Throughout history, men and women have sought answers to basic, essential questions: How did everything —living and non-living— in this universe come to exist? Who are we, and where did we come from? They have made philosophical inquiries into these subjects and come up with various notions. However, there is one clear answer to these questions that requires no long investigation. A person who looks without prejudice at everything in the universe, both animate and inanimate —beginning with his own body— can realize that all things have been created by a single Creator Who has superior power, wisdom and knowledge. Such a person will understand that from the harmony between his own body and the Earth he lives on; to the balance among the stars, galaxies and other celestial bodies; from the abundance of the water he needs to survive to the colorful world around him and all the beautiful living things in it —all this clearly reveals the existence of a merciful and protective Creator.
That supreme Creator is Almighty Allah, the Lord of all the Worlds. He has revealed the Fact of Creation in such a way that human beings can discover it using their faculty of reason, and He has announced it to all people through the mediation of messengers whom He has chosen from among them. Throughout history, however, there have been many who rejected these facts. Despite all the proofs for the existence of Allah that have been set before them, and even though Allah has shown them obvious miracles, still they persist in rejecting His existence. In the Qur'an, His final revelation, Allah tells us of such people:
They have sworn by Allah with their most earnest oaths that if a Sign comes to them they will believe in it. Say: "The Signs are in Allah's control alone." What will make you realize that even if a Sign did come, they would still not believe? We will overturn their hearts and sight, just as when they did not believe in it at first, and We will abandon them to wander blindly in their excessive insolence. Even if We sent down angels to them, and the dead spoke to them, and We gathered together everything in front of them right before their eyes, they would still not believe unless Allah willed. The truth is that most of them are ignorant. (Surat Al-An'am:109-111)
Still another group of people claims to believe that Allah exists but—as can be seen from their behavior—they do not acknowledge His power and eternal might. They know that He has created everything that exists, yet still they ignore His messengers and reject the truth these messengers proclaim. In the Qur'an, Allah reveals to us the spiritual condition of such people:
It is He Who has created hearing, sight and hearts for you. What little thanks you show! It is He Who dispersed you about the Earth and you will be gathered to Him. It is He Who gives life and causes to die and His is the alternation of the night and day. So will you not use your intellect? However, they say the same as previous peoples said. They say, "When we are dead and turned to dust and bones, shall we then be raised again? "We and our forefathers were promised this before. This is nothing but the myths of previous peoples!" Say: "To whom does the Earth belong, and everyone in it, if you have any knowledge?" They will say: "To Allah." Say: "So will you not pay heed?" Say: "Who is the Lord of the Seven Heavens and the Lord of the Mighty Throne?" They will say: "Allah." Say: "So will you not guard against evil?" Say: "In whose hand is the dominion over everything, He Who gives protection and from Whom no protection can be given, if you have any knowledge?" They will say: "Alah's." Say: "So how have you been bewitched?" The fact is that We have given them the truth and they are liars. (Surat Al-Muminun:78-90)
From these verses, we can see that even though these people know that Allah is the Creator of all things and the Judge of heaven and Earth, still they reject religious morals. They also reject the revelations made by Allah's messengers concerning the resurrection and the afterlife and even regard these truths as simply myths from the past.
How can these people be so resolute in denying the existence of Allah, even though they have seen and acknowledged the proofs for it?
The answer to this question is contained in the verse quoted above: "So how have you been bewitched?" With this verse, Allah reveals that these people are bewitched, in that they behave as if under the influence of a spell cast upon them.
Why do some people employ such false suggestions and sorcery to deceive both themselves and others?
Anyone who believes in Allah's existence and eternal power and who doesn't pretend he cannot understand this truth also realizes that in addition, he is responsible to Allah. Allah has created him, like every other human being, from nothing and has put a multitude of things in the universe at his service. Anyone who understands that his birth, life and death all lie within the power of Allah's will, must use his whole life to please the Creator Who created him from nothing and endowed him with so many ble
Those who, in their arrogance, do not believe, also refuse to submit to Allah or gain His favor. They turn a deaf ear to His commands and prohibitions. They have made it a principle to stay unfettered and not to grant obedience to any authority: This is what leads them into disbelief. Alah shows us this human characteristic in verse 36 of Surat al-Qiyama:
"Does man reckon he will be left to go on unchecked?"
And in another verse, He reveals that human beings in their arrogance reject these truths, even though they understand them.
And they repudiated them [Allah's signs] wrongly and haughtily, in spite of their own certainty about them. See the final fate of the corrupters. (Surat an-Naml:14)
Ever since human beings first appeared on this Earth, large numbers of them have rejected the existence of Allah for the reasons enumerated above. Therefore, they have always looked for proofs that might validate their denial, but have never succeeded—because of the very clear proofs for His existence.
Charles Darwin, founder of the theory of evolution, which modern scientific discoveries have invalidated.
In the nineteenth century, a man appeared on the scene who had rejected religious morals and refused to see himself as responsible to his Creator. His claims had a spellbinding effect on other unbelievers. This was an amateur biologist by the name of Charles Darwin. Working under the primitive scientific limitations of the nineteenth century, he proposed some untenable ideas on the origins of life that rejected the fact of Creation and assembled these ideas in a book he entitled The Origin of Species. Thus the theory of evolution was born.
Actually, the roots of Darwin's theory can be traced back to ancient times. Originally, the idea was proposed by several atheist and polytheist philosophers of ancient Greece. But thanks to scientists who believed in a Creator Who created the whole universe, the ideas of these ancient philosophers had no lasting effect. But with the advance of the nineteenth century's materialist thinking, which rejected the existence of Allah and claimed that only matter was absolute, evolutionist ideas were revived once again.
Darwin based his theory on a few groundless suppositions. Those who rejected Allah used it as a means to bolster their own superstitious ideas and to establish them on a supposedly scientific foundation. What, then, did this theory claim that was so attractive to those who denied the existence of Allah?
Briefly, the theory of evolution claims that lifeless pieces of matter came together by chance, organizing themselves to produce living organisms. That as a result of chance occurrences, these organisms changed in response to natural conditions and diverged from one another in structure and appearance. According to this claim, living things were not created.
Why, then, do so many approve of Darwin's theory of evolution? Because they believe that the formation of life can be explained without reference to a Creator. If you examine the theory of evolution with scientific objectivity only, without regard for its ideological purpose, you can see that it's contrary to science and logic. Moreover, the totality of available data on the origins of living things points to this theory being invalid. Indeed, we have reached the point where modern science has demonstrated the extremely complex structure of every living creature, in all its magnificence. Facts authenticated by present-day's scientific research show the impossibility of living things arising by chance. They could have come to exist only as the result of a Superior Power; Whose flawless creation is present and evident in every creature.
Every day, some new discovery comes to light to prove the invalidity of the theory of evolution. Yet still its supporters will not give up their allegiance and show an even more fanatical attachment to their belief. Their motive, as we said before, is evident:Atheists and materialists need a so-called scientific support for denying the existence of Allah. For this reason, Darwinists are determined to hold on very tightly to their theory, at any cost and regardless of science. And they are determined not to go back on that promise.
D. M. S. Watson, the well-known English zoologist, explains why his fellow evolutionists still defend their theory so adamantly, even though there isn't the slightest proof for the theories they espouse:
The theory of evolution itself is a theory universally accepted not because it can be proved by logically coherent evidence to be true but because the only alternative, special creation, is clearly incredible.1
On the same topic, the evolutionist anthropologist, Dr. Michael Walker of Sydney University, writes:
One is forced to conclude that many scientists and technologists pay lip-service to Darwinian theory only because it supposedly excludes a Creator... 2
By their own admission, evolutionists are so attached to Darwin's theory of evolution for the single reason that it rejects the existence of Allah. But in order for them to accept the theory of evolution even though it goes against all scientific proof, evolutionists must do a lot of hard work. Increasingly, scientific developments invalidate the theory of evolution, and when the matter is viewed with reason and awareness evolution can be revealed as a lot of nonsense.
It is at this point that the spell of Darwinism comes into play. Darwinists have to make a discredited theory appear true. To do so, they use all their skills, trying everything to prevent people from falling away from Darwinism. They try to get them to believe the unbelievable, to think the unthinkable and to state the unspeakable. And those who fall under the influence of this spell gradually come to the point where they are unable to perceive and consider the clearly evident facts.
Throughout history, actually, there have been several examples of just this kind of enchantment. In the past—albeit under very different circumstances—godless people have tried to ignore or not to understand the evidence for Creation shown to them by messengers and sincere believers. In the Qur'an, Allah explains the similarity between these people and people of today:
We sent Messengers before you among the disparate groups of previous peoples. No Messenger came to them without their mocking him. In that way We insert it into the evildoers' hearts. They do not believe in it, even though the example of the previous peoples has gone before. Even if We opened up to them a door into heaven, and they spent the day ascending through it, they would only say, "Our eyesight is befuddled! Or rather we have been put under a spell!" (Surat al-Hijr:10-15)
Those who espouse Darwinism today come at the head of these spell-bound individuals. They counter the evidence of Creation with the myth of evolution, and try to tell the whole world that the theory is valid. And the masses are truly so spell-bound by their intimations and false information that no longer can they perceive the truth. Under these circumstances, those conscientious individuals who recognize the fact of Creation have a duty to work towards lifting this spell so that more people can see the truth. The true path is doubtless the way of Allah, the Creator of the heavens and the Earth:
Allah is my Lord and your Lord so worship Him. That is a straight path. (Surah Al'Imran:51)
1. D.M.S. Watson, "Adaptation," Nature, Vol. 123, 1929, p. 233.
2. Michael Walker, Quadrant, October 1982, p. 44.