Page 118 - The importance of conscience in the Qur'an

116 The Importance of Conscience in the Qur'an

The answer it gives to the question of how living things, includ-
ing mankind, came into existence makes Darwinism the basis of
a number of philosophies, worldviews and political ideologies.
Here, we shall consider the relationship between
Darwinism and materialist philosophy. Materialist philosophy,
or "materialism," is a system of thought going as far back as
ancient Greece. Materialism rests on the assumption that mat-
ter is the only thing that exists. According to materialist phi-
losophy, matter has always existed, and will continue to do so
for all time. Again according to this philosophy, nothing exists
beyond matter.
Naturally, materialism is also reflected in the political
arena, with communism indisputably taking pride of place in this
regard. Karl Marx (1818-83) and Friedrich Engels (1820-95),
regarded as the founders of communism, were also the
founders of dialectical materialism. In any case, communism is
nothing more than materialist philosophy adapted to the social
sciences by Marx and Engels.
Communism is today regarded as an ideology consigned
to the wastes of history, whereas the fact is that it is still
exceedingly influential. The destructive effects of this ideology
can still be felt in many countries.
This is where Darwinism assumes great importance. Since
Darwinism, or the theory of evolution, maintains that living
things were not created but came into being by chance, it has
received a wide acceptance among materialist ideologies, and has
been adopted as the "basic foundation" of communism in partic-
ular. All the main communist ideologues have accepted the the-
ory word for word, and have based their ideologies upon it.
In a letter to Friedrich Engels in 1860, for instance, Karl