IMAM ALI AND DARWINISM

In the name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful.


IMAM ALI –THE FATHER OF EVOLUTIONARY THEORY


“The survivors of sword (battles) live longer and have large progeny.”

Imam Ali-Nahjulbalagha: saying: 84

FIG.1. Portrait of Darwin as a young man, and when he has become old. Darwin was a Christian and a believer in God. If he would have used the word ‘God’ instead of the word ‘nature’, his theory would have been regarded as theology (study of religion).His work was a scientific one (through collection of data). He did not use the word "God", he used the word "nature" instead.


The clergy and religious scholars of Islam and Christianity opposed "Darwinism" or "The Evolutionary Theory" because they believe that Darwinism refutes the existence of God. To the contrary, the only flaw in the evolutionary theory is the ample usage of the word ‘Nature.’ If Darwin would have used the word ‘God’ instead of the word ‘Nature’, his theory would have been welcomed, even, by the staunchly religious clergy. The point is, the believers in God want God to create all the living beings at one go, they cannot digest the idea of God making his creation slowly and gradually through selection and climatic change. Why should God create all the living beings through evolution? But the fact is, God's creation through evolution is logical and abides by the law of "cause and effect." God does not violates his own law of causality (cause and effect) .Even miracles, which were performed by the great prophets, can be explained to some extent by causality theory (for example, the great deluge of the Prophet Noah was explained by one of the great erstwhile scientists as an outcome of the gravitational pull of a comet passing by the earth, at that time).One of the great names of God is “The Subtle-Lateef (in Arabic);the lover of minute details and complexity.” Which act of God lie more nearer to logic? God creating the creation at one instant, like a magician or his creating the universe thorough change in the environment; struggle for existence; survival of the fittest; accumulation of minute positive changes with period of time; known as Darwinism or evolutionary theory (Charles Dawkins proved that even the sub-atomic particles, like electrons and protons, evolved following the Darwin’s evolutionary principle, so theory of evolution is not restricted to only living beings but applies to the whole universe itself).



FIG.2. In his book “The Origin of Species”, Darwin never tried to prove that man has evolved form apes. His theory just provides a basis for the assumption that man has evolved form apes (in this writing we have countered the faulty assumption of man evolving from apes).Darwin’s theory was an attempt to explain existence of ‘connecting links’. Connecting links are not only characteristic of life but of non-life as well; the sub-atomic particle ‘electron’ is the connecting link between energy and matter; liquids are connecting link between gases and solids’; viruses are connecting link between non-life (death) and life etc.


The holy Quran says,

“Verily! Allah (God) selected (astafa) Adam, Noah, and the family of Ibrahim and the family of Imran above the ‘Alamin (mankind).” Surah-3; verse-33

“O children of Israel! Remember My Favor which I bestowed upon you and that I preferred (selected) you to the ‘Mankind’.” Surah-2; verse-47

The above given verses hints towards the theory of natural selection; God indeed has favorites, but his favoritism is based on justice, he only selects those who are fit or worthy of his preference.Thus,it is the nature of God to do natural selection, he creates adverse circumstances and selects only those who are fit.

Dr.Haroon Yahya, the famous Islamic scientist/scholar, tried to refute the theory of evolution in his book ‘Darwinism refuted.’ The book was a great disappointment because he did not quote a single verse from The Holy Quran or mentions any Hadith (Traditions) which is against Darwinism or the theory of evolution. The only thing which he did in his whole book was, finding flaws in the fossil record. To prove that a particular concept is against Islam, one has to produce verses from Quran or mention any Tradition (Hadith) which is against the concept in question. It will be wrong to refute a concept without reference to Quran and Hadith and then say that Islam refutes it; this is not expected, at least, from a good scholar like Haroon Yahya.If you try to find evidences against Darwinism in the Islamic sources you will end up doing the opposite, that is, you will get evidences in favor of Darwinism. The Darwin’s theory of evolution is based on the following concepts,

1. Climatic change
2. Struggle for existence
3. Survival of the fittest
4. Connecting link

All the above mentioned concepts of the Darwin’s theory of evolution can be found in the Quran, Hadith and teachings of Imam Ali (Nahjulbalagha).

CLIMATIC CHANGE:


FIG.3. Portrait of Malthus who proposed that with increase in population the natural disasters increase in order to keep a check on the population, and hence only the lucky and the fittest survive. Darwin’s theory of evolution was an extension of the Malthus theory.

Darwin was motivated by Malthus theory, which says that when population increases natural disasters increase (to put a check on the growth of population). Every living organism has immense potential to over breed. A single bacterium gives 70 generations in 20 minutes. If all the bacteria survive, then in a months time, there will be no place on earth to stand. Everything will be covered by a mountain of bacteria.The Elephant is one of the slow breeders; if all its progeny survive then in just 25 years there will be elephants at every point on earth. To check this growth nature (God) creates climatic change.

FIG.4. Increase in population brings climatic change; only the strong spirited one who can cope with the climatic change will survive.

Quran says,

“We do not change the circumstances unless you change from within.”

It means God always puts you in unfavorable conditions, and wishes that you should change and modify yourself to suit the harsh conditions, and once you get adapted to the harsh conditions, he changes the unfavorable conditions into favorable one.Thus,God loves change. First, he changes the external conditions, and then he changes you.

Imam Ali says,

“Through the change of circumstances the metal of men is known.”

The above mentioned statements of Quran and Nahjulbalagha agree with Malthus theory and the concept of climatic change.

STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE



FIG.5. Climatic change creates shortage of food which is the main reason for ‘the struggle for existence’.

Climatic change leads to struggle for existence. To face the change of circumstances or climate, species or organisms have to change or develop positive mutations (the change should help in fighting the troublesome conditions). In today’s scenario of over population and environmental damage, only those will survive who have developed a strong spirit which can control the body and make it adapt to the deteriorating climatic conditions.

Quran says,

“Every soul shall get only that for which it struggles”.

SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST:


FIG.6. In the struggle for existence only the fittest will survive.

Only those organisms which are fit to fight the harsh conditions are selected by nature. The climatic change, struggle for existence, and survival of the fittest concept are found in the following saying of Imam Ali (a.s),


“The survivors of sword (battle field) live longer and have large progeny.”
Nahjulbalagha saying: 84

The Battle field is a place of struggle wherein only the fit survives. Those who survive the sword live longer because they have developed positive change during their struggle and they have a large progeny because nature (God) wants these positive changes to survive.
The Quran says,

“When the mercy of God descends, the valleys flow according to their measures and only that stays which is of use to the mankind.”

According to Quran, God always wants those people or organisms to survive and grow which are useful for the creation. With constant accumulation of these positive changes new organisms come into being or in evolutionary terminology ‘originates’. This new organism multiplies tremendously owing to its new acquired characteristics which match the demand of the changing environment. The process continues. Regarding such a scenario Quran says,

“See they not how Allah originates the creation and repeats it.” Surah-29; verse-19

“Say: Travel in the land and see how (Allah) originated the creation, and then Allah will bring forth the creation of the hereafter.Verily, Allah is able to do all things”.Surah-29 v-20

God wants us to travel in the earth, like Darwin, and find the puzzle of “The Origin of Species.”

CONNECTING LINK:



FIG.7. Because of the climatic change, struggle for existence and survival of the fittest phenomena one species is converted into other species; the connecting links are an evidence of this conversion process. The above picture is of Duck Billed Platypus which is connecting link (having qualities of both birds and mammals) between birds and mammals.Scientist used to think that it is a bird, they were shocked when they found that it has mammary glands, feeds its young ones with milk and is viviparous (give birth to young ones), now it is regarded as a mammal. As God is wise, why did he create connecting links when he has created the creation at one go?


During the process of the origin of species through evolution, connecting links (animals having qualities of two different groups) are formed. Most of the connecting links which were formed during the process of evolution are found in the fossil record. Viruses are the connecting link between nonliving and living; photosynthetic microorganisms are the connecting link between bacteria and plants; parasitic bacteria are the connecting link between bacteria and animals. Lung fishes are the connecting link between fishes and amphibians; salamanders are the connecting link between amphibians and reptiles, dinosaurs are the connecting link between reptiles and birds; Duck Billed Platypus is the connecting link between birds and mammals. The list is very large. Regarding connecting link Quran says,

“Thus We have made you (The Prophet’s family-The Infallible), a middle nation(Wasat {connecting link),that you be a witness over mankind and the Messenger be a witness over you.” Surah Baqra: 142-143

‘Ummat-e-Wasat’ in Arabic means a middle nation; a connecting link. The holy prophet and his progeny are the connecting link between God and humans. They connect human beings to God. This literally means they help people in establishing a relationship with God. All the prophets and the great saints can be called as connecting link between and God and humans. Imam Ali says,
“Do not call us God because we are his creation and hence below him, and do not call us simply humans because we are above humans”.

ORIGIN OF LIFE:




FIG.8.Life started with amino acids and nucleotide.Amino acids gave rise to proteins and nucleotides gave birth to RNA (ribose nucleic acid).The most primitive organism had RNA as genetic material. The HIV virus which causes AIDS has RNA as it’s genetic material (retro virus).Does it means that the HIV virus was existing before the arrival of human race?

The theory of evolution predicted that life originated in the oceans, and modern science has provided ample evidences of life starting at the ocean. Regarding the origination of life Quran says,

“Do not the unbelievers see that the heaven and the earth were joined together, before we clove them asunder? We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?” Surah 21: verses 30.

“And Allah created every animal from water.” Surah 24 verses 25.

The most basic ingredients of life are amino acids, DNA (genes) and RNA.A piece of DNA is commonly termed as a ‘gene.’DNA is the information store house of an organism. It contains information of the sequence of amino acids in a protein. The RNA reads the information on the DNA and converts it into protein by aligning the amino acids into a sequence as mentioned on the DNA.According to the latest theory of life; RNA is the first life ingredient which was formed in the sea (the RNA played dual role of storage of information (like DNA) and sequencing the amino acids in primitive organisms). Later, amino acids were formed, which were arranged by the RNA into a sequence to give rise to the fist protein (proteins are sequence of amino acids).Thus the most primitive organism was made of only protein and RNA.When life became more complex the need for DNA was inevitable; like in the olden days information was stored in big books then computers came, and we are using CDs and pen drives. The AIDS virus is made of only protein and RNA, and hence is considered as the most primitive life forms. The viruses which contain RNA as genetic material are called retro-viruses. All the retro-viruses hold the secret of life; there is a thorough research going on regarding the retro-viruses, now-a- days.

The viruses were converted into bacteria, the bacteria into first microscopic plant (photosynthetic green bacteria) and the first microscopic animals (the parasitic bacteria).The green bacteria invaded the land and evolved into plant kingdom; and the parasitic bacteria evolved into animal kingdom, first in the ocean then on land. Thus, animals and plants have a common ancestor. Hence when you go to a zoology department of any university, you will find a chart of phylogenic tree of evolution .The base of phylogenetic tree of evolution shows bacteria and then the stem of the phylogenic tree divides into two branches, one branch showing the evolution of plant and the other branch showing the evolution of animals. At the tip of animal branch of the phylogenic tree, we humans are placed, marking the end of the great journey.






FIG.9. The tree of evolution. Plants and animals had a common ancestor.



Now let us read what Quran says,
“Then Allah has bought you forth from the earth like a tree (nabath).”
Surah-71; verses-17
Could it be that The Holy Quran referring to the phylogenic tree of life?

DID ADAM EVOLVE FROM MONKEY?

It is possible that life originated at sea, and evolution happened till apes or monkeys, and then God sent Adam (Adam was made in the heaven before evolution started) on earth as a king (Caliph). Adam was made as a special creation, regarding the creation of Adam Imam Ali says,

“Allah collected from hard, soft, sweet, and sour, clay, which he dipped in water till it got pure, and kneaded it with moisture till it became gluey. From it, he carved an image with curves, joints, limbs, and segments. He solidified it (the soul less body of Adam (as)) and dried it and kept it just like that for a fixed time and known duration.
Nahjulbalagha: Sermon.1, page 48.

Now question is, why did God keep the body of Adam for a known time? Why did he not blow the spirit in it, there and then? For what was God actually waiting? May be God was waiting for the process evolution to complete (till apes or monkeys were formed; apes are the last stage in the process of evolution), and then sent Adam who was the chief of all that was existing on earth, just like a palace which is made and furnished with every kind of embellishments so that its king may come and claim it. The earth with all its living beings was like a well embellished palace waiting for its king, Adam, to arrive.Quran says,

“We are going to send a ‘Caliph’ (Adam) on earth.”

Imam Ali (a.s.) says:

“When he (God) has spread out the earth and enforced his command, he chose Adam as the best of his creation and made him the first of all creation.”

Nahjulbalagha: Sermon-89, page 174

Thus, Adam was made before the process of evolution began on earth hence, God did not blow his spirit in him, but only after the process of evolution was completed, God blew his spirit in Adam and sent him from the heaven to the earth to control the less intelligent. Compete intelligence can never be achieved through evolution, it has to be made, and that was Adam “The best of creation(ashraf-ul-maqlooqat.)”


ALL THE PRAISES ARE DUE TO GOD, THE SUSTAINER OF THE UNIVERSE.

Zeeshan312003@yahoo.co.in

REFERENCE:

1. Nahjulbalagha, Ansariyan Publication, 1981, Qum, Iran