Page 240 - Prophet Jesus (Pbuh): A Prophet Not A Son, Of God

238 Prophet Jesus (pbuh): A Prophet, Not A Son, of God

living things that are stronger and more suited to the natural conditions
of their habitats will survive 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 survive. 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 evolutionary
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. 103

Lamarck's Impact

So, how could these "favorable variations" occur? Darwin tried to
answer this question from the standpoint of the primitive understanding
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 accumulated from one generation to
another, caused new species to be formed. For instance, he claimed that

Lamarck believed that giraffes evolved from such ani-
mals as antelopes. In his view, the necks of these
grass-eating animals gradually grew longer, and they
eventually turned into giraffes. The laws of inheri-
tance discovered by Mendel in 1865 proved that it
was impossible for properties acquired during life to
be handed on to subsequent generations. Lamarck's
giraffe fairy tale was thus consigned to the wastebin
of history.