to appear in the media.

Torture in the Mental Hospital

Adnan Oktar was first arrested and imprisoned. Then, he was transferred to Bakirkoy Mental Hospital and placed under observation on the pretext that he was mentally unwell. In the hospital, he was placed in the "14A" ward, a special section where only very dangerous patients who were immune to punishment were kept. Since murders were very ordinary incidents among these mentally sick people, Oktar was expected to be murdered. For a certain period of time, he was chained to bed by his ankles and exposed to cruel treatments. By force, he was given drugs blurring consciousness. Meanwhile, his young friends who had the chance to secretly visit and see him witnessed that he never lost his commitment and enthusiasm in the meanwhile. Moreover, all the things he went through added more to his commitment. The expressions on his face seen on the photographs taken in front of the bars were clear indications that Adnan Oktar was determined to continue.

Oktar was held in prison and mental hospital for a total of 19 months and then acquitted and released by the court since his statements were found to be inoffensive. After his release, he saw that during the time he was in the mental hospital, the number of his young supporters increased dramatically. Some of them saw him in the hospital for the first time. Since visiting him was prohibited they could only see him behind the hospital bars. A few minutes talk they had with Adnan Oktar behind these bars -one could only go to this place by jumping over the hospital fences- made these young people have a profound and everlasting love and respect for him.

Darwinism

Since 1979, the year he started to communicate his views about religion, disclosing the real face of the Darwinism had been the major goal of Adnan Oktar. This subject never lost its importance throughout the years however. The theory of evolution always had priority for Oktar. With resoluteness, he carried out his studies on Darwinism. In 1986, he compiled all his valuable researches on Darwinism in his book Living Beings and Evolution. In the light of scientific sources, this book showed the impasse of the theory of evolution and revealed the fact of creation. Throughout years, this book remained to be the unique reference for anti-Darwinism.

During those years, the friends of Adnan Oktar also concentrated their efforts on the evolutionary theory. They put forth a great effort to tell people the groundless nature of the theory. In colleges and high schools, scientific arguments were carried out among students. This was a total surprise to some instructors blindly attached to Darwinism. In their lifetime, this was the first time they met such students, who were very knowledgeable about the theory. To their surprise, they actually knew more than themselves and defended creation eloquently. In some universities, conferences about the theory of evolution were held. To their disappointment however, atheist instructors and students who enthusiastically rushed to listen to these conferences were "shocked" by the scientific evidence provided in these conferences. The invalidity of the evolutionary theory became a matter of discussion among the general public and was voiced in book fairs, culture centers and even in mass transportation vehicles.

These were actually the preliminary works of the campaign which would be launched in 1998. The goal of the campaign was already set: to eradicate the evolution theory and materialism from the Turkish society.

New Circles

By the time Adnan Oktar was released in 1988, most of his friends were in the university. Mr. Oktar's efforts to spread the message of Islam and moral values were no longer limited to schools. It was the time when different sections of society were informed about these views. Adnan Oktar and his friends took upon themselves the responsibility to remind young people, who aimed nothing but to make the most of their life, that they will be hold responsible for their acts and thoughts and that they will be ultimately judged in the presence of God. Accordingly, they recommended them to reorient their lives and submit to the Will of God. Indeed, some of those who were indulged in extremes as a way of life abandoned this degenerate life style and became conscientious and responsible people.

Knowing that one could never amend his conduct as foreseen to be true by Islam without having sincerity, Adnan Oktar advised the young people who shared his views to make earning the good pleasure of God the main goal of their lives. He always said that everyone would be judged in the presence of God and consequently they had to, under all circumstances, behave in the most decent way.

The Science Research Foundation

During the two years following his release in 1988, Adnan Oktar laid the ideological basis of the Science Research Foundation which was founded in 1990. He held conversations over moral values with his friends who shared his views. It was during this period that the intellectual groundwork of the Science Research Foundation was shaped by the contribution of Adnan Oktar.

Finally, in January 1990, Adnan Oktar and his young friends founded the Science Research Foundation to carry out their services under the name of an institution and to address to larger masses. Adnan Oktar was declared the Honorary President of the foundation. The Foundation carried out several activities; the members of the foundation published books and conducted cultural studies, held panels, discussions and conferences to cherish and revive moral values.

After the establishment of the foundation, a great police raid was made to a regular meeting in which more than 100 members participated. More than a hundred members were taken into custody and were interrogated by the police. The following day, some newspapers covered the story of this operation as if a big crime ring was caught. Majority of the members were released in 3-4 hours. However the slander campaign launched by the press continued for days. The press wrote incredible scenarios about Adnan Oktar and the members of the foundation. The main purpose of the subjective news was to mislead the security and judicial institutions by these imaginary accusations. Yet all these efforts were in vain. Adnan Oktar who was kept in custody and interrogated for a week was released, as there was no element of crime in the incident. It was evident that the same circles were trying to give a message in their own way.

Cocaine Plot

During 1990, activities of the Science Research Foundation continued with an even stronger determination. In the midst of 1991, two foundation members officially married. However, the families of these young people filed complaints against this marriage. What is more, Adnan Oktar was surprisingly blamed for this ordinary marriage, which had by no means any illegitimate aspect. Accordingly, Adnan Oktar was once again arrested. However, this time, the existence of a more inclusive plot was evident. Officers who broke into the house of Mr. Oktar in Ortakoy where he lived with his mother found a packet of cocaine in a book. There were some thousand books over the bookshelves covering two walls, and the officers found the cocaine in a few minutes as if they had just left it there.

Just after this event Adnan Oktar, who was then in Izmir with a couple of his friends, was arrested. He was then transferred to Istanbul Security Headquarters, where he was detained for 62 hours. After 62 hours, he was sent to Forensic Medicine Institution for a cocaine test. The result was very interesting indeed! Very high doses of a by-product of cocaine were detected in Adnan Oktar's blood!

Yet subsequent evidences proved that this was merely a plot. Firstly, it was found out that the cocaine alleged to be found in Mr. Oktar's house was part of the plot. A short while before this plot, Adnan Oktar felt that a stealthy plan was being hatched against him and left his house in Ortakoy, Istanbul. Then, he called his mother and said that it was likely that a plot was being hatched against him and he wanted his mother to clean and check the house thoroughly with a couple of other people so that they could be witnesses. Upon this, Mr. Oktar's mother Mediha Oktar called one of her neighbors and the doorkeeper and they all together thoroughly cleaned the house, dusted one by one all the books over the bookshelves. Despite the fact that Adnan Oktar had never been at home after this cleaning, 16 police officers raided the flat and suddenly found a "a packet of cocaine" in one of the books. The neighbor of Mediha Oktar and the doorkeeper gave their individual testimonies before the notary public stating "We cleaned Adnan Oktar's books thoroughly one by one; and there was not such a packet there."

The second part of the cocaine plot was the cocaine by-product detected in Adnan Oktar's blood. Scientific and judicial evidences disproved this allegation. Adnan Oktar had been in the Security Headquarters for 62 hours and the test was conducted after 62 hours. Normally, by looking at the amount of the by-product of cocaine detected in the blood, one can scientifically calculate the exact amount of cocaine taken. This calculation can also indicate how many hours ago the cocaine was taken. The dose of the cocaine detected in Adnan Oktar's blood was, however, at a fatal level, had it been taken 62 hours ago. In other words, such a high dose of cocaine would kill him if he had taken it 62 hours ago. This result clearly revealed that the cocaine detected in Adnan Oktar's blood was given to his body during those 62 hours. In other words, he was given cocaine during the time he was detained in the security headquarters. The cocaine was actually mixed to his food when he was under police detainment.

This fact was also confirmed by 30 international forensic medicine institutions, including Scotland Yard. They all examined the file sent to them about the case. Their conclusive view was the following: "Cocaine was mixed to his food when he was under police detainment. The event is a plot. "

Subsequently, Turkish Forensic Medicine Institution also confirmed that cocaine had been mixed to his food when he was under police detainment and Adnan Oktar was acquitted.

However, this cocaine plot revealed an important fact: there were some dark circles who had deep-rooted enmity towards Adnan Oktar and hence employed every type of illegal method to hinder his activities. It was evident that the power centers, formerly attempting to intimidate Oktar by imprisoning him and making pressure on him, this time resorted to a plot.

The Secluded life of Adnan Oktar

After Mr. Oktar shaped the mission of the Science Research Foundation, he closely monitored the activities of the foundation for an uninterrupted two years and then by 1991, he devoted all his time to work on his books. Especially after the cocaine plot made against him, he retreated into a secluded life in order both to prevent similar plots and assaults and to have time for his books. He spent all his time in his house. He occasionally visited his friends and participated in discussions. He constantly refused to give interviews to newspapers and TV channels despite their insistent requests.

During this time, Adnan Oktar's involvement in the activities of the Science Research Foundation was limited to giving ideas at the stage of laying down the general principles of the foundation. Meanwhile, he was only giving some recommendations to the members of the foundation about the principles of the Qur'an and good manners. This period lasted until November 12, 1999, the day a police operation was conducted against the SRF community.

Communicating Islam to the Prominent People

One of the major goals of Adnan Oktar was to make a radical change in society's firm conviction about religion that "religion is a phenomenon that addresses merely to elderly people or a particular section of society." This conviction utterly hampered the penetration of the Qur'anic truth to a considerable part of society. Those who were to set examples for the young people were homosexuals, forgers, indecent people etc. Degenerate masses, totally bereft of their religious and moral values, were committing themselves to more destruction each day. However, there might be a hope to save majority of these people if they were told the truth.

In order to eliminate this prejudice prevalent in society, Adnan Oktar took the initiative to contact people who could make a "symbolic" impact over society and inform them about moral values. This was why some SRF members contacted celebrities like models, singers and movie stars. This is explained in the press release of the SRF as follows:

"The dialogue between some members of the Science Research Foundation and models was based on the intention of making them familiar with good morals. Especially during the years 1994-95, some members developed friendships with some models. In this period, the members explained these people the moral degeneration society was in and informed them about the existence of God. Many books were given to them about the miracles of the Qur'an and good morals. This sincere approach caused a spiritual awakening in some of these people."

Gulay Pinarbasi is a notable example of this spiritual awakening. She was a model before she met the SRF community; but then she decided to change her entire life. Soon she abandoned her old way of living and started a decent life. She devoted all her time to scientific and religious studies and after a while she started her career as a columnist in a conservative newspaper. Meanwhile, some male models who were also impressed by the truths told by the SRF members quit their career and started to reorient all their lives in a totally different way.

Unrelenting Struggle against Darwinism

In early 1998, Adnan Oktar and his friends launched a great intellectual campaign against Darwinism. To start with, thousands of free copies of Adnan Oktar's book, The Evolution Deceit and the booklets based on this book were distributed in every corner of Turkey. The Science Research Foundation started to hold a series of conferences "The Collapse of the Evolution Theory and the Fact of Creation" all around Turkey. The first three of these conferences which were held in Istanbul and Ankara hosted world renowned American scientists as lecturers.

Then similar conferences were held in 120 different cities and towns of Turkey. In these conferences, the SRF members, each an expert in his own field, delivered lectures. The purpose was to scientifically disprove Darwinism, a fallacy propagated under the guise of science, and thus to bring the materialist thought and moral understanding to ruin.

These activities carried out by the Science Research Foundation in the leadership of Adnan Oktar proved to be a great success. People, who were not knowledgeable about the theory of evolution until then, had the opportunity to learn the real truth about the evolutionary theory and the dimensions of the scientific forgery it committed worldwide. Turkish people acknowledged the fact that the education system, based on the indoctrination of the evolutionary theory to the young brains, was a part of the stealthy plan against the social and moral values and our future generations. Furthermore, they had the opportunity to notice that materialist philosophy and Darwinism, the allegedly scientific basis of this philosophy, were the sole source of communism that caused anarchy and terror in many countries.

Publication of books, organization of conferences, production of videotapes and CDs were the basic activities carried out by the contribution of the Science Research Foundation. These productions were essentially about the scientific invalidity of the evolutionary theory, the ideological background of the theory and the fact of creation.

The books written under the pen name "Harun Yahya" and the productions made by the contribution of the Science Research Foundation include more than 190 books on political, scientific and religious issues, 14 documentaries, dozens of tape-cassettes and interactive CD on the collapse of the theory of evolution and the fact of creation. This collection of high quality works with aesthetic appeal and well-founded content is an important source.

And Pressure Again...

All these committed activities highly annoyed and disquieted some particular centers. With the provocation of materialist centers and Mason circles, they launched a campaign against these activities. The circles in question made declarations like "Conferences held by the Science Research Foundation must absolutely be stopped." The aim was to prevent any scientific study refuting evolution. They were enraged by the deathblow these activities gave to their philosophy they could hardly sustain. Unable to provide any scientific response, they only claimed that these activities had to be stopped as soon as possible. They could not stand the total rebuttal of the theory they were blindly attached to before the very eyes of the Turkish Public. These efforts of Adnan Oktar and his young friends to prove the scientific invalidity of the theory of evolution continued until the fall of 1999. This was exactly the time when the news about the Global Freemasonry, a great book by Harun Yahya in three volumes, spread. This was surely a challenge for some circles. Not to run such a risk, they devised plans, made unfounded denunciations to the authorities and provoked them. All these laid the ground for the greatest police operation of the Turkish Republic.

Surely Adnan Oktar was not openly accused of "inviting people to the true path of God, reminding them God, religion and the good morals of Islam, and standing against materialism, disbelief and immorality." In the eyes of those who wanted to prevent him, these are the actual "crimes" he committed. Meanwhile, a certain part of media, as always, undertook the task of conveying all these in a totally different way to the public...

By November 12, 1999, some media organs, which had enmity against Adnan Oktar, employed their usual methods to produce groundless slanders, scenarios and lies. Inconceivable lies and slanders appeared in the press every day, all of which, interestingly, contradicted with one another. Putting aside all their principles of reliability, these media organs merely reflected the enmity they had against Adnan Oktar for years.

However, as Adnan Oktar always states, they, too, have inevitably submitted themselves to the Will of God and, albeit unknowingly, they perform the duty assigned to them in the best manner possible since this is what is predestined for them by God.

They are not aware but they actually served to the purposes of Muslims in the sense that Muslims were tested and they earned the good pleasure of God by means of these incidents. Furthermore, by this way, those who tell the truth became apparent so that everyone could recognize them.

In accordance with the verse, "Repel (Evil) with what is better" (Surah Fussilat: 34), Adnan Oktar always has a peaceful and tolerant approach to those who bear enmity against him. He underlines the fact that "The fate God creates is always perfect and there is goodness in all".