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Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Evolution vs. Intelligent Design? |
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| bhaloo |
| 11/26/05 at 20:08:14 |
| [slm] I was at a "thanksgiving dinner" at some non-Muslim relatives homes, and one of them teaches a biology class. And the topic of evolution came up and I found all these people ganging up on me saying evolution is valid. The first thought that came through my mind is that these people must be out of their minds if they believe in this stuff. So I want to go about logically and take apart evolution, but the first thing I have to do is investigate what do these people believe in and what are the arguments that they make. I know there are sites that refute them such as: http://www.evolutiondeceit.com/ hmmm, came across another good one, can't seem to find it. And this seems to be the biggest site in favor of evolution: http://www.talkorigins.org/origins/faqs.html It appearantly has points to counter the prior sites, though I haven't looked through it completely. What is the approach to take with such people, and how should one approach such people and point them in the direction of Islam. They seem very misguided, and I'm hoping they are willing to listen to logic. |
| Re: Evolution vs. Intelligent Design? |
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| Shaykh_Abdurahman |
| 11/28/05 at 01:28:05 |
| [slm] All Praise belongs to Allah, the King of the Universe, and may peace and prayers be upon Prophet Muhammad. Allah has created all things in pairs. The universe, the sun, the moon, swim in their orbits by the Command and Decree of Allah. There is no god or idol or ideology that can defeat Allah. Allah's command is only once, and it is. May Allah guide all of humanity to His Oneness and Complete Perfection. It is important to stick to the Prophet Muhammad [saw]'s Sunnah. The new things lead towards deviation. All things in this Universe, all laws, all conditions are created by Allah. Not a leaf falls except that it is Allah's knowledge. A Muslim should call people to the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad [saw]. Even our method of calling should be in accordance to the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad [saw], following the advice of the scholars and people of knowledge. The scholars and elders have cautioned us against the new ideologies. We should stick with the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad [saw]. Calling to Allah is an absolute obligation on this Ummah. If we do not stop the evil, and enjoin the good, we will be held accountable in front of Allah. There will be no more messengers after our beloved Rasool [saw], so the obligation and responsibility for reminding others about the greatest of Allah now falls on us. From the Sunnah of our Messenger is that we should avoid argumentation. Hidayat is in the Hands of Allah. The Prophet never argued, but sought a better way. When we call to the way of Allah, we must always make sure the other person is listening. The Prophet was never forceful on the people, but instead attracted them with his good character and kindness. May Allah let us correct our own selves, and remove the ills, jealousy, and pride from our hearts. May Allah help us bring conviction and firm Iman in our hearts, like the Sahabah and early generations who were successful. Ameen. |
| Re: Evolution vs. Intelligent Design? |
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| Anonymous |
| 11/28/05 at 11:09:01 |
| salam alaikum Three opinions which broadly cover the strands of islamic thought today: nuh keller on evolution: http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/nuh/evolve.htm evolution on yusuf estes' website: http://www.islamtoday.com/showme2.cfm?cat_id=29&sub_cat_id=792 tariq ramadan's position regarding evolution: http://www.aaup.org/aboutaaup/AAUP%20internal%20documents/am.htm |
| Re: Evolution vs. Intelligent Design? |
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| traveller |
| 11/28/05 at 14:48:56 |
| [slm], Hmm, regarding the last link above, are you sure that that document reflects Tariq Ramadan's opinion? It seems to articulate the general position taken by the conference regarding the issue, but over 200 people attended that conference. It is quite possible that Tariq Ramadan's personal opinion might be different from that of the conference. Just thinking that we should be careful before attributing opinions to a particular scholar. I'm actually quite interested in the issue, and unfortunately haven't found a whole lot of material from Muslim scholars, at least in English. Bhaloo, it's an interesting issue, that is often discussed very polemically, by both the pro-evolution and anti-evolution side. The public discourse seems to be polarized between the atheist scientist perspective, and the "creationist" view ascribed to certain literalist Christian groups who think the world is only a few thousand years old, etc., etc. Yet, there is a much richer, and wider spectrum of opinions and beliefs underlying the whole issue--there are many scientists with varying levels of religious belief, who ascribe to a whole spectrum of opinions regarding evolution--and likewise many different faiths and perspectives within faiths that also range over the whole spectrum. I think a lot of people talking about this issue would do well to understand the difference between observation, fact, opinion, interpretation etc., etc., and I like the approach that Sheikh Nuh takes in his article--dealing with specific *aspects* of the theory, and examining which are compatible, and which are not compatible with Islamic teachings, and why. This is probably a much more fruitful approach to take with most people who strongly argue for the random mutation/natural selection. Much more useful than a blanket statement like "Evolution is not true". In fact, from the little I have read from scholars like Sheikh Nuh above, there are certainly aspects and observations about the theory that are compatible with Islamic belief, and others which we disagree with for specific reasons. Another thing you should be sure to point out is that the current scientific view of evolution *does* make a theological statement or assumption about the existence and/or nature of God. People making this argument often believe that science is totally neutral/objective/free of bias. Speaking as a scientist myself, this is really not the case, as science is, just like everything else, a human endeavour, and underlying beliefs can, even unintentionally, affect the interpretation of scientific evidence. By saying that mutations are random, you are implying that God either does not exist, or that God does not directly control events in the universe. This is antithetical to basic Islamic aquida by my understanding. With respect to intelligent design, Michael Behe's book, "Darwin's black box" is an interesting read that presents a science-based criticism of evolutionary theory, and that presents an argument for "intelligent design" compatible with general knowledge of biology and the Earth's history, without reference to a specific faith. Interestingly, some proponents of intelligent design actually lament the usurpation of intelligent design by biblical literalists, as they believe it actually undermines and misrepresents the concept. |
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