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Every detail in this universe points to a superior creation.
By contrast, materialism, which seeks to deny the fact of creation
in the universe, is nothing but an unscientific fallacy.
Once materialism is invalidated, all other theories based on this
philosophy are rendered baseless. Foremost of them is Darwinism,
that is, the theory of evolution. This theory, which argues that
life originated from inanimate matter through coincidences, has been
demolished with the recognition that the universe was created by
Allah. American astrophysicist Hugh Ross explains this as follows:
Atheism, Darwinism, and virtually all the “isms” emanating from the
eighteenth to the twentieth century philosophies are built upon the
assumption, the incorrect assumption, that the universe is infinite.
The singularity has brought us face to face with the cause – or
causer – beyond/behind/before the universe and all that it contains,
including life itself.33
It is Allah Who created the universe and Who designed it down to its
smallest detail. Therefore, it is impossible for the theory of
evolution, which holds that living beings are not created by Allah,
but are products of coincidences, to be true.
Unsurprisingly, when we look at the theory of evolution, we see that
this theory is denounced by scientific findings. The design in life
is extremely complex and striking. In the inanimate world, for
instance, we can explore how sensitive are the balances which atoms
rest upon, and further, in the animate world, we can observe in what
complex designs these atoms were brought together, and how
extraordinary are the mechanisms and structures such as proteins,
enzymes, and cells, which are manufactured with them.
This extraordinary design in life invalidated Darwinism at the end
of the twentieth century.
We have dealt with this subject in great detail in some of our other
studies, and shall continue to do so. However, we think that,
considering its importance, it will be helpful to make a short
summary here as well.
The Scientific Collapse of Darwinism
Although a doctrine going back as far as ancient Greece, the theory
of evolution was advanced extensively in the nineteenth century. The
most important development that made the theory the top topic of the
world of science was the book by Charles Darwin titled The Origin
of Species published in 1859. In this book, Darwin denied that
different living species on the earth were created separately by
Allah. According to Darwin, all living beings had a common ancestor
and they diversified over time through small changes.
Darwin's
theory was not based on any concrete scientific finding; as he also
accepted, it was just an “assumption." Moreover, as Darwin confessed
in the long chapter of his book titled “Difficulties of the Theory,"
the theory was failing in the face of many critical questions.
Darwin
invested all his hopes in new scientific discoveries, which he
expected to solve the “Difficulties of the Theory." However,
contrary to his expectations, scientific findings expanded the
dimensions of these difficulties.
The defeat of Darwinism against science can be reviewed under three
basic topics:
1) The theory can by no means explain how life originated on the
earth.
2) There is no scientific finding showing that the “evolutionary
mechanisms” proposed by the theory have any power to evolve at all.
3) The fossil record proves completely the contrary of the
suggestions of the theory of evolution.
In this section, we will examine these three basic points in general
outlines:
The First Insurmountable Step:
The Origin of Life
The theory of evolution posits that all living species evolved from
a single living cell that emerged on the primitive earth 3.8 billion
years ago. How a single cell could generate millions of complex
living species and, if such an evolution really occurred, why traces
of it cannot be observed in the fossil record are some of the
questions the theory cannot answer. However, first and foremost, of
the first step of the alleged evolutionary process it has to be
inquired: How did this “first cell” originate?
Since the theory of evolution denies creation and does not accept
any kind of supernatural intervention, it maintains that the “first
cell” originated coincidentally within the laws of nature, without
any design, plan, or arrangement. According to the theory, inanimate
matter must have produced a living cell as a result of coincidences.
This, however, is a claim inconsistent with even the most
unassailable rules of biology.
“Life Comes from Life”
In his book,
Darwin
never referred to the origin of life. The primitive understanding of
science in his time rested on the assumption that living beings had
a very simple structure. Since medieval times, spontaneous
generation, the theory asserting that non-living materials came
together to form living organisms, had been widely accepted. It was
commonly believed that insects came into being from food leftovers,
and mice from wheat. Interesting experiments were conducted to prove
this theory. Some wheat was placed on a dirty piece of cloth, and it
was believed that mice would originate from it after a while.
Similarly, worms developing in meat was assumed to be evidence of
spontaneous generation. However, only some time later was it
understood that worms did not appear on meat spontaneously, but were
carried there by flies in the form of larvae, invisible to the naked
eye.
Even in the period when
Darwin
wrote The Origin of Species, the belief that bacteria could
come into existence from non-living matter was widely accepted in
the world of science.
However, five years after the publication of Darwin's book, Louis
Pasteur announced his results after long studies and experiments,
which disproved spontaneous generation, a cornerstone of Darwin's
theory. In his triumphal lecture at the Sorbonne in 1864, Pasteur
said, “Never will the doctrine of spontaneous generation recover
from the mortal blow struck by this simple experiment."34
Advocates of the theory of evolution resisted the findings of
Pasteur for a long time. However, as the development of science
unraveled the complex structure of the cell of a living being, the
idea that life could come into being coincidentally faced an even
greater impasse.
Inconclusive Efforts
in the Twentieth Century
The first evolutionist who took up the subject of the origin of life
in the 20th century was the renowned Russian biologist Alexander
Oparin. With various theses he advanced in the 1930's, he tried to
prove that the cell of a living being could originate by
coincidence. These studies, however, were doomed to failure, and
Oparin had to make the following confession: “Unfortunately,
however, the problem of the origin of the cell is perhaps the most
obscure point in the whole study of the evolution of organisms."35
Evolutionist followers of Oparin tried to carry out experiments to
solve the problem of the origin of life. The best known of these
experiments was carried out by American chemist Stanley Miller in
1953. Combining the gases he alleged to have existed in the
primordial earth's atmosphere in an experiment set-up, and adding
energy to the mixture, Miller synthesized several organic molecules
(amino acids) present in the structure of proteins.
Barely a few years had passed before it was revealed that this
experiment, which was then presented as an important step in the
name of evolution, was invalid, the atmosphere used in the
experiment having been very different from real earth conditions.36
After a long silence, Miller confessed that the atmosphere medium he
used was unrealistic.37
All the evolutionist efforts put forth throughout the twentieth
century to explain the origin of life ended with failure. The
geochemist Jeffrey Bada from San Diego Scripps Institute accepts
this fact in an article published in Earth Magazine in 1998:
Today as we leave the twentieth century, we still face the biggest
unsolved problem that we had when we entered the twentieth century:
How did life originate on Earth?38
The Complex Structure of Life
The primary reason why the theory of evolution ended up in such a
big impasse about the origin of life is that even the living
organisms deemed the simplest have incredibly complex structures.
The cell of a living being is more complex than all of the
technological products produced by man. Today, even in the most
developed laboratories of the world, a living cell cannot be
produced by bringing organic chemicals together.
The conditions required for the formation of a cell are too great in
quantity to be explained away by coincidences. The probability of
proteins, the building blocks of cell, being synthesized
coincidentally, is 1 in 10950 for
an average protein made up of 500 amino acids. In mathematics, a
probability smaller than 1 over 1050 is
practically considered to be impossible.
The DNA molecule, which is located in the nucleus of the cell and
which stores genetic information, is an incredible databank. It is
calculated that if the information coded in DNA were written down,
this would make a giant library consisting of 900 volumes of
encyclopaedias of 500 pages each.
A very interesting dilemma emerges at this point: the DNA can only
replicate with the help of some specialized proteins (enzymes).
However, the synthesis of these enzymes can only be realized by the
information coded in DNA. As they both depend on each other, they
have to exist at the same time for replication. This brings the
scenario that life originated by itself to a deadlock. Prof. Leslie
Orgel, an evolutionist of repute from the University of San Diego,
California, confesses this fact in the September 1994 issue of the
Scientific American magazine:
It is extremely improbable that proteins and nucleic acids, both of
which are structurally complex, arose spontaneously in the same
place at the same time. Yet it also seems impossible to have one
without the other. And so, at first glance, one might have to
conclude that life could never, in fact, have originated by chemical
means. 39
No doubt, if it is impossible for life to have originated from
natural causes, then it has to be accepted that life was “created”
in a supernatural way. This fact explicitly invalidates the theory
of evolution, whose main purpose is to deny creation.
Imaginary Mechanisms of Evolution
The second important point that negates Darwin's theory is that both
concepts put forward by the theory as “evolutionary mechanisms” were
understood to have, in reality, no evolutionary power.
Darwin
based his evolution allegation entirely on the mechanism of “natural
selection.” The importance he placed on this mechanism was evident
in the name of his book: The Origin of Species, By Means Of
Natural Selection…
Natural selection holds that those living things that are stronger
and more suited to the natural conditions of their habitats will
survive in the struggle for life. For example, in a deer herd under
the threat of attack by wild animals, those that can run faster will
survive. Therefore, the deer herd will be comprised of faster and
stronger individuals. However, unquestionably, this mechanism will
not cause deer to evolve and transform themselves into another
living species, for instance, horses.
Therefore, the mechanism of natural selection has no evolutionary
power. Darwin was also aware of this fact and had to state this in
his book The Origin of Species:
Natural selection can do nothing until favourable individual
differences or variations occur.40
Lamarck's Impact
So, how could these “favourable variations” occur? Darwin tried to
answer this question from the standpoint of the primitive
understanding of science in his age. According to the French
biologist Lamarck, who lived before Darwin, living creatures passed
on the traits they acquired during their lifetime to the next
generation and these traits, accumulating from one generation to
another, caused new species to be formed. For instance, according to
Lamarck, giraffes evolved from antelopes; as they struggled to eat
the leaves of high trees, their necks were extended from generation
to generation.
Darwin
also gave similar examples, and in his book The Origin of Species,
for instance, said that some bears going into water to find food
transformed themselves into whales over time.41
However, the laws of inheritance discovered by Mendel and verified
by the science of genetics that flourished in the twentieth century,
utterly demolished the legend that acquired traits were passed on to
subsequent generations. Thus, natural selection fell out of favour
as an evolutionary mechanism.
Neo-Darwinism and Mutations
In order to find a solution, Darwinists advanced the “Modern
Synthetic Theory,” or as it is more commonly known, Neo-Darwinism,
at the end of the 1930's. Neo-Darwinism added mutations, which are
distortions formed in the genes of living beings because of external
factors such as radiation or replication errors, as the “cause of
favourable variations” in addition to natural mutation.
Today, the model that stands for evolution in the world is
Neo-Darwinism. The theory maintains that millions of living beings
present on the earth formed as a result of a process whereby
numerous complex organs of these organisms such as the ears, eyes,
lungs, and wings, underwent “mutations," that is, genetic disorders.
Yet, there is an outright scientific fact that totally undermines
this theory: Mutations do not cause living beings to develop; on the
contrary, they always cause harm to them.
The reason for this is very simple: the DNA has a very complex
structure and random effects can only cause harm to it. American
geneticist B.G. Ranganathan explains this as follows:
First, genuine mutations are very rare in nature. Secondly, most
mutations are harmful since they are random, rather than orderly
changes in the structure of genes; any random change in a highly
ordered system will be for the worse, not for the better. For
example, if an earthquake were to shake a highly ordered structure
such as a building, there would be a random change in the framework
of the building which, in all probability, would not be an
improvement.42
Not surprisingly, no mutation example, which is useful, that is,
which is observed to develop the genetic code, has been observed so
far. All mutations have proved to be harmful. It was understood that
mutation, which is presented as an “evolutionary mechanism," is
actually a genetic occurrence that harms living beings, and leaves
them disabled. (The most common effect of mutation on human beings
is cancer). No doubt, a destructive mechanism cannot be an
“evolutionary mechanism." Natural selection, on the other hand, “can
do nothing by itself” as
Darwin
also accepted. This fact shows us that there is no “evolutionary
mechanism” in nature. Since no evolutionary mechanism exists,
neither could any imaginary process called evolution have taken
place.
The Fossil Record: No Sign of
Intermediate Forms
The clearest evidence that the scenario suggested by the theory of
evolution did not take place is the fossil record.
According to the theory of evolution, every living species has
sprung from a predecessor. A previously existing species turned into
something else in time and all species have come into being in this
way. According to the theory, this transformation proceeds gradually
over millions of years.
Had this been the case, then numerous intermediary
species should have existed and lived within this long
transformation period.
For instance, some half-fish/half-reptiles should have lived in the
past which had acquired some reptilian traits in addition to the
fish traits they already had. Or there should have existed some
reptile-birds, which acquired some bird traits in addition to the
reptilian traits they already had. Since these would be in a
transitional phase, they should be disabled, defective, crippled
living beings. Evolutionists refer to these imaginary creatures,
which they believe to have lived in the past, as “transitional
forms."
If such animals had really existed, there should be millions and
even billions of them in number and variety. More importantly, the
remains of these strange creatures should be present in the fossil
record. In The Origin of Species, Darwin explained:
If my theory be true, numberless intermediate varieties, linking
most closely all of the species of the same group together must
assuredly have existed... Consequently, evidence of their former
existence could be found only amongst fossil remains.43
Darwin's Hopes Shattered
However, although evolutionists have been making
strenuous efforts to find fossils since the middle of the nineteenth
century all over the world, no transitional forms have yet been
uncovered. All the fossils unearthed in excavations showed that,
contrary to the expectations of evolutionists, life appeared on
earth all of a sudden and fully-formed.
A famous British paleontologist, Derek V. Ager, admits this fact,
even though he is an evolutionist:
The point emerges that if we examine the fossil rec,ord
in detail, whether at the level of orders or of species, we find -
over and over again - not gradual evolution, but the sudden
explosion of one group at the expense of another.44
This means that in the fossil record, all living species suddenly
emerge as fully formed, without any intermediate forms in between.
This is just the opposite of Darwin's assumptions. Also, it is very
strong evidence that living beings are created. The only explanation
of a living species emerging suddenly and complete in every detail
without any evolutionary ancestor can be that this species was
created. This fact is admitted also by the widely known evolutionist
biologist Douglas Futuyma:
Creation and evolution, between them, exhaust the possible
explanations for the origin of living things. Organisms either
appeared on the earth fully developed or they did not. If they did
not, they must have developed from pre-existing species by some
process of modification. If they did appear in a fully developed
state, they must indeed have been created by some omnipotent
intelligence. 45
Fossils show that living beings emerged fully developed and in a
perfect state on the earth. That means that “the origin of species”
is, contrary to Darwin's supposition, not evolution but creation.
The Tale of Human Evolution
The subject most often brought up by the advocates of the theory of
evolution is the subject of the origin of man. The Darwinist claim
holds that the modern men of today evolved from some kind of
ape-like creatures. During this alleged evolutionary process, which
is supposed to have started 4-5 million years ago, it is claimed
that there existed some “transitional forms” between modern man and
his ancestors. According to this completely imaginary scenario, four
basic “categories” are listed:
1. Australopithecus
2. Homo habilis
3. Homo erectus
4. Homo sapiens
Evolutionists call the so-called first ape-like ancestors of men “Australopithecus”
which means “South African ape." These living beings are actually
nothing but an old ape species that has become extinct. Extensive
research done on various Australopithecus specimens by two
world famous anatomists from England and the USA, namely, Lord Solly
Zuckerman and Prof. Charles Oxnard, has shown that these belonged to
an ordinary ape species that became extinct and bore no resemblance
to humans.46
Evolutionists classify the next stage of human evolution as “homo,"
that is “man." According to the evolutionist claim, the living
beings in the Homo series are more developed than
Australopithecus. Evolutionists devise a fanciful evolution scheme
by arranging different fossils of these creatures in a particular
order. This scheme is imaginary because it has never been proved
that there is an evolutionary relation between these different
classes. Ernst Mayr, one of the most important proponents of the
theory of evolution in the twentieth century, contends in his book
One Long Argument that “particularly historical [puzzles]
such as the origin of life or of Homo sapiens, are extremely
difficult and may even resist a final, satisfying explanation."47
By outlining the link chain as “Australopithecus >
Homo habilis > Homo erectus > Homo sapiens,"
evolutionists imply that each of these species is one another's
ancestor. However, recent findings of paleoanthropologists have
revealed that Australopithecus, Homo habilis and
Homo erectus lived at different parts of the world at the same
time.48
Moreover, a certain segment of humans classified as Homo erectus
have lived up until very modern times. Homo sapiens
neandarthalensis and Homo sapiens sapiens (modern man)
co-existed in the same region.49
This situation apparently indicates the invalidity of the claim that
they are ancestors of one another. A paleontologist from Harvard
University, Stephen Jay Gould, explains this deadlock of the theory
of evolution although he is an evolutionist himself:
What has become of our ladder if there are three coexisting lineages
of hominids (A. africanus, the robust australopithecines, and H.
habilis), none clearly derived from another? Moreover, none of the
three display any evolutionary trends during their tenure on earth.50
Put briefly, the scenario of human evolution, which is sought to be
upheld with the help of various drawings of some “half ape, half
human” creatures appearing in the media and course books, that is,
frankly, by means of propaganda, is nothing but a tale with no
scientific ground.
Lord Solly Zuckerman, one of the most famous and
respected scientists in the U.K., who carried out research on this
subject for years, and particularly studied Australopithecus
fossils for 15 years, finally concluded, despite being an
evolutionist himself, that there is, in fact, no such family tree
branching out from ape-like creatures to man.
Zuckerman also made an interesting “spectrum of science." He formed
a spectrum of sciences ranging from those he considered scientific
to those he considered unscientific. According to Zuckerman's
spectrum, the most “scientific"—that is, depending on concrete
data—fields of science are chemistry and physics. After them come
the biological sciences and then the social sciences. At the far end
of the spectrum, which is the part considered to be most
“unscientific," are “extra-sensory perception"—concepts such as
telepathy and sixth sense–and finally “human evolution." Zuckerman
explains his reasoning:
We then move right off the register of objective truth into those
fields of presumed biological science, like extrasensory perception
or the interpretation of man's fossil history, where to the faithful
[evolutionist] anything is possible - and where the ardent believer
[in evolution] is sometimes able to believe several contradictory
things at the same time.51
The tale of human evolution boils down to nothing but the prejudiced
interpretations of some fossils unearthed by certain people, who
blindly adhere to their theory.
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