Page 253 - Islam and Far Eastern Religions

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success or a leader of service can be pronounced a “Kami” by the
Japanese and becomes from then on a revered imaginary deity.
There are over 100,000 Shinto shrines in Japan and each has its

own Kami. It is believed that the Kami’s spirits are present in the
shrines even if their pictures or statues are absent. People make offer-
ings of food, water, fruit, make what they imagine to be shows of re-
spect for, and burn incense to the Kami in Shinto shrines as an act of
supposed worship. Obviously these false beliefs will not benefit the
people. In the previous chapters of the book, we examined how great a
perversion it is to ascribe partners to Allah and reminded that He
warns such people of the fierce punishment awaiting them. Allah says
the following in the Surat al-Hajj:
… Have done with the defilement of idols and have done with
telling lies. Be people of pure natural belief in Allah, not associat-
ing anything else with Him. As for anyone who associates others
with Allah, it is as though he had fallen from the sky and the birds
had seized him and carried him away or the wind had dropped him
in a distant place. (Surat al-Hajj: 30-31)
As revealed in the verses, these people who ascribe human or oth-
er idolatrous partners to Allah, irrationally trusting in them and com-
pletely and ignorantly befriending them in the belief that they will help
them in times of need, are in a state of delusion, because these idols
which are loved more than anything else, are themselves helpless and
needy beings unable to help themselves, never mind helping others.
The example of “… It is as though he had fallen from the sky and the
birds had seized him and carried him away or the wind had dropped

him in a distant place” in the above verse, reveals the hopelessness
and ignorance of worshipping idols, which are wisely described as
“with the defilement” (Surat al-Hajj), and lead people to false beliefs
by distancing them from our Lord Allah. Allah says “… Call on your

Harun Yahya (Adnan Oktar)