“All right, the Shanghai Group is waiting for us with all its terror and horror and ghastliness, but Turkey has just escaped its own scourges. That would mean entering a whole new sea of suffering, and that is no good. The only reason for signing up to the Shanghai Group could be that we need these countries for Islamic Unity and that entering the Shanghai Group would thus be the start of Islamic Unity.”

Joining the Shanghai Group would change nothing because those countries are not developed ones. To tell the truth, those countries are very backward, not strong, when it comes to art, science and esthetics. There is poverty in India and Pakistan. Russia is a very poor country; Russia is also very backward when it comes to science. It takes what it can from Europe and America. They brought German professors with all their knowledge to Russia during the Cold War. They managed to develop some science with their support, but Russia is moribund in terms of art, science and esthetics.

There is no such culture or force in the East. Indeed, there is a general collapse going on. It would therefore be of no use for us to join the Shanghai Group. We may have useful things to offer them, but there is very little we can gain from them. But if Islamic Unity happens, which it will, then there will be a huge spiritual re-awakening across the world, a huge burst of adrenalin in the Islamic world. The world will then turn over. People think very well in the face of difficulties or when they are excited. Interpretative and creative powers will grow enormously with  great national fervor. There will be an explosion in art, science and esthetics. There will be a surge in everything. And this will happen.

Otherwise, where would joining the Shanghai Group lead us? To Kazakhstan, a mafia state. The mafia runs the place. Our workers go there and they beat them half to death; they have already martyred some of them. They raid workplaces and rob the people there of all their money. They steal their machinery and damage their facilities. Russia is the same; the mafia are in charge there, too. Putin does not want that, of course, but it is a well-known fact that the mafia are in charge everywhere in Russia. Pakistan is also in a dire state. India is one of most wretched countries in the world. It is riddled with disease, poverty and misery. So there is really very little they can offer us.

But if we include these countries in Islamic Unity, if Islamic Unity is established under the name of the Shanghai group, if we join the Shanghai Group in other words, then a huge national fervor and a hitherto unseen art and beauty and glory will enfold the world with the appearance of Hazrat Mahdi (pbuh) because people will then enjoy the fervor of living, of striving. Think of a student who wants to enter the Faculty of Medicine; he works really hard, more than anyone has ever worked, he makes a huge effort that would normally be beyond him. Or he wants to be an artist, wants to play the flute; he makes an extraordinary effort in that direction. It is a matter of desire and determination. Without desire and determination, if one’s sole aim is to marry and stay alive, to start a business, then other people will want to take things from you, because they share those same aims. So nothing will come of it.

Someone has a bit of money and property, and you have a bit of money and property. If you ask him for some of what he owns, he will ask you to give him some of what you have. That is a dead end. Russia is poor, Kazakhstan is poor, and so are Pakistan and India.

The civilization, esthetics, art and democracy of the European Union are all excellent. Women are being raped all the time in India these days. Bombs are going off and killings taking place all the time in Pakistan. They even murdered the prime minister with a bomb despite being in an armored vehicle. So such a grouping is just like the gate to hell. It would be like saying, “Would you please take me to hell?” But Islamic unity means abundance, happiness and light. The Shanghai Group may be waiting for us in all its horror and terror; but Turkey has only just escaped its own scourges. That would mean entering a whole new sea of suffering, and that is no good.

The only reason for signing up to the Shanghai Group could be that we need these countries for Islamic Unity and that would be the start of Islamic Unity.

I said, “Let us join the Shanghai Group,” but in that sense. I think our prime minister may be speaking in that sense, too. I think that he seeks Islamic Unity and  such activity can clearly be seen. (Adnan Oktar,  January 26^th, 2013, A9 TV)