Page 128 - Commonly Disregarded Qur'anic Rulings

126 COMMONLY DISREGARDED QURANIC RULINGS

particular order. This scheme is imaginary because it has
never been proved that there is an evolutionary relation
between these different classes. Ernst Mayr, one of the twen-
tieth century's most important evolutionists, contends in his

book One Long Argument that "particularly historical [puz-
zles] such as the origin of life or of Homo sapiens, are
extremely difficult and may even resist a final, satisfying expla-
nation." 15
By outlining the link chain as Australopithecus > Homo
habilis > Homo erectus > Homo sapiens, evolutionists imply
that each of these species is one another's ancestor. However,
recent findings of paleoanthropologists have revealed that
Australopithecus, Homo habilis, and Homo erectus lived at dif-
ferent parts of the world at the same time. 16
Moreover, a certain segment of humans classified as Homo
erectus have lived up until very modern times. Homo sapi-
ens neandarthalensis and Homo sapiens sapiens (man)
co-existed in the same region. 17
This situation apparently indicates the invalidity of the
claim that they are ancestors of one another. The late
Stephen Jay Gould explained this deadlock of the theory of
evolution although he was himself one of the leading advo-
cates of evolution in the twentieth century:

What has become of our ladder if there are three coex-
isting lineages of hominids (A. africanus, the robust aus-
tralopithecines, and H. habilis), none clearly derived from
another? Moreover, none of the three display any evolu-
tionary trends during their tenure on earth. 18