Islamic creationism
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Islamic creationism refers to creationism in the Islamic world. Although creationism in the West is more usually associated with fundamentalist Christianity, the Islamic world has its own version of creationism, with substantial (and not so substantial) differences.
Beliefs[edit]
Unlike the young Earth creationist movements within Christianity, few, if any, Muslim creationists insist that the world was created in a matter of days a few thousand years ago[citation needed] as most accept the Koran as a metaphorical and contemplative document[citation needed]. Translations of six "days" are also far more ambiguous than their explicitly Christian counterpart.[1] However, they do reject evolution, and especially the notion that humans evolved from animals. They accept that the Earth and Universe are old.
Largely because the Qur'an is less explicit about the subject, Islamic creationists are primarily Old Earth creationists. However, many reject evolution, and the vast majority reject common descent.
Some Islamic fundamentalists however take things a step further and promote that the earth is flat, using a literal interpretation of several Koranic verses.[2][3]
Proponents and history[edit]
Many Muslims, especially more fundamentalist ones, believe in Qur'anic scientific foreknowledge.[4][5][6][7] Believers often see Qur'anic scientific foreknowledge as "proof" of the Qur'an's divine nature and a means to convert people to Islam
.[4][5][6] The idea of Qur'anic scientific foreknowledge is a relatively recent invention,[8] linked to rising Muslim creationism and fundamentalism.[5][7][note 1]
Maurice Bucaille, a French physician, promoted Qur'anic scientific foreknowledge in The Bible, The Qur'an and Science and other writings. Considering that Bucaille was living in Saudi Arabia at the time, was an employee of the Saudi royalty, and may have been paid to write said book by said royalty, it appears entirely plausible that Bucaille was a government shill for not fully critical of Qur'anic scientific foreknowledge claims.[8] Dr. Muhammad Rasjidi, translator of the book into Indonesian and former Indonesian Minister for Religious Affairs, describes Bucaille's book as "a half-baked mish-mash of pseudoscience and pseudo-exegesis".[9] Despite this, Bucaille helped propagate Qur'anic scientific foreknowledge to regions that hadn't previously been exposed to the idea.
Harun Yahya is perhaps the most prolific[10][11] and least credentialed[12] propagator of Qur'anic scientific foreknowledge, with hundreds of websites, books, articles, and lawsuits[7] on the subject. Within Islam, he is perhaps the most notorious proponent of creationism, and has been heavily influenced by American Christian creationism. In recent years, he has become one of the more vocal creationists and some of his publicity stunts and ramblings would make even Ted Haggard blush. He has repeatedly been shown to not know what he is talking about, such as with his Ask Darwinists question sheet (which even an amateur could answer easily) and mistaking a fishing lure for a live animal in one of his books. In line with Gish Gallop tactics, Yahya is probably there just to waste people's time and try to keep the "controversy" in the public eye in order to bilk more money out of the faithful, rather than make any real contribution.
See also[edit]
- Qur'anic scientific errors
- Qur'anic scientific foreknowledge
- Qur'anic contradictions
- Qur'an (annotated)
Notes[edit]
- ↑ It appears likely that the concept of Biblical scientific foreknowledge as proof of the unerring truth of the Bible seemed like an effective way of convincing unbelievers and was adopted by Muslim apologists, especially popularizers like Harun Yahya.
References[edit]
- ↑ About.com Islam - Six "Days" or Long Periods of Time
- ↑ Ibrahim, Youssef. "Muslim Edicts Take on New Force," New York Times. 12 February 1995
- ↑ Recording of Sheik Abdel-Aziz Ibn Baaz, Archive
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Dallal, Ahmad. "Science and the Qur'an", Encyclopedia of the Qur'an.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Tzortzis, Hamza. "Does the Qur'an contain scientific miracles? A new approach on how to reconcile and discuss science in the Qur'an". HamzaTzortzis.com. 21 August 2008. Web. 17 October 2014.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Taner, Edis. "Quran-science: Scientific miracles from the 7th century?" Truman State University. n.d. Web. 28 October 2014.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Arda, Halil. "Sex, flies and videotape: the secret lives of Harun Yahya". 09 September 2009. Web. 06 November 2014.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Mirza, Syed. "Religion, Science, and Maurice Bucaille". n.d. Web. 06 November 2014.
- ↑ Roff, William (1987). Islam and the political economy of meaning: comparative studies of Muslim discourse. Routledge. p. 279. ISBN 978-0-7099-4248-1.
- ↑ Yahya, Harun. "About the Author". n.d. Web. 06 November 2014.
- ↑ Yahya, Harun. "Websites". n.d. Web. 06 November 2014.
- ↑ See the Wikipedia article on Adnan Oktar § Biography.