Page 81 - The Religion Of The Ignorant

Harun Yahya - Adnan Oktar

group of friends, or being from the same area or town or same street.
How such people protect and support one another is a component
of macho ethics.
With increasing age, a man moves away from the macho mind-
set in direct proportion to the social, economic and cultural level he
has achieved, and there is a move towards a new personality that al-
tered circumstances require. For example, for people who haven't
registered very much social improvement and who belong to a
lower-class culture, the macho character becomes a complete iden-
tity as the result of the lack of character resulting from ignorance.
People who know they'll be unable to rise to the top in society by
means of their professions, culture and intelligence will give them-
selves airs and generally feel the need to cling to machismo with
both hands. That mindset continues throughout their lives. Since
this applies to a large section of the society they live in, the macho
character constitutes the majority's personality structure. Rather
than being regarded as odd, it receives support and acceptance.
Yet it is also worthy of mention that courage, protecting others
and honesty, which are the attributes of this character type, are def-
initely admirable features. But the type of character described here
does not live by the essence of these beautiful attributes, merely
adopting a few examples of them as a pretense. Indeed, such people
do not embrace these attributes as features of moral perfection.

16- THE FALSE CONCEPT OF RESPECT
We first need to examine the concept of respect revealed in the
Qur'an, according to which a believer feels enormous respect for
Allah, first and foremost.
Surah Al ‘Imran refers to those "who stand in awe of Allah"
(Surah Al ‘Imran, 199). Surat al-Anbiya' says: "... They outdid one

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