CREATION & EVOLUTION - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

CREATION & EVOLUTIONDr Shakeel Ahmad

Ahmadiyya

Muslim Association, UK BranchSlide2
Slide3

Putting the debate into contextCreationism vs EvolutionSlide4

Putting the debate into contextCreationism vs Evolution Creation & EvolutionSlide5

150 years ago - ‘Creationism v Evolution’Second half of 19th centuryPost Darwin – increased attentionEarly 20th cent – Christian Fundamentalism USAGenesis

– Creation narrative

Literal

interpretations

Man

created from dust

Woman

created from his

side

Earth Creationists / Evolutionary Creationists hold different viewSlide6

Genesis creation narrative - Stages of creation [Genesis 1:3-31, 2:1-3] 6 stages of creationLight and darknessHeavens and earthWater accumulation and dry landDay and nightLife formsLife in the spirit of God - cattle, man, womanRest Slide7

Science / Religion ‘dichotomy’ Long term debate Not just about creationism and evolutionPortrayed as - open-minded scientists vs religious bigotry Better as - comparison between scientific and religious principlesNot even thatCurrent influencesPolitics is heavily involvedIncrease of right-wing and extremism Source of ethics and value systemsWho controls education

Economic dominationSlide8

Centres of learning worldwide – influenced?The centres worldwide still carry the ‘dichotomy’ tone in their debates!Oxford UniversityIan Ramsey Centre of Science and ReligionSlide9

‘Either/or’ approach continuingRichard Dawkins – ‘The more you understand the significance of evolution, the more you are pushed towards atheism...’Ray Comfort - Nothing Created Everything: The Scientific Impossibility of Atheistic Evolution: ‘It is embarrassingly unscientific to speak of anything creating itself from nothing. Common sense says that if something possessed the ability to create itself from nothing, then that something wasn't nothing, it was something - a very intelligent creative power of some sort.’Stephen Hawking – A Brief History of Time 1988: ‘

If we discover a complete theory, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason - for then we should know the mind of God.’

Huffington Post Science 2014

:

‘…as we know more of science, we see that science explains more of what exists, … I am an atheist…’Slide10

This ‘dichotomy’ isn’t realInsults do not resolve the issueSlide11

Scientists that recognise their work as an attempt to understand God’s creationIsaac Newton [1642-1726] Mathematician/physicist Robert Boyle [1627-1691] Chemistry, Boyle’s LawAbdul Salam [1926-1996] Nobel prize physics, Unification of electroweak forceJohn Polkinghorne [1930- ] Prof of Mathematical Physics, Cambridge Francis Collins [1950- ] Director National Institute of Health, USA, Director of Human Genome Project, described ‘theistic evolution’

Owen

Gingerich

[1930- ]

Prof of Astronomy, HarvardSlide12

Idea of evolution – pre-Darwin originsGreeks – Anaximander (610 – 546 BCE) – First animals lived in water, land animals incl humans originated from themSocrates [469-399 BCE] – God that masterminds the process of creationAristotle [384-322 BCE] – ‘Ladder of life’, the Final Cause, rejected chance happening of creationChina – Zhuang Zhao [369-286 BCE] – Changing biological species in response to natural environmentSt Augustine of Hippo [354-430] - De Genesi ad litteram (On the Literal Meaning of Genesis

),

refuted literal interpretation of the verses,

‘… in

some cases new creatures may have come about through the "decomposition" of earlier forms of life

.

Muslims

[650-1350] –

‘Golden era of Islam’

Tommaso

d’Aquino

[1225-1274] – Natural sequences of evolution contributed to development of life, and this does not contradict that God is the ultimate creator of this process and all life

Rene Descartes

[1596-1650] God created universe and the mechanics that then lead to development of life forms. However there is no role of God in this process any further.

Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon [1707-1788] Common ancestry of various life forms

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

[1744-1829] Parallel lines of evolution of spontaneously generated simpler forms, Lamarckism – adaptation of new characters by life forms in response to environmentSlide13

Charles Darwin [1809-1882] Slide14

Charles Darwin – Raised as Christian, Unitarian family, some AnglicanismMedicine, a priestNatural sciences5 yr voyage on the Beagle [1831-36]Worked on theory of natural selectionOthers with similar work Asa Gray, Alfred WallaceOn the Origin of Species [1859]Accepted as valid within 2 decades – Victorian periodGod, as creator, mentioned several timesDiscovery of a new law of nature as designed by GodSimilar discoveries in astronomy, chemistry, physiology, geologySlide15

Was Charles Darwin an atheist?Darwin’s writingsLot of speculations‘Preliminary Notice’ by C Darwin in the biography of his g-father Erasmus Darwin, by Ernst KrauseDr. Darwin has been frequently called an atheist, whereas in every one of his works distinct expressions may be found showing that he fully believed in God as the Creator of the universe.Dull atheist, could a giddy dance

Of atoms lawless

hurl’d

Construct so wonderful, so wise,

So harmonised a world

?

Journal

of Researches, First Ed,

1838, The

Voyage of The Beagle –

183

– visiting Australia

A little time before this I had been lying on a sunny bank, and was reflecting on the strange character of the animals of this country as compared with the rest of the world. An unbeliever in every thing beyond his own reason might exclaim, “Two distinct Creators must have been at work; their object, however, has been the same, and certainly the end in each case is complete.”

‘Descent of Man’ – 1871

Belief in God—Religion

.—

The question is of course wholly distinct from that higher one, whether there exists a Creator and Ruler of the universe; and this has been answered in the affirmative by the highest intellects that have ever lived

.

Charles Darwin, autobiography, 1876+

Gradual change in his views

Increasing scepticism about the Church

Remained a theist

… When

thus reflecting I feel compelled to look to a First Cause having an intelligent mind in some degree analogous to that of man; and I deserve to be called a Theist. This conclusion was strong in my mind

… and

it

has

very gradually with many fluctuations become

weaker….

In my most extreme fluctuations I have never been an Atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God

.

Buried

in

Westminster Abbey Slide16

1500 yrs ago – Quran on Creation and EvolutionSlide17

The order of creation6 stages of creation 10:4Origin from singularity [Big bang] 21:31Expansion of the universe 51:48Orbital motion of celestial bodies, relation of the orbits to creation of night and day; 21:34, 36:39, 51:8Gravitational force- is invisible 31:11, 13:3Creation of universe, planets shaped into their orbits with day and night cycle, settling earth, water, plant life, animal life – in the order they have evolved 79:28-34, 71:14-18[

10:4] Verily, your Lord is Allah Who created the heavens and the earth in six periods, then He settled Himself on the Throne; He governs everything. There is no intercessor with Him save after His permission. That is Allah, your Lord, so worship Him. Will you not, then, be admonished?

[21:31] Do not the disbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were a closed-up mass, then We opened them out? And We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe? Slide18

Inorganic to organic transformation Organic matter in a ‘primordial soup’Basis of development of complex proteins that could replicateOrigin of life in clay based earth 6:3, 3:60, 55:15, 15:27

[

15:27] And, surely, We created man from dry ringing clay, from black mud wrought into shape. Slide19

First forms of life Organic molecules lead to formation of first known life forms with the help of heatEarliest known life forms [archae] were invisible to the eye, originating with application of heat energy 15:28, 55:16Solar heat and radiation; marine volcanic thermal vents[15:28] And the jinn

We had created before from the fire of hot wind

.

[55:16] And the jinn He created from the flame of fireSlide20

From unisex life forms to gender formation & sexual reproduction Asexual reproduction to begin with, and then creating sexual reproduction 7:190, 42:12, 39:7, 4:2Enabling genetic transformation and adaptation [4:2] O ye people! fear your Lord, Who created you from a single soul and created therefrom its mate, and from them twain spread many

[39:7] He created you from a single being; then from that He made its mate; and He has sent down for you eight head of cattle in pairs. He creates you in the wombs of your mothers, creation after creation, in threefold darkness. This is Allah, your Lord. Slide21

[Development of homo sapiens] Hominids Great apes – 30m yrsCommon ancestors for modern apes and humans – 7m yrs Hominins Ardi – Oldest ancestor specie for homo sapiens –4.5m yrsupright walk, 1.2m tall [4ft], female, EthiopiaLucy –

3m

yrs

upright walk,

1.1m

tall

[3.7ft

], female, Ethiopia

Several other species discovered at same time as above two –

parallel and interactive evolution

Homo

habilis

– 2.2m

yrs

Homo erectus

– 1.8m yrsSlide22

Embryology Stages of development of human foetus Birth of human starts from a drop of sperm 16:5, 40:68Sperm is placed in a depository for human creation 23:14Stages of development of the human foetus ears, eyes, heart 23:15, 16:79, Pregnancy lies inside three layers (abdominal, uterine and amniotic) 39:7Slide23

Evolution, yes; but with a plan, not randomWisdom rather than chance determines what is created 28:69...and how the process is planned 56:58-74, 10:4, 13:3, 39:6[28:69] And thy Lord creates whatever He pleases and chooses whomsoever He pleases. It is not for them to choose. Glorified be Allah, and far is He above all that they associate with Him. [39:6] He created the heavens and the earth in accordance with the requirements of wisdom. He makes the night to cover the day, and He makes the day to cover the night; and He has pressed the sun and the moon into service;

each pursues its course until an appointed time.

Hearken, it is He alone Who is the Mighty, the Great Forgiver. Slide24

An example of planned evolution -Development of speechDevelopment of speech 55:4-5 Out of several examples illustrating a planned process of evolution, one is that of development of speech. If mere chance was responsible for evolution, it would have taken millions of years through numerous species with gradually developing speech, before finally reaching complexity of human speech. However, speech appeared without these interim stages and exactly when life had become intelligent enough to contemplate and communicate complex ideas, including about his own spiritual development.[55:4-5] He has created man. He has taught him plain speech. Slide25

Continuing evolution - future of life on earth Possibility of other people better than our capacity to understand nature and follow the guiding principles 70:41-42, 76:29Possibility of human evolving further into a different life form 56:61-62Possibility of a new creation altogether 14:20-21, 35:17-18 Clear distinction of the Quran to mention future of life with this clarity Slide26

Purpose of evolution of life?Slide27

Quran - development of consciousness, and spiritual evolution Time line of development of life on earth Humans begin to spread around earth …..............Life begins Unicellular Multicellular Plants Marine animals Reptiles Land animals Genus Homo Neanderthals die A J M (pbut)

Mammals

______________________________________

4b 2b 1b 500m 250m

2m

70k

35k

6k 2k 1.4k

A = Adam (pbuh)

J = Jesus (pbuh)

M = Mohammad (

pbuh

)Slide28

Spread of modern humans around earthPeriod in ka [thousand years] shown by colour Slide29

Evidence for developed consciousness and capability in the human specieSpecies Estimated current world populationSumatran Orangutan

6,667

Bornean orangutan

61,234

Western gorilla

200,000

Eastern gorilla

6,000

Common chimpanzee

100,000

Bonobo

10,000

Human

7,500,000,000

The following table lists the estimated number of great ape individuals living outside zoos.Slide30

‘Golden Age’ of Islam [650-1350 CE]RELIGION & SCIENCE WORKED IN HARMONYGreek scholars like Aristotle were translated by several Muslim scholars into ArabicIdeas form India and China absorbed into Muslim sciencePhilosophy - Al Kindi (Alkindus) – philosophy, sciencesChemistry - Jabir ibne hayyan (Geber)Zoology - Al JahizEvolution of life – Al-Tusi, Ibn-e KhaldunMathematics algebra - Al-Khwarizmi (algorithm), concept of

‘

zero’, trigonometry

Optics – light ?

split, ophthalmology

Astronomy – navigation –

Al

Idrisi

Experimentation - Ibne al

H

atham

(Alhazen

) the first true scientist

Medicine - Ibne sina (Avicenna)

Canon of Medicine translated from Arabic to Latin and other EU languages until 1700CEFirst multi-disciplinary hospitals – Qalawun,

Cairo, Baghdad

Medical licensing to practice

History -

I

bne

khaldun

Law –

Linguistics -

Art – glass tinting painting –

Crete, Greece,

Italy , calligraphy , ceramics, textile

Architecture – mosques, tombs, gardens

Irrigation systems, Mesopotamia, Cordoba

Travels -

I

bne

batuta

Education – libraries, stipends and scholarships, royal patronage , first universities

-

Baitul

Hikma

, Baghdad,

810ceSlide31

Learning and knowledgeTranslating from Greek, Sanskrit, ChineseEstablishing librariesStipends and scholarships for students and scholars, royal patronage First universities: ‘Baitul Hikma’ Baghdad 810ce, AlexandriaEmphasis on experimentation Ibne al Hatham (Alhazen) ‘The first true scientist’Slide32

Pioneering various sciences & development of knowledge Philosophy and humanities Alkindus – Ishaq Al-kindi (265 books)Ibn-e-Rushd (1126-1198ce) – Averroes – Critical commentaries on Greek philosophersIbn-e-Baja (1095-1138ce) – Avenpace - Critical commentaries on Greek philosophersAl Ghazali (1058-1111ce) – Algazel – Incoherence of the Philosophers, Revival of Spiritual Psyche

Abu Abdullah Ibn e Batutah

(1304-1389ce) –

Ibn

Battuta

- travel accounts and social commentary

Linguistics

Jalaludin Al-Savati

– evolution of languages

Physics

Abdul Rayhan Ahmed Al-Bayruni

(973-1048ce) –

146 books – earth circumference - experimental methodology in mechanics - hydromechanics and hydrostatics – concept of vacuum

- Slide33

Medicine First hospitals - Jandeshapour hospital - Iran, Almansour hospital – Baghdad, Johannitus – Hunain Ibn-e-Ishaq Infections, neuro-psychiatry – relation between brain and mind / control of infections/ Abu Ali Ibn-e-Sina (980-1037ce) – Avicenna – Canon of Medicine – translated in EU medical syllabus until 18c Optics / eye functions – Ibn-e Al-Haytham (965-1040ce) –

Alhazen

- ‘First true scientist’

Measles /small pox as distinct

infectious disease entities

–

Rhazes

–

Mohammad Al-Zakriya Al-Razi

Abd-ul Malik Ibn-Zuhr

(1094-1162ce) –

Avenzoar -

Al-Taysīr fil-Mudāwāt wal-Tadbīr ("Book of Simplification Concerning Therapeutics and Diet"), first tracheotomy on a goat, cancer studies, animal studies Ibn-e-Al-Khatib – first known studies on plague as infectious disease entity Slide34

Mathematics Algebra – ‘Father of algebra’ Al-Khwarizmi Geometry – Muqadimat-e-Aqleedus translated in EU until 1893 in DanishNumericals – Hajaj bin Yousaf MaterTrigonometric relations – Albatenius – Abu Abdallah Ibn-e-Batir Al-BattaniChemistry – ‘Father of chemistry’ Geber – Jabar-ibn-e-Hayan (721-804)Slide35

Literature Biographies – Ibn-e-IshaqPhilosophy & poetry – Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-1273) Astronomy Inventor of solar clock – Alfraganus – Abu Abbas Al-FarghaniExact duration of solar calendar - Albatenius – Abu

Abdallah Ibn-e-Batir Al-Battani

(858-929ce)

Study of star formations -

Hakim Yahye Mansour

,

Abu Ma’sher Bulkhi

–

Abumaser

Al-Bayruni

- Biruni's eclipse data was used by Dunthorne in 1749 to help determine the acceleration of the moon and his observational data has entered the larger astronomical historical record and is still used today

in geophysics and astronomy - work on rotation of the earthSlide36

Geography Abu Abdulla Al-Idrisi (1099-1165ce) – Dreses – mapping the Euro-Asian continents Kitāb nuzhat al-mushtāq Latin translation Geographia Nubiensis. Complete translation - P.A.Jaubert’s Géographie d’Édrisi Movement and rotation of the earth Navigation Pre-Columbus Trans-Atlantic contact – accounts from Al-Idrisi [...] After sailing for twelve more days they (Raqsh Al-Auzz and his ships) perceived an island that seemed to be inhabited, and there were cultivated fields. They sailed that way to see what it contained. But soon barques encircled them and made them prisoners, and transported them to a miserable hamlet situated on the coast. There they landed. The navigators saw there people with red skin; there was not much hair on their body, the hair of their head was straight, and they were of high stature.

Pre-Columbus Trans-oceanic Polynesian contact

– 12cSlide37

On evolution Ibn-e-Khaldun (1332-1406ce) – The MuqaddimahHistorian – introduced an approach in history recording that emphasises applied learning

‘One

should then look at the world of creation. It started out from the minerals and progressed, in an ingenious, gradual manner, to plants and animals....

The animal world then widens, its species become numerous,

and, in a gradual process of creation, it finally leads to man, who is able to think and to reflect.

The higher stage of man is reached from the world of the monkeys, in which both sagacity and perception are found, but which has not reached the stage of actual reflection and thinking

.’

Slide38

On evolution Evolution of life – Nasir al-din al-Tusi [1201-1274 CE]"The organisms that can gain the new features faster are more variable. As a result, they gain advantages over other creatures. [...] The bodies are changing as a result of the internal and external interactions...“He then continued to describe the ongoing process of evolution into the next step … of spiritual evolution“The

human has features that distinguish him from other creatures, but he has other features that unite him with the animal world, vegetable kingdom or even with the inanimate bodies. [...] Before [the creation of humans], all differences between organisms were of the natural origin.

The next step will be associated with spiritual perfection, will, observation and knowledge. [...] All these facts prove that the human being is placed on the middle step of the evolutionary stairway. According to his inherent nature, the human is related to the lower beings, and

only with the help of his will

can he reach the higher development level."Slide39

Poet and PhilosopherRumi - Jalaluddin Mohammad Rumi (1207-1273) First man appeared in the class of inorganic things, Next he passed therefrom into that of plants,For years he lived as one of the plants,Remembering naught of his organic state so different, And when he passed from the vegetative to the animal state,He had no remembrance of his state as a plant, Except the inclination he felt to the world of plants, Especially at the time of spring and sweet flowers,Like the inclination of infants to their mothers,Which knew not the cause of their inclination to the breast.Again the great Creator as you know,Drew man out of animal life into the human state,

Thus man passed from one order of nature to another,

Till he became wise and knowing and strong as he is now,

Of his first souls he has now no temperance.

And he will be again changed from his present soul,

Therefore, fear that death will lower us?

May be that when I die I might appear as a full-fledged angel.Slide40

Introduction to the History of Science George Sarton [1854-1956], Prof of History of Science, Harvard University50 yr periods – one leading scientist of eachBCE500-450 Plato450-400 Aristotle400-350 Euclid350-300 Archimedes CE750-800 Jabir800-850 Khwarizmi850-900 Razi

900-950

Masudi

950-1000

Abu’l

Wafa

1000-1050 Al

Beruni

1050-1100 Omar

Khayam

1100-1150

1150-1200

Ibne

Rushd

1200-1250 Nasirud din

Tusi

1250-1300

Ibne

NafisSlide41

Word / Work of GodOur attempt to understand the word of God Our attempt to understand the work of GodSlide42

Science is not anti-religion In fact, it is anti-atheismAtheism derives from the superficial misconceptions about science eg our senses cannot perceive God hence there is no existence.It is science that demonstrates with evidence that our senses are very limited and there is existence beyond what we can perceive with our basic senses.Science also demonstrates that what we concluded yesterday on basis of empirical evidence, isn’t correct on basis

of further

evidence

collected

today.

Science provides evidence about various apparent dichotomies

eg

that we have not existed forever and that there was a time when nothing as we know existed and that the universe came into being out of a ‘singularity’, that our

ancestry is not common just with

apes, but also other

animals like a

rabbit, and even also

carrots and rose

plant

;

that smallest

component of life is a wave and a particle at the same time; that time did not exist before the big bang and time is indeed a fourth dimension and that it determines the shape and growth or diminishing of space.

And that all these

apparent

dichotomies are part of a systemised process of

c

reation where all that exists, exists in a fine balance, a balance that is not possible as chance occurrence, and any change in this balance would have led to the destruction of the process of creation a long time ago.Slide43

The Promised Messiah (peace be on him) Promised Messiah (pbuh): ‘Religion is worth the name only so long it is in consonance with reason. If it fails to satisfy this requisite, if it has to make for its discomfiture in argument by handling the sword, it needs no other argument for its falsification.’

HAZRAT MIRZA GHULAM AHMAD

1835-1908