Tag: christianity

The Primordial Covenant of Humanity: Did it Literally Happen?

Zia H Shah
Epigraph

Oh Prophet, when your Lord took out the offspring from the loins of the Children of Adam and made them bear witness about themselves, He said, ‘Am I not your Lord?’ and they replied, ‘Yes, we bear witness.’ So you cannot say on the Day of Resurrection, ‘We were not aware of this.’ (Al Quran 7:172)

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Collected by Zia H Shah, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times

Dr. Yasir Qadhi is no hero of mine. I strongly disagree with his scientific stance about evolution and Jinns and his religious tolerance stance about other faiths and sects of Islam. Having said that I completely agree with his presentation about the Primordial Covenant above.

This is how I understand the Quran teaches us about our academic and real life adversaries:

And let not the adversity of a people, that they hindered you from the Sacred Mosque, incite you to transgress. And help one another in righteousness and piety; but help not one another in sin and transgression. And fear Allah; surely, Allah is severe in punishment. (Al Quran 5:2)

Below is the commentary of the above verse by Seyyed Hossein Nasr et al.  This is a recently published multiauthor commentary, published in USA, which has incorporated more than 40 traditional Islamic commentaries and has chosen one or two alphabets to reference them. I am going to divide Nasr’s commentary into four parts.

The first part brings out those traditional commentators that interpret the verse literally and suggest a literal meeting:

This verse is in many ways the cornerstone of Islamic sacred history and anthropology and establishes that the fundamental relationship between God and all human beings is premised upon the simple, unmediated recognition of His Lordship at the moment of their pretemporal creation (see the essay “The Quranic View of Sacred History and Other Religions”). The event recounted in this verse is widely referred to as a pretemporal covenant (mīthāq) or pact (ʿahd)—although these terms do not appear in the verse itself—made by God with all of humanity prior to their earthly existence (Aj, R, Ṭ). It is connected by commentators with a pretemporal covenant between God and the prophets (3:81; 33:7) and considered by some to be subsequent to it (ST). The Quran mentions covenants or pacts between God and the believers generally (5:1, 7; 6:152; 13:20, 25; 16:91, 95; 57:8) as well as covenants with Abraham (2:124–25), the Israelites (2:40, 63, 83–84, 93; 4:154; 5:70), the Christians (5:14), and the People of the Book collectively (3:187). But the making of the covenant described in the present verse is unmediated and universal—contracted directly between God and all humanity—and can thus be interpreted as the basis of all later and specific covenants mediated by the prophets. This verse is also connected with the Quranic notion of the fiṭrah (IK, Ṭ), the primordial nature (30:30) with which all human beings were originally endowed, indicating that the innate recognition of God’s Oneness constitutes the essence of being human (see 30:30c). Even though human beings do not remember the pretemporal covenant, their testimony to God’s Lordship is understood to have left an indelible imprint upon their souls and to have established moral responsibility for them (Q). When these souls are engendered in earthly bodies and reach the age of moral understanding and accountability, the innate knowledge is reawakened in those who believe by their encounter with prophetic teachings, scriptures, and Divine laws, which serve as a reminder and renewal of their initial covenant with God (Aj). Therefore, if a child dies before reaching the age of moral and religious responsibility, he or she is considered to have died according to the first covenant (mīthāq) and the original fiṭrah, and so in a state of moral purity. However, for those who fail to affirm the original covenant by rejecting the later covenant—that is, by denying the messages brought to them by their prophets and scriptures—their initial covenant will not benefit them (IK, Q, Ṭ, Ṭs). Some describe this pretemporal event as one in which God brought forth all the progeny of Adam from his loins, specifically; some argue that this was done immediately after God had blown His Spirit into Adam (15:29; 32:9; 38:72; Ṭ), and others debate whether it occurred before or after his fall to earth (Mw, Q).

The second part brings out some difficulties or contradictions in a literal understanding and suggests a metaphorical interpretation:

Many observe, however, that God takes the progeny not from Adam, but from the Children of Adam and from their loins (plural; IK, R, Ṭ), indicating simply that He brought forth all future generations that have appeared and will appear until the end of time (Mw). Progeny translates dhurriyah (or in some readings, the plural dhurriyāt), which derives from a root that in its most literal sense denotes small particles, atoms, or seeds that are scattered, but also connotes ‘progeny’ or ‘offspring’ in over a dozen Quranic verses (e.g., 2:124; 3:34; 4:9). Some commentators indicate that the progeny were drawn forth in the form of ‘particles’ or ‘seeds’ (dharr; IK, R, Ṭ), suggesting the physically unformed state of the children of Adam during this encounter. But some questioned how it was possible for the progeny as ‘particles’ to hear and respond to God’s question; and because the intellect was not considered to manifest itself in human beings until years after birth, they also questioned how these ‘particles’ knew what they were saying or could be held accountable for it (R). Given these issues, some commentators consider this verse a symbolic description of an innate covenant (Z) or a symbolic description of the temporal process by which human beings realize Divine Oneness—arguing that as individuals grow in intellect and contemplate the world around them, the existence of a single God becomes innately clear to them, and they witness to this truth inwardly (Q, R, Ṭs, Ṭū), since they bear this knowledge already in their primordial nature.

The third part reasserts the literal interpretation, while bringing out other details suggested by Rumi and others:

Others, however, reject this interpretation as against the plain meaning of the text and argue that God temporarily bestowed faculties of intellect, hearing, and speech on the ‘particles,’ or human ‘seed,’ just as He did when He caused the heavens and the earth to respond to Him (41:11; R, Ṭ); see also 41:21, where God endows bodily organs and faculties with the ability to testify. God causes the Children of Adam to bear witness concerning themselves, or ‘against themselves.’ The Quran mentions human beings bearing witness against themselves, in both this world and the Hereafter, through their deeds and their very bodies (cf. 6:130; 7:37; 24:24; 36:65; 41:20–22). In the present verse, their witnessing takes the form of a response to God’s question Am I not your Lord? (A-lastu bi-rabbikum?), understood to be a declarative statement in the form of a question, requiring the hearers to bear witness to its truth. Poetically, some Muslim authors, such as Rūmī, have described the event in this verse as the ‘Day of Alast,’ referring to the first part of the question Am I not your Lord?; ‘Day of Alast’ therefore refers in Islamic thought to a day beyond all days reckoned in time. Their response is Yea (balā, a classical affirmative connoting certainty), we bear witness. Some reports consider we bear witness to have been spoken by other witnesses to their testimony—identified variously as the angels, Adam, the heavens and the earth, or God Himself (IJ, IK, Q, R, Ṭ)—although most consider this a less likely reading. The verse ends by explaining that the purpose of this questioning and witnessing was so that human beings could not come on the Day of Resurrection claiming to have been unaware of God’s Lordship or their duty to worship Him. One may question how one can be responsible, during earthly life, for a testimony one cannot remember having made prior to coming into this world (R). Some commentators have argued that it is precisely this human inability to remember the event described in this verse that points to its symbolic nature and thus reject the idea that a pretemporal covenant, of which most human beings are not conscious and that they cannot recall, could be the basis of a responsibility that is binding upon them (R). When this verse is read in the wider Quranic context and juxtaposed with Quranic prophetic history, however, this pretemporal recognition of God’s Lordship can be understood as creating an innate disposition in human beings toward recognizing and worshipping God during earthly life and toward accepting the prophets and the messages they bring as ‘reminders’ of what human beings already know inwardly, but have merely forgotten. Those who reject the prophets, therefore, are considered willfully ignorant, denying truths that should, in any sincere and morally uncorrupted soul, resonate with a deep but forgotten knowledge of God that nevertheless still exists within them. In this sense, those who deny and reject the prophetic messages sent to them are described as kuffār, a word most commonly translated ‘disbelievers,’ but whose etymological meaning signifies the ‘covering over’ of something, which in the religious sense refers to covering over the innate awareness of the truth of God’s Lordship and Oneness that they bear within themselves. The pretemporal covenant, then, in conjunction with God’s sending of messengers to all people serves as a ‘proof’ against the disbelievers who capriciously or cynically deny prophetic messages that they know deep within themselves to be true.

In the fourth part discussion incorporates predestination and status of leaders in Shiite and sufi tradition:

This verse is also the basis for more elaborate narrations, some of which are attributed to the Prophet, that connect the pretemporal covenant with predestinarian notions. Although the literal reading of this verse suggests that all human beings have made the same covenant recognizing God’s Lordship and therefore have the same possibility for realizing it in earthly life, several reports suggest that human moral destiny is linked to distinctions made among the covenanters on the occasion of this pretemporal covenant. Some reports assert that God removed some progeny from the right side of Adam or with His Right Hand, and these human beings were destined for the Garden, while others were removed from Adam’s left side or with God’s other Hand and were thus destined for Hell (Q, Ṭ). Still other reports indicate that some covenanters bore witness only reluctantly or deceptively (IJ, Qm, ST, Ṭ), although this interpretation is rejected by other authorities. Some early Twelver Shiite traditions indicate that the covenanters on this day were also asked to bear witness to the prophethood of Muhammad and the spiritual authority of the Shiite Imams, but that only some accepted the latter (ʿAy, Qm). Similarly, some early Sufi authors, including al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī (third/ninth century), referred to the pretemporal covenant as a moment in which the spiritual elect (khawāṣṣ) were distinguished from the common people (‘awāmm). Given the great importance in Islamic thought of this verse and the event it describes, it was natural for some thinkers to link it with various notions of a spiritual hierarchy among human beings and with the concept of predestination. Yet, although this pretemporal covenant may indeed be linked to human moral destiny in a foundational way, because it created in human beings an innate ability to recognize religious truth, the plain meaning of the verse more plausibly indicates the universal potential in all human beings for moral and spiritual attainment and the acceptance of revelation.

The complexities of these discussions, make it easier to consider the biological development of the fetus and realize that souls do not exist pretemporally and come to being during the fetal development as the brain develops. Therefore, the metaphorical interpretation of this verse and Covenant is not only simple, but scientifically and philosophically coherent.

In the past centuries many Muslims believed that all the human souls were created first and they are sent into fetus at some suitable time. However, here is a clear passage from the Quran to understand that souls get created as the human brains develop in the wombs of the mothers:

It is God who created the heavens and the earth and everything between them in six Days. Then He established Himself on the Throne. You [people] have no one but Him to protect you and no one to intercede for you, so why do you not take heed? He runs everything, from the heavens to the earth, and everything will ascend to Him in the end, on a Day that will measure a thousand years in your reckoning. Such is He who knows all that is unseen as well as what is seen, the Almighty, the Merciful, who gave everything its perfect form. He first created man from clay, then made his descendants from an extract of underrated fluid (semen). Then He molded him; He breathed from His Spirit into him; He gave you hearing, sight, and minds. How seldom you are grateful! (Al Quran 32:4-9)

The truth of this primordial covenant we can often see in our own psychology and of others. One example that I want to quote here is Robert Lawrence Kuhn, who seems to be an agnostic, yet cannot shed the thought of God and has made thousands of videos on the subject of God, theology, freewill, consciousness, cosmology, religion and science. His series is called Closer to Truth and most of them are available in YouTube.

The Quran is a dynamic book and as human understanding evolves so does our appreciation of the holy scripture. And as we see our understanding evolving in one area we can use it sometimes as an example or metaphor to understand other teachings in the modern light.

For instance the understanding of Primordial Covenants have application on human evolution and the meeting of Adam with God, angels and Satan.

We have saved one of the above videos in the Muslim Times as well:

Videos and A Book: Why is There Anything At All?

Zia H Shah
Epigraph:

بَدِيعُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۖ وَإِذَا قَضَىٰ أَمْرًا فَإِنَّمَا يَقُولُ لَهُ كُن فَيَكُونُ

He is the Originator of the heavens and the earth, and when He decrees something, He says only, ‘Be,’ and it is. (Al Quran 2:117)

Have they been created from nothing, or are they their own creators? Have they created the heavens and the earth? In truth they put no faith in anything. (Al Quran 52:35-36)

Presented by Zia H Shah MD

The subject matter of all these videos, when the useful is separated from the froth or the contradictions excluded, becomes a wonderful commentary of the verses quoted above as epigraph.

I think logical discussion of this most important question ultimately leads to God. To achieve this one has to learn from all the philosophers presented here. Jim Holt defines the issues very well and his book on the subject is linked below.

In the above video John Leslie lays out 5 different possibilities and to me the last one, a possible mind behind the universe, is the only one that makes sense.

So, the first 18 minutes of discussions above seem to be rationalizations of atheist minds. But, it is important to suffer through them to know the contemporary philosophical debates.

The discussion of the fifth option starts at minute 19 of the video and makes better sense to someone with theist inclinations as we get to hear two theologians, John Polkinhorn and Richard Swinburn. The moderator of the above video, Robert Lawrence Kuhn in his concluding remarks favors the fifth option. He lays out God as a possibility but does not take the final leap.

He suggests mathematical laws as a competitor creator, but, how can that be? According to Stephen Hawking, “What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe?”

Three quarter of top mathematicians believe that mathematical equations exist necessarily in a platonic sense. But how can mathematical equations exist in a mindless vacuum?

This question will lead us to the article linked below: How Could Most Mathematicians Believe in Heaven, But Not in God? A quarter of thoughtful mathematicians forcefully deny mathematical equations being eternal or existing independently.

What we learn through these debates is that one has to learn from all sources, like the 16th century Christian martyr Michael Servetus told us:

Ultimately, every discussion by atheists leads to who made God? This is tackled in a video linked below: Who Created God? John Lennox at The Veritas Forum at UCLA.

Obviously, God existing necessarily can be discussed in greater lengths from different perspectives and that should be handled as a separate and independent discussion, divorced from anything else one may be discussing in the moment. Here is a suggested article: Video: Is God Necessary or Who Made God?

God being the Creator is the most important discussion to establish the Monotheism of Abrahamic faiths. It is not only the key to present Judaism, Christianity and Islam to the agnostics and atheists, but is ultimately the main argument to understand our accountability and Afterlife: Surah Qaf: The First Creation as the Foremost Proof for Afterlife.

In other places in the Quran also, God is presented as the Originator, with the additional emphasis of refuting the Christian dogma and that it is an easy task for the All-Powerful God:

The Originator of the heavens and the earth! How can He have a son when He has no consort, and when He has created everything and has knowledge of all things? Such is Allah, your Lord. There is no God but He, the Creator of all things, so worship Him. And He is Guardian over everything. Eyes cannot reach Him but He reaches the human consciousness. And He is the Incomprehensible, the All-Aware. (Al Quran 6:101-103)

See they not how Allah originates creation, then repeats it? That surely is easy for Allah. Say, ‘Travel in the earth, and see how He originated the creation. Then will Allah provide the latter creation.’ Surely, Allah has power over all things. (Al Quran 29:19-20)

So, now in light of all these verses, let us listen to the philosophers below. When their eyes cannot reach God, because of limits of human knowledge and science, they begin to propose some irrational ideas in the name of science, philosophy, physics and mathematics.

But, if we examine the question, why is there anything at all, with an open mind, we are inevitably led to God.

For a greater in depth understanding please review what follows:

Colin McGinn first examines the quality of the question. He ultimately comes to the conclusion that something needs to exist necessarily or as self existence. He further goes onto say that logic, numbers and mathematics exist necessarily and we examined the futility of that above. Only thing in my opinion that necessarily exists is God: Video: Is God Necessary or Who Made God?

David Bentley Hart is a Christian theist philosopher, so among all the interviewees here he makes the strongest case for God.

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Why Does the World Exist?: An Existential Detective Story

By Jim Holt

“I can imagine few more enjoyable ways of thinking than to read this book.”
—Sarah Bakewell, New York Times Book Review, front-page review

Tackling the “darkest question in all of philosophy” with “raffish erudition” (Dwight Garner, The New York Times), author Jim Holt explores the greatest metaphysical mystery of all: why is there something rather than nothing? This runaway best seller, which has captured the imagination of critics and the public alike, traces our latest efforts to grasp the origins of the universe. Holt adopts the role of cosmological detective, traveling the globe to interview a host of celebrated scientists, philosophers, and writers, “testing the contentions of one against the theories of the other” (Jeremy Bernstein, Wall Street Journal). As he interrogates his list of ontological culprits, the brilliant yet slyly humorous Holt contends that we might have been too narrow in limiting our suspects to God versus the Big Bang. This “deft and consuming” (David Ulin, Los Angeles Times) narrative humanizes the profound questions of meaning and existence it confronts.

Buy the book in Amazon

How Could Most Mathematicians Believe in Heaven, But Not in God?

Epigraph: He is the First and the Last, and the Manifest and the Hidden, and He knows all things full well. (Al Quran 57:3) We have created the heavens and […]

Allah created the universe or the multiverse through mathematics  بِالْحَقِّ

Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, as a chapter of upcoming book: The Quran and the Biological Evolution Galileo Galilei famously said, “Mathematics is the language in which […]

Religion and Science: The Indispensable God-hypothesis

Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times This is an article describing the Transcendent, yet Personal God of the Abrahamic Faiths in the present […]

Surah Qaf: The First Creation as the Foremost Proof for Afterlife

Source: TheQuran.Love Introduction The Surah very precisely and concisely highlights a very common theme in the Quran of a Creator God, Who has created humans and this universe for a […]

Who Created God? John Lennox at The Veritas Forum at UCLA

Suggested reading Trinity: An apple cannot be a rock and a monkey at the same time … Video: The most famous Christian apologist, William Lane Craig, accepts there is no Trinity […]

Ten Raised to Five Hundred Reasons for Our Gracious God

Epigraph: And He (Allah) gave you all that you wanted of Him; and if you try to count the favors of Allah, you will not be able to number them. Indeed, […]

Al Hakeem: The Wise, The Creator With A Purpose

Source: The Muslim Sunrise Fall 2019, the longest running Muslim publication of North America, since 1922 Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times Let […]

Why do Christians leave their religion?

Zia H Shah
Epigraph:

Say, ‘O People of the Book! come to a word equal between us and you — that we worship none but Allah, and that we associate no partner with Him, and that some of us take not others for Lords beside Allah.’ But if they turn away, then say, ‘Bear witness that we have submitted to God.’ (Al Quran 3:64)

We have a large collection of articles about Christianity and on the theme of Religion & Science
Collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times

Charles Darwin had procrastinated for 20 years before publishing his epic making book for good reason. William Tyndale, Michael Servetus and Giordano Bruno had been burnt on the stake for lesser offences in the previous centuries in Christendom. William Tyndale was burnt on the stake for translating the Bible into English on 6th October, 1536. Michael Servetus was burnt on the stake on October 27th, 1953 for writing two books refuting trinity and finally Giordano Bruno was burnt on the stake for more than one count of heresy on 17th February, 1600. After his death, he gained considerable fame, being particularly celebrated by 19th and early 20th century commentators who regarded him as a martyr for science.

According to Richard Dawkins, who is well known for his advocacy of atheism, “Although atheism might have been logically tenable before Darwin, Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist.” Since the writing of his book, On the Origin of Species, in 1861 there is a constant tug of war between atheism and Christianity in the West.

Let us examine this duel in USA, a similar conflict is playing out in Europe and Australia.

The religious landscape of the United States continues to change at a rapid clip. In Pew Research Center telephone surveys conducted in 2018 and 2019, 65% of American adults describe themselves as Christians when asked about their religion, down 12 percentage points over the past decade. Meanwhile, the religiously unaffiliated share of the population, consisting of people who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular,” now stands at 26%, up from 17% in 2009.

Church attendance has declined substantially in recent decades. The U.S. is seeing an unprecedented increase in the number of “nones,” those who do not identify with any religious tradition. As of 2023, this population is 28% of U.S. adults! The “nones” include ex-evangelicals, ex-mainline protestants, ex-Catholics and more. About a third of the “nones” do not have any religious background. The departures are happening for all ages, especially young people. 

For all of these groups, science issues are a substantial factor in why they doubt Christian beliefs. People stop attending church for many reasons, as explored in books like “The Great Dechurching” by Jim David, Michael Graham, and Ryan Burge. What many ministry leaders don’t realize is that the “nones” cite science as one of the top reasons they doubt Christianity. By handling science issues better, the Church can lead young people to a more robust faith and invite the “nones” to (re)consider Jesus Christ. 

The impact of “science” on people’s beliefs has been growing since well before the pandemic. In 2019, the Barna Group surveyed young people all around the world, ages 18-35, asking “What causes you to doubt things of a spiritual nature?” Young people of all religious views and backgrounds listed “science” as one of the top reasons they doubt. In fact, “science” was second only to “the hypocrisy of religious people.” This was confirmed in 2022, when the Barna Group surveyed Americans of no religious affiliation, age 13 and up. Science is one of the top reasons they gave for doubting Christian beliefs.

The above two surveys didn’t ask in detail what exactly about science is causing people to doubt, but other research has. In 2020, John Marriott in “The Anatomy of Deconversion” reported on in-depth interviews with 24 ex-evangelicals, aged 20-55. He determined the top 3 cognitive reasons people leave: problems with the Bible (including Genesis, miracles, and the resurrection), the acceptance of Darwinian evolution, and the influence of new atheists like Richard Dawkins. All three of those areas are tied to science! Now, it is possible that some of the “nones” have left religion for other reasons, but now blame it on science. But the interviews by Marriott don’t sound like that.

Is atheism pulling people away from Chrisitanity? Some Christians say yes. They talk of science vs the Bible, framing it as a battle between “man’s word” and God’s word. They say that learning science will cause you to doubt scripture and lose your faith. For some of the “nones,” this is unfortunately the case. Marriot writes: “While many believers, when presented with the evidence for Darwinian evolution, manage to retain their faith by becoming theistic evolutionists, the deconverts in this study appear to have presupposed that, for various reasons, if evolution were true, then God could not exist. Convinced of the truthfulness of evolution, they believed they were forced to reject belief in God’s existence.”

But there is another dynamic here. While some of the “nones” are pulled away from Christianiy by atheistic arguments, more are pushed away by the posture of the church toward science. In 2011, Kinnaman in his book “You Lost Me” surveyed millennials who had grown up in the Church and then left. He found that 29% said “churches are out of step with the scientific world we live in,” 25% said “Christianity is anti-science,” and 23% said they were “turned off by the creation-versus-evolution debate.” And it’s not just the millennials. In 2018, Barna surveyed teenagers still attending church and reported their findings in GenZ. They found that 49% of GenZ teenagers felt “the church seems to reject much of what science tells us about the world.” That’s half of GenZ in church! An entire generation is being impacted.[1]

Whey born Christians learn biology and evolution what challenges do they face? These are examined in separate articles:

Charles Darwin: An Epiphany for the Muslims, A Catastrophe for the Christians

Video About Historical Adam: Is it a Landmine for the Christian Dogma?

The Pew Research Center estimates that in 2020, about 64% of Americans, including children, were Christian. People who are religiously unaffiliated, sometimes called religious “nones,” accounted for 30% of the U.S. population. Adherents of all other religions – including Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists – totaled about 6%.1

Depending on whether religious switching continues at recent rates, speeds up or stops entirely, the projections show Christians of all ages shrinking from 64% to between a little more than half (54%) and just above one-third (35%) of all Americans by 2070. Over that same period, “nones” would rise from the current 30% to somewhere between 34% and 52% of the U.S. population.[2]

But, what will in reality happen over the next fifty years will also depend on another powerful phenomenon in the West, which is introduction of Islam and Muslims. There are possibly 40 million Muslims in Europe and up to 5 million in USA.

Among those who have converted to Islam in USA, a majority come from a Christian background. In fact, about half of all converts to Islam (53%) identified as Protestant before converting; another 20% were Catholic. And roughly one-in-five (19%) volunteered that they had no religion before converting to Islam, while smaller shares switched from Orthodox Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism or some other religion.

When asked to specify why they became Muslim, converts give a variety of reasons. About a quarter say they preferred the beliefs or teachings of Islam to those of their prior religion, while 21% say they read religious texts or studied Islam before making the decision to switch. Still others said they wanted to belong to a community (10%), that marriage or a relationship was the prime motivator (9%), that they were introduced to the faith by a friend, or that they were following a public leader (9%).

In recent years, the number of American Muslims has been growing steadily, by around 100,000 annually. But the fact that the shares of people who enter and leave Islam are roughly equal suggests that conversions to and from the faith are having little impact on the group’s overall growth.

But a large number of those born in Islam leave the religion as well.

About a quarter of adults who were raised Muslim (23%) no longer identify as members of the faith, roughly on par with the share of Americans who were raised Christian and no longer identify with Christianity (22%), according to a new analysis of the 2014 Religious Landscape Study. But while the share of American Muslim adults who are converts to Islam also is about one-quarter (23%), a much smaller share of current Christians (6%) are converts. In other words, Christianity as a whole loses more people than it gains from religious switching (conversions in both directions) in the U.S., while the net effect on Islam in America is a wash.

A 2017 Pew Research Center survey of U.S. Muslims, using slightly different questions than the 2014 survey, found a similar estimate (24%) of the share of those who were raised Muslim but have left Islam. Among this group, 55% no longer identify with any religion, according to the 2017 survey. Fewer identify as Christian (22%), and an additional one-in-five (21%) identify with a wide variety of smaller groups, including faiths such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, or as generally “spiritual.”

The same 2017 survey asked converts from Islam to explain, in their own words, their reasons for leaving the faith. A quarter cited issues with religion and faith in general, saying that they dislike organized religion (12%), that they do not believe in God (8%), or that they are just not religious (5%). And roughly one-in-five cited a reason specific to their experience with Islam, such as being raised Muslim but never connecting with the faith (9%) or disagreeing with the teachings (7%) of Islam. Similar shares listed reasons related to a preference for other religions or philosophies (16%) and personal growth experiences (14%), such as becoming more educated or maturing.[3]

Majority of the Christians leave Christianity because they find it in conflict with science. Many Muslims leave Islam because they have a problem with it in general. Rationality will win in this century in a three way struggle between Christianity, Islam and atheism.

Are the Muslims ready for a rational and scientific construction of our faith and our understanding of the Quran, the literal word of God?

Reference

  1. https://biologos.org/articles/science-a-major-reason-nones-are-skeptical-of-christianity
  2. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2022/09/13/modeling-the-future-of-religion-in-america/
  3. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2018/01/26/the-share-of-americans-who-leave-islam-is-offset-by-those-who-become-muslim/

Video: Do Science & Religion Conflict?

Zia H Shah
Epigraph:

And to Allah belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth; and Allah has power over all things. In the creation of the heavens and the earth and in the alternation of the night and the day there are indeed Signs for men of understanding; Those who remember Allah while standing, sitting, and lying on their sides, and ponder over the creation of the heavens and the earth: “Our Lord, You have not created this in vain without the truth. (Al Quran 3:189-191)

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While Catholic Universities spend millions on their ‘Religion and Science’ version, the Muslim Times can take them on without any funding, single handedly

At top universities, institutes of Catholic thought focus on science and religion A multi-million dollar grant will support a new three-year plan for creating a national network of independent institutes […]

Science in the Service of the Scriptures

Source: Muslim Sunrise 2015 winter volume Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times Are science and religion at odds with each other? Cary […]

Is Isaac Newton a Part of the Muslim Heritage: His Religious Views?

Alexander Pope‘s couplet: “Nature and nature’s laws lay hid in Night. God said, ‘Let Newton be!’ and all was light!” Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of […]

Video About Historical Adam: Is it a Landmine for the Christian Dogma?

Epigraph: What is the matter with you? Why will you not fear God’s majesty, when He has created you stage by stage? Have you ever wondered how God created seven […]

Pope Francis declares evolution and Big Bang theory are real and God is not ‘a magician with a magic wand’

Francis goes against Benedict XVI’s apparent support for ‘intelligent design’ – but does hail his predecessor’s ‘great contribution to theology’ By Adam Withnall, @adamwithnall for Independent October 2014 The theories […]

Did Mother Mary Bodily Go to Heaven At the End of Her Earthly Life?

Pope Francis offers Mass in Gyumri, Armenia June 25, 2016. Credit: Vatican Media/CNA. Aug. 15, 2020 Courtney Mares Catholic News Agency VATICAN CITY — On the Solemnity of the Assumption […]

Deserted churches and fewer believers: Swiss abandon God

Promoted post: Video: How Jesus Became God, by Prof. Bart Ehrman? Source: Swiss Info The non-religious proportion of the population is steadily growing in Switzerland, as in most Western countries. […]

This Day in History, on Feb 17, Giordano Bruno Burnt Alive, at the Stake in Rome

To Know more how you can benefit from the Muslim Times, go to our Homepage or About Us page. Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times Giordano Bruno […]

Allah created the universe or the multiverse through mathematics  بِالْحَقِّ

Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, as a chapter of upcoming book: The Quran and the Biological Evolution Galileo Galilei famously said, “Mathematics is the language in which […]

Noah’s Ark Theme Park, The Quran or the Bible?

Epigraph: And as to the people of Noah when they rejected the Messengers, We drowned them, and We made them a Sign for mankind. And We have prepared a painful […]

The Five Authors to read in Order to Comprehend the Bible and the Quran in Light of the Scientific Revolution

Epigraph: We will show them Our Signs in the universe and also among their own selves, until it becomes manifest to them that the Quran is the Truth. (Al Quran […]

Why Religion Is Not Going Away and Science Will Not Destroy It

Source: Aeon Social scientists predicted that belief in the supernatural would drift away as modern science advanced. They were wrong. By Peter Harrison, who is an Australian Laureate Fellow and […]

Saint Augustine did build a bridge from Christian tradition to Islam!

Epigraph “We think that since God is the author both of his Word the Bible and of this universe, there must ultimately be harmony between correct interpretation of the biblical […]

If the Atheists and the Christians Debate, Islam Wins!

Epigraph: And you (Muhammad) shall assuredly find those who say, ‘We are Christians,’ to be the nearest of them in love to the believers. That is because amongst them are […]

Video: Fool Proof Presentation for Common Ancestry of Humans and Chimpanzees

Zia H Shah
Epigraph

What is the matter with you? Why will you not fear God’s majesty, when He has created you stage by stage? Have you ever wondered how God created seven heavens, one above the other, placed the moon as a light in them and the sun as a lamp, how God made you spring forth from the earth like a plant, how He will return you into it and then bring you out again, and how He has spread the Earth out for you to walk along its spacious paths?” (Al Quran 71:13-20)

Presented by Zia H Shah MD

According to a Pew Research Center poll, among the Muslims in Southern and Eastern Europe, a majority of Muslims in Albania (62%) and Russia (58%) believe in evolution. In Tajikistan and Turkey, the predominant view is that humans have remained in their present form since the beginning of time, 55% and 49%, respectively.

At least six-in-ten Muslims in Lebanon (78%), the Palestinian territories (67%) and Morocco (63%) think humans and other living things have evolved over time, but Jordanian and Tunisian Muslims are more divided on the issue. About half in Jordan (52%) believe in evolution, while 47% say humans have always existed in their present form. And in Tunisia, 45% say humans have evolved, 36% say they have always existed in their present form, and 19% are unsure. Iraq is the only country surveyed in the Middle East-North Africa region where a majority rejects the theory of evolution (67%).

It is hoped that those Muslims who do not believe in evolution will have a change of heart after watching the above video.

Are Trinitarian Christian Scientists Promoting God of Judaism, Islam and Unitarian Christianity?

Zia H Shah
Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times

The most well known scientist in the West from the era of renaissance is none other than Isaac Newton. Many do not know that he was a Unitarian and opposed the dogma of Trinity.

Encyclopedia Britannica says about Newton and Trinity:

Newton found time now to explore other interests, such as religion and theology. In the early 1690s he had sent Locke a copy of a manuscript attempting to prove that Trinitarian passages in the Bible were latter-day corruptions of the original text. When Locke made moves to publish it, Newton withdrew in fear that his anti-Trinitarian views would become known. Reference.

Generally, I am for pluralism and talking about common goals and objectives, but, once in a while I want to highlight the differences if those are of some high academic or other value.

My trigger for this article was an Islamophobic comment by a well known atheist scientist Richard Dawkins, who came out swinging for Christianity and against Islam, despite his clear and loud proclamations for atheism:

The scientists that I have particularly in mind today are those who are member of the Intelligent Design Movement (ID).

I became one of the early members of an online discussion group for ID around 2000. After I quoted a Quranic verse in line with the theme of discussion, I was silenced that it was in bad taste because of some other fairly benign comment in the same paragraph. I understood, I was not welcome there with my Muslim faith in the Quran.

I have, nevertheless, periodically followed their activity and kept pace with their work. I believe their work is good theology in as far as they present a Creator for our universe and ourselves. Unlike their concepts I believe that their work is good metaphysics, but not good science. Their work is in line of the following verses of the Quran:

He is Allah, the Creator, the Maker, the Fashioner. His are the most beautiful names. All that is in the heavens and the earth glorifies Him, and He is the Mighty, the Wise. (Al Quran 59:24)

We shall show them Our signs in every region of the earth and in themselves, until it becomes clear to them that this Quran is the Truth. Is it not enough that your Lord witnesses everything? (Al Quran 41:53)

But, when they go beyond metaphysics and comment on science they go wrong. The Encyclopædia Britannica explains that ID cannot be empirically tested and that it fails to solve the problem of evil; thus, it is neither sound science nor sound theology.[1] I have written a detailed article on the same theme as expounded by Encyclopædia Britannica: Why Intelligent Design Movement is Not only Bad Science, But Also Bad Theology. The Quranic verse that they violate is:

Such is Allah, your Lord. There is no God but He, the Creator of all things, so worship Him. And He is Guardian over everything. Eyes cannot reach Him but He reaches the human consciousness. And He is the Incomprehensible, the All-Aware. (Al Quran 6:102-103)

In their ambition for their political and other agenda they forget that human eyes cannot reach God in a scientific or any other paradigm, unless He chooses to reveal Himself to the prophets and the saints through different veils.

ID has an institute called Discovery Institute. Their online store has a dozen or more books on sale that are very helpful for understanding the metaphysics of God the Creator of Judaism, Islam and Unitarian Christianity, once we understand the limitations and misunderstandings that all of them have.

The members of ID sometimes hide their true colors but at others it is completely apparent that they want to promote the Triune God of Christianity as the Intelligent Designer or the Creator. For example, William Dembski is a leading member and in December 2007,  he told Focus on the Family that “The Designer of intelligent design is, ultimately, the Christian God.”[90]

As a final thought every thing good that the Jewish, Muslim, Unitarian Christians and Jehovah Witnesses have written against Trinity becomes a powerful argument for my thesis that any good religious work by the Trinitarians in fact is only for the sake of the One God, Who has no father or any son or daughter.

We also have a fairly large collection of articles about Trinity.

References
  1. Ayala, Francisco Jose (27 May 2021). “evolution – Intelligent design and its critics”. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 22 June 2021.

How could God guide evolution?

Zia H Shah

God’s is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth; He gives life and He causes death; and He has power over all things. He is the First and the Last, and the Manifest and the Hidden, and He knows all things full well. He it is Who created the heavens and the earth in six periods, then He settled Himself on the Throne. He knows what enters the earth and what comes out of it, and what comes down from heaven and what goes up into it. And He is with you wheresoever you may be. And Allah sees all that you do. (Al Quran 57:2-4)

By Zia H Shah MD

We have around 9 million living species on our planet earth and many more extinct are all part of a common ancestry. The atheist believe evolution to be a blind process. But, those theists who are not creationists and believe in guided evolution. They have been hard pressed to pin point when and how God guided evolution.

This has been a challenge and even a trap for the theists. The above video is a suitable answer to this challenge. The ideas mentioned in the above video not only help us understand guided evolution better but also God’s Providence in granting our prayers.

There is quite a diversity of beliefs when it comes to evolution.

evolution2013-1

According to a new Pew Research Center analysis, six-in-ten Americans (60%) say that “humans and other living things have evolved over time,” while a third (33%) reject the idea of evolution, saying that “humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time.” The share of the general public that says that humans have evolved over time is about the same as it was in 2009, when Pew Research last asked the question.

About half of those who express a belief in human evolution take the view that evolution is “due to natural processes such as natural selection” (32% of the American public overall). But many Americans believe that God or a supreme being played a role in the process of evolution. Indeed, roughly a quarter of adults (24%) say that “a supreme being guided the evolution of living things for the purpose of creating humans and other life in the form it exists today.”

These beliefs differ strongly by religious group. White evangelical Protestants are particularly likely to believe that humans have existed in their present form since the beginning of time. Roughly two-thirds (64%) express this view, as do half of black Protestants (50%). By comparison, only 15% of white mainline Protestants share this opinion.

There also are sizable differences by party affiliation in beliefs about evolution, and the gap between Republicans and Democrats has grown. In 2009, 54% of Republicans and 64% of Democrats said humans have evolved over time, a difference of 10 percentage points. Today, 43% of Republicans and 67% of Democrats say humans have evolved, a 24-point gap.

These are some of the key findings from a nationwide Pew Research Center survey conducted March 21-April 8, 2013, with a representative sample of 1,983 adults, ages 18 and older. The survey was conducted on landlines and cellphones in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3.0 percentage points.

evolution2013-2

A majority of white evangelical Protestants (64%) and half of black Protestants (50%) say that humans have existed in their present form since the beginning of time. But in other large religious groups, a minority holds this view. In fact, nearly eight-in-ten white mainline Protestants (78%) say that humans and other living things have evolved over time. Three-quarters of the religiously unaffiliated (76%) and 68% of white non-Hispanic Catholics say the same. About half of Hispanic Catholics (53%) believe that humans have evolved over time, while 31% reject that idea.

evolution2013-3

Those saying that humans have evolved over time also were asked for their views on the processes responsible for evolution. Roughly a quarter of adults (24%) say that “a supreme being guided the evolution of living things for the purpose of creating humans and other life in the form it exists today,” while about a third (32%) say that evolution is “due to natural processes such as natural selection.”

Just as religious groups differ in their views about evolution in general, they also tend to differ in their views on the processes responsible for human evolution. For instance, while fully 78% of white mainline Protestants say that humans and other living things have evolved over time, the group is divided over whether evolution is due to natural processes or whether it was guided by a supreme being (36% each). White non-Hispanic Catholics also are divided equally on the question (33% each). The religiously unaffiliated predominantly hold the view that evolution stems from natural processes (57%), while 13% of this group says evolution was guided by a supreme being. Of the white evangelical Protestants and black Protestants who believe that humans have evolved over time, most believe that a supreme being guided evolution.

The above video and the articles below give us the needed information that guided evolution is not only in keeping with the Quran and the Bible, but, is fully compatible with modern science:

Why Intelligent Design Movement is Not only Bad Science, But Also Bad Theology

Video: The Best Argument for Guided Evolution by Alvin Plantinga

Let Francis Collins Guide You into Guided Evolution

Evolution: Natural Selection or Divine Choice?

How Beauty Is Making Scientists Rethink Evolution

Video: Languages — The Best Proof for Guided Evolution As Opposed to Blind Evolution

The Quranic Challenge to the Atheists: Make a Fly, if You Can

Was Evolution Guided By A Divine Hand? | Science Vs God | Spark

Why Intelligent Design Movement is Not only Bad Science, But Also Bad Theology

Zia H Shah
Epigraph:

لَّا تُدْرِكُهُ الْأَبْصَارُ وَهُوَ يُدْرِكُ الْأَبْصَارَ ۖ وَهُوَ اللَّطِيفُ الْخَبِيرُ 

Eyes cannot reach God but He reaches the human consciousness. And He is the Incomprehensible, the All-Aware. (Al Quran 6:103)

 هُوَ الْأَوَّلُ وَالْآخِرُ وَالظَّاهِرُ وَالْبَاطِنُ ۖ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ

He is the First and the Last, and the Manifest and the Hidden, and He knows all things full well. (Al Quran 57:3)

Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times

Why is Intelligent Design Movement (ID) bad science? I will leave that discussion mostly to the contemporary scientists. They have said enough in defense of modern science. I will start off with introducing ID, its scientific lack of merit and then describe two broad categories of reasons why it is bad theology.

ID is a pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God, presented by its proponents as “an evidence-based scientific theory about life’s origins”.[1][2][3][4][5] Proponents claim that “certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection.”[6] ID is a form of creationism that lacks empirical support and offers no testable or tenable hypotheses, and is therefore not science.[7][8][9] The leading proponents of ID are associated with the Discovery Institute, a Christian, politically conservative think tank based in the United States.[n 1]

If my articles are boring to you, it may be that you need to read more of them, as was suggested by John Cage, an American musician, “If something is boring after two minutes, try it for four. If still boring, then eight. Then sixteen. Then thirty-two. Eventually one discovers that it is not boring at all.”

Although the phrase intelligent design had featured previously in theological discussions of the argument from design,[10] its first publication in its present use as an alternative term for creationism was in Of Pandas and People,[11][12] a 1989 creationist textbook intended for high school biology classes. The term was substituted into drafts of the book, directly replacing references to creation science and creationism, after the 1987 Supreme Court‘s Edwards v. Aguillard decision barred the teaching of creation science in public schools on constitutional grounds.[13] From the mid-1990s, the intelligent design movement (IDM), supported by the Discovery Institute,[14] advocated inclusion of intelligent design in public school biology curricula.[7] This led to the 2005 Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial, which found that intelligent design was not science, that it “cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents”, and that the public school district’s promotion of it therefore violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.[15]

ID presents two main arguments against evolutionary explanations: irreducible complexity and specified complexity, asserting that certain biological and informational features of living things are too complex to be the result of natural selection. Detailed scientific examination has rebutted several examples for which evolutionary explanations are claimed to be impossible.

It is important for me at this stage to introduce two terms methodological naturalism and metaphysical naturalism.

One should consider the latter as equivalent to atheism. So, as a devout Muslim, who believes in transcendent Unitarian God of the Abrahamic faiths, I cannot accept metaphysical naturalism, but I fully believe and endorse methodological naturalism. In fact I often use it not only to deny pseudoscience but also bad theology. It is my main weapon against bad theology.

So what are these terms that distinguish me from ID on the one hand and from the atheist scientists on the other?

In philosophy, naturalism is the idea that only natural laws and forces (as opposed to supernatural ones) operate in the universe.[1] In its primary sense[2] it is also known as ontological naturalism, metaphysical naturalism, pure naturalism, philosophical naturalism and antisupernaturalism. “Ontological” refers to ontology, the philosophical study of what exists. Philosophers often treat naturalism as equivalent to materialism.

For example, philosopher Paul Kurtz argues that nature is best accounted for by reference to material principles. These principles include mass, energy, and other physical and chemical properties accepted by the scientific community. Further, this sense of naturalism holds that spirits, deities, and ghosts are not real and that there is no “purpose” in nature. This stronger formulation of naturalism is commonly referred to as metaphysical naturalism.[3] On the other hand, the more moderate view that naturalism should be assumed in one’s working methods as the current paradigm, without any further consideration of whether naturalism is true in the robust metaphysical sense, is called methodological naturalism.[4]

The term “methodological naturalism” is much more recent, though. According to Ronald Numbers, it was coined in 1983 by Paul de Vries, a Wheaton College philosopher. De Vries distinguished between what he called “methodological naturalism”, a disciplinary method that says nothing about God’s existence, and “metaphysical naturalism”, which “denies the existence of a transcendent God”.[23] The term “methodological naturalism” had been used in 1937 by Edgar S. Brightman in an article in The Philosophical Review as a contrast to “naturalism” in general, but there the idea was not really developed to its more recent distinctions.[24]

ID seeks to challenge the methodological naturalism inherent in modern science,[2][16] though proponents concede that they have yet to produce a scientific theory.[17] As a positive argument against evolution, ID proposes an analogy between natural systems and human artifacts, a version of the theological argument from design for the existence of God.[1][n 2] ID proponents then conclude by analogy that the complex features, as defined by ID, are evidence of design.[18][n 3] Critics of ID find a false dichotomy in the premise that evidence against evolution constitutes evidence for design.[19][20]

 Before we go any further, let me suggest to the open minded readers, to read on and in the words of Sir Francis Bacon, “Read not to contradict … but to weigh and consider.”

Now, moving to the second part of my article as to why ID is bad theology. It is bad theology for they often present God of the gaps. Which means inserting God in gaps of knowledge that are not yet understood by science but over time we begin to have better understanding of these domains. Secondly, they violate a principal tribute of the Unitarian God of the Abrahamic faiths, namely that He is Al Baatin الْبَاطِنُ or the Hidden as documented in the verses quoted as epigraph of this article.

The transcendent God of Abrahamic faiths is beyond time, space and matter and we cannot find his fingerprint or hand in a scientific paradigm.

The mistakes of ID are very evident in the biography of one of its pioneers William Dembski, otherwise a very knowledgeable scholar and his work I can use in Monotheistic metaphysics. Please note my emphasis in metaphysics not in science or physics.

Dembski (born July 18, 1960) is an American mathematician, philosopher and theologian. He was a proponent of intelligent design (ID) pseudoscience,[1] specifically the concept of specified complexity, and was a senior fellow of the Discovery Institute‘s Center for Science and Culture (CSC).[2] On September 23, 2016, he officially retired from intelligent design, resigning all his “formal associations with the ID community, including [his] Discovery Institute fellowship of 20 years.” [3] A February 2021 interview in the CSC’s blog Evolution News announced “his return to the intelligent design arena.” [4]

In 2012, he taught as the Phillip E. Johnson Research Professor of Science and Culture at the Southern Evangelical Seminary in Matthews, North Carolina near Charlotte.[5]

Dembski has written books about intelligent design, including The Design Inference (1998), Intelligent Design: The Bridge Between Science & Theology (1999), The Design Revolution (2004), The End of Christianity (2009), and Intelligent Design Uncensored (2010). The second and revised edition of his first book has appeared in 2023. All his books can be useful for the Abrahamic or the Muslim metaphysics.

Why is he a bad scientist and a bad theologian, while qualifying in my opinion as a very good metaphysician and philosopher?

Dembski objects to the presence of the theory of evolution in a variety of disciplines, presenting intelligent design as an alternative to reductionist materialism that gives a sense of purpose that the unguided evolutionary process lacks[85] and the ultimate significance of ID is its success in undermining materialism and naturalism.[32] Dembski has also stated that ID has little chance as a serious scientific theory as long as methodological naturalism is the basis for science.[86] Although intelligent design proponents (including Dembski) have made little apparent effort to publish peer-reviewed scientific research to support their hypotheses, in recent years they have made vigorous efforts to promote the teaching of intelligent design in schools.[87] Dembski is a strong supporter of this drive as a means of making young people more receptive to intelligent design, and said he wants “to see intelligent design flourish as a scientific research program” among a “new generation of scholars” willing to consider the theory and textbooks that include it.[88]

In December 2007, Dembski told Focus on the Family that “The Designer of intelligent design is, ultimately, the Christian God.”[90]

So, if he is going to be an apologist for the Triune God of Christianity then every thing I have written against the dogma of Christianity, resurrection, vicarious atonement is a demonstration of his bad theology. Nevertheless, I am an apologist for God of Judaism, Unitarian Christianity and Islam and for Afterlife. I present my arguments as theology, philosophy or metaphysics and never as science and in that domain I would borrow from his scholarship.

I am a firm believer in a quote attributed to the 16th century Christian martyr Michael Servetus:

Dembski is also presenting bad theology because he probably considers miracles as violation of the natural law and I do not. He believes that he can catch the fingerprint or hand of God in the workings of our universe, while I believe in the Most Subtle and the Hidden الْبَاطِنُ God of the Quran, whom eyes cannot reach. But, He chooses to reach human consciousness, when He wills, through veils.

Dembski also knows bad religion or bad theology when he sees it. He once took his family to a meeting conducted by Todd Bentley, a faith healer, in hopes of receiving a “miraculous healing” for his son, who is autistic.[100][101] In an article for the Baptist Press he recalled disappointment with the nature of the meeting and with the prevention of his son and other attendees from joining those in wheelchairs who were selected to receive prayer. He then concluded, “Minimal time was given to healing, though plenty was devoted to assaulting our senses with blaring insipid music and even to Bentley promoting and selling his own products (books and CDs).” He wrote that he did not regret the trip and called it an “education,” which showed “how easily religion can be abused, in this case to exploit our family.”[101]

Shall we say that he has not woken up to the limitations of some of the dogma of Christianity? Let me, very respectfully, suggest additional reading materials:

Video About Historical Adam: Is it a Landmine for the Christian Dogma?

Video: William Lane Craig in Quest of the Historical Adam and My Muslim Perspective

Charles Darwin: An Epiphany for the Muslims, A Catastrophe for the Christians

If the Atheists and the Christians Debate, Islam Wins!

BBC Documentary: Did Jesus Die On the Cross?

If Francis Collins And Christopher Hitchens Can be Friends — So Can Monotheists of All Shades

Zia H Shah
Epigraph

God may still bring about affection between you and your present enemies – God is all powerful, God is most forgiving and merciful.

He does not forbid you to deal kindly and justly with anyone who has not fought you for your faith or driven you out of your homes: God loves the just.

But God forbids you to take as allies those who have fought against you for your faith, driven you out of your homes, and helped others to drive you out: any of you who take them as allies will truly be wrongdoers.  (Al Quran 60:7-9)

Francis Collins talks about Christopher Hitchens towards the end of his above Templeton Award speech.

Below a brief CV of both and let the 21 minute speech do the talking to overcome hatred among Monotheists of different shades among the Abrahamic faiths and the perpetual sectarian prejudice bordering on hatred among the Muslims of different sects.

Francis Sellers Collins (born April 14, 1950) is an American physician-scientist who discovered the genes associated with a number of diseases and led the Human Genome Project. He served as director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, from 17 August 2009 to 19 December 2021, serving under three presidents.[1][2]

Before being appointed director of the NIH, Collins led the Human Genome Project and other genomics research initiatives as director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), one of the 27 institutes and centers at NIH. Before joining NHGRI, he earned a reputation as a gene hunter at the University of Michigan.[3] He has been elected to the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, and has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Medal of Science.

Collins also has written books on science, medicine, and religion, including the New York Times bestseller, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief. After leaving the directorship of NHGRI and before becoming director of the NIH, he founded and served as president of The BioLogos Foundation, which promotes discourse on the relationship between science and religion and advocates the perspective that belief in Christianity can be reconciled with acceptance of evolution and science, especially through the idea that the Creator brought about his plan through the processes of evolution.[4] In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Collins to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.[5]

Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British author, journalist and educator.[2][3] Author of 18 books on faith, culture, politics and literature, he was born and educated in Britain, graduating in the 1970s from Oxford with a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. In the early 1980s, he emigrated to the United States and wrote for The Nation and Vanity Fair. Known as “one of the ‘four horsemen'” (along with Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Daniel Dennett) of New Atheism, he gained prominence as a columnist and speaker. His epistemological razor, which states that “what can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence”, is still of mark in philosophy and law.[4][5]

Let Francis Collins Guide You into Guided Evolution

Zia H Shah
Epigraph

What is the matter with you? Why will you not fear God’s majesty, when He has created you stage by stage? Have you ever wondered how God created seven heavens, one above the other, placed the moon as a light in them and the sun as a lamp, how God made you spring forth from the earth like a plant, how He will return you into it and then bring you out again, and how He has spread the Earth out for you to walk along its spacious paths?” (Al Quran 71:13-20)

Collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times

One good way of understanding Monotheism in an era when most scientists and mathematicians are atheists is to listen to all the Templeton Prize winners and review their main work.

Francis Sellers Collins (born April 14, 1950) is an American physician-scientist who discovered the genes associated with a number of diseases and led the Human Genome Project. He served as director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, from 17 August 2009 to 19 December 2021, serving under three presidents.[1][2]

For the sake of pluralism and truth seeking, we, the Muslims can fully enjoy the science and religion correlation presented by pluralistic Christian scientists and philosophers, by a simple realization: We believe in a Unitarian God of Judaism, Unitarian Christianity and Islam, who defined simply is God the Father in the Trinitarian Christian tradition.

Francis Collins book, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief, is one of the best books to present guided evolution, rather than a godless metaphysics, given the realities of biological evolution. The brief review of the book in Amazon:

An instant bestseller from Templeton Prize–winning author Francis S. Collins, The Language of God provides the best argument for the integration of faith and logic since C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity.

It has long been believed that science and faith cannot mingle. Faith rejects the rational, while science restricts us to a life with no meaning beyond the physical. It is an irreconcilable war between two polar-opposite ways of thinking and living. Written for believers, agnostics, and atheists alike, The Language of God provides a testament to the power of faith in the midst of suffering without faltering from its logical stride. Readers will be inspired by Collin’s personal story of struggling with doubt, as well as the many revelations of the wonder of God’s creation that will forever shape the way they view the world around them.

Additional reading for guided evolution

Video: The Best Argument for Guided Evolution by Alvin Plantinga

Time: Is God the Creator Atemporal or in Time, and Guided Evolution

Video: William Lane Craig in Quest of the Historical Adam and My Muslim Perspective

Video: If God, What’s Evolution? | Closer To Truth

The Quranic Challenge to the Atheists: Make a Fly, if You Can

Video: Some Scientists Denying Darwin, Truth or Not, God of the Gaps?

Surah Al Baqara (The Cow): Section 4: Adam and Eve

Meeting the Quranic Adam with Charles Darwin

The Single Quranic Verse that Can Convince You about Evolution

Biology of Our Human Family: Who are We Related To?

Was Evolution Guided By A Divine Hand? | Science Vs God | Spark