Controversial Islamic scholar and popular public speaker Dr Zakir Naik will speak in the Maldives on May 25-31 at the the invitation of the Ministry for Islamic Affairs, an event the ministry claims will be “the biggest event ever held in the Maldives.”
Permanent Secretary for the Islamic Ministry Mohamed Didi said the ministry expects over 10,000 people to attend Dr Naik’s talk in Male’. Additional talks will be given by Dr Naik’s son, Fariq Zakir Naik, and a third by Dr Naik’s wife, Farhath Zakir Naik, targeted at a female audience.
While Dr Naik is visiting at the invitation and expense of the Islamic Ministry, Didi explained that “the expenditure should be less than we expect – ministry is calculating the costs. We are getting a lot of help from outside sources.”
“We are hoping to get sponsorship from a businessman or a resort,” he said, “and we expect we will only have to pay the airfares. It will have a limited impact on our budget.”
The ministry has authorised TVM and Voice of Maldives to broadcast Dr Naik’s appearance, which will include an hour-long question-and-answer session.
Dr Naik’s talk would not be translated into Dhivehi, Didi noted, apart from “perhaps the Q&A.”
“With an Arabic-speaking scholar we have to translate into Dhivehi, but because Dr Naik will be speaking in English he can speak directly,” Didi said, noting that “in the Maldives 99 percent of people can understand English, even if they cannot always communicate in it.”
The ministry intended to invite many more English-speaking scholars to speak in the country, he said.
Based in India, Dr Naik conducts lectures all over the world, claiming on his website to “clarify Islamic viewpoints and clear misconceptions about Islam using the Qur’an, authentic Hadith and other religious scriptures.”
Dr Naik is also the founder and president of Islamic satellite television network Peace TV, which broadcasts from Mumbai to 150 countries around the world in English and Urdu. The Indian Express newspaper places him 82nd in its 2009 list of the top 100 ‘Most Powerful Indians’, and third in the ‘Top 10 Spiritual Gurus of India’ behind Baba Ramdev and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
He is well known for vigorous question-and-answer segments during his live appearances, often with members of other faiths, and frequently references passages from the bible and other texts to substantiate his views on Islam, some of which have proven controversial.
In one particular appearance Dr Naik announced “every Muslim should be a terrorist”, claiming that if Osama bin Laden was “terrorising America, the biggest terrorist, then I’m with him.”
He has also been criticised for his comment that the September 11 attack on the World Trade Centre was “an inside job”, and his observations that being an air hostess is not a respectable profession for women.
The Islamic Ministry has previously said that one way of addressing the issue of religious fundamentalism in the Maldives is by inviting moderate scholars to preach in the country.
Whether Dr Naik’s views could be described as moderate “depends”, Didi explained.
“He compares religious documents such as the bible and the Holy Qur’an, that is why I describe him as moderate. He uses a lot of logic and references. For us he is good, and can give the logic on Islam.”
The Ministry for Islamic Affairs noted that while many of Dr Naik’s talks involve discussions on comparative religion, as the Maldives is a 100% Islamic country “we are giving the topics to him. We’re still waiting for confirmation – one of the topics will most likely be misconceptions of Islam,” Didi explained.
“I think we will tell him about the situation in our country and guide him as to our traditions,” Didi said.
Inviting foreign scholars with potentially differing views to speak in the country did not risk breaching the country’s religious unity act through advocating a different version of Islam than that prescribed by the Islamic Ministry, Didi said. “If he speaks on Islam, there is no difference of opinion. We’ll see.”
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Since we started talking about Dr. Naik coming to the Maldives, I have looked him up and to me it looks like he is not the most qualified person to talk about religion. Dr. Naik is a medical doctor (University of Mumbai)and no where in the multitude of biographies written about him is a mention of any kind of religious education. All that is there to justify his status is the numerous talks, TV shows, conferences etc that he has given. However, in my mind this does not establish his credibility as a religious scholar because it seems that all he has done is exploit his gift of public speaking to become rich and famous. I am a little worried that nobody in the media or the general public have raised this issue when we are billing his talk as the biggest event ever to be held in the Maldives.
One of the thing he said that i would have no qualms believing, 9/11 was a inside job. The cost of Zionism of course.
Somewhat off the topic, but it was interesting to see the Saudi Prince who visited today shake hands with the female Minister of Health. I wait with bated breath to see if there will be some pronouncement by our local scholars that he is not a Muslim or that he will end up in hell.
Worst show on earth : Dr. Zakir Naik VS. Richard Dawkins. Layperson Vs Virtuoso. Audience would not understand Dawkins.
Masha Allah! This is the moment we have been waiting for. We wanted him preach, propagate & speak to us on our soil. He is the number one muslim scholar in the world at this moment.
The author of this article has obviously tried to mislead the viewers about the credibility of Dr. Zakir Naik by quoting some of his statements out of the context. He claimed that if Usama is fighting for the cause of Islam, and against the biggest terrorist the USA, then he had no problem getting label of a terrorist.
911 was definitely an inside job. Its not me or Dr. Zakir Naik's claim. It has been claimed by those people who are investigating it. visit www.911truth.org
“Miadhu News” says on their article of April 6, 2010:
“World renowned Islamic Scholar Zakir Naik is scheduled to visit to Maldives, upon an invitation from the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. The scholar has confirmed to visit the Maldives from 28 to 30 April 2010.”
Minivan News says he will be in Maldives from May 25-31.
So when is Dr Naik comming to Male’? Is this a mistake on the part of Minivan News?
Miadhu. They have corrected it to May 25-31. But thank you for your observation.
I think the biggest event "ever" (really...) was Saff Championship hosted in 2008. I know this extremist founder of peace tv will not be the biggest event ever in the Maldives. Seriously!
“We are hoping to get sponsorship from a businessman or a resort.”
I don't know how many of us are snickering and chuckling over this.
“We are hoping to get sponsorship from a businessman or a resort,”
ARE you sure? the same resorts who sell alcohol to infidels. i sincerely hope Naik will not be indulging in a resort on his short stay in this holly land.
Im not surprized when Islamic ministry says it will be the biggest event, because that is exactly why Naik is coming. He loves the fame and the celeb status. I disagree with Indian newspapers who selected Naik as the 3rd Spiritual leader, because if anything he is not spiritual. He is what he is, debates, pleasing crowds, donation calls, too much logic and holier than thou with full of scriteral references.
He has bi-hearted the scriptures YES and he is teaching young kids to follow him from the way the hands are held while speaking infront of a crowd to references to old scriptures but nothing else...
NOW, i certainly can not stop state funds being spent on these talks, but i think i have the right to ask questions about it:
What is that we trying to achieve from the talk? misconceptions regarding islam? or a new understanding of it?
i don't have a problem with inviting religious celebrities, but it has to be balanced. Who is talking about science? the only way we know the world and the only thing that contributes to human progress! where is the ministry for it and the invitations to great scientists of the day. to correct the misconceptions about global warming or our place in the universe?
zakir naiz is a terrorist sympathizer and not a Islamic scholar he studied MBBS and did nt attend a Islamic scholar so how come he can be Islamic scholar
I would be much more interested to hear someone like Maldives' very own Prof. Abdulla Saeed speak on Islam. He is a person who can lay claim to a stellar religious education and much experience in teaching and research in Arabic and Islam and Arab/Muslim culture in different countries as well as in interacting with Islamic scholars worldwide, and living as a Muslim in both Muslim and non-Muslim society. With such people in our Fiqh Academy, why is it that we only hear the voices of the likes of Sheikh Fareed and Dr. Zakir Naik?
He was invited to a debate on the Net with Dr Ali Sina who offered US$50,000.00 if Dr Naik wins. Dr Naik declined saying that he prefers face to face debate. Everyone knows that the largest audience will be on the Internet, not on a stage somewhere in India or in some other country . Wonder why Dr Naik refused to debate on the Internet. This is a good question to ask him when he is in Male. By the way, Ali Sina is an apostate who had many debates with prominent Muslim scholars on the Internet and none was able to defeat him.
All u ignorant troglodytes who are flaming about the scholar; how many qualifications did the sa'haab had? weren't they what the same Zionists call desert crawling barbarians? Who are you people to judge the knowldge that allah might grant someone? are you telling me you are above god? knowing it all just coz you can read, hear or see? and all those people who call extremist... can u define extremist? are they who grow beard and shorten the trousers? or tell women to cover themselves (im not talking about those who abuse women! they are not muslims!)? so in fact your calling people who follow the sunna of prophet (PBUH) also extremist and a terrorist? GOD has said that those who defy him and defy his messengers are his enemies, and whoever is his enemy is your enemy too.
I think the best thing to do for those that doubt Dr.Zakir Naik is to question him during his Question and Answers session while he is in Maldives. Then test his knowledge in Islam if you like. Ask him about anything from the Quran and let him answer your question and quote you verses supporting his answers and also giving you the full detailed reference of each of the verse. He has memorized the Quran and its translation by heart just as he has memorized all the other religious scriptures because without knowing the facts, no one should really go around preaching. Hence unlike many that gives negative comments about Islam while having no knowledge about it.
Allah (swt) gifts people in different ways. Yes he could have gone working as a Doctor and made a good living, yet he decided to dedicate his life to the path of Allah, converting many to Muslims all over the world. Wonder how many people any of us have converted with our words? So whose words are better and gets more rewards?
Islam is always ready for questions from critics. So we welcome critics to ask any question they like to Dr.Zakir Naik. Ofcourse try to keep the question as simple and direct as possible so that he can give you the answer for the exact question your asking for.
I think being able to question the speaker is a great thing since we are not even able to question our Ministers in this way after a speech. During maumoon days, anyone who has a question against Maumoon would have been put to prison. Yet this Dr.Zakir Naik welcomes questions be it negative or positive as long as he is given a chance to also reply.
Interesting observation from one of the commentators in this thread!
"He is the number one muslim scholar in the world at this moment."
Really?
Zakir Naik has been disowned be some Jama'aat in his own home country as a non-scholar and non-authority on religion.
He has a fatwa on his head for his comments that All Muslims must be terrorists.
Is this is the kind of guy the Ministy of Islamic Affairs wants to promote to our people?
Is our own Ministry promoting terrorism to the people?
zakir naik and debate. he is a one man show who use his child whom he brain washed. I wonder where are all the child rights NGOs when his child will be forced to preach Islam in Maldives beyond his age requirements or free will for such an activity.
Zakir Naik? who is he? "yawn" going back to sleep........someone wake me up when this BIG event is over OK?
http://www.ilovezakirnaik.com/photos/page3.htm
OW he even have fanclubs..woo how cute is that..
THis guy Naik is exploiting Islam for his own wealth and fortune playing into the innocent minds of gullible muslims. He is a fake! Why does not Islamic Ministry bring a real scholar? The BIGGEST event in Maldives? Give me a break!!!.. even Maakana show would be better!!!
It seems that some of the critics in the comments are tenacious to find any flaws of Dr.Zakir Naik but sadly they couldn't find any.
Even one of the comments says "he studied MBBS and didnt attend a Islamic scholar so how come he can be Islamic scholar".
It does not need to be a criteria to have a degree in Theology in every case to practice preaching,debating and to research about religion. A good example is Bill Gates who is a famous dropout of Harvard. However, later he was awarded a honorary degree from Harvard for his excellence in IT and Business.
Dr.Zakir Naik's work has been highly appreciated by various scholars and even acknowledged by various Universities and he has also attended to enormous number of lecturers in Universities including Australia and Canada. He has been the pre-eminent scholar in this decade for his intellect and specially in the most difficult areas of studies - inter-faith debating. All this witness that he is qualified for the Job. I strongly advocate the viewpoint of Muad MZ. If any of you doubt about Zakir Naik you people need to attend to his lecture and challenge with him in the question time.
If Akon can come to maldives, so can Zakir Naik.
yu think its an accident?
capice?
Lets give both boilers equal chance to roll-steam
Agree with Hassan-Raha...These guys are going trying to stop all our works, and kill us by these extremist's attacks in this small community or in hunger... The worst thing is our coconut chewing Maldivians listen and believe this islamic ministry guys... we have to find another way to stop these kind of extreme activities here in Maldives,...Anyway,may be he is a good guy but, government have to stop him to come to Maldives, because everybody in this earth know Usama Bin Laden is Terrorist he even warn to the world that he is going to do such kind if terror things, so Mr Naik is in same category as if you read the article you will find it.heheh... We DON'T NEED NO MORE RELIGIOUS SCHOLARS WE HAVE ENOUGH OF THOSE CRYING. you all know what you will believe...ciao
instead of barraging Dr. Zakir with flaws, like Muad MZ has said, why don'y you all attend the lecture and question him? and then we'll see who's more qualified to talk on religious issues.
Zakir Naik says, to attain salvation we should grow beard and waer a cap....u decide whether this is extreamism or not! I always suspect Adhaalath Party of spreading extreamism in the Maldives...and i am sceptical about the whole thing!
What's use of this waste money ?? are we having enough money to do such a event ?? HEY ALL BRING SOME GOOD DOCTORS FIRST, TO KEEP OUR HEALTH SYSTEM GOOD, SECOND BRING OUR LIVING STANDARD AS HUMAN LEVEL.. All the ministry and president and everyone should reconsider what's good for this country and our people.
"After being challenged by many Muslims to debate with him, several requests sent by Muslims and non Muslims to Zakir Naik's website were ignored. Ali Sina then wrote to Zakir Naik himself but in reply, the administration of his website wrote back saying that Zakir was busy and did not have time to debate. Ali said that it was clear from his correspondence that Dr. Naik is evading the discussion since he is not responding to the debate request. Zakir later agreed to have a live debate with Sina, stating that on-line debates took too much time and rarely presented a clear winner. Sina, however, refused to do a live debate, stating it is "time consuming, expensive and what can you say in just two hours?"
I felt very sad after watching the video of Zakir Naik praising Yazid Ibn Muaviya. In a response to the tragedy of Karbala, he concludes Karbala to be a mere political war and addresses Yazid as “Yazid [May Allah be pleased with him].” I got the news earlier but waited to see the video myself before arriving at any conclusion. I was a fan of Mr Naik but after this episode I really wonder whether he has any clue about the history of Islam and why Karbala happened.
I doubt Dr. Naik knows or cares about what he is saying.
If he is a true Sunni Muslim as he claims he wont praise Yazid this way. All in all we know that this evil man “YAZID” him self have killed all the ahlu baiths including Sayyidna Hussain and Hassan Raliyallah anh
see the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXyJvBhqg4o
It would be interesting to listen to Dr. Zakir in Maldives, but we should all listen with a critical mind!
I do respect him, but unfortunately he seems to be purposely ignoring history, especially ancient Greek scientists/doctors/mathematics etc.
Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWeWltHkqNs
Zakir naik is not an Islamic scholar. The man is an imposter. The only time I saw him on tv he was talking about sexual intercourse. Is that what Islamic scholars talk about? May Allah expose imposter like zakar Nike
Why would any one feel so insecure about Zakir Naik's visit.
Come out and challenge Zakir Naik in a public debate, if u dare!
I would love to challenge him during his Q&A session since I have watched many of his sessions on TV and know that he lacks knowledge (or purposely denies it?) on evolution - even starts telling lies if he is confronted with something he cannot answer.
I have noticed this when he was quoting authors and book titles (non-religious), assuming that the audience will have never read these books, and started telling lies about the content or aim of the book!
At last, he will mention one more author who doesn't exist, plus he will quote "a letter written by X" in 1806 (or whatever) where X said to Y that he actually doesn't believe in it and bla bla bla.
Very unprofessional!
Undoubtedly, he is incredibly well-read as far as religious scriptures are concerned (whether being a scholar, or not! - he is answerable and I appreciate this), but I doubt on his qualities of a medical doctor who denies DNA research? Hello?
Really can't stand spreading lies and misleading the (uneducated?) public. 'Uneducated' in the sense that not everyone can be an expert in everything (not to be mistaken for 'dumb').
Assuming he is NOT purposely spreading lies, he would be talking about topics he doesn't really understand (e.g. saying that "humans descend from monkeys" is vastly different from "humans have a common ancestor with the great apes"!!!)
To get back to the beginning of my post: I would love to challenge him live on TV, but I fear too much that I would be later discriminated in this country where everyone-knows-everyone and where there is no freedom of religion.
Educated people know that we now have evidence for evolution and can even observe it within our life-span (in living forms with a high reproductive turnover rate), but talking about it live on TV would probably still get us into jail?!
hameed: the reason we dont want him here is because the man is a fraud. what's the point debating with an ignorant non-scholar like Zakir Nike?
This character is quite suspicious. Everything he does seems to be modelled on American Protestant ministers and evangelists who often perform for a mass audience.
A lot of his acts utilize a sort of smoke-and-mirrors theatricality that seems to be aimed at duping the public rather than disseminating information.
He also seems to display a rather unhealthy love of public attention and affection. The Islamic Ministry should not, in my opinion, be relegating religion to the entertainment sphere. Or if they intend to do so, this event should be billed as one. Informative discussions should be conducted by educated academics but then again a dry discussion of the merits and strengths of Islam would only bore the public.
Dr. Zakir Naik and his peaceTV seems to be creating a conservative consensus among the less-informed in our society. Whether this is a danger to Maldivian tolerance needs to be discussed at the policy level.
:yaamyn on Fri, 16th Apr 2010 2:54 PM "He has a fatwa on his head for his comments that All Muslims must be terrorists".
Based on most of the comments I dont think many people have seen Zakir Naik's speechs. One example is that he has said "every muslim should be a terrorist". But this is taken out of context. People who dont understand play around with words to say what they want. What he actually said was that every muslim should be a terrorist for the criminals. That is he should be a terrorist for the robbers, the rapist and other such criminas in the society.
Salim Waheed seems to be absent from this debate.
good start... ministry is doing something. besides no one needs to be qualified person from a university to call for the religion. its just basic.
"if you even a single verse, let the people be informed about it" allah as ordered the mankind to do so. so he is doing the best thing he could do.
It is correct what Hussain said above, Zakir's words "every Muslim should be a terrorist" was taken out of context. In his speech he said that he doesn't know Osama's intentions, but if Osama fights against terrorism (America), then he would be "with him". He meant that every Muslim should be a terrorist if fighting against terrorism.
Nevertheless, I do not defend him because I don't believe that we should combat terrorism with terrorism.
The problem is that if Zakir runs out of arguments (f.e. if he tries to deny scientific fact), he starts pulling out his set of lies which he can be sure that 99.9% of the audience won't even notice (partly because they would never check the literature he quotes, and because the audience has been brainwashed just like he does in his speeches). Here is an example: listen when it comes to quoting books that he claims scientists have written against evolution: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhYxUBoFMyA
In addition, despite his academic background as a medical doctor, he claims to know the word "theory" too well. In fact, he underestimates its use, power & high ranking in science and tries to fool the audience as can be watched in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrvErbuFais
We know that so-called scholars fool the audience a lot, but I find it sad that HE does, HE who has such a profound (well, I guess!) knowledge of various religious scriptures. In religious matters I wouldn't mind consulting him, but that's it.
Proper religious scholars who try to promote their religion honestly will not make themselves ridiculous by lying & denying scientific evidence over their scriptures. Despite acknowledging the advance in science in the last 150 years, they still worship their belief in harmony. It is possible.
Wish Zakir also brought his grand parents to preach the our elderly folk.
The fashionable western coat and tie seems to blend well with the cap (Hajju Thaakihaa) when it comes to Dr.Zakir (MBBS)
@ Marina
Nothing against you, but, because I enjoy the debates on evolution ...
"Educated people know that we now have evidence for evolution and can even observe it within our life-span (in living forms with a high reproductive turnover rate)..."
Are you talking about genetic changes such as the development of bacterial resistance to antibiotics? Don't forget that evolutionists have EXTRAPOLATED on such changes to apparently PROVE evolution. Such an extrapolation does not convince everyone.
And please do not say 'educated people know ...' because it is also educated people who so fiercely oppose Darwinian evolution.
Ernst Mayr was probably the first evolutionary biologist who openly said that evolution is a fact. But, just because someone or some people believe it is a fact, that does not make it a convincing argument for some others.
Yes, for more than 150 years, evolution is 'marketed' in scientific and academic communities the way Charles Darwin proposed the theory.
It is very easy for non-concerned people to believe in whatever the scientists say on evolution. What does it matter any way to believe birds evolved from dinosaurs? But, if someone really is interested in the subject and do a bit of a research, it is so counter intuitive to believe only NATURAL FORCES, (without any help from God) can actually bring about the complexity and diversity of biological life we see on Earth.
How can random mutations and natural selection lead to human beings? According to Darwinists, this is how human beings evolved. But it does not convince everyone -- including many highly educated people.
So if Dr Naik does not believe in it, it is no surprise to me.
"Proper religious scholars who try to promote their religion honestly will not make themselves ridiculous by lying & denying scientific evidence over their scriptures."
In my humble opinion ...
There is no dishonesty in denying evolution.
There is no lying.
There is no denying scientific evidence.
It is simply that this argument for evolution that convinces you does not convince him. And this is completely understandable to me because there is no FANTASTIC evidence that proves Darwinian evolution is a fact.
Dear Robin,
Thanks for your comment.
I agree with you that it is really hard for us to imagine that natural selection was able to produce modern humans and all other life past and present, without the help of any super-natural power. It is especially hard to believe that since we have been indoctrinated since our young ages that it is a false theory and that Charles Darwin was an a--hole.
But let’s assume this super-natural power is there, which designed a human out of clay/sand/mud or whatever, took a rib and designed its companion (they know pretty much about stem cell research at that time, wow!). Let’s just ignore that dinosaurs were missing on Noah’s ark, let’s ignore that we have indeed found missing links that we have dreamed of 150 years ago or so. Let’s assume the theory of natural selection is all nonsense!
If we say evolution is nonsense, then we would also have to assume that the Designer is a quite deceptive one. Nothing against the Designer, but... just to take one out of thousands of examples:
The Chimpanzee genome was decoded in 2005. Comparing the human genome with the one of the great apes (gorillas, oran gutans, chimpanzees), we will notice that we are missing 1 pair of chromosomes compared to them (they got total 48, we got 46). We could now say – wow, the Designer has given us one fewer pair to distinguish ourselves from the great apes! We’ve got nothing to do with them!
On the other hand, let’s consider that we could have a common ancestor with the great apes and that we would have evolved through natural selection. If it was so, we would have to find the missing chromosome in our own genome - somewhere. That it just got lost is unlikely because the loss of a whole primate chromosome would be lethal. So, if Darwin was right, besides the overwhelming similarity in great ape and human base pairs, we would have to find the missing ape chromosome, and guess what – it was located in Human Chromosome No. 2!
The exact place where a fusion of TWO primate chromosomes to ONE human chr. took place has been discovered and located (published by Hillier et al. 2004 in Nature).
But back to the “God made us and Darwin was wrong” concept: We now have to explain this observation, along with thousands of other examples, as following: “That’s the way God made it! No reason, no rules. God made Chromosome 2 to make it look AS IF it was formed by the fusion of two chromosomes of a primate ancestor!!”. Period.
If you are satisfied with this explanation, I don’t have anything else to say.
A book that gives numerous more examples like this underlining the evidence of evolution is “The Greatest Show on Earth” by R. Dawkins.
I guess this book won’t be for sale in Maldives where books are found that justify child marriages in the name of religion.
Don’t misunderstand me, I am not against a (peaceful!) almighty God – I am fine with the idea that a Designer has made the kick-off start of the endless universe (or whatever), but claiming that life on earth has NOT resulted through the "non-random survival of randomly varying replicators" and teaching children nonsense is a shame on the school curriculum - despite having proof that it is happening before our eyes! (I’m tired of writing other examples, but just look f.e. into island evolution and how species are forming naturally on islands after being separated from the original land mass).
Is that why we have so few Maldivian young people who make their career in science, because they were denied the right to understand the concept of evolution?
I apologize, the above mentioned paper was published in 2005 (iso 2004). Hillier et al (2005) Generation and annotation of the DNA sequences of human chromosomes 2 and 4. Nature Vol. 434, p. 724 - 731.
Thanks Marina.
This is interesting.
“they know pretty much about stem cell research at that time, wow!”
You are marvelling at something we humans achieved during the past few decades. Remember that God is SUPERNATURAL. Do you really think God will have no knowledge of stem cells then? And Eve may or may not have been created from stem cells but God does not have to create Eve from stem cells. We just do not know HOW God created Eve. Why would we think we know everything God knows?
I am not an evolutionary biologist so my knowledge on evolution may be pretty basic.
But, why do we have to have 48 chromosomes? Just because the TOE (Theory of Evolution) says we are extant genera of the great apes, we MUST have 48 chromosomes? And if we think we MUST have 48 chromosomes, it is no surprise that we found the missing chromosome on chromosome 2. I would suggest them to look for another one too. There may be another fusion somewhere else. But suppose they found it, will they publish it on ‘Nature’? No, it will be ruled out as an artefact long before the article reaches any publisher.
This is just like the homology they show in the limbs of animals. They say the bat’s limb and the human limb are similar because we have a common origin. But this to me is circular reasoning. First we say it will be similar IF we have a common origin. Then we see that it IS similar. And then we say look, it is similar SO we are of a common origin. Is this really proof of common origin?
I have not read ‘The greatest show on earth.’ But I have read ‘The God Delusion’ and realised that Dawkins has an agenda. Not that it is a secret agenda at all. His ONLY purpose is to spread atheism. So I will not get swayed by what Dawkins write.
It may be my indoctrination as you said that makes it so difficult for me to believe Darwin’s Theory. But think of this:
The TOE says it is all natural forces that lead to evolution of the human eye. Considering the complexity and fineness of the eye, it is so hard to believe this. Darwin himself acknowledged this. The octopus’ eye is quite similar to the human eye except for its ‘wiring.’ The octopus has no direct evolutionary link to humans. Yet, both organisms have similar eyes. Do you think random mutations and natural selection lead to the eye twice?
Such examples make me believe “that life on earth has NOT resulted through the “non-random survival of randomly varying replicators.””
"I’m tired of writing other examples, but just look f.e. into island evolution and how species are forming naturally on islands after being separated from the original land mass”
My apologies, but, can you really say there is no guidance in all this?
“Is that why we have so few Maldivian young people who make their career in science, because they were denied the right to understand the concept of evolution?”
If you studied in Maldives, you will know that no one is denied the right to understand the concept of evolution. They teach Darwin’s Theory in Maldives in the same why they teach it in England. I believed in evolution when I studied it in school. But after I got the opportunity to examine the TOE in a bit more detail, I found the theory unconvincing. At a superficial level, it may be convincing and this is what Dawkins is playing into. But once you know the details of complexity of living organisms, then it is not.
Dear Robin,
I will not comment on the stem cells since that was rather meant in an ironic way...
However, you suggested to go deeper into chromosome research among primates - well, that has been done; human and chimpanzee genome are both decoded - we are sharing about 95% of our genome with each other.
You mentioned homology (in contrast to analogy) - it shows the similarity between limbs of close related species, even not visible from the outside - as you mentioned e.g in mammals (human, bat, whale - homology) in contrast to limbs which have evolved due to a certain PURPOSE, not because of relationship to each other (e.g. methods for the purpose of flying: a bird's wing in contrast to a bat's forearm - looks similar but invented twice in a different way - that's analogy).
In fact, a dolphin has been found with an extra pair of fins at the back of its body, relating to its terrestrial ancestors (mammals are known to have moved from land into the sea) which needed hind limbs - but a modern dolphin certainly does not need it.
If the supernatural god has designed animals, then why does he make a few with hind limbs?
Fossil remains show dolphins and whales were four-footed land animals about 50 million years ago and share the same common ancestor as hippos and deer. Scientists believe they later transitioned to an aquatic lifestyle and their hind limbs disappeared.
The complexity of the human eye is indeed overwhelming, especially if you look at the evolution of eye in general (from a simple photoreceptive layer, to a pigment cup, to an optic cup in the Nautilus, to an eye with a primitive lens (as in Murex shells) up to a quite complex eye like the one in the octopus as you mention, with a refractive lens. We find these steps in evolution, and evolution had enough time, enough generations, millions of years to take place to shape the human eye. However, the human eye is interesting because if you’d as a designer to make the perfect light sensitive organ, he would point the photocells towards the light, with their wires leading backwards to the brain.
He would laugh at any suggestion that the photocells might point away, from the light, with their wires departing on the side nearest the light. Yet this is exactly what happens in all vertebrate retinas. Each photocell is, in effect, wired in backwards, with its wire sticking out on the side nearest the light. The wire has to travel over the surface of the retina to a point where it dives through a hole in the retina (the so-called “blind spot”) to join the optic nerve.
This convinces me (maybe not you, but me), that, given the millennia of time, the human eye has indeed evolved, not been designed.
Since we talked about the octopus: it’s brain is growing around its esophagus, leaving only a small hole to swallow prey. Clever design or evolved from a single to a more complex and bigger brain?
It is not clever to design a brain around an esophagus! What convinces me is that, again given the millions of year to evolve, the brain became bigger and had no other chance than to grow around the esophagus. That resulted in the octopus biting its prey, dissolving its food in order to suck it in in as a liquid (coz everything else would get stuck because of the big brain).
Regarding the education system – I know that Maldivian students would have to learn about evolution, but that’s just because they participate in the British exams. On the other hand I know what my son tells me he learns in school (not in science class, but from his Islam teacher) is just shocking – both unreasonable, anti-science and anti-Christian (I am not a Christian but I do not think that any religious group should be hostile against another).
To your question if I REALLY think there is no guidance in all this – oh yes, the guidance is nature itself. The best is that science ADMITS that there’s a lot they can’t explain yet, and try to establish hypothesis to test them, until they reach a theory or law. Understandable, proof-read, documented, falsifiable, repeatable!
In my point of view: Evolution IS God’s plan ! 😉
Dear Marina,
This post has become too old and so I thought I will not comment.
"In my point of view: Evolution IS God’s plan !"
This is a cop out from the purely atheist position of evolution. It does not make sense because of the major role randomness plays in evolution.
i ask ahmed moomin that what qualification you have to comments on such a great scholor?
hello adam i think you don't know how many debates has been conducted between dr.zakir and other religions personalities?
please searce brother
mohamed niyaz yousuf
before putting forward comments on world renowened personality like dr.zakir you should have to read quran and authentic sayings of mohammed pbuh
do that first man
ali
i think you and your companion have no dare to meet dr.zakir in the word field at the stage.
why are you hide behind the screen man?
Asalamvalikum
There r people who want to D grade Dr. Naik but this will never happen in this universe. Many times the media have taken wrong perception of his good speech particularly the non muslims who are against him if one doesnt want to follow what he preach or want to listen what he says well and good but pls dont cross the matters to make things worst
As far as in general he has been and will be a biggest orator in this world with good fact sloving questions on ISLAM - what he mean to say about Terrorism word or explain is from a differnt point of view but has been mislead by few not all of the public so the game to play with this great personality is and will be a dream - INSHALLA these people will not be successful.
Inshalla