Page 73 - The Struggle of the Messengers

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