English Rendition of an episode of the TV Program “Ghamidi”

Assalam u ‘alaykum

Anchor: Welcome to the show, “Ghamidi.” Viewers, today we shall take up an issue that has been a subject of dispute between believers and heretics: the theory of evolution. We shall see whether the theory of evolution is squarely against Islam or not. Is Islam going through the earliest phases of the explanation of the creation process? Is the theory of creation found in the religions of the Semitic race derived from old Greek philosophy? If the creation of God is consummately perfect, then why are some babies born special? Was the earth really created in six days or it took a whole evolutionary process of billions of years? If human thought and human society can go through evolutionary phases, why not the human body? These issues make up today’s discussion.

Anchor: Ghamidi sahib, what is the Islamic point of view about the creation of man and the earth?

Ghamidi: Basically the Qur’an does not take up this issue. The reason is that the Qur’an is a book of guidance. It primarily discusses the question of death. However, it is a book of God. Therefore, we see that at times we find such issues touched upon in the line of argumentation. The Qur’an has briefly referred to a few facts about the creation of the universe. Since it is not a basic discussion, no great details can be expected. Still, it has mentioned some facts in succinct terms.

For example, it tells us that even though the universe has been created by the command “Be” yet it has reached the current form after going through different phases of evolution. The Qur’an has told us that God has created the earth and the heavens in six phases. The Qur’an employs the word yawm (day) for a phase and this leads people to misunderstanding. The Qur’an has itself explicated elsewhere that there is a great difference between the “days of God” and our days. Our day is twenty four hours. A day of God at times is as long as fifty thousand years of ours. The Qur’an tells that the angels reach His presence in a day that equals fifty thousand years. This leads us to the understanding that it is actually the six phases in which according to Allah Almighty He has created the universe.

The Qur’an has also told us that at the starting point of this creation process kana ‘arshu hu ‘ala al-ma, that is, there was water everywhere. Life started from that point in time. Similarly, the Qur’an also tells us that man was created in two phases. In the first phase man was created from the earth. In the second phase the process of recreation was adopted. In this second phase he has the ability to reproduce.

These are the facts to which the Qur’an alludes. When your discussion progresses I shall explain the details which have been told by God. While discussing the story of Adam (sws) and Iblis the Qur’an draws our attention to some other facts which relate to human nature and God’s scheme implemented in the later phases of creation.

The Qur’an has also repeatedly discussed the changes in human understanding as well as the progress in human culture. It reveals to us their nature. I have not detailed all these issues at this time because we are just introducing the matter. As the discussion proceeds I shall offer more detail of these issues.

Anchor: Ghamidi sahib, you say that all was water before the creation of universe. The Qur’an also tells us that God’s throne was upon water before the creation of the earth and the heavens. Ghamidi sahib, it is difficult to understand. What held the water then?

Ghamidi: See it has not been told that this was the situation before the creation. Rather it has been said that when the process of creation began on earth, in which life came into existence, His rule was established on water. That is, it is a reference to the earth upon which we are now. As to the heavens, the Qur’an refers to their creation in another style. It narrates the creation of life on earth differently. It tells us how long it took. For example it tells us that the basic structure of the heavens and the earth came into existence in two days; or we should say two phases. Then it goes on to tell that subsequently the forms of life on earth which we observe now came into being in four phases. It means we learn the blessings God has put in the earth, the variety found in it, the way life appeared on it, the phases it went through. Thus it means that the present form of things took almost double the time to accomplish as it did in basic creation.

Anchor: Couldn’t God create the heavens and the earth in a jiffy just by uttering the command “Be”? Did God himself take six days to create heavens and the earth?

Ghamidi: Look, in fact when God does something special He makes it pass through different phases before completion. Just to say a mango tree can be made to grow in an instant. But the potential it bears and the delicious ripeness in it resulting from the process through different phases is only obtained when it passes through different seasons. God can create anything through the command “Be”. At the eve of the Last Judgment a trumpet will be blown. The world will be recreated. About this event, God says that He will finish the whole human system in an instant. But God adopts both the ways in His acts. At times, He makes a thing go through different stages because of a certain wisdom. Take for example a child. It was possible that you plucked a person of  twenty years. He could be sent down from the heavens. On the contrary he is put through different stages. He completes many stages in the womb of the mother.  Even after coming in this world he is a very weak being. Then he passes through childhood, teenage, youth and reaches the door of old age. It is due to the evolution process God has set that he passes through these stages. The universe goes through different phases. The creation process goes through evolution. This gives birth to the wisdom, the meaningfulness which provides man the point to ponder.

Anchor: It means you don’t negate evolution?

Ghamidi: Look, evolution is operative in every atom of this universe. But the nature of evolution is under discussion. One idea of evolution has been proposed by Darwin. Evolutionists call to this the evolution theory and propagate it. In simple words we can describe it as follows: A cell came into being from organic molecules. Then this new simple creation gradually turned into life forms. Initially some lizard type animals came into being. Later marine life came into existence. Subsequently the world of birds came into being.  There is no basis for this idea. However, the Qur’an itself offers an idea of evolution. Evolution is something different. Evolution you can see in the creation of a human being. It is a human being whose sperm is involved. It is man who has given birth to an embryo. It is a human being who passes through different stages of childhood, teenage, youth and old age. Many abilities of man appear with time. For example, the sex instinct is not activated before one reaches fifteen or sixteen years.

Anchor (interrupts): Freud negates what you say.

Ghamidi: What Freud says is that it is the unconscious mind. Obviously it is there in man. But it appears and is consciously realized by man after a time. So many such things are settled with time. I have submitted that when a baby is born it is a complete human being. It identifies many things. Modern psychology has come to tell that the baby is aware of the birth process when it experiences it.

Anchor: The proponents of evolution say that man is a Homosapien and belongs to the family of apes. His reproductive system, the structure of his teeth, the structure of his mind, even the human DNA pattern is 98% shared by the apes. So, Ghamidi sahib, man came into being due to only two percent changes. If all these creations were created individually was God not able to create a unique physiology in each creation so that this confusion is curtailed?

Ghamidi: The fact is that when God created this world he created such variety, such newness, such beauty, and such similarities. All these things point to their creator. This is only a human perspective. If man wants he can be led by these similarities into doubts. If he wishes he can see the work of the single Creator of the universe in his own self. I mean this is only one viewpoint. Darwin’s evolution theory has progressed to many other stages. Biologists are no more on the point where Darwin left them. They have offered other theories to do away with the problems with his theory. An idea of leap was introduced. Similarly, different stages of natural selection were explained differently.

Anchor (interrupts): You mean none has rejected evolution?

Ghamidi: Yes. There are people who reject it.

Anchor: For example?

Ghamidi: But they have not even produced the least evidence. So I submit that Darwin’s evolution theory, or whatever evolution theory exists today, has us believe that the entire universe came into being from a single cell. It is nothing more than science fiction.

Anchor: Ghamidi sahib, not a single established scientific journal has ever published a paper negating the evolution theory. Harvard, MIT, Cambridge, Oxford and all other universities teach the evolution theory in undergraduate courses and we know that these universities teach established scientific facts to the undergrads. Controversial scientific theories are offered only at Masters and PhD levels.

Ghamidi: It is a tragedy of science that a theory that has not been able to offer even a weak argument to support itself and which has been repeatedly denied by fossil records is being presented as a scientific fact. The stories concocted to establish it have been proven wrong and the proponents of the theory have at times attempted pressing counterfeit evidences.

Anchor: Really? How does the fossil record disprove evolution?

Ghamidi: We were told that in a certain time phase a certain situation should have prevailed. When the matter was investigated it was learnt that such two fossils of the same thing were discovered which reveal the same form in that time period as well. You know what happened regarding the horse? A story was concocted on the basis of some similarities. A bone was taken and an imaginary structure erected on it. This imaginary structure is similar to the work of a painter who depicts a scene of crime from real life. Such imaginary structures are then put in science text books and presented as reality. The fact is that it is a very simple matter.  There are many similarities. These similarities were to be explained. Now the scholars were deceived as they assumed that one thing is coming into being from another.

What should have been done? If it were a reality they could have concluded that just as there are millions of kinds of beings in their perfect form today there must be millions of them during the different phases of evolution. This can never be negated. The evolution theory in itself demands that the beings in their evolution phase, in imperfect form, must have been present in that strength as they are there in their final form today.

Anchor: (interrupting): Ghamidi sahib, Dinosaurs became extinct. They were imperfect beings who could not adapt themselves to the circumstances. The short necked giraffes became extinct. Only the ones with long necks remained.

Ghamidi: Those were not imperfect beings. An imperfect being would be like a creature which is half fish and half lizard. This is the imperfection of a being. The dinosaur in itself was a perfect creature. As for extinction, it continues in the universe. 

Participants: Aristotle presented the theory that man has been created from a blood clot. What is your take on the correlation of the Qur’an and this theory?

Ghamidi: The Qur’an does not say any such thing. The Qur’an only refers to the stages of human life man goes through presently. Obviously man’s life starts from a sperm cell which develops into a blood clot. This turns into a leechlike thing. After passing through different stages flesh starts to cover the bones. Then comes the time when the embryo assumes a perfect form from all angles. The Qur’an mentions these development stages. It does not reveal the material from which man has been created. The elements used in the creation of man are there in the entire universe just as they are found in a human. These elements have been analyzed and revealed to us.

Human personality has two aspects. One aspect relates to the appearance and existence of his body. The Qur’an refers to it in two stages. In the first stage, man was created from the belly of the earth. In the second stage, he came into existence through the present process. So while explaining the second stage of creation of man the Qur’an refers to these stages like the stages man goes through while in the womb of the mother. The Qur’an mentions one of these stages of human development and says that at one time man was in the form of a blood clot. This too is a term used to explain the reality. What is the reality? Obviously you would use different terms to explain the reality. We continue to coin terms to express the ideas in our mind about the reality. So this term has been used to make the matter understandable for the human mind; it has been said that man at that stage is like a blood clot.

Anchor: (turning to the participants) Please ask questions.

Participants: Sir, the earth is 4,550,000,000 years old while man is only two hundred thousand years old.  My question is: does not this gap of 4,549,800,000 shake the idea of a perfect creation?

Ghamidi: What do you mean by perfect creation? Has God Almighty created only man? All the creations of God are equal to Him. This earth appeared billions of years ago. Even at that time there were many creations. All this process passed through a long stage before a time came that God made a creation like man. There are many creations which are not discovered by our microscopes. There are many other creations about which the divine books reveal to us that they exist and existed much before our creation. For example there are angels; for example jinns; the universe of God was not unpopulated.

However, we have come into existence at a certain stage in the evolution process. Afterwards God’s scheme about us was implemented. We must not see the entire universe and the entire creation process from our own point of view.

Just recently an island has been discovered which contains about ten thousand species which are not found in any other part of the world. We don’t know how many creations have been created by God and how He is dealing with them. Man should not assess God in analogy to his own knowledge which is always limited.

Anchor: The ancient Greeks held that the universe was created from the four elements; fire, earth, air and water. Now the Qur’an too refers to metaphors for the creation elements such as earth and water. Does it mean that the Semitic religions’ creation theory is only an extension of the theory of creation given by the ancient Greeks? 

Ghamidi: What are the elements of the universe? This is a separate discussion. The question about the inception of creation of man is quite different. Both of these are different issues. The Qur’an does not mention the elements of creation from which man has been created. It tells us that actually human creation started from a type of sticky clay found on the seashores which we can call mud. This is what the Qur’an says. It uses the terms tinin lazib (sticking clay) for the material. We can take it just like the present process. What is that process? There are different elements in the earth that go inside our body as food. There are different processes going on in this “machine”. Then a drop of water is created and an egg also. Both come together in a particular manner. Due to this interaction between the two, am embryo comes into existence. It goes from different phases and grows into a living human being. Concerning the body this process takes about 120 days to complete. Now this is the process of reproduction today. The same process has once taken place in the “womb” of the earth. I mean the same earthly elements which we take into the machine of the body in the form of food today once started to exist in the mixture of earth. Then in the earth itself they slowly went through different stages and assumed the form of a complete human being just like they do today.

Participants: There are three different things that accord to scientific knowledge. First, the initiation of the universe. Second, inception of the earth. Third, the inception of life on the earth.  I shall ask you a question about these at different scales.

Science says that the universe started from an explosion of great magnitude fifteen billion years ago. In technical terms we refer to it as the Big Bang Theory. Then it is held that this earth came into being five billion years ago. After that simple life came into existence here. Now physical theories too give a theory of evolution. The Big Bang Theory holds that the universe started from nothingness. First a great explosion gave rise to small particles. Then came the neutrons out of quark, from them matter and then the universe. So the idea of evolution in the physical world has scientific proof. Would you reject the idea of evolution in the physical world as well?

Ghamidi: No. I have submitted that the Qur’an does not reject evolution. A rational human being cannot reject evolution. Evolution continues. But what type of evolution? One form of evolution is that propounded by Darwin. The idea of evolution given by the Qur’an is different. I have given you an example and said that it is not that a young man of twenty-five descends from the heavens. Man goes through different phases during his existence. A human being comes into being after that. The question is: What is the right concept of evolution? I have submitted that the Qur’an tells us that man’s creation has two phases. During the first phase the earth worked as the womb of a mother. The process which led to different stages of creation presently operative was initiated in the earth first. It is as if God has planted in the human body a factory. It takes only those particles which we put in it as food. It is these elements in which all the chemical reaction takes place leading to the creation of a water drop from which is initiated the creation of man. Why can’t this action upon the things we take in as food and water, produced by the earth, take place in the womb of the earth? Why can’t this take place in clay? It is the same action that was done upon the earth initially. It is the same action. Today it happens in the womb of the mother. Then it was processed in the womb of the earth.

It went through evolution phases when it took place in the earth and even now it goes through the same evolution process. But this idea of evolution is different from the evolution mentioned in our science books, which is, believe me, nothing more than science fiction. I mean not a single bit of proof has been offered to establish it. Since it has become a doctrine and entails a whole concept of atheism many people are attached to it emotionally. Therefore, even when the strongest evidence disproving it comes to light they remain reluctant to accept and present it at an appropriate level. But a study of the issue will bring you to these facts. You will learn how many ideas were presented, how many imaginary structures were built, and how many imaginary plans were offered to the people. And based on a bone God knows what type of extraordinary structures were erected. Later on, it turned out that all was a myth without a trace of reality.

All the record of fossils found till this very moment does not even offer weak evidence proving the existence of creations of middle nature. Reason demands and logic entails that were there any such evolution there should be thousands and millions of such fossils. 

Participants: You have mentioned different phases of creation of man. The Qur’an says in the verse 13 of Surah Mu’minun that Allah created a clot out of the drop, turned the clot into a little lump of flesh, made the flesh into bone and then clothed the bone with flesh. On the other hand science establishes that the bones and the flesh are not created one after the other. Rather, the creation of both start with the mesoderm. How would you defend religion at this point?

Ghamidi: The fact is that the Qur’an does not reveal the order of creation. It only tells how the whole process goes. The intention is not to explain in scientific terms that this has been created and then that has been created. Rather God is referring to His power. He says: you see how bones are clothed into flesh. You observe how a very ordinary blood drop turns into a being after going through some phases. A drop of water is processed through different stages. This is what the verse seeks to explain.

Participants: Can I infer from your statement that science and religion do not contradict? Both science and the religion hold the same that man has been created through these stages. Does it not establish the veracity of the evolution theory of science?

Ghamidi: These are two different viewpoints. The current stages of creation man goes through can be observed any time. It is subject to experience and observation. You can observe the stages when you like. You can show these stages of evolution to the people if you like. People stand in awe when they find that the Qur’an, which was revealed to an unlettered man accurately details all these stages. They have been given in correct order; depicting the order we observe today. This is something that can be observed. What is being said about the stages through which man passed earlier cannot be observed. It is subject to theorizing. Such theories have been presented by the people as the theory of evolution. They offered these theories to the people. They claimed that it could be based on fact. They hoped that in future evidence would be available for the theory. But unfortunately no evidence has come to our knowledge. 

Now this theory of evolution has become a doctrine. This led to an inclination to present a theory as an established scientific reality whereas it is not a reality. It is still science fiction. The evidence it needs has not been discovered. All that has been said was disproved with the passage of time.

Participants: If religion has always been telling us the truth, then why do we study science? What is the need for science? If religion tells everything plainly and relates the reality to us then why not follow only religion? We don’t know our consciousness, our mind and reason.

Ghamidi: No. Both are different things. I submitted in the beginning of my response to a question that this is not the subject of religion. Religion is concerned with our death. Death is approaching. What is going to happen after it? Why did God create this universe? What is the scheme in His mind? What is the wisdom of God found in the worries of this life, its griefs and pains? What is the path to success in the ordeals we go through and the tests we are put through? What is God going to do in the next world? This is the subject matter of religion. Religion does not teach science. It does not tell us how to make a bed, how to create an atom bomb, how to treat a patient; these are not the concerns of religion. Religion has not been revealed in order to teach you engineering; it does not teach medicine. Scientific disciplines are needed by humans. They are to learn them, study them, and know them. It is through these disciplines that new avenues of knowledge are discovered. It is through them that culture develops. The subject of religion is different; the subject of science is different. 

However, while introducing Himself, explaining His power, detailing His wisdom, He explains things which relate to the scientific disciplines. Such things are touched upon as secondary issues.

For example, I start explaining some ethical principle to the people. My original subject is ethical purification and guiding the audience on how to purify their moral selves. But I refer to something as an example in order to explain a point. This may bring into discussion a scientific phenomenon. The Qur’an also touches upon such issues at this level alone. When the Qur’an touches upon such a matter, obviously, it will not give wrong information as it is the book of God. But the rest of such issues are left to our knowledge, study, experimentation and observation. We should ponder over them, and add to the knowledge about them as the progress in human culture and progress depends on such knowledge. Therefore, this knowledge is extraordinarily important in itself.

I believe that Muslims should only engage in two types of knowledge; Qur’an for their good afterlife and scientific and physical disciplines for their worldly betterment. Unfortunately Muslims have put the Qur’an upon their back and instead of natural sciences their intelligentsia is mostly engaged in metaphysical subjects such as philosophy and taṣawwuf.  Scientific disciplines have not been the center of its interest for a long time. This is the primary cause of their downfall. Therefore, these are two separate spheres. Both should be separate. At times, science starts discussing religion. Similarly, at times, the Qur’an discusses a scientific issue in consideration of its own needs. For example, the unity of God is under discussion, or the idea of the afterlife is being clarified, and God presents cosmological and psychological signs and meanwhile a reference is necessary to a scientific reality. This is the inimitability. It is extraordinary. Take a book from two hundred years ago time you shall find many ridiculous things in it. On the contrary this is a book from an unlettered man. Fourteen hundred years have passed and not a single letter in it has been disproved. 

Participants: My question is that the Qur’an tells us about the stages of evolution and scientists too give the theory of evolution. Does science present us a way through which we learn about evolution?

Ghamidi: We are not even doing this. We are just analyzing both separately. We are trying to see whether the point of view of science is a reality? When a scientific theory proves to be a reality only then it should be presented as a scientific fact. A theory is only a theory. It is only a hypothesis which is being considered and analyzed as to whether we have any evidence to support it. It is very true that knowledge advances through theories. This process should continue. Therefore, if the biologists have presented the theory of evolution they have not committed a sin. Evidence in support of the viewpoint they have offered may appear. Evidence against it may also appear. This process continues. Progress in the rest of the disciplines is made this way. What is unfortunate? The bad luck is that when evidence against the theory came, science stuck to it and held it like a doctrine. Many scholars expressed their sorrow upon the fact that they did not find any evidence to support the theory. This is not the task of a scientist. When something is held like a doctrine this attitude is inevitable. The task of the scientist is to face reality. He should tell the world honestly the facts he finds. He should tell that no evidence free of doubt has appeared so far to support the theory. It is a theory. Keep on thinking. Nobody forbids it. However, the issues upon which the Qur’an has spoken we should learn the Qur’anic view on that too. If the Qur’an tells us how human history started and how guidance was given to the world through Adam (sws) then this is the subject of the Qur’an. When the Qur’an has taken up this issue we should learn from it. We should also learn what sciences tell us. When this is done there remains no chance for any contradiction between the creation of God, the universe, and the statement of God. 

Anchor: Are you accusing expert sociologists and biologists to knowingly commit dishonesty?

Ghamidi: The fact is that no one has the right to accuse them of dishonesty. But we have evidence which clearly indicates that a reality has come before you and you don’t acknowledge it. At times, it happens that one commits such acts unconsciously. Don’t the followers of the religion commit that? When they have formed a doctrine and an idea and when they adhere to a certain sect they too suffer from such a mentality. This is one of the weaknesses man suffers from. We believed that scientists would keep themselves pure of such things as their discipline is of such a nature. But this did not happen.

Anchor: Ghamidi sahib, the twenty-seventh verse of Surah Mu’minun says that before the Noachian flood Allah commanded Noah (sws to put a pair of each animal onboard the boat. But how was it possible for him to put a pair of 50,000,000 species of the living creatures together and put them on a handmade boat? Or these species have come into existence after the evolution process afterwards?

Ghamidi: Well, the fact is that the English word “every” is used in the context of the situation. When I say give a cup of tea to “everyone” among these people I use this expression in a particular background. A great flood was sent upon the nation of Noah (sws). A great area was under water. Those put on boat had to start life again. It was said about the animals needed by them that they should put them onboard the boat. Otherwise the whole process of providing them with the animals required by them and which were the foundation of their economy would take centuries. In such contexts the word “every” or the Arabic word kul (meaning “every”) is used. So it is used in a particular background. We too speak this in the same sense. We need to appreciate that. People have inferred a very wrong conclusion from that. The Qur’an has not said that they were commanded to keep a couple of every species found on the whole earth. Neither did the flood affect the whole world. Nor was the intention to keep the creatures from the entire world there.

A nation faced flood. God’s punishment was implemented upon them. The nation was annihilated. Some people were saved as they were put in the boat. The survivors had to start their life afresh. All the animals they needed were kept. See how I have used the word “all” in the last sentence. But I have used it in with a certain background. The Qur’an speaks in a literary language. We should appreciate it fully. Previously this question was asked. I submitted that the Qur’an has used this style of expression while mentioning the phases of creation. The Almighty has told that how man is to be made an example of God’s power. He does not intend to say that first bones are created or it was flesh that is created first. It is not the intention.

Anchor: It means that the Qur’an is not a book of science?

Ghamidi: Certainly it is not a science work. The reason is that the Qur’an has not been revealed to tell you how realities come to light or what is its view about the subject matter of science. The Qur’an discusses these issues at the secondary level. For example you are writing some literary work like drama, fiction, or novel. You might at times refer to something related to science or mention a physical reality. The Qur’an has come to guide us. The guidance relates to the life hereafter. While discussing this it may refer to something and being the word of God it cannot be wrong.

Participants: You have categorically rejected the theory of evolution and held it as science fiction. Millions of years passed during the creation of the universe and man. This theory has been presented by man about two hundred years ago. Research on this theory continues. Isn’t it a wrong to man, human reason and human research that he has been given very small amount of time? Isn’t it injustice to reject the theory man presented while it is still being researched and evidences are being presented? 

Ghamidi:  Look, the fact of the matter is that if the theory is presented as a theory and we are told that research is being done on it we would not react this way. The theory is not presented thus. It is forced as a reality. The mind is asked to accept it as that. Then imaginary sketches are drawn the way they usually are. Then these imaginations are further enriched by more layers of imagination. A scholar commented on it: What sort of research it is to make an elephant stand on the legs of a grasshopper? So this state of affairs is very saddening. Therefore I submit that we are not rejecting research. Keep on researching, let your theory progress. But since the Qur’an has talked about this issue, has revealed the stages of human creation, and after mentioning both the stages it has clarified that man was man since his inception.

That is, we started the process of man’s creation from mud. (17:35)

The Qur’an goes on to tell different stages. It clearly seems that when a thing was created in the clay an egg began to form the way it does usually. Then the egg burst as has been referred in the following words of the Qur’an:

Man appeared from that. (32:35).

Obviously now he is born in the form of a weak baby. But at that time he must have appeared relatively well grown. Then the same process was put in a human body. He reproduces the same way. You can see that all the creation processes go through these two phases. We created computer in a bigger from. Then we started condensing it. See how beautifully the Qur’an has summed this up:

He started the creation of man from mud. (32:7).

In the second stage He made his progeny from a quintessence of the nature of a fluid despised (32:8). Then He fashioned him in due proportion (32:9) and blew spirit in him. So the Qur’an mentions both the stages.

Participants: Absolutely correct. If man was created this way does not it warrant that from the very moment the survival of the fittest began?

Ghamidi: Survival of the fittest is a completely different thing and the process of natural selection which Darwin proposes in his theory of evolution is another thing. In this world you must have the ability to survive in order to live. This theory goes even further. You will enjoy a good life in the Hereafter only if you have purified yourself morally. So this will remain. But note evolution is a word. What is your idea of evolution? Survival of the fittest is also a term, an expression. What is your idea of this term? In the present form this theory leads to pure racialism. It implies that one can determine the higher race among all mankind found on earth. This has led to discrimination in humanity. This idea has transgressed against philosophy. It has offered an idea about all mankind which shakes everything. These people have not remained confined to biology. They have taken a purely biological theory and applied it to sociology. They have created the same atmosphere in sociological disciplines. If you include different fields in sociology and throw a glance on its evolution you shall face mind blowing facts which are startlingly different from the changes that are told to be in biology. But a mindset has prevailed. A doctrine has emerged. All things are seen from that point of view. 

Therefore, we criticize this theory. Stages are passing. Life is moving forward. Why would not we acknowledge it if an intelligible theory is offered? We believe in the Messenger who has been commanded in the Qur’an to tell the people: I am presenting before you the Qur’an and the Torah. If you have anything as a guide better than these two I shall follow that too. So let any idea come. But an idea as shaky as science fiction, lacking any evidence and being supported only through guess work can’t be accepted. What you are saying is like what I told earlier; an elephant is hosted on the legs of a grasshopper. Then you present it as a scientific reality. The reaction is against this act. Say what is actually there? Just say that it is a theory. You are researching and studying the available data. It may possibly be correct. Is this theory presented this way? Take any book and you will find that it is being presented as sure truth. It is only a theory. It has not become a fact. But the people are told that it is a scientific reality that has been discovered. The truth is that there is not even slight evidence in support of it.

Anchor: Viewers, from the time man has become conscious the biggest problem he has faced is to rationally explain his existence. Religion has been fulfilling this human need for a long time. But we cannot completely reject the possibility that divine knowledge and human knowledge are two dimensions of the same fact. In the next episode we shall further discuss the theory of evolution. Allow me and the entire team of the program Ghamidi to leave till then.

Allah Ḥafiẓ

 (Translated by Tariq Mahmood Hashmi)

_______________