Refuting Darwin’s explanation of how evolution works
a - Darwin says that there is a law that works in extermination and extinction of living beings so that only the fittest survive to pass on their characteristics to their offspring, until the strong characteristics combine to form a new species. There is indeed a law which works in the annihilation of all living beings, strong and weak alike, because Allah has decreed death for all living beings. But there is also a parallel law whereby there is co-operation between living beings and their environment, because when Allah created life, He also created the means to sustain life. So we see the sun, the oceans, the wind, rain, plants, gravity... all of these and other things co-operate to sustain human and animal life.
Focusing on the destructive factors and overlooking the factors of sustenance creates an imbalance in one’s way of thinking. If there is a law of death or destruction, then there is also a law of life, and each of them has a role to play in life. If these natural forces such as wind, thunder, heat, water, storms, etc, are able to cause damage to people or to destroy their works, such as blinding them or destroying what they have built, it is impossible to believe that these blind, unintelligent natural forces are able to create an eye for one who does not have an eye, or to repair a structure that is in a state of disrepair.
It is reasonable to say that natural forces could be destructive or fatal, but it is unreasonable to say that these forces explain this perfect, wonderful creation in which everything has been shaped perfectly and formed in a systematic way such that its parts fit together with such amazing precision and work together in perfect harmony. It is impossible to attribute this perfection to blind natural forces.
Jamaaluddeen al-Afghaani said in his book Al-Radd ‘ala ad-Dahriyeen – Refutation of the atheists – where he discussed this theory. After that, I ask them, how does each separate part of a living being know what the other parts are trying to achieve when each of them serves a different function? By what means does one part inform the others of what it intends to do? What parliament or senate or assembly of elders was held to create this perfectly-assembled being? How do these parts know – when they are still inside the bird’s egg – that they should come out in the form of a bird which eats grains, so it has to have the necessary beak and craw?
Darwin’s principle of the survival of the fittest has destroyed human life, because it has given justification for every oppressor, whether an individual or a government. When the oppressor engages in oppression, confiscation, war and plots, he does not think that he is doing anything wrong – rather, he is following a natural law, according to Darwin’s claims, the law of the survival of the fittest. This claim led to the ugliest excesses of colonialism.
b - Natural selection, the tendency to mate with stronger individuals so as to eliminate weaker individuals, does not prove that evolution takes place within that species. What we understand from it is that stronger individuals of a given species survive whilst weaker specimens are eliminated.
It may be said that if evolution occurs in some individuals, this may lead to a lack of sexual attraction because sexual attraction will be reduced according to the difference of form between males and females. This is what was suggested by the famous scientist Duwayr Zansky in 1958, a century after Darwin. Among the things that he suggested was:
“Differences in physical form reduce sexual attraction, so the tendency to reproduce is reduced between animals of different shapes; the more different they are, the less attraction there is between them. Therefore it is wrong to say that new characteristics will be passed on from an individual in its genes. For example, a blacksmith with strong muscles will not pass on his muscular strength to his offspring, just as a scientist with deep knowledge will not pass his knowledge on to his sons in his genes.”
c - The suggestion that some characteristic emerge accidentally and are then passed on has been rejected by the modern science of genetics. Every characteristic that is not carried in the genes is an earned or acquired characteristic which cannot be passed on to the offspring.
Professor Nabeel George, one of the reliable scientists in this field, says: “For that reason, natural selection does not explain the theory of evolution. It only explains that the least fit will die, and that some characteristics will spread among the species. Those who speak of evolutionary leaps mean that an animal which did not have an eye suddenly had an eye because of the action of some rays.
Some specialists have proved that x-rays can cause changes in the number of genes, but this change occurs in something that is already present – it does not create something that does not exist. The number of a monkey’s genes differs from the number of a human’s genes. X-rays only affect the genes that are present; how could these rays, which do not possess any form of intelligence, create the intelligence in man which distinguishes him from monkeys and other animals?
These rays can affect the genes, but it is more akin to distortion than reforming, as happens in the case of atomic rays (radiation). This is in addition to the fact that science of genetics disproves Darwin’s theory, as experience shows. The Jews, and the Muslims are them, have been circumcising their sons for centuries, but this has not led to any of their children being born circumcised. The more science advances, the more Darwin’s theory is proven wrong.
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