In 10 years, Darwinism will
be history: Turkish Muslim scholar
By Lalit K Jha
Istanbul,
Dec 10 (IANS) A controversial Turkish Islamic scholar has
created ripples in the scientific world by challenging Darwin's
theory of evolution and claiming there are nearly 100 million
fossils to prove that the world came into being as a result
of God's creation.
"In
10 years' time, Darwinism will be history and people will
only read about Darwinism as a piece of history," Adnan
Oktar, who writes under the name pen name of Harun Yahya,
told IANS in an interview.
In
"Atlas of Creation", the latest book authored by
him, Oktar claims to scientifically challenge Darwin's theory,
which says all forms of life are related and have descended
from a common ancestor.
Spread
over 800 glossy pages and weighing 5.4 kg, tens of thousands
of copies of this book have been sent to schools, colleges,
academic institutions the world over, the US and Europe in
particular.
The
book is now being translated into several Indian languages,
including Hindi and Urdu, for massive distribution in India
in the coming months.
"Darwinism
experiences a solid collapse all over the world," says
Oktar, who has been widely interviewed after the publication
of his latest book in the past few months, including BBC and
Al Jazeera. He has been published extensively in the Islamic
world and major European dailies. The Italian newspaper, La
Stampa, in a recent article used the heading "Fair-well
Darwin", while French daily Le Point said "Save
Darwin".
Oktar
and his group of around 30 scholars claim they have offered
supporters of Darwin's theory 100 million fossils which can
prove that this world came into being as a result of God's
creation and not because of evolution.
"Darwin
wrote in his books that people have to find transitional forms
to prove the theory of evolution, but nobody has been able
to find a single transitional form. Darwinists claim that
the first cell came into being as a coincidence. But it is
impossible for even a single protein to be formed by chance.
"We
have proved that the skulls that were displayed as evidence
of evolution are fake. Darwinism cannot explain how we can
see or hear or sense with the support of our brain,"
Oktar claims.
In
September, Oktar challenged the scientific community, offering
10 million Turkish lira to anyone who produces a single intermediate
fossil demonstrating evolution.
His
theory has been rejected by the scientific community. Scholars
in the US and Europe say the arguments used by Oktar to undermine
evolution are not logical. Eminent evolution biologist Kevin
Padian has said Oktar has no understanding of the basic evidence
for evolution.
However,
Oktar and his Scientific Research Foundation (SRF) claim his
theory is gaining ground. "When you look at the impact
of 'Atlas Of Creation', for example, as far as Turkey is concerned,
90 percent of the Turkish population no longer believes in
Darwinism and that rate is 80 percent in Europe," he
said.
"With
the publication of 'Atlas Of Creation', there has been a huge
revolution all around the world," he claims. "In
Turkey, for example, it will be very difficult for you to
find a professor who advocates Darwinism," he said.
But
people in Turkey and Europe say that is because they fear
him and his supporters.
Oktar
is known to have been instrumental in Turkish courts banning
several popular websites in Turkey including that of a leading
daily, Vatan, which are critical of him. Early this year,
Google Groups too were ordered to be blocked by a Turkish
court at his appeal.
"I
support freedom of speech, not freedom of insult. In the case
of an insult, courts will certainly intervene and do what
is necessary. There cannot be freedom of insult in the world,"
he says in defense.
Indo-Asian
News Service
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