There are those who believe in conspiracy theory—some slightly, some deeply. And there are those who deny conspiracy theory—also to varying degrees. In recent years, however, strong indications and compelling signs have emerged suggesting that there may indeed be a conspiracy to deny conspiracy theory itself. The desperate and relentless efforts to deny conspiracy theory have become suspicious in their own right.
Anyone who reads or hears the sheer volume of derogatory descriptions directed at those who believe in conspiracy theory—often escalating to questioning their sanity or psychological condition—will either suspect or become convinced that there is in fact a conspiracy to deny conspiracy theory.
Foundations of Conspiracy Theory
At its core, conspiracy theory proposes that there exist powerful entities—groups of individuals with authority, prestige, and wealth—who secretly (whether in small or large groups, with direct or indirect communication) plan to keep things the way they are, to protect their own interests, that is, their hold over power, prestige, and wealth.
What is so troubling about this kind of thinking? Why is it assumed that only someone who is disturbed, unhinged, a failure, or depressed would entertain it?
Everyday life unfolds right before our eyes in precisely this manner. Presidents, ministers, generals, directors, department heads, corporate leaders, and even some family members in a single household—all tend to prioritize their own personal interests first, pushing others aside when possible, according to the reality of circumstances and what the laws permit. These efforts are rarely carried out transparently, but rather in secrecy, discretion, and often through lies, hypocrisy, and manipulation when necessary.
A human being who lacks internal restraint—whether moral, legal, or religious—becomes a predator. But a predator dressed in elegant clothing, smiling in front of the cameras.
Our materialistic era fuels this predatory spirit even further, turning it into a benchmark of success and superiority. It might even be added someday to personality assessments on résumés and in job interviews—questions such as: “How many people did you step on to climb to this position?”
Even if some people exaggerate in imagining threats, events, or plans targeting them or their world, their pathological overreactions do not negate the underlying reality outlined above, which forms the essence of conspiracy theory.
There are also people who, in the middle of the night, imagine ants crawling on their limbs, or that cockroaches, rats, or scorpions are in the room. Their phobias do not negate the actual existence of ants or cockroaches or rats or scorpions out in the world.
Nor do they rule out the existence of fleas or viruses in the same room. In short: exaggerating something’s presence does not mean it doesn’t exist elsewhere—or even in the same space, though in a form they didn’t anticipate.
Themes of Conspiracy Theory
People vary—depending on their time and place, the course of events, mental awareness, age, and alertness—in how they perceive conspiracies around them. Accordingly, the topics that fall under conspiracy theory differ from person to person.
Nonetheless, some themes are repeatedly mentioned whenever conspiracy theory is brought up:
Fighting Islam
Muslims generally believe that there are enemies of Islam—those who fight it openly and conspire against it in secret. This belief is rooted in real historical incidents stretching from the earliest days of Islam until today. What distinguishes Islam from other religions in this regard is that it declares its enmity openly, not through covert schemes or deceit, beginning with verbal rejection and culminating in Islamic jihad.
Other religions—most notably Christianity, being the most widespread—do not declare such enmity from a religious standpoint, because their religious doctrine doesn’t support such confrontation. So, their followers resort to plots and conspiracies.
History reveals this clearly: repeated massive wars waged by Christian Europe, known as the Crusades. After the fall of the Islamic Caliphate in the early 20th century, these wars took on new non-military forms—intellectual invasion, political domination, cultural and media infiltration, all requiring more conspiracies, cunning, and covert operations.
Ironically, the group of Muslims who deny conspiracy theory often repeat the narrative that the world is a rosy, peaceful place, free from this kind of hostility. They claim: “No one is targeting you for your religion. The world doesn’t care about Islam. You’re not the center of the universe.”
As if to say:
They weren’t watching you,
O center of the universe,
The universe is far too busy.
The Hidden Hand Controlling the World
A widespread theme in conspiracy theory—across religions and cultures—is the idea that an invisible hand controls or manipulates the world.
As Muslims, and likewise believers from other monotheistic traditions, we believe that such a hand exists and operates according to a preordained plan—God’s hand, and that plan is Divine Destiny.
So, when proponents of the campaign to deny conspiracy theory ridicule believers in design, claiming they are delusional for thinking the world follows a plan, they are in fact ridiculing a fundamental religious belief.
They echo the atheistic-Darwinian view, which holds that life unfolds randomly, based on natural selection and evolution.
However, many contemporary scholars of evolution have rejected this randomness, proposing instead the Intelligent Design theory, which posits that life bears the hallmarks of purposeful creation.
Among these thinkers:
- Michael Behe, in Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution
- William Dembski and Jonathan Wells, in The Design of Life: Discovering Signs of Intelligence in Biological Systems
- Antony Flew, the British philosopher who renounced atheism and authored There Is a God [1]
On a creaturely level, believers in the three Abrahamic faiths believe in other beings who influence worldly outcomes—angels, devils, jinn, and the like.
Even if we don’t fully grasp the mechanics of their influence, this does not disprove their effect. It’s like a brilliant doctor in 1820 telling people their illnesses were caused by viruses. The tools of science back then simply weren’t advanced enough to confirm what he said.
Satan
According to William Guy Carr, the hidden leader behind all destructive secret movements is Satan himself—literally, not symbolically. He asserts that The Protocols of the Elders of Zion are really the protocols of Satanism, a doctrine older than Zionism itself [2].
He views the Illuminati, Freemasons, and similar groups as ever-changing human tools of the Synagogue of Satan, which is actively preparing to reveal itself as the end of the world draws near.
Today, we see a flood of shows and films that glorify Satan—presenting him as charming, misunderstood, even funny.
The Qur’an makes it abundantly clear: Satan is real, and he is the sworn enemy of Adam and his descendants. He has one mission: to deceive, seduce, and lead humans astray.
As an extraordinary being, he undoubtedly possesses extraordinary powers to achieve this mission—using methods hidden from human perception.
Freemasonry
Freemasonry (Masonry), or the Freemasons, or the Illuminati—all refer to the same organization: a secretive body marked by obscure rituals, exclusive memberships, and a history filled with intrigue, influence, and ambiguity.
Some claim that the goal of Freemasonry is to control the world by undermining religions, destroying sacred symbols, dismantling identities, toppling governments, and spreading a rebellious spirit that challenges all authority and tradition.
Among the prominent features of the Masonic movement is hostility toward religion, and a tendency toward atheism, secularism, materialism, and hedonism—these being the very features that define today’s New World Order, which is said to be the product of Freemasonry.
Yet Dr. Abdelwahab Elmessiri downplays the mythical aura that surrounds Freemasonry. He views it as a thought movement like any other: it began naturally, underwent changes and transformations, and was at times exploited by criminal organizations such as the Italian Mafia, who used it to carry out activities unrelated to its core agenda [1].
Zionism
The global Zionist movement is primarily political in nature, but it also carries a doctrinal dimension, tied to the belief in the return of the Jews to the Promised Land in occupied Palestine. There exists a large body of literature and legend surrounding the rebuilding of the Temple of Solomon, the battle of Armageddon, and other end-times events.
In the early 20th century, there emerged a strange set of documents titled The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which describes a detailed and calculated plan to control the world using secretive, hostile, and malevolent methods.
The World’s Wealthiest Families
Two ultra-wealthy families are frequently cited in discussions about conspiracy theory and its offshoots:
- The Rothschild family (European Jews)
- The Rockefeller family (American Christians)
Both families are said to be extraordinarily wealthy—to the extent that they influence the policies of nations, finance governments, lend them money, and in many cases, control them.
The Rothschild family is said to have played a key role in securing the Balfour Declaration, in which Britain promised to give Palestine to the Jews, in exchange for a large financial contribution. The family is said to have paid the full costs of that political mission, then went on to found the Jewish Agency, and finance economic projects in Palestine, including the current Israeli Knesset building in Jerusalem.
As for the Rockefeller family, they performed similar roles in the United States and globally. One example: in 1949, they donated $8.5 million to purchase the land that would become the headquarters of the United Nations in New York.
Rotary and Lions Clubs
The Rotary International Clubs and the Lions Clubs International present themselves as voluntary social organizations dedicated to serving humanity.
Yet they are surrounded by a great deal of secrecy and ambiguity, beginning with their membership process: unlike normal associations, they do not accept membership applications. Rather, they are the ones who extend invitations—but only after observing and researching the person’s life and social status.
What raises suspicion is their strange insistence on spreading across the globe, despite the minimal visible returns. For example:
- The Rotary Club has around 32,000 branches worldwide, in 200 countries, with 1.2 million members. That’s an average of just 37.5 members per branch!
Is it really plausible that a branch would be established in a city or country—with all the accompanying costs, office rentals, legal paperwork, assets, staff—just to serve 37 members or fewer?
Likewise, the Lions Club has over 45,000 branches worldwide, in 203 countries, with a total of about 1.3 million members—an average of 29 members per branch.
It is worth noting that these supposedly “peaceful and innocent social clubs” were part of the political and social entities that contributed to drafting the United Nations Charter, during the founding meeting of the UN in 1945—an organization that is in effect a rebranded version of the League of Nations, which originally represented the victorious European powers after World War I, before the United States joined it and eventually took the lead after World War II.
Other Topics Commonly Associated with Conspiracy Theory
Some issues are often inserted—deliberately or not—into the discussion of conspiracy theory, and presented as if they are its core, although they are really secondary or fringe topics. These include:
- Flying saucers (UFOs)
- Hollow Earth theory
- Flat Earth theory
- Denial of the moon landing
- Suspicion toward vaccination campaigns
- And similar claims
A dominant tactic among those who deny conspiracy theory is to mention these topics mockingly and dismissively, as if their absurdity disproves all conspiracy thinking.
They do this with such confidence—as though they themselves had been to the moon, invented all the vaccines, drilled through the Earth’s crust, and visited distant galaxies—just to declare that there are no UFOs, no devils, no angels, and no extraterrestrials.
Yet, some of these subjects remain legitimate areas of scientific inquiry, far removed from the ridicule and scorn so often attached to them.
What drives this attitude of rejection and mockery in most cases is the mindset produced by the digitization of the modern human being—which leads to blind faith in the powers of science, and a belief that human knowledge has now reached a level where it can explain everything in the universe.
According to this mindset, anything science has not fully proven is immediately labeled as pseudoscience, especially anything related to the unseen, to faith, or to sacred texts.
This same mindset also tends to reject any questions that are not answerable by the tools of laboratory science, including those related to belief, metaphysics, or even the foundations of reason and mathematics.
Psychological Collapse and Compound Motives
Some theories, while far removed from logic or realism, continue to be promoted—either:
- As part of a complex, layered conspiracy, or
- Because of a deep sense of psychological defeat and despair among their believers.
Such claims include:
- That the Arab Spring revolutions were a U.S.-engineered operation
- That ISIS or al-Qaeda were American creations
- That Iran and Israel are two sides of the same coin
- That intelligence agencies in every country see, hear, and know everything
- Or even that Abdullah Al-Salem was not a brave, poetic, handsome Qatari hero
Signs of a Conspiracy to Deny Conspiracy Theory
If someone objects to exaggerated beliefs, or points out how people misconnect events and distrust governments to a paranoid degree, this is fair and not a conspiracy.
But when certain recurring traits are present in the rhetoric of denial, then a true conspiracy to deny conspiracy theory may be at work. These traits include:
1. Contradicting the Principle of Scientific Doubt
Many of those who deny conspiracy theory are also passionate advocates of scientific skepticism. They urge others to examine ideas critically and to subject all beliefs to empirical testing.
Yet when it comes to conspiracy theory itself, they abandon this principle completely. They treat it as nonsense by default—as if they possess definitive evidence disproving it.
But in truth, they only lack evidence that confirms it. And as every scientist knows, absence of proof is not proof of absence, and ignorance is not knowledge.
2. Belittling the Opponent
The rhetoric of those who deny conspiracy theory often includes insulting and dismissive language toward those who believe in it—labeling them as mentally unstable or delusional.
They mock them with comparisons to people who see ghosts or insects crawling on their bodies, or exhibit symptoms of psychosis or hallucination.
Economist Galal Amin wrote:
“Accusing someone of being a conspiracy theorist is a charge proven effective in silencing even the bravest of people and ridiculing even the strongest of arguments.
It carries a meaning far beyond simply saying someone is wrong in their analysis or hasty in judgment.
It implies a kind of delusion, surrender to fantasy, and detachment from reality.
Some writers could find no other way to express their real suspicions than by writing fiction or novels, where they embed what they actually believe to be real—diabolical plans and conspiracies.” [3]
One such example, in my opinion, is the novel 1984 by George Orwell.
3. Excessive Idealization of the World
Another telltale sign of a conspiracy to deny conspiracy theory is when people claim, in complete seriousness, that the world is simple, its events are random, and that everything happens with good intentions—wars, unjust treaties, corporate greed, strange social trends, all are brushed off as accidents.
And yet these statements often come from educated, intelligent individuals who are expected to have at least a basic level of critical thinking.
Such statements might be understandable if they came from a shepherd who lives alone in a remote valley, unaware of what is happening around him—but not from analysts and scholars.
4. Evasive Character Profiling
Those who deny conspiracy theory often claim that its believers share certain stereotypical traits, such as:
- Living under authoritarian regimes
- Suffering from personal failure or frustration
- Being too religious, placing faith above science
But these descriptions actually apply to the majority of humanity.
Most of the people on earth live in countries that fall short of real democracy. Even in America and Europe, many have begun to question whether democracy is authentic in their countries. They say it has turned into a false front, behind which the deep state—a handful of elite politicians and businessmen—quietly rules through consciousness engineering [4].
So if someone reads that “believers in conspiracy theory tend to come from authoritarian regions,” they might think they’re alone. In truth, most of the world thinks like them.
As for the accusation that believers are “failures,” this carries a unique irony. In today’s materialist society, “success” is narrowly defined—usually as creating Google, Facebook, or Uber.
That means anyone who is not Larry Page or Mark Zuckerberg might assume they fall under “failure,” or at least have unfulfilled ambitions—so their suspicion of the world must be rooted in bitterness. But that logic is shallow and cruel.
Finally, the claim that believers favor faith over science is often a veiled attack on religious people. It’s a standard trope used by atheists against theists.
But it’s false: religious believers only prioritize faith over that which science has not disproven—such as belief in God, angels, the unseen, paradise, hell, and resurrection after death.
These are all metaphysical concepts, part of the unseen world, and natural science has not come close to disproving them. In fact, science hasn’t even explained closer mysteries, such as human consciousness or the foundations of mathematics.
By that standard, about 85% of the world’s population falls under this category, since only about 16% of the world identifies as atheist.
Thus, such psychological profiling is evasive, manipulative, and intellectually dishonest.
The Nature of Conspiracy
The essential feature of any conspiracy is secrecy and concealment.
So when someone demands proof of something that, by its very nature, is hidden, they are engaging in sophistry and obstruction, not rational discourse.
The fact that something is hidden doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Nor does its absence from the awareness of 99 people mean the 100th person didn’t see it.
In the field of law, there is something called circumstantial evidence. Though weaker than direct evidence, when enough circumstantial clues accumulate, a judge may rule upon them based on informed judgment.
Suppose a group of known criminals conspire to kill a village elder—and the murder occurs as planned. One person testifies that he saw them gathered the night before at one suspect’s house. Another says he once heard one of them threaten the elder. A third says one of them bought a knife. A fourth says something else. Meanwhile, the elder lies dead, stabbed.
Isn’t it only logical to suspect these men?
Anyone who denies this possibility with exaggerated confidence—offering no proof, insisting no one question further—is rightly a suspect as well, perhaps even an accomplice.
This is how the fierce campaign to deny conspiracy theory feels to many.
The Conspiracy as a Coat Hook
On the other hand, there are those who use conspiracy theory as a hanger—like a coat hook upon which they hang their own failures, excuses, laziness, and despair.
Such individuals, had conspiracy theory not been available, would have blamed the ozone hole, global warming, or the extinction of the dinosaurs for their lack of achievement.
Thus, conspiracy becomes their excuse for doing nothing, for retreating from responsibility, and for surrendering to helplessness.
The Rational and Balanced Response
The wise and balanced person must:
- Be conscious of what’s happening around him
- Avoid drifting through life like a dumb animal
- Distinguish friend from foe
- Understand how human conflict and competition work
- Leave room for malice and evil in others
- Not be seduced by dreamy slogans about humanity and peace
At the same time, he should work, strive, and plant goodness, even if the world is collapsing.
As the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said:
“If the Hour comes while one of you is planting a seedling, and you are able to finish it before it comes, then do so.”
References
[1] See: Abdelwahab Elmessiri, The Hidden Hand, p. 118
[2] William Guy Carr, Satan: Prince of This World, p. 139
[3] Galal Amin, The Illusion of Progress and Backwardness, p. 134
[4] For more, see Herbert Schiller’s The Mind Managers, and Noam Chomsky’s works such as The Old and New World Order.
