Islam for Non-Muslims

• RELIGIOUS FAITHS VS IRRELIGIOUS IDEAS
• 1 The Present State of the World Religions
• 2 Religious System as a Historical Reality
• 3 The Evidences of God across the Universe
• 4 The Absolute Oneness of God
• 5 The Reality of the Afterlife
• 6 The Growth of Irreligious Ideas
• 7 Worshipping Natural Elements
• 8 Worshipping Imaginary Idols
• 9 Worshipping Human Beings
• 10 Inventing Relationship to God
• 11 Inventing the Idea of Reincarnation
• 12 Inventing the Theory of Evolution (Darwinism)
• 13 Inventing ‘Nature’ as the Creator of the Universe
• 14 Importance of Religion in this Secular World
• ISLAM AS A RELIGION
• 15 Addressing the Criticisms of Islam
• 16 Islam as a Magnet for the Non-Muslims
• 17 The Quran as the Original Divine Book
• 18 The Quranic Reality in Archeological Findings
• 19 Muhammad (pbuh) as the Great Prophet
• 20 Islam as the True Religion
• 21 Islam as the Universal Religion
• 22 Islam as the Eternal Religion
• 23 Islam as a Practicable Religion
• 24 Islam as an Enjoyable Religion
• 25 Islam as the Peaceful & Savior Religion
• 26 Islam as the Progressive & Rational Religion
• 27 Islam in Health & Hygiene
• 28 Islam in Promotion of Science
• 29 Muslims in Practices of Science
• 30 Islam & Other Monotheisms: Similarities & Differences
• 31 Islamic Tolerance for Other Religions
• 32 Islamic Rights for Non-Muslim Citizens
• ISLAM AS A WAY OF LIFE
• 33 Islamic System vs. Human Ideologies
• 34 Moral & Social Impacts of Islamic Rituals
• 35 Moral Discipline in Islam
• 36 Sinning of 3 W’s: Women, Wine and Wealth
• 37 Dignity & Equality of Man in Islam
• 38 Human Rights in Islam
• 39 Social Duties in Islam
• 40 Dignity & Rights of Labor in Islam
• 41 Dignity of Women in Islam
• 42 Rights of Women in Islam
• 43 Marriage & Family Life in Islam
• 44 Political Philosophy in Islam
• 45 Economic Principles in Islam
• 46 Islamic Economy vs. Capitalism & Communism
• 47 Patriotism & Internationalism in Islam
• 48 Understanding Controversial Issues in Islam
• 49 Conversion to Islam: Problems & Prospects
• 50 Conclusive Message to the Non-Muslims

12: INVENTING THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION (DARWINISM)

Introduction: All monotheisms are in perfect agreement about the fact that Adam was created as the first man on earth and he was not a product of evolution.  God created him as a complete man as defined in the dictionary, with full physical and mental features like our present day human beings. It was God “who created man”, “from a single pair of male (Adam) and a female (Eve)” (50:16; 49:13). 

This time-honored theory of creation for the first time met a formidable challenge from a British biologist named Charles Darwin who lived around the middle of 19th century. Apparently, with a mindset to belie and defame the faith based creation theory, he ploughed the waves aboard the Beagle as far as Galapagos Islands in South America to collect samples of plants and animals to establish his pre-conceived hypothesis. As a result, he came up with a highly controversial theory of evolution as propounded in his books “On the Origin of Species” and “The Descent of Man” which traced human evolution from animal species.

To put it plainly, his theory proclaimed that the ancestor of man was a certain type of Anthropomorphous Apes (similar to gorilla or chimpanzee) which transformed into present shape of man through evolutionary process. Replacing the fact of human creation by God with his hypothesis of natural evolution attracted endless criticisms particularly from the religious groups and opened a storm of debate that refuses to die. Now follow some factual comments about the Darwin’s faulty theory on human evolution.

(1) Fatal Blow to Faith Based Morality: The evolution theory dismisses the fact that God is the Creator and thereby there is a feeling of relief from accountability in the Afterlife which has no place in the theory. This will hand people a freedom to do whatever they like, with their actions likely to be more dominated with vices than virtues. This flame is further fanned by Darwin’s atheistic propaganda like “There is no evidence that man was aboriginally endowed with ennobling belief in the existence of an Omnipotent God”.

(2) The Burden of Animal Past:  Tying human ancestry to animal (apes) has some unfavorable implications for humanity. First, human beings are created as the most “honored” of all creations with “special favors conferred” on them (17:70) and blessed with powers to control the lives of all other animals. That position of god-gifted pre-eminence of human race has been badly degraded down to the level of animals. This is a real disgrace for the entire humanity not sparing even Darwin himself. Secondly, linking human ancestry to animals may inspire irrational and immoral acts typical of animals.

(3) Historical Background Casts Doubt on Darwin’s Motive: The abusive roles played by the medieval Church in the public life resulted in many reactionary developments in the intellectual world. Examples include the Renaissance, Humanism, Reformation, Enlightenment, Marxism, State-Church separation theory and so on. You cannot rule out the possibility that Darwin also, probably in step with these developments, aimed to undermine religion by deliberately inventing his theory based on flawed assumptions.   

(4) Logical Challenge for the Evolution Theory: The doubt cited above becomes intensified by its unproven status since 1850’s with no clear prospect for its authentication within sight. Reason dictates that a theory should not be counted as true until and unless it is proven as true. How long can we wait for the proof of this theory while it unreasonably continues to be honored as a crown jewel of the intellectual world? In fact, this is a rare example of a theory with this level of fame that has been surviving for 163 years as of 2022 (1859-2022) without any proof. Look at the example of Copernicus who theorized in 1543 that the earth circles around the sun and Galileo took only 89 years to prove that in 1632 through observation with self-developed telescope.

 In case of Darwin’s theory, however, not only the waiting period has been longer (far over 1.5 centuries) but also during this period the chance of finding its proof is as uncertain as ever.  Apparently, the evidences and arguments against the theory are far stronger and clearer than those favoring it.  Not much sense is made of giving this theory a living status forever while it started as a stillbirth and never gained its soul through proof of its vital assumption namely the ‘missing link’. If and when the scientists who bear the burden of its proof are able to prove it, only then the theory may spring to life and deserve the status now it is enjoying in terms of celebrity.

 (5) ‘Missing Link’ Continues to be Missing: Darwin could never explain the process through which a lower animal ‘ape’ transformed into man as the best of creations through evolution, by overriding the commonsense premise that ‘semen of an animal will produce its kind’. Darwin’s collection of fossils from what he called ‘vast museum’ (earth crust) did not include anything belonging to the intermediate or the transition stage between ape and man. Darwin explained this problem as the ‘missing link’ and expected that future scientists would discover the intermediate fossils for connecting the ‘link’. Unfortunately the scientists of his discipline, through all-out searches since his time could not yet discover anything reliable to complete Darwin’s unfinished job and success in this regard within a definite time frame is not in sight.

(6) Darwin in the Eye of Other Scientists:  Because of the reasons stated above, the theory of Darwin is open to attacks from other scientists as well. As one of many examples, scientist Chittick (in “Science and Religion” by Blender et. al.) affirmed Darwin “did not begin with data. He began with a belief system (or prejudice) and then looked for data to support his beliefs”.  In this manner, from time to time numerous scientists faulted Darwin from various standpoints.

(7) Darwin Relied on both Scientific and Unscientific Methods: In a desperate attempt to prove his pre-decided conclusion, Darwin also sought help from unscientific methods.  For example, his observation of man resembling ape at least in “seven of his muscles” led him to guess the ape as an ancestor of man. This takes away much from the scientific quality of his theory. In fact, man-ape apparent similarity is not any guaranteed basis for concluding ape as an ancestor of man.

(8) The Basis of Ape Selection Is Unknown: As of today, there are many more animals (like gorilla, chimpanzee etc.) who are closely related to apes and in no small measure are similar to humans.  But we have no idea why the ape was picked as the fortunate ancestor of the dignified man while depriving its cousin animals from that fortune. 

A similar perplexing question is why ape to man evolution process started and that ended after a certain period in the distant past and why it is not happening any more. Over last several thousands of years, basic human features remain the same and the question also remains unanswered if the present humans would ever evolve perceptibly in the future and if they would, then when and how. 

(9) The Theory is Off-limit to Intellectual Evolution: The theory of Darwin is incomplete as it deals with only biological aspect of evolution.  It does not explain how a low-performing brain of an animal (ape) developed into brilliant human brain. In fact, mental faculties of man are not only superior to those of animals, but they are also enormously responsive to development. This made possible an amazing transition of human civilization from ‘stone age’ to ‘nuclear age’ whereas such dynamism is not visible within the potentials of animals. The sporting skill of a dog or the hive making technique of bees, for example, remains almost static over historical period and they are never likely to be able to complete a Ph.D. or invent a rocket, as examples. 

    Darwin (in “Descent of Man”) made no secret of this reality: “the difference between the mind of the lowest man and that of the highest animal is immense”. Similarly, he recognized that “of all the differences between man and the lower animals, the moral sense or conscience is by far the most important”. Thus, he shook the foundation of his own theory by frank admission about inconsistency that the evolution of animal into man did happen only in the biological realm, without touching the aspect of mental development.

(10) No Evolution without Creation: The Evolution theory cannot enjoy independence from the creative role of God. There is no way to get around the fact that the assumed first creature ‘ape’, the starting point of the theory was certainly the creation of God, even if Darwin believes Him or not. Not only that, even if the evolution from ‘ape’ to man were assumed to be true, that might be a part of God’s action plan as well. In any case, his purpose of rejecting the Creator through Evolution theory has been totally defeated.

(11) ‘Survival of the Fittest’ Theory is Anti-Religious: Darwin tried to promote the idea that the fittest (strongest) will survive by competing out the weakest. This gave rise to the theory of ‘Social Darwinism’ that justifies the negatives like imperialism by the British who immorally conquered the colonies by using guns that they were able to mass-produce in the aftermath of Industrial Revolution.
Islam, by contrast, proclaims that in the world of God, the weakest like the orphans, the old parents, the disabled etc. have the same right like the strongest to survive, if necessary, with the help from the strongest (6:151; 17:23/24; 2:220; 4:5; 93:9).

Conclusion: In light of the above discussion, it can be hoped quite reasonably that the intellectual community will be realistic enough to make corrective adjustments in their assessment about the theory of Darwin.