Page 73 - The Struggle of the Messengers
P. 73

Harun Yahya (Adnan Oktar)                   71


               Some individuals remain faithful to their ancestral religion out
             of conservatism. They are against every kind of change and believe
             that everything old is good; they are submerged in the
             conservatism that is a tendency of the human self. Others make
             material profit from their ancestors' superstitious religion and

             know that if they abandon it, the existing clerical system will
             collapse. Allah reveals in the Qur'an: "O you who believe! Many
             of the rabbis and monks devour people's property under false
             pretences and bar people from access to Allah's way. As for those
             who hoard gold and silver and do not spend it in His way, give
             them the news of a painful punishment" (Surat at-Tawba, 34).
               For this reason, a significant segment of society begins to
             defend the ancestral religion against the true religion proclaimed
             by a Messenger. We can see this when the 'Ad people said to the
             Prophet Hud (as): "Have you come to us to make us worship
             Allah alone and abandon what our fathers used to worship?
             Then bring us what you have promised us, if you are telling the

             truth" (Surat al-A'raf, 70); when the Thamud people said to the
             Prophet Saleh (as): "Saleh, we had great hopes in you before this
             happened. Do you forbid us to worship what our fathers
             worshipped? We have grave doubts about what you are calling
             us to" (Surah Hud, 62); and the court of Pharaoh who spoke
             against the Prophet Moses (as): "This is nothing but trumped-up
             magic. We never heard anything like this among our
             forefathers" (Surat al-Qasas, 36).
               Another major characteristic of these people is that they
             pretend to be religious when they assault a Messenger and his

             followers. They invoke the name of Allah and of religion in an
             attempt to legitimize their assaults and oppression. This is
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