On Islamic Creationism
Here’s an interesting interview with Salman Hameed, an assistant professor of Integrated Science and Humanities at Massachusett’s Hampshire College: How to stop creationism gaining a hold in Islam.
Unfortunately, it’s a little late to stop creationism from “gaining a hold.” It already has one.
How is evolution perceived in Muslim countries?
If you ask the question of whether you accept evolution or not, we find that a large portion of people, vast majorities, reject evolution. Compared to the US, where 40% are comfortable with evolution, in the Muslim countries that would go down to 10, 15, or 20%. In Turkey, one of the more secular Muslim countries, the level is between 22 and 25%. …
What is the basis for Islamic opposition to evolution?
In some instances, evolution becomes a symbol for Western dominance and a sign of modernity. Evolution can act as a lighting rod, as a symbol of the West and everything that is bad about the West - usually translated as material culture or materialism.
Are there any organised efforts to discredit evolution in Muslim countries, like we see in the US and Europe?
The most prominent is Adnan Oktar, who goes by the pen name Harun Yahya.
He has the most well-funded organisation and its main purpose is to discredit evolution. He believes that the theory of evolution is the cornerstone of Western ideology and that if he undermines evolution, it’s going to undermine Western society.
Speaking of Harun Yahya, here’s an interview with this bizarre creature at Counterknowledge.com, in which he espouses an Islamic mirror image of the dishonest points Ben Stein made in his anti-evolution film Expelled: “Darwinism is the life-blood of terror”: an interview with Adnan Oktar.
Mr. Oktar, why is refuting Darwinism so important to you? Do you truly consider it the root of all evils, as your publications seem to suggest?
Darwinism is an idea that maintains that human beings are a species of animal, that some races are superior to others, and that it is supposedly a law of nature for superior races to ruthlessly crush weaker ones in order to develop and progress. For example, Darwin cited the Turks - surely my nation is above such statements - in reference to non-European races, describing them as “barbarian, lower races to be eliminated.” The two world wars, the suffering imperialism inflicted on many societies, the cruelty of Stalin and Mao, Hitler’s “Aryan Race” nonsense and Mussolini’s atrocities are all essentially the product of the same mindset.
So Darwinism and terrorism are connected?
Shortly after it was first proposed, the theory of evolution was extended from the fields of biology and paleontology and applied, by various circles, to and made highly influential in a great many other spheres, from human relations to the interpretation of history and from politics to social life. The application of the Darwinist lie that “nature is a sphere of struggle and conflict” to human society in particular bestowed a supposed scientific guise on Hitler’s obsession about the master race, Marx’s error that “the history of humanity is the history of class struggles,” Mao’s regarding human beings as a kind of animal and inflicting terrible savagery on them, Mussolini’s claim that “war alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy,” capitalism’s expectation of “the strong becoming even stronger by trampling on the weak,” Stalin’s ghastly labor camps, and the ruthless exploitation of the third world by colonialist nations and their inhuman treatment of them. Terrorists who ruthlessly slaughter innocent people and who believe that problems can be resolved by violence and that conflict is inevitable are also nourished by Darwinist indoctrination. Darwinism is the life-blood of terror.
And as we pointed out recently, the Discovery Institute (originator of the “intelligent design” hoax and the Wedge strategy) is proudly collaborating with Turkish creationists.
Also see:
Muslim Creationism on the Rise in Europe
Frank says: