Answer to Omar Rehan's Refutation of Harun Yahya's "The Real Ideological.. (by Dogan Tezer)

Answer to Omar Rehan's Refutation of Harun Yahya's "The Real Ideological Root of Terrorism is Darwinism and Materialism"

by Dogan Tezer

On November 12th, 2001, an article titled "Refutation of Harun Yahya's "The Real Ideological Root of Terrorism is Darwinism and Materialism" by Omar Rehan was published on Media Monitors Network web-site. In Mr. Rehan's article, the central theme of Mr. Harun Yahya's article was criticized and it was claimed that Darwin's theory of evolution had completely different implications. Also a Muslim himself, Mr. Rehan stated that Darwin did not propose the idea of evolution as a concept opposing religion but that it is only a scientific theory that deals with the changes in plants and animals over time. Therefore, he claimed that Social Darwinism, fostered by the idea of theory of evolution and caused the dissemination of racism, disasters and human massacres, had nothing to do with Darwin and his teachings.

Mr. Rehan also made some comments on general mechanisms of the theory of evolution and claimed that transitional form fossils, which are essential to prove the theory, exist in reality, that the physical similarities among living creatures provide evidence for evolution and that several examples of adaptation in creatures are examples of evolutionary progress. Mr. Rehan's thoughts stem from an important lack of knowledge. The invalidity of Mr. Rehan's claims has been stated in various books by Harun Yahya, with evidence and related historical and scientific sources. Still, we want to remind the facts about Darwinism here once again. (For detailed information see, "The Evolution Deceit" by Harun Yahya; Taha Publishers, "The Creation of the Universe" by Harun Yahya; Goodword Press, "The Disasters Darwinism Brought to Humanity" by Harun Yahya, Al-Attique Press)

The Misconception that the Theory of Evolution has been proven

Although it seems quite scientific, the theory of evolution actually has no scientific basis, and even a single mechanism of it could not have been proven. Modern scientific developments have fully invalidated the theory of evolution both in the fields of biology and paleontology. In spite of these facts, the only reason why the theory is still kept alive and regarded as if it is a scientific fact is the demagogies, provocations and distorted rationales of the evolutionists. The fossil findings, the greatest expectations of the evolutionists, have not provided even a single evolutionary evidence so far. The invalidity of a couple of examples which were introduced as evidence, on the other hand, has been clearly revealed. Besides, different species having similar features is not an evidence for evolution. Although species may have similar features, they possess completely different genetic information. This situation openly reveals that there cannot be any kinship among living creatures of different species. Those examples of adaptation like bacterias' developing resistance against antibiotics enable creatures live more easily in their habitat yet do not add any new information to a species, nor change one species into another. No "genetic information increase" takes place in any of such examples of adaptation, therefore it is impossible for them, no matter for how long they occur, to give rise to an evolution as Darwin's theory proposes. And finally, genes, proteins and other molecular findings do not reveal evolutionary origin but, but on the contrary, prove that there is no such thing as evolutionary origin. Modern molecular biology has removed all evolutionary mechanism claims and revealed a very comprehensive and complex creation. These claims and evidence for the invalidity of the theory of evolution are explained in detail in the book "The Evolution Deceit" by Harun Yahya.

The Misconception that Darwin was not influenced by Malthus

Thomas Malthus stated in his work "An Essay on the Principle of Population" that the human population increases two times the food reserves on Earth therefore human race will face a serious famine threat in the future. According to Malthus, the only things that keep human population under control are such disasters as war, famine and diseases. In other words, in order not to encounter a famine in the future, a natural population planning is needed, that is, it is necessary for people to die. In order to "survive" people have to make war with one another continuously. According to this understanding, weak members should be eliminated from the society through struggle and war and strong ones should continue to survive. Malthus' claims and views are closely known in the whole world. His views were widely practiced in the 19th century and poor and weak people were "eliminated" with harsh methods with this mentality. What is important for us at this point is that Darwin shaped his theory by following these views. Darwin came forward with the idea that this understanding which requires a continuous struggle among people should be adapted to all living creatures. He defended that in the same way human beings needed to struggle to guarantee their future generations, animals and plants also needed to struggle in order to survive. Therefore, the concept of "struggle for life", which lays the basis for the theory of evolution, was shaped with the claim that living creatures strengthen their adaptation to their habitats as the strong defeat the weak. When the book "The Origin Of Species: By Means Of Natural Selection Or The Preservation Of Favored Races In The Struggle For Life" by Darwin is carefully examined, it will be seen that the book contains a rationale that affirms the title of the book. What is more, Darwin openly acknowledges that he has taken the concept of the struggle for life from Malthus: In October, 1838, that is, fifteen months after I had begun my systematic inquiry, I happened to read for amusement Malthus on population, and being well prepared to appreciate the struggle for existence which everywhere goes on from long continuous observation of the habits of animals and plants, it at once struck me that under these circumstances favorable variations would tend to be preserved and unfavorable ones to be destroyed. The result of this would be the formation of new species. Here, then, I had at last got a theory by which to work. (Anton Pannekoek, Marxism and Darwinism, Translated by Nathan Weiser, Chicago, Charles H. Kerr & Company, 1912, http://csf.colorado.edu/psn/marx/Other/Pannekoek/Archive/1912-Darwin)

The Misconception that Darwin's Views did not influence Social Darwinism

The origin of Social Darwinism is Darwin's above mentioned views. Darwin's evolutionary views and his idea of struggle for life among living creatures were applied to ethical areas and social sciences. The fact that the origin of Social Darwinism is Darwin can also be seen in the statements of Darwin. Darwin said the following to H. Thiel in a letter in 1869: You will readily believe how much interested I am in observing that you apply to moral and social questions analogous views to those which I have used in regard to the modification of species. It did not occur to me formerly that my views could be extended to such widely different, and most important, subjects. (Francis Darwin, "The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin", D. Appleton and Co., 1896, vol. 2, p.294) As a matter of fact, Stephen Jay Gould, defender of the theory of evolution today, accepts the truth by writing that following the publication of The Origin of Species in 1859, "subsequent arguments for slavery, colonialism, racial differences, class struggles, and sex roles would go forth primarily under the banner of science." (Stephen Jay Gould, The Mismeasure of Man, W.W. Norton and Company, New York, 1981, p. 72) The leaders who drowned mankind in blood throughout a period with their ideals, who brought tyranny, irreligion, war and racism to humanity did not hide that they took Darwin as their model. Indeed, Marx, the father of communism, dedicated his greatest work Das Kapital to Darwin. Darwin's copy of Marx's first volume was inscribed by Marx, describing himself as a "sincere admirer" of the English naturalist. (Stephen Jay Gould, "Ever Since Darwin", W. W. Norton & Company, New York 1992, p. 26) It is clearly understood also from the statements of Engels that Darwinism constitutes a strong basis for communism. Darwinism was of such great importance to Communism that only months after Darwin's book was published, Engels wrote to Marx, "Darwin, whom I am just now reading, is splendid." (Conway Zirkle, Evolution, Marxian Biology and the Social Scene, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1959, pp.85-87) Marx wrote back to Engels on December 19, 1860, saying, "This is the book which contains the basis in natural history for our view." German historian Heinrich von Treitschke, Hitler's most important idea-molder, said: "Nations can only develop by violent competition like Darwin's survival of the fittest." Beside all these, in his book Descent of Man, Darwin openly discussed the concept of struggle among human beings. According to Darwin, there is a competition also among human races and "favored races" become superior in this competition. According to Darwin, European white man, which represents superior race, has been naturally favored opposed to man of Asian or African origin, which remained behind in the struggle for life. Therefore, those undeveloped races will be ?naturally? eliminated over time. Darwin openly confesses this perverted racist view as follows: At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace the savage races throughout the world. At the same time the anthropomorphous apes will no doubt be exterminated. The break between man and his nearest allies will then be wider, for it will intervene between man in a more civilized state, as we may hope, even than the Caucasian, and some ape as low as a baboon, instead of as now between the negro or Australian and the gorilla. ("The Descent of Man", Charles Darwin, 2nd edition, New York, A L. Burt Co., 1874, p. 178) Darwin has many writings that display his racist side. It is possible to see the examples regarding this aspect of Darwin in the book "The Disasters Darwinism Brought to Humanity" by Harun Yahya.

The Misconception that Darwin was a Pious Man

It is true that Darwin lived a religious childhood under the influence of his father. However, he lost his religion with time and lived as an atheist from his middle ages on. The reason why we do not openly see his atheist side in his works is that he was afraid of the reactions of his religious wife, close friends and conservative circles. Yet, undoubtedly, this fact did not stay in secret fully. This fact is stated as follows in the book "Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution" by the Darwinist historian Gertrude Himmelfarb: "The full extent of Darwin's disbelief, therefore, can be seen neither in his published work nor even in his published autobiography, but the only in the original version of that autobiography." ("Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution", Gertrude Himmelfarb, Elephant Paperback, pp.384) In the book The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, which was published by Darwin's son Francis Darwin, Darwin's correspondences with his close friends are included and his irreligious personality is clearly expressed many times. In one of his letters he wrote in 1876, he states how his belief became weaker: "This conclusion (theism) was strong in my mind about the time, as far as I can remember, when I wrote the 'Origin of Species;' and it is since that time that it has very gradually, with many fluctuations, become weaker.." ("The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin", Francis Darwin, D. Appleton and Co., 1896, Chapter 1.VIII., Religion). Another important statement of Darwin that emphasizes his irreligious side is as follows: "Thus, disbelief crept over me at a very slow rate, but was at last complete." ("Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution", Gertrude Himmelfarb, Elephant Paperback, pp.381) Darwin was a man who expressed his arrogance against God thus: "In the sense that an omnipotent and omniscient Deity must order and know everything, this must be admitted; yet, in honest truth, I can hardly admit it." ("The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin", Francis Darwin, Charles Darwin to C. Lyell, D. Appleton and Co., 1896, Down, April [1860].)

Darwinism is A theory that was put forward to deny Creation

The reason of people's being in an error regarding Darwinism in general, as we mentioned before, is the provocations and distorted rationales of certain circles. People who do not know the theory of evolution well can easily fall into this trap and may think that evolution is a scientific theory that consists of a number of mechanisms only. However, from the beginning when the theory was shaped, the aim of Darwin was to distance people from religion, make them forget about religious values and make them creatures who merely struggle with each other in the name of their interests and needs. When the life, theory and explanations of Darwin are carefully examined, it will be seen that this is an open fact. After learning these facts, all the believers in the world should behave with a similar point of view. Undoubtedly, for a believer, it is not possible to reconcile with a theory whose motive was to deny the Creator. It is necessary that Omar Rehan should act with the same point of view and should see the facts underlying this theory. Displaying Darwin and Darwinism as harmless will only help those people who are in constant struggle with belief in God and who try to show irreligion as legitimate among people, and will increase the oppression, injustice and troubles the world suffers from. It is a great mistake for a Muslim to support this, to be just an onlooker to the disasters brought by Darwinism and even to try to defend Darwinism. What needs to be done is to realize this great threat before it is too late and, by using one's conscience, to fight against Darwinism with other people who believe in the absolute existence of God.