The Creation/Evolution Debate in the Muslim World Taner Edis

Truman State University www2.truman.edu/~edis

Atlas of Creation

 Recently mailed to scientists and educators all over Europe.

 Muslim creationist literature by “Harun Yahya.”  Yahya books in Islamic bookstores everywhere.

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Harun Yahya

 Harun Yahya is a pseudonym, a brand name for a variety of strict creationism that surfaced in Turkey around 1997.

 Well-financed (though unclear how), popular, with a global reach. Indonesia, Europe, Pakistan…US: local conferences, “leading scientist” reference in “Complete Idiot” books etc.

 Very media-savvy: Books, magazines, DVDs, VCDs, web sites, public “conferences,” creation museums… High-quality presentations, often free.

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2007

Adnan Oktar = Harun Yahya?

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A Muslim C/E Debate

 A public controversy about evolution in the Muslim world.

 Harun Yahya a recent, very visible manifestation. ~ ICR or AIG.

 Unlike West, even intellectual high culture suspicious of evolution. ~ ID.

 Need some background first.

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Muslims respond to Darwin

 Early response to Darwin and evolution in the context of westernization and debates over materialist philosophy.

 Largely ignored, or denounced as an offense to religion. Accepted by radical secularizers but not Muslim modernists.

 Default creationism.

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Secularist impositions

 Turkish example: most radical secularist experiment in Muslim world. ~1920s, 30s.

 Darwinian evolution made an integral part of state science education.

 But only minor offense to traditional religion, when compared to much more serious injuries.

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Underground creationism

 Until 1970s Turkey, little explicit creationism in public outside of conservative Muslim subculture. (Though population largely passively skeptical about evolution.).   1970s: Islamists in coalition. Opposition to evolution a culture-wars theme. Indirect way of opposing secularism in name of public morality.

Grassroots modernist movements push “science confirms Quran” apologetics, naive creationism. Mostly underground.

Nur movement

.

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Said Nursi

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Official creationism

     1980: military coup. Conservative cultural policy.

Mid-1980s: conservative government, Islamists in Ministry of Education, Nurcu influence.

Support creationism in secondary education. Official translations from ICR literature. Distributed to teachers.

Creationism in Turkish textbooks on-and-off since: depends on parties in power.

Often (throughout Muslim world), no evolution taught.

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And now, Harun Yahya

 In 1997, Harun Yahya literature takes Turkey by storm. Creationism central theme, but Yahya corpus includes material on all sorts of Islamist and Nurcu-associated themes.

 Opportunistic: Early Holocaust denial, now back off and blame “Darwinism” for Holocaust. Evolution means atheism, which is the root of all immorality and evil, including terrorism, 9/11.

 Borrows from Christian creationists: ICR, ID. Adds more traditional Islamic themes.

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Popular Creationism

 No (macro)evolution at all.

 Old-earth or non-committed. (No flood geology. Quran vague.)  Evolution based on antireligious philosophy and scientific fraud.

 Divine design of world is

obvious

. (Very common Muslim perception.)  Point to intricate complexity, and the conclusion (design) is plain to all but the willfully perverse.

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Creationists:

modern

Muslims

    Nur movement famous for non-traditional authority structure, modern orientation, pro-capitalist development, and embrace of modern technology.

True in general for creationists. Adnan Oktar projects modern image: western clothes, technological and financial competence, pro-nationalist, use everyday Turkish. They’ve mastered modernity, remained devout, and can challenge materialists even in the scientific arena.

Muslim creationists are

not

reactionaries or traditionalists. Thoroughly modern movement.

Harun Yahya controversial, but opposition to Darwinian evolution has wide sympathy and modern constituency.

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Sophisticated creationism

    Yahya-style creationism has little intellectual weight, though attacks on “materialism” enjoy plenty of sympathy among many devout intellectuals. Oktar is controversial.

Muslim intellectuals are also attracted to more sophisticated opposition to Darwinian evolution.

“Intelligent design” literature has been quickly translated to Turkish. Supported by some modernist intellectuals who see religious Westerners as supplying ammunition against Western deviations such as materialism. Some “Islamizing science” supporters favor ID.

Mustafa Akyol

is the leading ID proponent in Turkey. Testified in Kansas Board of Education hearings.

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ID in Turkey

 ID meeting sponsored by Istanbul city government, 24 February 2007. Incl. D. Berlinski, P. Nelson, J. Lennox.

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Academic creationism

     Well-known Muslim philosophers of science Seyyed Hossein Nasr (Iran, US), and Osman Bakar (Malaysia, currently US) are outright creationists, though more sophisticated and better grounded in Islamic tradition.

Deny evolution at basic scientific level (ICR-like); also insist that evolution cannot create information (ID-like).

More fundamentally:

Darwinian

evolution (not just minor common descent relationships) goes against top-down, spirit-first view of reality demanded by religion.

Part of efforts to reconstruct science along more Islam friendly lines. Influential among Muslim thinkers.

Plenty of creationist academics, even among biologists.

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Guided evolution

 Also many Muslim thinkers defend evolution in a limited sense – Common descent somewhat OK, but more problematic where humans are concerned.

– Explicitly guided, non-Darwinian process.

Creativity

cannot reside in the natural world.

 Attractive as a middle path, but even guided evolution always controversial.

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Quran



Evolution?

  15:26 “We created man of potter’s clay of black mud altered.” 24:45 “And God created all animals from water: some of them travel on their bellies, some travel on two legs, some travel on four. God creates what God will; God is capable of all things.” 2007 KU: Islamic Creationism 19

Non-Darwinian compromise

 Guided evolution somewhat popular as a compromise, even as a way to link evolution to themes in medieval Muslim philosophy.

 Can tie into more liberal attitudes toward Quranic interpretation – guided evolution also moderate Christian favorite.

 But still a comparatively weak option.

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Darwinian evolution

 Darwinian (naturalistic, non-guided) evolution accepted by westernized elites, secularists. Understood only by scientists.

 To secularists, Darwin is a symbol: the backwardness of traditional religion, the power of science to produce knowledge.

 But much higher priority political concerns; C/E just a minor culture war battle.

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Pro-evolution politics

 Scientists (e.g. Turkish Academy of Sciences) publicly oppose creationism. Ineffectual.

 Secular (usually leftist) parties, when they have influence, remove creationism from textbooks.

 Politically ugly battle on all sides. Including implied threats. Job loss, assassination?

 By and large, creationists have won.

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Comparison with US

 All varieties of responses to evolution, from acceptance of full-blown Darwinian evolution to complete denial based on scriptural literalism.

 Generally evolution is in a weaker position in the Muslim world.

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Hardcore creationism

 Popular, populist. Appeals to non-elite constituency. Modern but devout people who depend on technology.

 Pro-technology, suspicious of theoretical science that goes beyond collecting “facts.”  Evolution objectionable as something that subverts public morality. (Harun Yahya: evolution excuse for perversions such as homosexuality. Created nature; women.) 2007 KU: Islamic Creationism 24

Successful

creationism

 Unlike Christian creationism, Muslim creationism has enjoyed official support, and has penetrated deeply into education.

 Appeal broader than an insular fundamentalist subculture (as opposed to US example). Muslim creationism is more mainstream.

 Financial and media resources of operations like that of Harun Yahya envy of ICR.

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Intelligent design

 The perception of divine design in the universe and the centrality of moral and religious concerns in describing the world remain dominant in devout Muslim intellectual life. Unlike West, where science is naturalistic and even academic theology has been bowdlerized.

 Monotheistic intuitions behind “intelligent design” not marginal in intellectual life.

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Guided descent

 Quasi-liberal options not negligible: accept common descent, suspicious of naturalistic mechanisms. Some theologians.

 Somewhat weaker base of support than in US (~ 40-50%). But always attractive as a compromise.

 Fortunes depend on liberal theology in general – less literal interpretations etc.

 Weaker. But Islam is changing rapidly!

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Darwinian option

 Practically no popular base outside an increasingly discredited secularist elite associated with political despotism and cultural inauthenticity.

 Scientific institutions much weaker in the Muslim world; little chance to depoliticize Creation/Evolution debate.

 A sense of defeat hangs over evolution; many Turkish biologists are despairing.

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Plug: .

Taner Edis

,

An Illusion of Harmony: Science and Religion in Islam

Hot off the press!

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Web site www2.truman.edu/~edis

 Contains the text of a number of papers on Islamic creationism and other topics.

 My e-mail is [email protected]

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Thanks for listening!

Any questions?

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