Page 104 - Answers from the Qur'an

ANSWERS FROM THE QUR'AN
vive in the struggle for life. For example, in a deer herd under the
threat of attack by wild animals, those that can run faster will sur-
vive. Therefore, the deer herd will be comprised of faster and
stronger individuals. However, unquestionably, this mechanism
will not cause deer to evolve and transform themselves into another
living species, for instance, horses.
Therefore, the mechanism of natural selection has no evolu-
tionary power. Darwin was also aware of this fact and had to state
this in his book The Origin of Species:
Natural selection can do nothing until favourable individual differ-
ences or variations occur. 7

Lamarck's Impact

So, how could these "favorable variations" occur? Darwin tried
to answer this question from the standpoint of the primitive under-
standing of science at that time. According to the French biologist
Chevalier de Lamarck (1744-1829), who lived before Darwin, living
creatures passed on the traits they acquired during their lifetime to
the next generation. He asserted that these traits, which accumu-
lated from one generation to another, caused new species to be
formed. For instance, he claimed that giraffes evolved from an-
telopes; as they struggled to eat the leaves of high trees, their necks
were extended from generation to generation.
Darwin also gave similar examples. In his book The Origin of
Species, for instance, he said that some bears going into water to
find food transformed themselves into whales over time. 8
However, the laws of inheritance discovered by Gregor Mendel
(1822-84) and verified by the science of genetics, which flourished
in the twentieth century, utterly demolished the legend that ac-
quired traits were passed on to subsequent generations. Thus, natu-
ral selection fell out of favor as an evolutionary mechanism.

Neo-Darwinism and Mutations

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