Muslim Scientists Prepare for Battle With Creationists

The next major battle over evolutionary theory is likely to occur not in the United States but in the Islamic world or in countries with large Muslim populations because of rising levels of education and Internet access there, as well as the rising importance of biology, a scientist now says.

As with Christians and Jews, there is no consensus or "official" opinion on evolution among Muslims.

However, some of them say that the theory is a cultural threat that acts as a force in favor of atheism, says Hampshire College’s Salman Hameed in an essay in the Dec. 12 issue of the journal Science. This is the same beef that some Christians have with evolution.

A general respect for science in the Islamic world means scientists have an opportunity to counter anti-evolution efforts, such as the "Atlas of Creation," a glossy 850-page color volume produced by Muslim creationist Adnan Oktar who goes by the name of Harun Yahya.

Numerous university scientists and members of the media received copies of this book as an unsolicited gift in 2007.

"There is a standard narrative that science and Islam are compatible, but evolution is one thought that challenges this assumption," Hameed told LiveScience. "It's interesting to see how people respond to it and create their world view in response to that challenge."

Better education, the spread of Internet access and news about U.S. controversies over evolution are provoking some Muslims worldwide to start to ask whether Islam is compatible with evolutionary theory, Hameed said.

"Now is the time that these ideas are going to be solidified. We can shape it. There are positive ways to shape these ideas in which we can avert a mass rejection of evolution," Hameed said.

I must confess that I, as a biologist, am not that very interested in the debate of Creationists vs. Evolutionists, be they of Christian or any other faith. Biological insights and belief can go very well together, see the example of the monk Gregor Mendel, who discovered the fundamental laws of genetics by growing and analysing pea plants. He did not suffer from a bad conscience because of that. Most philosophical enterprises pertaining to a proof of the existence of God suffer from terrible inconsistencies. But then, God by definition eludes any rational attempt to prove His existence. The argument by (intelligent) design is no exception to the rule. That there seems to be order and complexity in the functioning of the Universe is no religious proof at all. It is we who create our perceptions and thus construct order out of chaos. This insight, by the way, is very old, and perhaps best described by David Hume. One can put the questions otherwise. Is the kingdom of the apes really our provenance? Yes and no. We did not come into being because an ape quite suddenly morphed into a human being. Apes ceased to be apes proper after tiny mutations in their genes coding for muscles and cranium structure allowed for a rapid growth of their brains. In other words: evolution is a subtle process of moving and changing. What interests me much more is the question whether there is any need for evolution in a philosophical sense. Scientists almost all of the time talk about an evolutionary 'drive', that is a given, sort of an ultimate explanation that needs no further explanation. Which is an enormous mistake, and a clear sign of bad thinking. I think that there is no need for the mystery that is evolution. And herein, I guess, lies a religious miracle that does not allow for any logical definition. So, I think the upshot of this humble statement of mine is that, although I admire the story of Creation in the Bible, I take that story as a literary, poetical expression of something that is not graspable by human intellect. Which does not make me an atheist. With our current understanding of the universe, we are left with as many riddles as our ancestors, two or four millenia ago. Progress is, if possible at all, something of very tiny and slow steps. (sorry for rambling on a bit.)

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