Sabtu, 25 Februari 2012

The Islamic origins of Modern Science Part VI


"Hidup dan nasib bisa tampak berantakan, misterius, fantastis, dan sporadis, namun setiap elemennya adalah sub system keteraturan dari sebuah desain holistic yang sempurna. Menerima kehidupan berarti menerima kenyataan bahwa tak ada hal sekecil apapun terjadi karena kebetulan. Ini fakta penciptaan yang tak terbantahkan.
~Disarikan dari Pemikiran Harun Yahya~

The Rise and Fall of the Materialist Deviation


The nineteenth century was a period that witnessed the greatest errors in human history. These errors began with the imposition on European thought of materialist philosophy, an ancient Greek teaching.

The greatest error of this period was Darwin's theory of evolution. Before the birth of Darwinism, biology was accepted as a branch of science that provided evidence of the existence of God. In his book Natural Theology, the famous author William Paley maintained that, to the extent that every clock proves the existence of a clockmaker, natural designs prove the existence of God.

However, Darwin rejected this truth in his theory of evolution. By distorting the truth to fit materialist philosophy, he claimed that all living things were the result of blind natural causes. In this way he created an artificial antagonism between religion and science.

In their book The Messianic Legacy, English authors Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln have this to say on the subject:

For Isaac Newton, a century and a half before Darwin, science was not separate from religion but, on the contrary, an aspect of religion, and ultimately subservient to it. …But the science of Darwin's time became precisely that, divorcing itself from the context in which it had previously existed and establishing itself as a rival absolute, an alternative repository of meaning. As a result, religion and science were no longer working in concert, but rather stood opposed to each other, and humanity was increasingly forced to choose between them. 11
 
Not only biology, but also branches of sciences such as psychology and sociology were twisted according to materialist philosophy. 

Astronomy was distorted according to the materialist dogmas of ancient pagan Greece; a metaphysical faith in an "eternal cosmos" came to be the norm. The new aim of science was to confirm materialist philosophy.
These incorrect ideas have dragged the scientific world into a dead end for the past 150 years. Tens of thousands of scientists from different branches worked in the hope of being able to prove Darwinism or other materialist theories.

But they were disappointed.

The scientific evidence showed the exact opposite of the conclusion they wanted to reach. That is, it confirmed the truth of Creation. Today the world of science is astonished by this truth. When nature is examined it emerges that there is a complex plan and design in every detail and this has cut away the foundations of materialist philosophy.

For example, the extraordinary structure of DNA shows scientists that it is not the result of blind chance or natural laws. The DNA in a single human cell contains enough information to fill a whole 900-volume encyclopedia. Gene Myers, a scientist from the Celera Company which administers the Human Genome Project, says this:

What really astounds me is the architecture of life… The system is extremely complex. It's like it was designed… There's a huge intelligence there. 12

This astonishment affects the whole scientific world. Scientists are viewing with surprise the invalidity of the materialist philosophy and Darwinism which they were taught as truth, and some of them are declaring this openly. In his book Darwin's Black Box, biochemist Michael Behe, one of the leading critics of Darwinism, describes the situation of the scientific world as follows:

Over the past four decades modern biochemistry has uncovered the secrets of the cell. The progress has been hard won. It has required tens of thousands of people to dedicate the better parts of their lives to the tedious work of the laboratory… 

The result of these cumulative efforts to investigate the cell-to investigate life at the molecular level-is a loud, clear, piercing cry of "design!" The result is so unambiguous and so significant that it must be ranked as one of the greatest achievements in the history of science… 

But, no bottles have been uncorked, no hands clapped. Why does the scientific community not greedily embrace its startling discovery? The dilemma is that while one side of the [issue] is labeled intelligent design, the other side must be labeled God. 13

The same situation exists in astronomy. The astronomy of the twentieth century has demolished the materialist theories of the nineteenth. First with the Big Bang theory, it emerged that the universe had a beginning, the moment of Creation. Since then it has been realized that in the universe there is an extraordinarily delicate balance which protects human life - a concept known as the anthropic principle.

For these reasons, in the world of physics and astronomy atheism is in rapid decline. As American physicist Robert Griffiths jokingly remarks: 

"If we need an atheist for a debate, I go to the philosophy department. The physics department isn't much use." 


In short, in our day and age materialist philosophy is collapsing. Science is rediscovering certain very important facts rejected by materialist philosophy and in this way a new concept of science is being born.
The "Intelligent Design" theory, which has been on a successful rise in the United States during the past 10 years, is a leading part of this new scientific concept. Those who accept this theory stress that Darwinism was the greatest error in the history of science and that there is an intelligent design in nature that gives evidence of Creation.


Conclusion


God created the entire universe, and the whole of creation shows humanity the signs of God. Science is the method of investigating what has been created, so conflict between religion and science - provided that religion is guided only by Divine revelation - is out of the question.


On the contrary, history shows that theism has been the main motive and paradigm for scientific progress. The two greatest scientific achievements in world history - the Islamic scientific endeavor of the Medieval Age and the Christian scientific leap of the modern era - stemmed from faith in God.

Moreover, the latter borrowed a great deal of knowledge, method and vision from the former. The wisdom of the Qur'an first enlightened the Islamic world and then shed light even to the non-Muslim Europe. If something went wrong in the Islamic world, this was because Muslims turned away from the sincerity, wisdom and open-mindedness God teaches in the Qur'an.


The materialist paradigm is a deviation from this pattern. It arose in the 19th century, reached its peak in the mid-20th century and is on the brink of collapse today. No matter how arrogant and seemingly self-confident its supporters are, the materialist dogma and its main pillar, Darwinism, will inevitably perish in the upcoming decades. 


And science will return to its authentic and true paradigm: A search for the discovery and definition of the great design and harmony in the natural world, the artifact of God.

References:

Harun Yahya

(11 ) Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, Henry Lincoln, The Messianic Legacy, Gorgi Books, London: 1991, p.177-178
(12) San Francisco Chronicle, 19 February, 2001
(13) Michael J.Behe, Darwin's Black Box, New York: Free Press, 1996, p.231-232 (14) Hugh Ross, The Creator and the Cosmos, p. 123; Jul 04, 2005

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