Page 53 - The Worst Slander: Idolatry

Harun Yahya (Adnan Oktar) 51

ship are an ancestral legacy. No matter how illogical it may
be, idol worship may become a form of "correct" and "ratio-
nal" behavior in even the most modern societies due to the
worldview with which people are raised from childhood.
One characteristic of carved statues is that they gradu-
ally come to be equated with the concept that they repre-
sented. For example, the Buddha was first deified wrong-
fully as an individual in many countries of Eastern Asia
(Surely Allah is beyond that). Statues representing him were
then made to keep his memory and thoughts alive. Today,
these statues have been made as false deities and have
become idols that people worship and respect, to which
they pray, and from which they seek help. Other forms of
idol worship are based on a similar logic.
Historical records and the Qur'an refer to the Arabs of
the Prophet's (May Allah bless him and grant him peace)
time as having a wide variety of idols. When we examine the
relevant historical documents, we clearly see that these
idols actually represented specific concepts and had a
symbolic nature. In other words, these Arabs did not actu-
ally worship shapes or statues made from stone or wood;
rather, they worshipped the significance embodied in them
in an unwise way (e.g., power, money, women, or abun-
dance). Given this reality, those idols are not so very differ-
ent to the values worshipped in our own day and preferred
falsely over Allah's religion by many people. Thus, it is mis-
taken to think of ancient tribes or people when referring to
idolaters or idol worshippers, for their counterparts are alive
and well today. Those people were aware of Allah's exis-