Yusuf Estes speaks about Harun Yahya
3:19
5 Jun 2014
Evolution
Yusuf Estes
In a clip from an undated interview, Yusuf Estes praises books by Harun Yahya. Estes suggests that the books are ideal for proselytizing to non-Muslims on the topic of evolution versus creation.
He suggests that the book he originally saw by Adnan Oktar was “high quality”. He tells a story about a trip to Ohio and how the book helped people convert to Islam. The book led him to look at Harun Yahya’s works more thoroughly, since they corresponded to what he understood about the “myth” of evolution, as opposed to the “fact” of creation.
The creator of the clip has, ironically or not, enclosed Estes in a golden frame similar to those seen at the beginning of some Harun Yahya videos surrounding the picture of Adnan Oktar.
Evaluation:
The anecdote presented here presents the proselytizing process as a majority of Muslims would understand it. Although Estes does not speak about the science in the books, his enthusiasm for them strongly suggests that he does not understand how evolutionary processes function, as Harun Yahya’s books do not articulate them fully.
There is insufficient historical material on which to base an evaluation.
About Yusuf Estes
Yusuf Estes, born Joseph Edward Estes in 1944, is a Muslim convert who became a popular Islamic speaker. Born into a fiercely Protestant Christian and musical family, Estes became a part of the Disciples of Christ Church in 1956 and worked as a musical minister and owner of several music stores from the 1970s through the early 1990s. He also delved into local politics with his father in Texas. In 1991, a few months after meeting an Egyptian Muslim and watching a family friend who was a Catholic priest at the time convert to Islam, Estes himself converted to Islam.
Estes is now known for traveling the world and giving lectures on topics relating to Islam. According to his autobiography, he served as a chaplain for prison inmates and as the Muslim delegate to the United Nations World Peace Summit for Religious Leaders in August 2000. Estes claims to have received higher education in Islamic theology, a Ph.D. specifically, and to have studied under various Islamic teachers, yet it is unclear where he received this degree, and no information about his education has been corroborated. Estes frequently appears on Peace TV, Guide Us, and various other Islamic TV channels.
As of 2015, Estes operates a personal website (though he claims to operate close to 3000 websites), and a Facebook page with around half a million followers.
Selected Bibliography:
“Biography of Yusuf Estes.” Yusuf Estes And the Quran. WordPress, 25 Aug. 2012. Accessed 18 June 2015.
Estes, Yusuf. Facebook. Facebook, n.d.
Estes, Yusuf. “Yusuf Estes Biography.” Yusuf Estes Blogspot. Blogspot, n.d. Accessed 18 June 2015.
Estes, Yusuf. Yusuf Estes. N.p., n.d. Accessed 18 June 2015.