Page 380 - Allah's Miracles in the Qur'an

Allah's Miracles in the Qur'an

Natural selection holds that those 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. Howe-
ver, unquestionably, this mechanism will not cause deer to evol-
ve 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
differences or variations occur. 310

Lamarck's Impact
So, how could these "favourable variations" occur? Darwin
tried to answer this question from the standpoint of the primi-
tive understanding of science at that time. According to the
French biologist Chevalier de Lamarck (1744-1829),
who lived before Darwin, living creatures passed

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