Most Read in the Category of Creation

Satan is from the jinn. As it is known, humans and jinn were created by Allah (SWT) for being tested. In the first test, Satan failed. He demanded a term of respite from Allah (SWT). As a requirement of His Wisdom, Almighty Allah granted him a term of respite until Doomsday.

Since Satan did not prostrate Hz. Adam, he was dismissed from divine mercy and upon his demand and as a result of Divine wisdom; he was given the authority to disturb and deviate humans until Doomsday.
There are hundreds of reasons and wisdoms why this authority was given. The two most important reasons are as follows: Without the scruples of Satan, Allah may test humans and give the duty of him to the nafs (evil commanding soul). However, by doing so, that is, by accepting the indecent wish of Satan to deviate humans from the right way until Doomsday, Allah increased the torment Satan will experience in hell billion times more. According to the hadith, “the cause is like the doer”, sins of mankind which are performed as a result of following the scruples of Satan, will be recorded for Satan himself and this will cause the increase of his punishment.

Another wisdom is that humans are being tested with their nafs and believers who pass this test will have a higher status than angels. If human nafs had no evil commanding quality and Satan did not disturb humans, then humans would not progress spiritually and their levels would remain static like angels.

With the help of Satan’s attacks, people’s degrees will be revealed and believers and unbelievers will be found out. As Satan does not attack angels, there will never be a denier amongst them; nevertheless, as they are not tested, there will never be different degrees amongst them. Their positions are fixed. On the other hand, there are always rises and falls in the world of humankind. While some of them rise to the highest position, some of them fall to the lowest. Allah the Almighty willed – so to say - “colorfulness” in humankind. If Satan did not exist, human beings would be like angels and there would not be any difference of degrees between them. However, while some people give in to demons with the delusions of Satan, some people do not listen to them and advance in degree. Eventually, decent people such as prophets, apostles, saints and scholars have come out.

Satan only gives delusions to humans and leads them to evil; however, he does not force them. If he had such a power, then man would not have to be responsible for what he did.

Question 1: What is the difference between test-tube baby and human cloning?

Answer:

Under normal circumstances, for the formation of a baby, the ovule in the womb of the mother must unite with the sperm of father and form the zygote. The zygote which is unicellular develops in the mother’s womb and becomes a baby by the permission of God.

Test Tube Baby

If the ovule and the sperm cannot form the zygote after uniting under normal circumstances, then the method of test tube baby is applied. In order to achieve this, the ovule which is taken from the mother’s womb and the sperm from the father are united in a tube that has the same warmth and nutrition conditions of the womb. In this tube, the sperm and ovule unite and form the unicellular zygote. After a short time, this zygote is put inside the mother’s womb where the ovule is taken from and by the normal development of this zygote, a baby forms after 9 months.

So, test tube baby is the way of uniting sperm cells and ovules in a place other than the womb and let the zygote be formed there and putting it in the womb again in order to ensure the normal zygote development.

Here, the role of man is eliminating negative conditions and uniting the sperm and ovule and then putting it into the womb. The creation of the sperm and ovule and the formation of the zygote, the development and differentiation of it, the formation of organs and tissues, the coming of the spirit into the body are all beyond the will and control of man; they are the work of God’s knowledge, will and power.

Cloning and Copying

The event of cloning can also be defined as copying. The event of cloning is a bit different than the test tube baby. It was first tried with a sheep.

As it is known, for living things, including plants, animals and humans, the number of chromosomes of the sperm and ovules reduce by half in a certain period. Thus, when the ovule and sperm unite, the total chromosomes of them become the chromosome of a normal cell.

Chromosomes contain genes, namely DNAs, which are the basis of the genetic structure. In humans, the normal cell has 46 chromosomes, on the other hand, the ovule and sperm cells have 23 chromosomes. The number of the chromosomes of a zygote which is formed by the unification of the ovule and the sperm is 46. These zygote cells are at first divided into two, and then to four and so on by multiplying and differentiating; they form tissues and organs. However in every division, the chromosomes are divided too; and their pairs are formed and the number of the chromosomes remains stable in every cell. That is, the number of the chromosomes in all cells except the sperms and ovules, which are the reproduction cells in human beings, is 46.

The number of chromosomes in the normal cells of the sheep is 54, in the sperm and ovule cells, it is 27. In cloning, the 27-celled ovule cell in the womb of the sheep is removed.

The 27-chromosomed nucleus of this ovule cell is replaced by the nucleus of the 54-chromosomed normal cell of the sheep. From then on, this ovule cell has 57 chromosomes before uniting with the sperm. This 57-chromosome cell that is called a zygote is placed in the womb of the sheep again; and it is left for the normal development. Since the ovule cell has the ability of being divided, it develops and differentiates as if it has been fertilized by a sperm; then, it yields the lamb in the normal time.

The role of the researcher here is to remove the nucleus of the ovule and replace it with the nucleus of a normal body cell and then to place this cell again in the womb of the sheep. The creation of the ovule cell and the normal cells, the development and differentiation of the zygote, the formation of the organs and tissues, the arrival of the spirit in the body of the sheep are not under the control of man; they are the work of Allah’s knowledge, will and power

Question 2. Some people say if cloning is possible, the spirit is not in question. They say Dolly, the first cloned sheep, did the same acts as the sheep it was cloned from. Is it true?

Answer

The spirit of every living being is different and peculiar to that being. Identical twins act in the same way regarding some issues; does it prove that they have the same spirit? It is nonsense. Can it have anything to do with science and logical thinking?

Question 3. Are the memory of man, his personality, and character recorded in his DNA? Can man reach immortality by cloning himself?

Answer

All of the characteristics of man are recorded in his DNA but they can be activated only through the existence of the spirit. There is an independent spirit for every individual.

The immortality of man is impossible due to two reasons. The first one: The fact that the material structure of a person is the same as with another person does not make those two individuals the same because every living being has a different spirit. The creation of the spirit is independent; so, every spirit has characteristics peculiar to it. For instance, when a clever person is cloned it is possible that a mentally retarded person will come into being.

Question 4: Have any human beings been cloned so far?

Answer:

It is forbidden to clone human beings. Even if there is a work like that, it will be kept secret.

Question 5: Is it possible to clone fully the people who died in the past?

Answer:

The method of cloning has been explained above. It is necessary to remove the ovule cell from the mother’s womb because the other cells have no ability to divide, reproduce and to produce organs and cells.
Besides, there has to be a normal body cell because its nucleus has to be removed and placed in the ovule cell. The answer to the question needs to be thought under those circumstances.

Prof. Dr. Âdem Tatlı

Answer 1:

a. The perfection of something does not guarantee that it will exist forever. Man is a perfect being but he is doomed to die. Man sometimes dies a few seconds after he is born. One individual of a human being is like a species of the other living things in terms of its complex structure and the perfect values it has. The beings in the universe witness the existence of Allah by existing; similarly, when they die, they witness the continuation and the eternity of the existence of Allah, who kills them, by dying.

Nobody can claim that the existence of the extinction of species is less perfect than the existence of the available species. Do sane people have to believe in Darwin's nonsense of natural selection?

Every being has properties peculiar to them in terms of perfection. You cannot compare the neck of a camel to the tail of an elephant. Being long is perfect for the former and being short is perfect for the latter.

It is ridiculous to use the thin waist of an ant even for a puppet. However, it is perfect for ants.  

b. Even if we accept that this statement, "It is accepted in the world of science that wisdom teeth of man are a fault"  is true, it cannot be sufficient evidence to decide that they are really purposeless. 

For, we are familiar with a world of science that says white for something and that says black for the same thing after a while so many times. The world of science that regarded human breast milk as poison for the baby has admitted that it is a unique antidote now. 

- The world of science, which regarded the small bag of tissue called appendix as an unnecessary part a few years ago, has had to accept that it is as necessary as tonsils now.

- By the way, it is necessary not to forget the fraudulent scientists who slander science in order to confirm the thesis that man came from apes by combining one part of a woman's skull and one part of a chimpanzee's skull.

- It is wrong to look for the same perfection in every part of the universe. As the rule, "everything is known through its opposite" denotes, divine wisdom wants to show the beauty of some things by showing ugly things along with them. This ugly being also gains beauty indirectly. For instance, the darkness of night shows the moonlight nicer. Therefore, nights with moonlight are mentioned in the books of poets a lot. People have seen this fact; therefore, they sometimes place an ugly log, a rock or a few stones in a beautiful park in order to increase the beauty and perfection of its view. 

- Is it possible for the unique divine power and perfect wisdom, which gives man small teeth when he is small and removes them when he grows up and needs to eat big morsels and gives him bigger appropriate teeth instead, to create the wisdom teeth in vain or is it possible for those teeth to appear without His permission?

It is important that He teaches us through wisdom teeth (age 20 teeth), which appear at a certain period. What if there were age 20-21-….40 teeth? That is, everything is the reflection of the pre-destination of a power that operates based on endless knowledge and wisdom. "Allah is enough; the others are the desires of the soul."

Answer 2:

All names of Allah are beautiful. The manifestations of those names are also beautiful. Besides, one of the names of Allah is al-Jamil (the Beautiful). It is one of the names of Allah meaning beautiful. It is synonymous with Husn. Allah created all of the beauties. He is the most beautiful of the beautiful. Allah, who makes things and people beautiful, is beautiful and beauties are an attribute of his Jamal (beauty). He is free from faults; His beauty does not resemble creatures. The amazing beauty of each name of Asma al-Husna (the Beautiful Names) becomes manifest even in the smallest phenomena. It is Jamil dhul-Jalal (Allah, the Beautiful and Lord of Majesty) who creates the works of arts, miracles and wonderful and extraordinary events that affect man.

He created life and man in the most beautiful way.

"He Who has made everything which He has created most Good. He began the creation of man with (nothing more than) clay."(as-Sajda, 32/7)

However, Satan, who rebelled against his Lord and who will make man deviate up to the Day of Judgment, brings about all ugly deeds. Things are beautiful either by themselves or through their effects. Things have good aspects and bad aspects. Allah orders us not to follow the footsteps of Satan, and eat and drink good things. (al-Baqara, 2/168-172). Satan and his friends change and spoil the beauties that Allah created; they render haram (forbidden) what is halal (legitimate). Therefore, the bad things are for the bad people and the good things are for the good people. The good will gain rewards and the bad and the ugly will obtain sins. If it were not for the grace, bounties and mercy of Allah, people would never be purified. (an-Nur, 24/21) After swearing by the night and the day, Allah gives the glad tiding that He will prepare the one who "... (in all sincerity) testifies to the Best " to the easiest thing.(al-Layl, 92/1-7)

Answer 3:

“Everything about Qadar (Divine Determining) is good and beautiful. Even the evil that comes from it is good, and the ugliness is beautiful.”(Sözler (Words))

First of all, man should examine his own body and think of each organ individually. Then, he should ask himself: The place, shape, size and duty of which one has not been determined in the best way? Then, he should move to his world of spirit and think in the same way: Is memory unnecessary or imagination? Is love extra or fear? 
The body forms a whole with all of its organs and only in that case does it become useful; similarly, the spirit forms a whole with all of its feelings, emotions and faculties; only then does it become effective. If you remove the mind and memory from man's spirit, he will not be able fulfill any of its functions. If you remove the feeling of anxiety, he will be lazy; he will not work for this world or for the hereafter. If you remove fear, he will not be able to protect his life. If he does not have the feeling of love, he will not find pleasure in anything.   

“All of Allah’s names are beautiful; similarly, all of their manifestations are beautiful.”

In Risale-i Nur collection, beauty is examined in two parts: “beautiful itself” and “beautiful in terms of its effects”. We can give some examples for this classification: Day is beautiful itself; night has a different beauty peculiar to itself. One of them denotes wakefulness and the other denotes sleep. Is it not clear that we need both of them?

On the other hand, fruit is beautiful itself but medication is beautiful in terms of its effect. Similarly, health is beautiful itself but illness is beautiful in terms of its effect. Eating is beautiful itself but going on a diet is beautiful in terms of its effect. The rose is beautiful itself but the manure is beautiful in terms of its effect. 

The incidents man faces are like night or day. Health is like day and illness is like night. If it is considered that illnesses are atonement for sins, that they teach man that he is weak and that they make man's heart break off its ties with the world and turn to his Lord, it will be seen that illness is a great bounty like health. Health is a festival for the body and illness is food for the heart.   

“Day and night” are only one link of the chain of the manifestations of the names “jalal and jamal” (beauty and majesty), which are active in the universe all the time. There are many more links like the positive and negative poles of electricity, the black and white part of the eye, the red and white cells of blood, etc. We are surrounded by these dual things in our inner and outer world; we obtain different benefits from them.   

One of the verses of the Quran regarding the issue is as follows:

“…But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you...” (al-Baqara, 2/216)

The verse is related to jihad but its decree is general. Another dual thing is shown to us in this verse: war and peace. Peace is like day; everybody likes it; war is like night. However, if people do not fight when it is necessary, their future will be dark and their next generations will be lost in darkness. Those who are martyred in jihad are elevated to the rank of sainthood; the worldly life that they lose is like night compared to their new rank.

Can there be a misfortune worse than death? The verse tells us that there may be many good things behind an incident that man's soul does not like. Thus, it consoles us for the misfortunes, illnesses and disasters of the world.   

The following is stated in a sacred hadith: “My mercy surpasses My wrath.” This hadith is interpreted as follows: “There are so many merciful signs of Allah behind every misfortune that they surpass the pains and agonies caused by that misfortune.”

When compared to eternity, man's lifespan is not even like a moment. We should not worry about the illnesses, misfortunes and problems that strike us in this short life if they are beneficial for our eternal life. Seventy or eighty years is like nothing compared to eternal life. All of the ephemeral misfortunes and troubles of this world are like nothing compared to the endless bliss. 

However, man's soul demands current pleasures; it does not wait for the future. The future belongs to the mind and the heart. As we have just mentioned, not all misfortunes are troublesome. The incidents that our souls do not like and that darken our ephemeral world are either divine warnings that prevent us from going to wrong directions or atonements for our sins that make us suffer in this world without leaving any punishment to the eternal realm. Or, they are means of making man's heart turn to Allah and to the hereafter from the ephemeral world life.

On the other hand, misfortunes are a test of patience for man; the reward for this test is great.

Man had been created from soil. This is clearly stated in the following verses; “He created him from dust,” (Surah Aal-e-Imran, 3/59) “We created you out of dust.” (Surah al-Hajj,22/5) “And Allah did create you from dust.” (Surah Fatir,35/11)

According to this, our raw material is soil; so to speak,  all of us are “sons of the soil.”

The fact that man was created out of soil does not mean that he is a piece of soil. Allah filtered the soil, blew life into it and decorated it with feelings.

There are many reasons why man was created out of soil; there are also lessons to be taken from it. We will mention some of them below:

- Though soil is darker and denser than water, air and light, it is superior to the other elements in terms of all aspects. That man, who was created out of soil, has a position superior to all creatures points to this fact. "The moment that a servant is closest to his Lord is when he is in prostration."(Munawi, Faydu'l-Qadîr, 2/68) The hadith points to this issue. It shows man the way of being real man.

- Though the soil seems to be under our feet, it is the source of our life and existence. What it raises are in the hearts and they are shown respect. The soil is always modest. From this point of view, it advises man to be modest, humble and charitable.

- The soil receives beauty, mercy, life, color and decoration from Allah. The soil is a veil of Allah’s unlimited mercy; nothing that enters it remains at large. From this point of view, it can be said that the soil gives the following good news to a person that dies and is buried in the soil:
A different form of all of the visible material jewels and decorations, the weaving looms of beauty, mercy and life are under and behind the veil of the soil.   

We always like and want to go under the soil, to take refuge in the soil, which is a protective mother of us, to watch the genuine, permanent and spiritual flowers.

Death is not non-existence. It is the gate to a better realm. A seed that is under the ground seemingly dies, decays and disappears. In fact, it passes on to a better life on the ground. From the seed life, it is promoted to the tree life.

Similarly, a man who dies seemingly goes under the ground and decays. In fact, he has a better life in the realm of barzakh and grave. 

- The earth is the heart of the universe and the soil is the heart of the earth. The most appropriate place for the reflection of the lordship, teaching and ruling of Allah, the application and activities of Allah’s power, the center of vicegerency and the manifestations of the names of Allah, who is always living and who controls everything, is the soil. For instance, in the mirror of the air, a weak light of the sun is seen. The sun’s light is visible in the mirror of water but its colors are not seen there.  However, the mirror of the soil shows all of the colors in the sunlight through the colors of the flowers. 

Then, it is necessary not to be afraid of the soil and being transformed into soil, the grave and lying in the grave.(see Nursi, Mesnevi, Şule)

- Man has the properties of the soil since he was created out of soil. The soil sometimes dries, becomes scorched and desperately needs water. It shows patience with the troubles of the winter for a season. It resurrects thanks to the productive spring rains. It shows the embroideries of the divine power through thousands of beauty, colors, scents and harmony. 

Man has a destiny similar to man. He is shaken like the sand storms in the desert in the eddy of the worldly desires. He destroys himself under the hegemony of his soul. He becomes perfect only if he overcomes the barrier of his soul. He becomes an altruist by attaining the manifestations of abundance and mercy as the soil springs to life through spring rains. Thus, he gives away the bounties that come to him in the beauty and abundance of spring for the sake of Allah like productive soils in the form of good deeds, charities and abundance.

- The ephemeral body of man is fed through the soil since it was created out of soil and it disappears in the soil. That is, it turns to its origin. All of the elements in the soil are present in the body of man in certain proportions. The body of man is also a different appearance of the soil.  As a matter of fact, according to a narration, Adam (pbuh) was named Adam because he was created out of the soil.  (see Ibn Sa’d, Tabaqat, I, 26)

- People have different colors because the soil, out of which man was created, has various colors like red, black and white. The soil has hard and soft parts; similarly, people have different abilities.

To sum up, it is very nice to always listen to the following verse and lead a life accordingly: “From the (earth) did We create you, and into it shall We return you, and from it shall We bring you out once again!”(Taha, 55)

May our Lord make us one of the slaves that could return to Him as cleanly and as purely as He created us from the soil that is clean and has the property of cleaning.

Author: Adem Tatlı (Prof.Dr.)

Your question has already includes the answer; “God does not create any futile things.” However, we might not know the purpose of the creation of that thing.

When we look at our environment, nothing remains stable; there is a constant change. Spring comes; then it leaves its place to summer and after that, autumn and winter follow. Of course, one of the many wisdoms of it is that God shows His actions and possession in the universe to humans and reminds humans of them. God changes the garment of a tree which is peculiar to winter with the new one when spring comes. By doing so, man is asked to know the power of God (Qudrah) behind this event.

Man’s attention is drawn with these changes in every season and he is demanded to look at the changes in his body. Growing of nails must be one these signs. What we say here concerning the growing of nails may be only some reasons that God wished to aim because, while the reasons for creating a thing which is known by us is one, the number of the reasons known by God is one thousand.

One thing that comes to our mind concerning the growing of nails is that man is left to feel the change in his/her body and he/she is reminded that his/her organs are renewing constantly and he/she is constantly under control by a creator who has infinite power.
The elements that constitute a nail may generate nail like forms in the heart, eyes or stomach or even in blood vessels. We should contemplate and thank God that He did not create nails in blood vessels or let them grow backwardly, that is to say, toward the inside of our foot instead of outward direction.
If the human body were under the control of coincidences as it is claimed by atheist evolutionists, then, everything would be in chaos; nails might be inside of mouth or teeth might be in the place of nails. For this reason, it is not enough no matter how much we thank and praise God. The best and the most common praising of this kind is salah.

So, God wants us to see the changes in our body and to realize that all of the actions that take place there are for the continuation of our lives and He really loves us and covers us with His infinite compassion.

Allah has appointed a definite life for every human being. It is so definite that even the number of breathings of every human is determined. In the Qur’an, it is stated that the determined duration of life is neither delayed nor hastened:

No people can hasten on their doom nor can they postpone (it) (Al Hijr, 5).

It is impossible to escape from death:

Wheresoever you may be, death will overtake you even if you are in fortresses built up strong and high! (An-Nisa, 78).

Thus, lessening or increasing the duration of life is out of question. The length of this duration is unknown for us.

However, in a hadith, it is mentioned that sadaqa lengthens life. Here the lengthening of life is interpreted as gaining much more thawab (reward) for the hereafter within the same life duration. Thus, it is emphasized, in the Qur’an that, the night of power (Qadrr) enables a person to gain more thawab than a total of one thousand months. (See Surah al-Qadr)

It will be understood by scientific works whether the WRN gene is the sole reason for aging and constant renewing of it can stop aging or not.

Allah has connected everything to a cause. If aging is connected to the WRN gene and changing it is possible then aging can be delayed or to a certain extent or completely be stopped.

However, the issue is not related with the aging of the cell only. The number of some cells is decreasing. As it is known, every cell has a certain duration of life and this is generally two years. After a certain age, the number of some cells decreases and the dead cells cannot be replaced.

Especially the decrease in the bone cells is expressed as bone loss. Bone loss generates a set of deformities in the organism and this causes pain and sufferings.

On the other hand, aging does not mean crumpling of cells by losing water.
During old age, the most important thing is weakness, which is caused by memory loss and some kind of illnesses. In the Qur’an, attention is drawn to the fact that the people who are granted long life will be reversed in nature, that is, they will fail to understand some events or things. (Ya Seen, 68).

The reason of uncertainty caused by such and similar researches about creation and creator is because of not knowing the subject of Qadar (fate).

For example, suppose that it has been proved that the WRN gene stops aging. In such a condition, the usual evaluation is as follows:

Allah has determined a fate according to the usual aging of cells. However, a new condition has come out as a result of investigation hence interference in cells. This new condition did not exist in Qadar (fate). Now how can we explain this?     
Here the mistaken point is that man looks at the actions of God in the universe from the point of himself, that is, comparing God’s knowledge with his knowledge. There is no past and future for God. Including Hell and Paradise, everything in the past and future exist in His knowledge at once and in His sight.

Allah has already determined the lives and lifetimes of humans if the gene of aging is to be found and measures are taken.

Nothing is outside of His knowledge, will and Qudrah (power).

Prof. Dr. Adem Tatlı

The creation of the world took place based on the divine wisdom. The wisdom shows the chain of reasons among the steps of man; therefore, it enables us to read those reasons and understand the creation of man. Today scientists can make a scientific estimation about the age of the universe thanks to the door left ajar by the wisdom. The fact that the universe was created in 6 days, that is, in 6 periods, is one of the doors left ajar by divine wisdom. The Quran and the other heavenly revelations pointed out those 6 periods; so, man was able to find out that they were 2 astronomical and 4 geological periods.  

The reason why the universe was created in a way that man can understand is to teach man the existence and oneness of Allah, which is the fundamental aim of the heavenly books. Today science says that the universe was created later, which shows that the divine wisdom within the framework of the law of evolvement carried out in the creation of the universe has reached its target. The phases in the creation of man express that wisdom, too. 

The divine wisdom, which deemed it suitable to create the universe within the framework of the law of evolvement, also deemed it suitable to create man, which is the last fruit of the universe, to create last because the sultans come later. Man, who is the vicegerent on earth, the apple of the universe, the only being that is addressed by the divine revelation, the greatest sign of the book of the universe, a kind of index of the all beings, the being that was created in the best mold and placed on the peak, was created last due to the necessity of the principle of gradualism and evolvement.   

Man is a living being like the other living beings. He needs an environment that has the necessary conditions for life like the other living beings. We learn from the statements in the Quran that the last properties of the universe that were made active were the atmosphere, oxygen and similar conditions for life. Then, the fact that man was created after the formation of the conditions of life is a necessity of the wisdom. Otherwise, it would be impossible for man to live.  

The arrangement of the universe in a way to fit man after the formation of the conditions for life is another indication of the value that Allah gives to man. 

First plants, then trees, and then other living beings were created; eventually, man was created. That is, when Allah, who is the most Merciful and Compassionate, wanted to place man in the womb in the form of a fetus, He equipped the womb with the necessary conditions of life; similarly, when He wanted to place man on earth, He equipped the earth with the necessary conditions of life. Therefore, He created the sun, moon, stars, land, air, sea, plants, trees, gardens, orchards, bread, fish, apples, etc.   

Due to the wisdoms mentioned above and similar ones, man became the last guest of the universe and the last inhabitant on earth because sultans come after everybody.

Prof. Dr. Âdem TATLI
Dumlupınar University, Faculty of Science and Letters, Kütahya (E).
[email protected]

All scientific studies show that every living being species was created directly with their own genetic potentials, abilities and characteristics.

It is claimed by the view of evolution that all living beings evolved over time with the differentiation of a single cell. As evidence for this claim, it was suggested that transitional forms between species would be found. However, for almost 150 years, no example has been put forward to confirm that claim.

Organisms that are assumed to have completed the missing links of the evolutionary chain and that resemble the organism preceding it in terms of some characteristics and the organism succeeding it in terms  some characteristics are called “intermediate form” or “transitional form”.

If all living beings had originated from a single cell as it is claimed, they would have found a lot oforganisms with intermediate forms in the form of fossils.

Let us review living beings in terms of transitional fossil form.

Transition from Protozoa to Invertebrate Metazoa

The first living beings on earth were seen in the Precambrian era about 1.5 billion years ago. They were unicellular algae from Protozoa. This group of living beings is still present in the form and structure in which it first appeared on earth. In the Cambrian era, which came after thePrecambrian era, living beings did not display a gradual transition from unicellular to multicellular, as evolutionists claim. The multicellular organisms seen in this period had no similarity to one another and did not show any similarity to their predecessors.

The sudden emergence of multicellular organisms is called “the Cambrian explosion”. Among those living beings are invertebrate with highly complex structure likesponges, corals, Trilobites, Brachiopods, Mollusks, Echinoids and Arthropods.[1]

Guttman states in his biology book he published in 1999 that there was no relation or connection between unicellular microorganisms in the Precambrian era and these highly complex invertebrates in the Cambrian era.[2]

On the other hand, researchers such as Axelrod, George and Kay indicate that Cambrian invertebrates suddenly appeared on Earth at the end of the Precambrian period without a transition form^,.[3],[4]

Richard Monestarsky states that complex life suddenly appeared on earth as follows:

“The remarkably complex forms of animals we see today suddenly appeared. These arrivals coincided with the beginning of the Cambrian era. The seas and the earth filled with the first complex creatures began in this period”.[5]

Richard Dawkins, an evolutionist British zoologist, points out that complex creatures suddenly appeared:

“The invertebrate groups in the Cambrian strata seem to have occurred there without any history of evolution. This sudden appearance definitely pleases creationists”.[6]

Transition from Invertebrates to Vertebrates[7]

Generally, invertebrates have soft parts inside and hard shells outside. It is different in vertebrates. They have a skeleton inside.

There were vertebrates such as jawless vertebrates (Cyclostomata), cartilaginous fish (Elasmobranchii) and bony fishes (Teleostomi) at the end of the Ordovician period, which was observed 430 million years ago and after the Cambrian period and at the beginning of the Devonian age 330 million years ago.

Omma­ney states in his book called“The Fishes”and Romer in his book called “Vertebrata Paleon­to­logy”thatthere is no fossil to provide a connection between those fish and the invertebrates that are regarded as their ancestors.[8]

Evolutionist paleontologist Gerald Todd points out that there is no transition form between fish groups and states the following:

“All three classes of bony fish appear in fossil strata simultaneously and all of a sudden; they do not show any connection with any groups that can be their ancestors”.[9]

Gordon Taylor states that there is no transition form between finned and limbed creatures:

“There are no intermediate forms between finned and limbed creatures in the fossil collection of the world”.[10]

Transition from Fish to Frogs

On the earth, unicellular algae were first seen about 1.5 billion years ago in the Precambrian Era. After that, multicellular Brachiopods, Mollusks, Echinoids and Arthropods came into being suddenly in the Cambrian Era.  There is no fossil form that shows transition between those groups of  living beings.

The lobe-finned fish (Rhipidistian crossopterygian) and the tailed frog (Ichthyostega) are introduced as a transitional form between fish and frogs (Figures 1a and 1b).

It was assumed that the Rhipidistian crossopterygian, called the Lobe-finned Fish or Coelacanth, lived for a certain period and produced frogs as the environmental conditions changed, and that it had disappeared at the end of the Cretaceous period, approximately 70 million years ago. In his book “The Hamlyn Encyclopedia of Prehistoric Animals”, Hublin states that the fishLatemaria chalumnea, which is in the same group as this fossil form, was caught in several places included in Mozambique in 1935, in Madagascar in 1939, in the Comoros in 1953, and in Africa in 1955, which eliminates its feature of being a transitional form (Figure 2).

Figure1.a) The picture of the lobe-finned fish (Rhipidistian crossopterygian) regarded as the ancestor of the tailed toad b) The picture the tailed toad (Ichthyostega) drawn based on the data.

Robert Carroll, points out in his book called "Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution" that there is no transitional form between fish and frogs as follows:

“We do not have fossils that have the property of transitional form between the first frogs and fish”[12].1. a), b) The.

Edwin Colbert and Morales point out that the frogs of the past and the present are of the same structure:

“There is not a single piece of evidence to show that the Paleozoic (First Time) frogs have a common ancestor. The oldest known frogs are similar to those of today”.[13]

Figure 2. Latimaria from the lobe-finned fish (Coelacanth) group.

Transition from Frogs to Reptiles

Seymouria and Didactes, which lived at the beginning of the Permian Period, are suggested as the transitional forms between frogs and reptiles. However, in the light of today’s knowledge, we see that frogs and reptiles lived together in the Carboniferous Period. Therefore, it is not possible to explain both the emergence of reptiles from frogs and the existence of frogs with the deterioration of environmental conditions during the same period,. As a matter of fact, Seymouria is considered by some as a “very developed real frog”, not the “ancestor of reptiles”.[14]

Robert Carroll, points out that there is no fossil showing the transition from frogs to reptiles in his book called“Problems of the Origins of Reptiles”:

“We do not have a single fossil specimen that could be the true ancestor of the first reptile. Therefore, the absence of such an intermediate form invalidates the claim that there is a transition from frogs to reptiles”.[15]

Transition from Reptiles to Birds

It is suggested that reptile scales turned into feathers during the transition from the reptile to the bird. However, some evolutionists point out that this view is wrong. Barbara, one of them, evaluates the issue as follows:

“Feathers have a very complex structure … There is no form with the feature of transition between scales and feathers”.[16]

Brush is of the view that feathers appeared suddenly; he states the following:

“Feathers emerge suddenly in the fossil record as a characteristic of birds only”.[17]

Feduccia states that the transition from the reptile to the bird is impossible:

“Transition from the reptile to the bird is not possible in terms of biophysics”.[18]

Archaeopteryx

Archaeopteryx is suggested as the transitional form between reptiles and birds.

A fossil was found among the Upper Jurassic limestones (Figure 7.4).

Figure 3. a- Archaeopteryx fossil, b- Estimated form of archaeopteryx.

Archaeopterislived approximately 140 million years ago (Figure 3).

The reptile-like features of archaeopteryx, which is usually in bird form, can be listed as follows:

a) The presence of claws on the edge of the wings.

b) The presence of teeth in the mouth.

c) The presence of the spine in the tail.

It is stated in the work titled “Jurassic Bird Challenges Origin Theories” that Archaeopteryxis not the passage form between reptiles and birds and the following points are put forward about the issue:

1. The Hoatzin bird (Opisthocomus hoatzin), now living in South America, and the Tourako bird of Africa (Touraco coryhaix of the Musophogidae family) also have claws at the edge of their wings in their youth,and the spine structure of the Hoatzin bird is similar to that of the archaeopteryx. (Figure 4). There are also three claws on the wings of the Ostrich living in South America..[19]
2. The Archaeopteryx has an asymmetrical feather structure like that of modern birds. This is regarded as evidence for its flying.
3. It was claimed that the Archaeopteryx did not have the necessary breastbone to fly. The last seventh Archaeopteryx that was found fossil revealed the presence of breastbone.

Paleontologists Lianhai Hou and Zhonghe Zhou of the Vertebrate Paleontology Institute in China found a bird fossil, which they called “Confuciusor” in 1995. Confuciusor, which was the same age as the archaeopteryx, about 140 million years old, had no teeth, and its beak and feathers had the same features as those of modern birds. The skeletal structure of this bird, which is the same as the birds of today, had claws on its wings just like the archaeopteryx.

Figure 4 .Hoatzin bird, which has claws on its wings.

Shipman states that the discovery of Confuciusor refuted the thesis that archaeopteryx was the ancestor of birds.[20]

A bird named Liaoningornis, which is 130 million years old, was found by Hou, Martin and Alan Feduccia in China in 1996. Liaoningornis, which is 10 million years younger than the archaeopteryx, is reported to have a breastbone that holds the flight muscles, which are also found in the birds of today; the only difference is that the birds of today have teeth in their mouths. Feduccia also states that Liaoningornis invalidates the claim that “the origin of birds is dinosaurs”.[21]

Another fossil related to birds was found in the West Texas Desert. This two-piece fossil, which was evaluated by Sankar Chatterjee in 1984, is called “the first bird” (Protoavis) and is said to have lived 225 million years ago.[22]

If it is considered that archaeopteryx lived 140 million years ago, it will be understood that the fossil discovered by Sankar Chatterjee lived 85 million years before archaeopteryx.

According to the claim of evolutionists archaeopteryx must have evolved from dinosaurs. However, in light of the recent fossils, some evolutionists do not accept archaeopteryx’s being the intermediate form. Alan Feduccia, who specializes in birds, states the following:

“I have studied birds skulls for twenty-five years. I do not see any similarities whatsoever between them and dinosaurs. The theropod origins of birds, in my opinion, will be the greatest embarrassment of paleontology of the 20^th century”.[23]

There was a different claim regarding the archaeopteryx in the Punch magazine dated September 2, 1987. It is claimedin the article published by “William Hewison”that the feather marks belonging to the fossil of the archaeopteryx found in 1861 were put later by Richard Owen with a printing block. The common opinion about the archaeopteryx is that it is a toothed bird, that it lived for a certain period of life and that it disappeared later^,,.[24],[25],[26]

Indeed, some reptiles and frogs today have teeth, while others do not.

Transition from Reptiles to Mammals

Seymouria and didactes are regarded as the ancestors of reptiles. Synopsidae suborder, which is regarded as the pioneer of mammals, was seen on earth before those orders, which are regarded as the ancestors of reptiles. Therefore, it is impossible for reptiles to be the ancestors of mammals.

In his book titled “The Reptiles That Became Mammals”, Kemp insists that there are no transitional forms showing the transition from reptiles to mammals.[27]

In his book called “Vertebrata Paleontology”, Romer points out that there is no fossil showing that bats (of flying mammals) come from reptiles.[28]

Ommaney states that the bat fossils found between the aged strata are no different from those of today.[29]

The evolutionist George Gaylord Simpson, one of the founders of the Neo-Darwinist Theory, states in his work called“Life Before Man”that there is no intermediate form related to mammals:

“The most puzzling event in the history of life on earth is the change from the Mesozoic, the Age of Reptiles, to the Age of Mammals. It is as if the curtain were rung down suddenly on the stage where all the leading roles were taken by reptiles, especially dinosaurs, in great numbers and bewildering variety, and rose again immediately to reveal the same setting but an entirely new cast, a cast in which the dinosaurs do not appear at all, other reptiles are supernumeraries, and all the leading parts are played by mammals of sorts barely hinted at in the preceding acts”.[30]

The Horse is put forward as an Example to the Evolution of Higher Organisms

The changes that the horse underwent during its phylogeny are given as an example to the evolution of higher organisms. According to the claim of Weller, Eohippus, known as the “primitive horse”, which lived in the Eocene Epoch, had four toes on each forefoot and three on each hind foot; all of the toes pressed on the ground when it walked.[31]

According to Johnson, the third toe of the horse developed while the others were gradually reduced and disappeared. It is claimed that it was because the horses ate the young branches and leaves of the trees but later began to eat grass since the pastures became dominant beginning from the Miocene Epoch. 

It is assumed that only by running fast can it be possible to be protected from the enemies in plains where the horses graze on the grassland; thus, the third toe developed and enlarged, causing the others to disappear. The toes other than the third toe atrophied and became useless and vestigial organs.[32]

The Evaluation of the Horse

The decrease in the number of toes is attributed to the feeding style hence running and fleeing from the enemies.

The assumption, “If an organ is used, it will develop, and if it is not used, it will atrophy” is known as “Lamarck’s Principle”. It has been understood for the last 20 years that Lamarck’s principle was based on modification, that is, the transfer of the change in somatic cells to the youngs is impossible; however, it is transferred through a change in the gametes. Besides, through the same reasoning, it will be necessary to explain why many animals primarily rabbits that escape from their enemies did not undergo similar changes.

Wells states the following regarding the issue:

“Three years before Charles Darwin’s death in 1882, Yale University paleontologist Othniel Marsh published a drawing of horse fossils to show how modern one-toed horses had evolved from a small four-toed ancestor. His drawings, which included only foot bones and teeth, were supported by the addition of the skull and the drawings of horse fossils, and quickly found their way into museum exhibits and biology textbooks as evidence for evolution.[33]

It is disputable whether the splint bones in the horse leg are vestigial organs because they have some functions. According to Cousins, the functions are as follows:

1. They provide strengthening for the horse’s leg.

2. They are attachment areas for several leg muscles.

3. They make a protective groove for the suspensory ligament that supports a horse’s weight.[34]

Dunouy and Goldschmidt state that the single-toed horse existed on the earth in the Mesozoic Era, 130 million years ago, that is, long before the multi-toed horse. According to them, the first multi-toed horse appeared in the Eocene, 55 million years ago and the last generation of the multi-toed horse became extinct in the Miocene, about 25 million years ago^,.[35],[36]

Boyce Rensberger, one of the evolutionist biologists, states that the scenario of the evolution of the horse has no foundation in the fossil record, and that no evolutionary process has been observed that would account for the gradual evolution of horses:

“The popularly told example of horse evolution, suggesting a gradual sequence of changes from four-toed fox-sized creatures living nearly 150 million years ago to today’s much larger one-toed horse, has long been known to be wrong. Instead of gradual change, fossils of each intermediate species appear fully distinct, persist unchanged, and then become extinct. Therefore, they are not transitional forms but different forms with separate structures”.[37]

Evolutionist Colin Patterson, one of the administrators of the British Museum of Natural History, expresses a similar view:

“The exhibit on horse evolution prepared fifty years ago, which is still on exhibit downstairs, is nothing but a bad imaginary story. The evolution of the horse has been presented as ‘the great truth’ in hundreds of scientific books. However, what those people do is nothing but speculation”.[38]

It is stated that  the fossils that the equine evolution are based on the invented sequences of fossils, set out in order of size, belonging to different life forms that lived at different times in India, North America, South America and Europe. There is no consensus regarding the issue among the evolutionists. Various researchers have proposed more than 20 different equine evolution sequences. The only thing these sequences have in common is the belief that the first ancestor of the horse was a dog-like animal known as Eohippus (Hyracotherium) that lived in the Eocene Period some 55 million years ago. However, Hitching says, “Eohippus, which is presented as the “ancestor of the horse”, is in fact identical to the animal known as the “Hyrax”, which is still to be found in Africa today, which has nothing to do with the horse and bears no resemblance to it.[39]

Gordon R. Taylor, an evolutionist, writes the following in his book, “The Great Evolution Mystery” about the sequences of horses:

“Paleontologists failed to find the fossils related to the equine sequences put forward by evolutionists. The sequence of horses is presented as the only fully worked-out example regarding evolution, but it is not so. The line from Eohippus to today’s Equus is very erratic. Specimens from different sources can be brought together in a convincing-looking sequence, but there is no evidence that they were actually ranged in this order in time^“.[40]

It is understood that each species of the multi-toed horses is a separate kind and that they lived in a certain period and then became extinct... The ancestors of the single-toed horses are also single-toed.

The Past of Insects

Fossils of insects were found in materials like amber, volcanic ashes and coal. Since even the internal organs, tissues and cell structures were kept in very good condition in amber, they could be compared with the existing insects. In his book called , “Insects in Amber”, Brues states that there are no differences in shape between insects that were created 350 million years ago and the insects living today.[41]

However, some of the insects in the past were larger and bigger than their relatives today like big cockroaches and giant ants. One feature of insects is that they have very different forms. Therefore, it is difficult to identify from which source they may have formed. In his book called “The Evolution of Life”, Olsen draws attention to the fact that there is no information about how insects started flying.[42]

General Evaluation about Transitional Forms

Throughout the geological periods on Earth, different organisms and different living species emerged; some of them did not change at all and some of them survived until today with minor changes. Some lived for a certain period and disappeared.

The theory of evolution explains the arrival of living beings on earth with “gradual emergence”. Living organisms must have slowly formed over time from simple to higher structures,. Evidence of it will be fossils. When this view was put forward in the 1850s, the general idea was like that. However, since fossil materials to support this view could not be found in the course of time, evolutionists criticizedthis view. The famous British paleontologist Derek states the following:

High organisms appeared on Earth gradually, depending on time. There can be only one explanation for it: The living beings that were suitable for the earth conditions that improved gradually were sent to the earth. In other words, sheep were created after grass and plants were created. The fossils proposed as intermediate or transitional forms do not have the feature of being intermediate forms.

“When we examine the fossil record in detail, we see groups that developed on earth suddenly, not through gradual evolution”.[43]

The evolutionist Carlton expresses a similar view:

“Did life on earth evolve slowly and gradually over time? The answer of the fossil record to this question is ‘no’.[44]

Tom from Oxford University says that there are no fossils showing the transition of species:

No fossil form showing that there was a transition through evolution among fish, frogs, reptiles, birds, insects and mammals has been found. Similarly, there is no fossil that establishes a connection between man and the living beings before him.

They all show that every living being species was created directly with their own genetic potentials, abilities and characteristics.

“According to the fossil record, many species emerged suddenly, remained unchanged for several million years and disappeared suddenly. There is no single fossil specimen showing the transition of species from one generation to another”.[45]

Steven points out that there is no fossil evidence to confirm gradual evolution and states the following:

“The known fossil recordhave not been able to provide any fossil evidence that gradual evolution could be valid”.[46]

Adler points out that intermediate form researchers are disappointed with what they have achieved and states the following:

“The more scientists look for inter-species forms, the more disappointment occurs”.[47]

Mark, who is an evolutionist, states that species appear suddenly and disappear suddenly:

“Species form suddenly and disappear suddenly. This supports creationists who claim that species are created by Allah”.[48]

The evolutionist Gould of Harvard University states that the evolutionary family tree was drawn based on the imagination of evolutionists, not on the fossil record:

“The evolutionary family trees in our books are based on our design, not on the fossil record”.[49]

Throughout the geological periods on Earth, different organisms and different living species emerged; some of them did not change at all and some of them survived until today with minor changes. Some livedfor a certain period and disappeared. One thing that draws attention here is the gradual appearance of high organisms on Earth depending on time. There can be only one explanation for it:The living beings that were suitable for the earth conditions that improved graduallywere sent to the earth. In other words, sheep were created after grass and plants were created. The fossils proposed as intermediate or transitional forms do not have the feature of being intermediate forms. It has now been a general opinion that the fossils proposed so far are not sufficient and reliable material.

The Past of Man

Some of the fossils proposed as intermediate forms about the past of man are as follows:

1- Long-armed Ape (Ramapithecus)

The being put forward by the evolutionists as the ancestor of man is Ramapithecus. It is claimed to have lived in the Pliocene period, that is, about 14 million years ago.

Figure 5. Parabolic jaw in Ramapithecus.

This being, which is known only from its jawbone and which is claimed to be the ancestor of human beings based on dental structures, has been shown to be a homonid and not a long-armed monkey.[50]

2-Southern Ape (Australopithecus)

Another group that is put forward as the ancestor of man is the group of Australopithecus. Various forms of it are proposed. This name was given to various fossils found by Louis Leakey and many others in East Africa. The fossils found by Dart were named as “Australopithecus africanus” ”(African man). Then, the following were included in the same group:Zinantropus, Paranthropus, Pleisanthropus, Telanthropus and Homo habilis. Australopithecus is proposed as a hominid being that lived two to three million years ago, walked upright and used coarse tools. The brain volume is about 500 cc, the same as in some monkeys with high structure. Its teeth are claimed to be similar to those of Ramapithecus.

Zinjanthropus boisei, which was found by Louis Leakey in the Olduvai Gorge region of Tanzania, is said to be a variant of Australopithecus robustus. Australopithecus was grouped under two species after that. One is A. africanus and the other is A. Robustus.

2.1-African Man (Australopithecus africanus)

It was found in Africa by Dart in 1924. It has small teeth, small jaws and a thin structure. The volume of the skull is estimated to be about 1/3 of today’s human being, i.e. 500 cc; its age is estimated to be 1.8-2.6 million years.

Figure 6. Australopithecus africanus(African Man) (Lucy Man). Each of the fossils in this skeleton belongs to different living beings. The lower left image was drawn based on this skeleton.

Evolutionist Gould states that the African ape Austrolopithecus afarensis cannot be the ancestor of man. He points out that the fossil fragments that are considered to belong to African apes are fossils of various organisms and that they have been assembled incorrectly.[51]

2.2-Australopithecus boisei (zinjanthropus)

It is suggested that this form is a variant of Australo­pit­he­cusrobustus. It was discovered in 1959 by Leakey in Tanzania. It has very thick teeth and thick jaws; its upper temple bones protrude as in gorilla and orangutan. The teeth arch and the jaw curve are very parabolic. It is similar to orangutans and chimpanzees of higher organisms. The skull volume is stated to be 500 cc and the age 2 million years.

It is claimed that based on some pieces of the pelvis, arm and foot bones of both A. africanus and A. robustusthatAustralo­pit­he­cus was an upright walking being.[52]

2.3-Critique of Australopithecus

Almost none of the fossil materials of the past show integrity. In other words, the fossil material that is available represents only a small part of the organism that is claimed. The fact that the fragments belonging to different organisms were brought together on the assumptionthat they belonged to a single species has an important role in it. In addition, sometimes big mistakes are made in fossil age determinations.

Oxnard and Zuckerman, who investigated the Australopithecus fossil for years, state that Australopithecus is not an upright walking being. Oxnard and Zuckerman’s multi-faceted statistical research on A. africanus’ hand, wrist, foot, shoulder and pelvic bones shows that they do not resemble man but orangutan and chimpanzee.[53]

Zuckerman, who worked with a team on A. africanus for 15 years states the following:

"It is impossible for A. africanus to be the ancestor of man”.[54]

Mantagu states that all Australopithecusresemble monkeys with high structure (apes) in their head structure.[55]

Evolutionist Gould is of the view that the African ape,Austrolopthecus afarensis and A. Africanus, cannot be the ancestor of man; he states that fossil fragments that are considered to belong to African apes are fossils of various organisms and that theywere assembled incorrectly.[56]

3-Homo erectus Group

Java Man, Peking Man, Heidelberg Man and Meganthropus were grouped as“Homo erectus”. They are considered to have lived about 500 thousand years ago. It is stated that they walk upright and that their brain volumes are approximately 1000 cc.

A little time after Darwin published The Origin of Species in 1858, Ernst Haeckel published The History of Creation by being inspired by it. In this work, Haeckel put forward the Mute Ape Man as at the ancestor of man ”. He also gave it a Latin name: Pithecanthropus alalus ...

When this imaginary being was found as a fossil, it would resemble a human in terms of some of its characteristics and a monkey in terms of some of its characteristics. They also indicated where the remains of this being would be found: the ancient hypothetical Lemura continent extending from Madagascar to India and from the Indian Ocean to Indonesia.[57]

3.1-Java Man (Pithecanthropus erectus)

In 1887, the Dutch anatomist Eugene Dubois set out with his wife and children to Java, a Dutch colony in East India, as “a health care worker for the Dutch army”. Dubois was on his way to find the Mute Ape Man, which Haeckel had suggested, in the place where he suggested. Two years after his arrival in Sumatra, Dubois convinced the government to carry out paleontological excavations in Java. Some prisoners were sent to the excavation near the Solo River near the village of Trinil, and soldiers were assigned the duty of controlling of the excavation. It is stated that Dubois did not participate in the field work in these excavations and that he examined the findings of the workers brought to him periodically at home.[58]

 In 1891, Dubois encountered two important findings among the bones that were brought to him. They were a tooth and a skull found one month after the other in the same fossil bed. However, their exact location could not be determined because they were not recorded during the excavation. At first, Dubois was convinced that they belonged to a chimpanzee. A few months later, however, the prisoners found a femur at the same site. This was the thigh bone of a person walking upright. Dubois combined these pieces to form Pithecanthropus erectus (Homo erectus). The brain volume of this being was about 900 cc. A small molar tooth was found in 1898. It was stated that those teeth also belonged to Pithecanthropus (Homo erectus) said. The age of this being was estimated to be 500 thousand years (Figure 7).

Figure 7. The picture of Homo erectus (Java Man), which isassumed to be the “ancestor of man”, drawn based on the fossils.

When Dubois introduced those fossils at the International Congress of Zoology held in Leyden in 1895, the British zoologists claimed that those fossils belonged to man, the Germans claimed that they belonged to human-like apes, and the French stated that they belonged to a transition form between a higher form of ape and man.

The Critique of Java Man (Homo erectus)

Koenigswald is of the opinion that the big molar teeth of Java Man belongs to an orangutan and the small one to a human. He states that the skull is similar to that of chimpanzees and gibbons.[59]

In 1906, a large excavation was carried out in the place where Dubois found the fossils, but nothing except a small piece of bone was found. It is stated that the being called “Java Man” (Homo erectus) is in fact a chimpanzee or gorilla type of ape, that the skull of the ape was combined with the human thigh bone and that it was given the name “Pithecanthropus erectus” (Java Man-Homo erectus)[60]

 What is noteworthy here is the fact that the confession of Dubois, who discovered the fossil Pithecanthropus (Homo erectus), in 1922 has been ignored. In his book “Mankind in the Making”, Howells states that he found two skulls with a brain volume close to that of modern man in the place where Dubois found the first fossil. However, Dubois did not statefor 30 years that he had found those skulls. Dubois admitted thirty years later that the being he presented as Java Man (Pithecanthropus-Homo erectus) was actually a big gibbon monkey.[61]

The explanation of Dubois was included in the Encyclopedia of Archeology. The following statement exists in the encyclopedia:

“At first, there was much opposition to the status implied by the name the ape-man, ‘who walked erect’, but it became generally accepted though Dubois himself finally changed his mind and said that the fossils he found belonged to a giant ape, but this skull gained general acceptance.[62]

3.2- Piltdown Man (Eanthropus dawsoni)

Arthur Smith Woodward, the director of the London Museum of Natural History, and medical doctor Charles Dawson, dug out a jaw and skull fossil with a ceremony from a gravel pit near Piltdown, England in 1912. The jaw bone was very similar to that of the monkey, and the teeth and skull were very similar to that of human beings. Those materials were called “Piltdown Man” (Eanthropus dawsoni). The age was determined to be 500 thousand years.

In 1950, the amount of fluoride absorbed by the bones from the soil was tested in order to determine the age of Piltdown Man. If the fossil had allegedly remained in the soil for 500,000 years, it would have contained a lot of fluoride. However, there was no fluoride in that fossil... Thus, it was discovered that the material of Piltdown Man was not a fossil, and that it had not remained in the soil for more than a year when it was discovered.

Later, it was found that the bones, which were subjected to a serious examination, were stained with potassium dichromate to give the appearance that they belonged to the past. Teeth on the jaw bone had been raspedso that they wouldhave a worn and torn appearance¹⁹³.

Thus, they had combined the jaw of a 10-year-old orangutan with human skull and placed human teeth on the jawbone to make it resemble a being between an ape and a human (Figure 8).

When the people who were responsible for this hoax were searched, no one took the blame. Arthur Smith Woodward and the medical doctor Charles Dawson, who planned this hoax and dug the bones out of the gravel pit with a great ceremony, had died. The journals and other publishing organizations that presented the issue did not accept responsibility.

In the 1930s, the discussions about “did man’s brain or body develop first?” were answered by bringing evidence from Piltdown Man. As a matter of fact, Smith indicates this issue and says:

“The most interesting aspect of “Piltdown Man” is that it justified the idea that bey the brain took the first place in the evolution of man. The idea that human beings got rid of being apes thanks to the development of the head structure is the most realistic view. Man is an orangutan whose brain is highly developed. Here, the importance of the Piltdown skull lies in its strict validation of those judgements.[63]

Clark Howellattracts attention to the fact that the scientific circles were deceived by Piltdown Man for 50 years:

“Piltdown man was nothing more than a being that consisted of a human skull and an ape’s jaw. It was a hoax placed on purpose. They declared it as the common ancestor of man and ape that lived 500,000 years ago. Some 500 books were written on it. on it. The paleontologists were fooled for 50 years with that  discovery”.[64]

The fact that the Piltdown hoax could not be understood for about 50 years despite the research of the greatest authorities of the world increased the doubts about the other fossils. S. Zuckerman holds the view that when the Dubois fossils of Java Man is examined seriously, the result will be no different than the Piltdown Man.[65]

Figure 8. Piltdown Man (Eanthropus dawsoni). Orangutan jaw was fixed on human head. It is understood that the jaw of this fossil, which is accepted as “the ancestor of man”, belonged to an orangutan, the skull and the teeth belonged to a human and that it was rasped in order to make it fit the jaw.[66]

3.3-Peking Man (Sinanthropus pekinensis)

Figure 9- PekingMan (Sinanthropus pekinensis). Peking Man model made of plaster.

Dr. Davidson Black found two molar teeth in 1921 in a pit 40 km away from Beijing, China, and called them “Sinanthropus pekinensis”. W. C. Pei found the third molar toothin 1927, and skull fragments and two lower jaws in 1928. Black said those fossils belonged to Peking Man.[67]

The materials claimed to be Peking Man were claimed to have been lost during the invasion of Beijing by the Japanese during World War II except for two teeth. O’Connel states that the Japanese did not enter this city and that he was there at that time. O’Connel states that evolutionists themselves destroyed those materials; thus, he states that they shaped the plaster models based on their own evolutionist thoughts.[68]

3.4- Nebraska Man (Hesperopithecus heroldcookii)

In 1922, Henry Fairfield Osborn found a large molar tooth in the Western Nebraska and this toothwas named Hespeperopitpitheircus haroldcookii (Nebraska Man).

Figure 10. Nebraska Man (Hesperopithecus heroldcookii). A picture drawn based   on a pig’s molar tooth.

It was claimed that this being, which is estimated to have lived about 500 thousand years ago, belonged to the prehistoric ancestor of man and had the characteristics of half ape and half man; and the picture above was drawn with this idea.

It was later found out that the tooth belonged to a pig.[69]

3.5-Neanderthal Man (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis)

It was discovered by Dr. Fuhtrott in the Feldhofor cave of the Neanderthal valley in Düsseldorf, Germany in 1856. The skull size of the Neanderthal Man, a race of Homo sapiens, is about as big as that of modern man. It is estimated to have lived 35 thousand to 100 thousand years ago. The Neanderthal Man has been described and presented for more than a hundred years as “a thick-eyed being with a coarse nature, wild-character that walked in a curved state”. In fact, the difference between Neanderthal Man and today’s man is less than the difference between the current people of different tribes..[70]

The protrusion of the mouth and eyebrows, which are the characteristics of the Neanderthal race, is typical of the black race. Neanderthal man has a curved skeletal structure. In his article called “Neanderthals Had Rickets”, Ivanhoe states that this structure is not due to kinship with apes without tails, but due to the joint and bone disease caused by lack of vitamin D..[71]

It is known that Neanderthal Man grew plants, painted pictures with elegant tools, had some religious beliefs, buried the dead and used a kind of scripture.[72]

Today Neanderthal Man is classified as “Homo sapiens” (today’s man). It is stated that Neanderthal Man could not be distinguished from other people if he walked in our streets wearing overalls(Figure 11).[73]

Paleontologist Erik Trinkaus draws attention to the fact that there is no difference between modern man and Neanderthal Man and states the following:

“Neanderthal ruins and detailed comparisons made between Neanderthal bones and modern human bones show that there is no difference in Neanderthal’s anatomy or in terms of his movement, instrument use, intelligence or speech.”.[74]

It is claimed that Neanderthal Man was absorbed by dominant races over time.[75]

Figure 11- Neanderthal Man.

There are many different opinions and thoughts about Neanderthal Man. Noting that almost everyone has a comment on this issue, Wells states the following:

“Currently in the news is the never-ending controversy over Neanderthals. Were they our ancestors? Were they a separate species, now extinct? Or were they a race of humans, eventually absorbed into our modern global family? Almost every month, a proponent of one view or another takes to the print media or the airwaves, declaring the matter settled. Wait a few months, however, and someone will probably say the opposite with equal confidence.[76]

Mentioning the same issue, James Shreeve says:

“I talked to one hundred and fifty scientists—archaeologists, anatomists, geneticists, geologists, dating experts—and sometimes it seemed I had come away with one hundred and fifty different points of view” about the place of Neanderthals in human evolution Any theory about Neanderthals is like the weather in many parts of the country: If you donot like it, wait a little while and it will change!.[77]

Evaluation Related to the Past of Man

The evolutionist T. Dobzhansky, who is considered the father of genetics, made the following statement about races:

“We have not been able to solve the problem of the origin of different races of human species though over one and a half centuries passed since Darwin. The issue is still as complicated as it was a century ago”.[78]

The famous paleontologist David Pilbeam states the following about the past of man:

“Introductory books - or book reviews - are hardly the place to argue that perhaps generations of students of human evolution, including myself, have been flailing about in the dark: that our data base is too sparse, too slippery, for it to be able to mold our theories. Rather the theories are more statements about us and ideology than about the past.”^, .[79],[80]

Geoffrey Clark, Arizona State Universityanthropologist, states the following in the book he wrote in 1997:

“Scientists have been trying to arrive at a consensus about modern human origins for more than a century. Why havethey not been successful? It is because paleoanthropologists proceed from such different biases, preconceptions and assumptions. Thus, explanatory models of human evolutionare little more than a house of cards — remove one card... and the whole structure of inference is threatened with collapse”.[81]

Henry Gee states the following in his book about the past of man:

“All evidences about the evolution of man can fit in a small box. To take a line of fossils and claim that they represent a lineage is not a scientific hypothesis that can be tested, but an assertion that carries the same validity as a bedtime story—amusing, perhaps even instructive, but not scientific”.[82]

Schiller points out that human beings emerged differently from other living beings:

“The fossils about the past of man could not show the transitional forms that were expected... It can easily be said that we did not evolve from a being lower than man and that we come from our own lineage”.[83]

Robert Eckhardt, Professor of Anthropology at Pennsylvania State University, states the following:

“In the Hominoids series, there is no fossil with a morphology showing that man has a hominid ancestor”.[84]

Conclusion

Thousands of fossils have been found in the last 150 years. However, none of them shows the characteristics of an intermediate form indicating that one living being came from another living being.

Anaximander claimed in the 400s BC that man came from fish. For nearly 2,500 years, evolutionists have insisted that living beings come from one another in a chain through evolution beginning from one cell. To illustrate their claims, they drew the imaginary evolutionary family tree in the 1800s. They divided this tree into two large branches, one sequence for the plants kingdom and the other for the animal kingdom. They claimed that fossils belonging to transitional forms linking those sequences would be found in the course of time.

Thousands of fossils have been found in the last 150 years. However, none of them shows the characteristics of an intermediate form indicating that one living being came from another living being.

In the years when the idea of ​​evolution was put forward, it was thought that unicellular organisms would be transformed into another creature as a result of exposure to ultraviolet rays for a long time. In the 1960s, unicellular organisms that were sent to space were exposed to ultraviolet rays for years but no new species emerged from any of them.

They all show that each species was created directly with their own genetic characteristics.

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[3]Axelrod, D. Early Cambrian Marine Fauna. Sci­ence. 1959, Vol. 128. p.7. 
[4]George, T.N. Fossils in Evolutionary Perspective. Science Progress. 1960,  Vol. 48, January, p.5.; Kay, M. and Colbert, H.E. Stratigraphy and Life History. New York. John Wiley and Sons. 1965, p.102.
[5]Monestarsky, R. Mysteries of the Orient. Discover, April, 1993, p. 40.
[6]Dawkins, R.The Blind Watchmaker. London,W.W. Norton, 1986, p. 229.
[7]For more information, see: Âdem Tatlı. Evrim ve Yaratılış. Hilal Ofset Isparta, 4th Impression, 2014. 316 p
[8]Ommaney,F.D. "The Fishes. Life Nature Library." New York. 1964, p. 60.; Romer,AS. Vertebrata Paleontology. Chicago Press. 1966, p. 15-33.
[9]Todd, G.T. Evolution of the Lung and the Origin  of Bony Fishes: A Casual    Relationship. American Zoologist, Vol. 26, no: 4, 1980, p.757.
[10]Taylor, G. R. The Great Evolution Mystery. Harper &Row, 1983, p. 60.
[11]Hublin, J. The Hamlyn Encyclopedia of Prehistoric Animals. New  York. 1984,  p.120.
[12]Carroll, L. R. Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. New York W.H.Freeman and Co., 1988, p. 4, 138.
[13]Colbert, E. H., & Morales, M. Evolution of the Vertebrates. New York, John Wiley and sons, 1991, p. 99.
[14]Curtis, H. and Barnes, S. Invitation to Biology. 5th impression, New York: Worth Publishers, p.405, 1994.
[15]Denton, M. Evolution. A Theory in Crisis. Burnett  Books, London, 1985.
[16]Barbar, J. Stahl. Vertebrate History: Problems in Evolution. New York: Dover Publications, 1985, p. 349-350.
[17]Brush, A.H. On the Origin of  Feathers. Journal of  Evolutionary Biology. Vol.9, 1996, p. 131-33.
[18]Anonymous. Jurassic Bird Challenges Origin Theories. Geotimes. Vol. 41, 1996, p. 7.
[19]Grimmer, J.L. Natural Geographic. 1962,  August. p.391.
[20]Shipman, P. Birds do it...Did Dinosaurs? New Scientist, 1 February 1997, p. 31.
[21]Feduccia, A. Old Bird. Discover. 21 March,1997.
[22]Time, 25 August.1986.p.36.
[23]Shipman, P. Birds do it...Did Dinosaurs? New Scientist, 1 February 1997, p. 28.
[24]Beddart, F.E.  The Structure and Classification of Birds. Longmans, Green and Ca., London.1989, p.160.
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[26]Nouy, L. Human Destiny. The New American Lib­rary. New York. 1947, p.58.; Swinton,W.E. In Biology and Comparative Physi­ology of Birds. Ed.By. A.J. Marshall Academic Press, New York, 1960, Vol. p.1
[27]Kemp,T. The Reptiles That Became Mammals. New Scientist. 1982, Vol. 92.
[28]Romer, AS. Vertebrata Paleontology. Chicago Press. 1966, p.303.
[29]Romer, AS. Vertebrata Paleontology. Chicago Press. 1966, p.15-33.
[30]Simpson, G. Life Before Man. New York, Time-Life Books, 1972, p. 42.
[31]Weller, M. J. The Course of Evolution. New York. 1969, p. 689.
[32]Johnson,W.H., Laubenga, R. A. and De Lanney, L. E. General  Biology. Third Edition. New York. 1965, 788 p.
[33]Wells, J. ibid, p. 181.
[34]Cousins, F.W. Creation Research Society Quaterly. 1971, Vol. 8. p. 99.
[35]Dunouy, L.Human Destiny.The New American Library. New York.1947, p.74.
[36]Goldschmidt, R.B. American Scientist. 1952, Vol. 40.p.97.
[37]Rensberger, B. Houston Chronicle, 5 November, 1980, Part 4, p.15.
[38]Patterson, C. Harper’s.  February, 1984, p. 60.
[39]Hitching, F. The Neck of the Giraffe: Where Darwin Went Wrong? New  York. Ticknor and Fields, 1982, p.30-31.
[40]Gordon, R.T. The Great  Evolution  Mystery. London, Sphere Books, 1984, p. 230.
[41]Brues, C.T. Insects in Amber. Scientific American. 1951,Vo1.185. p. 60.
[42]Olsen, E.C. The Evolution of Life. The New Ame­rican Library. New York.  1965, p.180.
[43]Derek, A. The Nature of the Fossil Record. Proceedings of British Geological  Association. Vol. 87, 1976, p.133.
[44]Carlton, B. Statis: The  Life in the Balance. Geotimes, Vol. 40, March 1995, p.18.
[45]Tom, S.K. Mammal-Like Reptiles and the Origin of Mammals. New York Academic Press, 1982, p. 363.
[46]Steven, M. S. Macroevolution: Pattern and Processs. San Francisco. W. H. Freeman and C., 1979, p. 39.
[47]Adler, J. Who Doubts Evolution? New Scientist, Issue 90,1981, p. 831.
[48]Mark C. The Revival of the Creationist Crusade. Maclean’s, 19 January, 1981, p. 56.
[49]Gould, S., J. Evrimin Düzensiz Adımları. Natural History. May,1977, p.13.
[50]Shipman, P. Baffling Limb on the Family Tree. Discover, 1986, September; Pilbeam, D. R. Nature. 1968, Vo1.219 p.1335; Simons, E. L. and Pilbeam, D.R. Folia Primital. 1965, Vo1. 3. p. 8; Eckhard, R.B. Population Genetics and Human Origins. Scientific American. 1972, Vol. 226.
[51]Gould, J. L. and Keeton, W. T. Biological Science. 6. baskı, New York: W. W. Norton, p. 347, 1996.
[52]Broom, R and Schepers, G.W.H.Transv. Mus.Mem. 1946, Vol.2. p.1-272;Clarck, G. Journal of Anatomy. London. 1947, Vol. 19.P.300-333.
[53]Oxnard, C. University of Chicago Magazine, 1974, p.8-12.,
[54]Zuckerman, S. Beyond the Ivory Tower. Top­linger Publ. Co. New York. 1970, pp. 11-12, 64, 75-94.
[55]Montagu, A. Man: His First Million Years. Word Publishers. Yonkers. 1957, p.51-52.
[56]Gould, J. L. and Keeton, W. T. Biological Science. 6th impression, New York: W. W. Norton, p. 347, 1996.
[57]Richard, M. Shattering the Myths of Darwinism. Translated by İ. Kapaklıkaya. Son Tartışmalar Işığında Darwinizm’in Mitleri. Gelenek Yayıncılık, Istanbul, 2003.
[58]Richard, M. Shattering the Myths of Darwinism. Translated by İ. Kapaklıkaya. Son Tartışmalar Işığında Darwinizm’in Mitleri. Gelenek Yayıncılık, Istanbul, 2003.
[59]Boule, M. and Valoıs, H.M. Fossil Man. The Dreyden  Press. New York. 1957,  p.118-123.
[60]Gish, D.T. Evolution: The Fossils Say No! 1981. Translated by Â. Tatlı,  Fosiller ve Evrim. Cihan Yayınları, Is­tanbul. 1984.
[61]Howells, W.  Mankind in the Making. Doubleday and CO. Garden City  N.Y.P. 1967, 155-156.
[62]Cottrell, L. The Concise Encylopedia Arc­heology. Hawthorn. New York. 1960, P. 394.
[63]Smith, G. S. Woodward’s Folly. New Scientist. 1979, 5 April, p.44.
[64]Howell, C. Early Man. New York: Time Life Books, 1973, p. 24-25.
[65]186. Zuckerman, S. Beyond the Ivory Tower. Top­linger Publ. Co. New York. 1970, pp. 11-12,64,75-94.
[66]http://www.history.com/news/piltdown-man-hoax-100-years-ago
[67]Boule, M. And Valois, H.M. Fossil Man. The Dreyden  Press. New York. 1957,  P.118-123.
[68]O’Connel, P. Science of Today and the Problems of Genesis. Hawthorne, CA. 1969.
[69]Gish, D.T. Evolution: The Fossils Say No! 1981. Translated by. Â. Tatlı,  Fosiller ve Evrim. Cihan Yayınları, Istanbul. 1984.
[70]Dobzhansky, T. Changing Man. Science. 1967, Vol.155, p.  410.
[71]Anhoe, F. Neanderthals Had Rickets. 1970, Nature. 8.Aug.
[72]Use of Symbols Anteclates Neanderthal Man. Science Digest.Vol.1.73.1973.p.22
[73]Gish, D.T. Evolution: The Fossils Say No! 1981. Translated by Â. Tatlı,  Fosiller ve Evrim. Cihan Yayınları, Is­tanbul. 1984.
[74]Trinkaus,  E. Hard Times Among the Neanderthals. Natural History, Vol. 87, December 1978, p.10.
[75]Şengün, A. Evrim. Sermet Matbaası. Kırklareli. 1984, p.142.
[76]Wells, J. Icons of Evolution, Science or Myth? Translated by Orhan Düz. Evrimin İkonları, Bilim Mi Mit Mi? Gelenek Yayıncılık. Kurtiş Matbaası, Istanbul, p. 206, 2003.
[77]Shreeve, J. The Neanderthal Enigma. New York: William Morrow, p. 252, 1995.
[78]T. Dobzhansky. Science. Vol.127, Issue 1958, p. 1091.
[79]Pilbeam, D. American Scientist, Issue, 66,1978, p. 379.
[80]Pilbeam, D. Rearranging Our Family Tree. Nature, June, 1978.
[81]Clark, A.G. Through a Glass Darkly: Conceptual Issues in Modern Human Origins Research, pp. 60-76, 1997.
[82]Gee, H. In Search of Deep Time: Beyond the Fossil Record to a New History of life. New York: The Free Press,, p. 23, 32, 116-117, 202, 1999.
[83]Schiller, R. New Findings On The Origin of  Man. Reader’s Digest, 1973, August, p.89-90.
[84]Eckhardt, R. Population Genetics and Human Origins. Scientific American, number 226,1972, p.94.

Prof. Dr. Zekeriya ALTUNER
Gaziosmanpaşa University. Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Biology Department, Tokat.
[email protected]

This perfect order and system in the universe is the result of mutual assistance, solidarity, answering one another’s needs, subjugation and compassionate helping.

Is life a struggle? That is one of the sentences we often hear in the daily flow of life. Most of the time, we use it innocently, without thinking about its meaning. After the introduction of Darwin’s philosophy, this statement was systematically and consciously brought to the agenda because the statement "Life is a struggle" was one of the foundations of that philosophy.

Along with the first beginning of life on earth, it is seen that life has developed in two different ranges as plants and animals.

Is it regarded a struggle to send the water needed by plants, animals and people to the places where it is needed by the clouds, or is it answering the needs of living beings? What kind of a philosophy is that it considers sending of mercy (rain) from heaven a struggle?

There is a very orderly biological balance that astonishes man among those ranges of plants and animals. Is the struggle or solidarity that ensures this balance seen in the realm of the living beings?

This perfect order and system in the universe is the result of mutual assistance, solidarity, answering one another’s needs, subjugation and compassionate helping. If this apparent order and system were a struggle for life, as those who look from the viewpoint of philosophy rather than oneness and belief, we would not be talking about a system because the struggle is a war and there is no such thing as helping the other side in war.Everyone has to destroy someone else in order to survive and become the dominant force. However, everything in the universe supports each other like the wheels in a factory provided thatman’s dirty handdoes not interfere. They help each other by working hand in hand and standing shoulder to shoulder.

Along with the first beginning of life on earth, it is seen that life has developed in two different ranges as plants and animals.

Badiuzzaman Said Nursi explains it in a very concise way:

“Look! With little difficulty you can see the seals of the Single, Eternally Besought One on the page of the earth, so raise your head, open your eyes, and look too at the great book of the universe. You will see that on it as a whole a stamp of unity is read out which is as clear as it is big. For like the components of a factory or members of a palace or town, these beings support one another, stretch out their hands to assist one another, and answer the needs and requests of one another, saying: “Here I am, at your service!” Assisting one another, they work together in order. Joining efforts, they serve animate beings. Co-operating and turned a single goal, they obey an All-Wise Disposer. They conform to a rule of mutual assistance which is in force from the sun and moon, night and day, and winter and summer, to plants coming to the assistance of hungry and needy animals, and animals hastening to the assistance of weak, noble men, and even nutritious substances flying to assist delicate, weak infants and fruits, and particles of food passing to the assistance of the cells of the body. They show to anyone who is not altogether blind that they are acting through the strength of a single, most generous Nurturer, and at the command of a single most wise Disposer.

Thus, on the one hand this mutual support and assistance, this answering one another’s needs, this mutual embracing, this subjugation, this order, testify decisively that beings are administered and organized by a single Disposer and are being impelled and directed by a single Nurturer. And on the other hand, this perfect grace within the universal wisdom to be seen plainly in the art of things; and the all-embracing mercy which shines within the providence; and the sustenance spread over that mercy and scattered so as to answer the needs of all living beings needy for sustenance; –these form a stamp of Divine unity so brilliant that anyone whose mind is not altogetherextinguished will understand it and anyone who is not altogether blind will see it”.[1]

The Law of Mutual Help

The Relationship between Animals and Plants

The water that plants take from the soil and the carbon dioxide they get from the air are combined with the help of solar energy. Chlorophyll molecules of green plants have been assigned to fulfill this task. Since this incident occurs in light, it is called photosynthesis or assimilation. Although this amount of the assimilation is expressed even in elementary school books, it is a very complex incident.

100 billion tons of organic matter, namely, carbohydrates such as cellulose, glucose and starch, is produced by using approximately 150 billion tons of carbon dioxide and 120 billion tons of water thanks to photosynthesis every year on our planet. In addition to these nutrients, 110 billion tons of oxygen are produced. According to some calculations, this amount is 200 billion tons. In some sources,it is expressed as approximately 200-500 billion tons^,.[2],[3]

Fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas, which are the sources of energy we use today, are the products of photosynthesis made by plants that lived on earth thousands of years ago.

Let us forget about years ago and look at the books we read, the doors and floorings of our house, the frames and curtains of our windows. Almost everything, from the clothes we wear to the bread we eat, comes to our aid through plants.

Now let us think a little: carbon dioxide, which is toxic, is converted into useful oxygen by plants. So, the air gets cleaned.

     - What happens if the air does not get cleaned?

     - After a while, the increased carbon dioxide in the air will poison and kill living beings.
It will not stop there. Fruits and foods are also produced from that toxic gas, carbon dioxide.

     - For whom?

    - For plants, animals and people.

    - So, where is struggle in it? Is that a struggle or mutual assistance?

    - Dowe get not the nutrients our bodies need from the food we eat?

    - So, when did we struggle with the nutrients that are beneficial to our bodies and make them beneficial to our bodies? For example, what war did we win against beans or potatoes?

Plants are also the food of animals. Manure, which is the waste material of animals is the food of plants. That is an example of worldwide cooperation.

The need of animals for plants and the need of plants for animal manure and insects in pollination are very clear. Is this a struggle or solidarity?

The Law of Answering One Another’s Needs

In this universe, plants help animals, animals help plants, and they both are assigned to help humans.

The law that is related to answering one another’s needs that occur among living beings, and even non-livingbeings (the cloud and the earth) is called the law of answering one another’s needs.

Is it regarded a struggle to send the water needed by plants, animals and people to the places where it is needed by the clouds, or is it answering the needs of living beings? What kind of a philosophy is that it considers sending of mercy (rain) from heaven a struggle?

However, in this universe, plants help animals, animals help plants, and they both are assigned to help humans.

In a research, it was found that approximately 5,000 herrings were in the stomach of a large whale, 7,000 small shrimps in the stomach of each herring, and 130,000 plankton in each shrimp.

Are the plants that are primary producers not the raw materials of consumer animals, which are like milk and meat factories? As it is understood from it, animals need to move, make efforts and work for feeding. This does not mean their struggle against plants but their efforts and works to survive.

If a man touring a large factory thinks that the wheels of the factory are fighting against each other and that the noise he hears is screaming and asking for help, he will make a big mistake. Can we liken the part of a sugar factory that takes the raw material (sugar beets) inside to the pharynx of a monster and think that it swallows sugar beets? Is it possible to say that animals that eat plants struggle against plants?

The same laws as the ones on the land are valid in the seas.

The source of food for the animals living in the se is algae.  On land, plants are the food of animals; something similar is valid in all aquatic environments (seas that cover 3/4 of the earth). Small photosynthetic organisms, called phytoplankton, which float freely in the water, live in the seas in a large scale. They are algae; they constitute the most important food for the living beings in water. These small organisms in the high seas resemble meadows and pastures of the land. Therefore, they are generally known as "meadow of the sea" and "bread of the sea".

If the big fish did not eat the small fish, these nutrients in the seas, which exist in large quantities, the sea would stink because they were not consumed and life would become unbearable.

Marine life depends on those small organisms because they constitute the main food source of the seas. An average of two trillion tons of small plants (phytoplankton) are produced every year in the seas. Sea creatures should consume this amount. Otherwise, the increasing amount will accumulate there and make the sea, which is a source of life, uninhabitable. Small animals (such as zooplankton and shrimp) and small fish eat those small plants (phytoplankton). And, they are the food source of big fish.

In a research, it was found that approximately 5,000 herrings were in the stomach of a large whale, 7,000 small shrimps in the stomach of each herring, and 130,000 plankton in each shrimp.

To sum up, there is an extremely measured and balanced food chain in the seas. If the big fish did not eat the small fish, these nutrients in the seas, which exist in large quantities, the sea would stink because they were not consumed and life would become unbearable. The eggs of a fish that lays millions of eggs simultaneously (one mullet lays five million eggs at a time) are the offspring of the fish as well as food source for living beings. These phytoplankton (small plantlets) are produced in large quantities for the sustainability of life. There are about 1 million of these living beings in a teaspoon of water. Those unicellular beings constitute the basis of the food source of other living beings; in addition, according to one estimation, they produce about 80% of the oxygen (which constitutes of21% the atmosphere) in the atmosphere,[4],[5]

Who is the being that creates and manages those microscopic organisms and that assigns them the vital task of oxygen production? Can all these wiseand purposeful creations be regarded as a struggle?

The Relationship between Flowers and Insects

We can give the relationship between flowers and insects as an example that the relationship between animals and plants is meetingthe needs of each other, helping each other and hence helping humanity. The abundance of insects and flowers on earth is closely related to the fact that those two living organisms help each other. More than two-thirds (80%) of flowering plants are inseminated by insects and continue living. Insects feed on pollen and honey nectar,.[6],[7]

The insects traveling from flower to flower to collect honey nectar and pollen  are conducive to fertilizing flowers. That is, they mate flowers. Thus, plants can continue their progeny as a result of this mating. There are a wide variety of forms of insects’ help and service toplants and hence humanity through pollination. We would like to draw attention to the fact that the relationship among living beings is not based on struggle, but on solidarity through the example of bees:

Bees have a huge role in pollination. This was proved by a simple experiment. One of the two pear branches fullof flowers was wrapped with thin cheesecloth so that the bees could not enter and the other one was left open. At the time of fruiting, a large amount of pears formed on the branch that was left open but not even a single pear formed on the branch covered with cheesecloth. Doubtlessly, bees do not know about this aid of theirs to plants. However, it is seen that the Law of Mutual Help and Answering One Another’s Needs is effective in the cooperation of those living organisms. We said that bees had a very important duty in pollination. When bees perform this task, they start to collect the nectar of a type of flower in the morning and always visit the same kind of flowers during the day, ensuring pollination among the flowers of this species more easily and safely. In this way, the bees contribute to the increase of fruit yield in orchards thanks to their service to pollination. Thus, their benefit becomes sweeter and more valuable than honey.[8]

Example of Symbiosis: Lichens

There are many kinds of living together on the basis of mutual benefit in the world of living beings. Living together by complementing each other’s missing part and meetingeach other’s needs is called symbiosis. There are many examples of this in the plantand animal kingdom. In the plant kingdom, we see the most beautiful example of this symbiosis in the living group of “Lichens”, which are resistant to all kinds of adverse life conditions. Lichens are symbiotic living beings that some algae and some fungi form differently from their own structures and characteristics. Fungus cells fulfill some duties like obtaining water, carbon dioxide, mineral matter and housing that algae need as their share of partnership and algae cells producenutrients and oxygen through photosynthesis as their share.

This partnership, which was founded by two unconscious beings, continues without any interruption and fighting. They even convey the same feature to their offspring. Isit not interesting that those living beings, who are unaware of cooperation and partnership, start a life to support each other? In fact, their forming a symbiosis that meets the needs of each other is a clear example showing that the beings in the universe help one another, meet the needs of one another and are in solidarity.

Let us give an example related to the Law of Mutual Assistance and Answering One Another’s Needs from the animal kingdom. The partnership between a type of crab (Pagurus) and  sea anemone (Actinia), a crab species, is very interesting. The crab hides its back part in an empty snail shell. A sea anemone is also on the snail shell. The sea anemone poisons and paralyzes the animals approaching them by throwing its burning, poisonous capsules like a skillful hunter. However, it does not prevent the crab from entering the snail shell. The crab functions like feet for the anemone and they travel together. The sea anemone protects the crab from the enemy attack with its burning capsules. The crab shreds the animals that the sea anemone hunts and obtains its food; it leaves some food to the sea anemone. Thus, they hunt, feed and wander together. Both of them continue this partnership gladly without dissolving it..[9]

Biological Struggle or Biological Balance?

As it is understood from the examinations that were made, harmful results occur when the balance that occurs as a result of a delicate plan is disturbed by the human hand. For instance, man encourages the hunting of the birds that he considers harmful. He wages waron insects and uses all kinds of pesticides thinking, "they harm agricultural products".However, when the species that man thinks is harmful is threatened with extinction, he faces great problems. Finally, man realizes his mistake and begins to strive for the maintenance of natural balance. An interesting example of this took place in the continent of Australia in 1835. A type of cactus was brought from America to Australia. This plant proliferated rapidly in a short time and started to invade the continent; it covered an area almost the size of England. As a result of this invasion, daily life was paralyzed in many villages and towns, and migrations started.Thereupon, a research was made andthe reason for the rapid growth of the plant was found out: It was the lack of a butterfly named Cactoblastis cactorum in the places where the cactus proliferated because that insect kept the growth of the cactus under control.Since there was no such insect in Australia, there was no mechanism to control the growth of the cactus.

Thereupon, that butterfly of American origin was taken to the continent of Australia and was reproduced there; after that the cactus was taken under control. Today, humanity takes advantage of such living beings, particularlyto increase agricultural crops, by taking lessons that living things control each other and maintain the natural balance. For this reason, the best measure in destroying harmful plants and living beings is biological measures made with living beings that provide natural control. Rather than a war, it involves controlling pests that produce anarchy in nature with living beings that are the police force of the system in nature. This is also service to life.

The red ants are a good example. It was found that the red forest ants (Formica rufa) destroyed 14 million kg of insects in the Alps in Italy over a period of 200 days.

There are other examples too. For example, studies showed that a bird of swallow species that weigh 100 g feeds on an average 25-30 grams of insects per day. It was found that a colony of 1200 birds consumed 7600 kg of insects together with their youngs over a 180-day period.[10]

If this service of birds and ants against harmful insects were to be carried out by using 3 kg of pesticides per decare, tons of medicine would have to be used in large agricultural and forest areas. In addition, those pesticides would kill many harmless living beings as well as pests, causing more harm to the quality of the soil, destroying animal (fauna) and plant (flora) communities to a large extent.

The Law of Subjugation and Compassion

Animals being at the disposal of human beings (subjugation) and all mothers being made serve their babies (compassion) are the laws imposed on nature.

If the strong won in life, elephants, horses and similar animals would not be in the service of man, but vice versa.

If the strong won in life, elephants, horses and similar animals would not be in the service of man, but vice versa.

The power that prepares life conditions for all living beings in the world prepares the fetus in the womb for life conditions. The same mercy and power make all the mothers rush to help weak babies, making the predatory lion a servant for her cub.

However, the weakest creature among the created beings is the human being because he is in need of learning, care and protection beginning from the day he is born. However, everything has been put into his service. He was sent to the universe as an honorable guest.                                                         

It is enough for those who say “life is a struggle” to think only of the stages they went through to come to the world to realize that life is solidarity.

All parts, from the smallest screw to the largest wheel, work together for one purpose. There is a perfect order in everything, from atoms to galaxies.

For, everything is made rush to help the helpless baby. Does the prevention of any pressure on the mother’s body to protect the fetus by a solid membrane that is filled with liquid surrounding the fetus and that is cleaned every three hours and every precaution taken for the health of the fetus take place as a result of the struggle of the fetus? The universe works like a very regular factory.

How many days did those who accept life as a struggle manage to extract milk from their mother’s breasts through struggle? Or how many years did they struggle to make the sun serve them?

With what force did they clothe the atmosphere around the world as armor?

The power that prepares life conditions for all living beings in the world prepares the fetus in the womb for life conditions. The same mercy and power make all the mothers rush to help weak babies, making the predatory lion a servant for her cub.

The idea that "life is a struggle" originates from Darwin’s view of "struggle to live" or "natural selection" as noted above.

According to this view, living beings that can find nutrients survive while the weak ones die and disappear. In other words, the diminishing and proliferation of living beings depend only on nutrition. However, recent studies have revealed that the diminishing and proliferation of living beings is not related only to nutrition but especially to climate factors.

Since need and sustenance are not dependent on working with power, the feeding of the young individuals is the best example showing that sustenance is inversely proportional to power. For, the ones that are fed the best among us are babies, who are the weakest.

If everyone benefited from nature in proportion to their power,elephants and rhinos would eat the sweetest baklava and the most wonderful fruits, and the young animals and babies would eat the worst food.

However, the reality is completely the opposite. Even the strongest creatures are in the service and assistance of the most helpless young ones.

Conclusion

That some predators prey on weak animals and that big fish eat small fish is not a struggle and fight, but the natural balance in the universe and a necessity of life.

In conclusion, it is possible to say that the universe works like a very regular factory. All parts, from the smallest screw to the largest wheel, work together for one purpose. There is a perfect order in everything, from atoms to galaxies. An optimal solidarity is seen in everything, from the sun to the eye cells. The most distant thing and the closest thing help each other. All living and non-living beings, whether big or small, were created to meet one another’s needs. Here are the examples in the broadest sense: Light and heat from the sun help all living beings. The rain descending from heaven as mercy meets the needs of all living beings on earth.

In short, life on earth continues with the automatic operation of thefactory of the universe.

That some predators prey on weak animals and that big fish eat small fish is not a struggle and fight, but the natural balance in the universe and a necessity of life.

The following is understood from all this:

     -Life is solidarity.
     -Life is an effort.
     -Life is an activity.
     -Life is a work and action.
     -Life is not a struggle and fight.

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[1] Nursi, Badiuzzaman, S. Sözler. Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı Yayınları-600. 2nd impression, Ankara, 2016.
[2] Boney,A.D.,1976. Phytoplankton, by Edward Arnold (Publishers) Limited, London.
[3] Reece. Urry. Cain. Wasserman. Minorsky Jackson,2011. Campbell Biology. Published by Pearson Education Inc. Benjamin Cummings. USA.
[4] Altuner, Z., 2009.Tohumsuz Bitkiler Sistematiği-I., Aktif Yayınevi, Istanbul.
[5] Tatlı, Â. 1993. Merak Ettiklerimiz I. CihanYayınları. Istanbul.
[6] Reece. Urry. Cain. Wasserman. Minorsky Jackson,2011.ibid.
[7] Ünal,M.,1992. Bitki (Angiosperm) Embriyolojisi. Marmara Üniversitesi Yayını. Istanbul.
[8] Tatlı, Â. 1993. ibid
[9] Tatlı, Â. 1993. ibid
[10] Tatlı, Â. 1993. ibid
[11] Tatlı, Â. 2015. Bilimler Işığında Yaratılış. Üsküdar Üniversitesi Yayınları-2. Istanbul.

Hz. Adam and Hz. Hawwa (Eve) were created in Paradise. The bodies of Hz. Adam and Hz. Hawwa in Paradise were the same as the ones when they were sent down to the world. For, they were human beings in both places. The human body is certain.  

“We said: ‘O Adam! dwell thou and thy wife in the Garden; and eat of the bountiful things therein as (where and when) ye will; but approach not this tree, or ye run into harm and transgression.’” (al-Baqara, 2/35)

"…Their shame became manifest to them, and they began to sew together the leaves of the garden over their bodies..." (al-Araf, 7/22)

It is possible to understand from the verses above that they were in Paradise with their bodies. For, eating and dressing belong to that body.

People will go to Paradise with their spirits and bodies. Many verses of the Quran indicates this fact.

Prof.Dr. Hasan AKAN
Harran University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Head of Biology Department, Şanlıurfa.
[email protected]

There is a good harmony between man and nature. All living things complement each other in harmony and form a full environmental balance. Plants are virtually the key to life and source of inspiration in this ecological balance.

Each plant has a meaning value in terms of mystical and spiritual views. These meaning values, which add beauty and esthetics to human soul, also include magnificent beauties for those who seek divine love.

We should thank Allah, who put the whole universe including plants under our order and appointed us as their commander of the universe, and we should not fall behind the trees, flowers and herbs that glorify and praise Allah with hundreds of thousands of tongues every moment.

Our realm of heart becomes more beautiful with greenery; sometimes a beautiful scene can affect our hearts for a week. The colors, scents and ornaments of flowers attract attention in terms of their harmony with human nature. There is a virtually coding between humans and flowers. A mutual interaction between man and plants is perceived. Flowers have spiritual meanings that involve the eyes, the nose and the ears.

In our belief, it is evaluated by priceless rewards to try to solve the language of beings by means of deep research and understanding their wisdom and aims. It is even said that “An hour of meditation is better than a year of supererogatory  worshipping”.

Will they not look or see, will they not take lessons? Verse of the Quran

Plants have been an integral part of human life since the first human being. When we say plants, oxygen comes to mind first. All of the oxygen required for life is provided by plants. Production of oxygen by plants is a giant miracle that transcends chemistry and biology.

Plants were sometimes used as a source of food, sometimes for shelter and security purposes, sometimes as a weapon in wars and sometimes in perfumery and cosmetics.

The existence of plants is indispensable for the survival of life on earth. We need plants in every field of life. Both the cradle in which we are put when we are born and the coffin in which we are put when we die for are made of wood.

Plants are a wonder of art with their appearance and roles in the ecosystem. The colors, scents and ornaments of flowers are divine grants and gifts.

We should not underestimate plants. No human can do what plants do. If we named things based on what they do, it would be more appropriate to call each green leaf “a factory of oxygen and food”. Dr. Calvin was awarded the Nobel Prize for explaining one of the many skills of a leaf. Even the most intelligent people could understand very little about the purpose of the creation of green grass. Nevertheless, no scientist has been able to do what a grass does. What man needs to do the related to divine art is to accept that he is weak. Therefore, it is necessary to read the secrets and spiritual messages in plants from the viewpoint of the soul.

Meditation means the seeing by the soul’s eye and understanding the wisdom behind the creation of the creatures. As a matter of fact, our holy book, the Quran, invites us to meditate. In a sense, meditation is the basis for understanding and comprehending the existence. In the Quran, Allah asks man repeatedly, "Will they not look or see, will they not take lessons?" [1] she asks. He calls people to think/meditate through different examples. For this reason, it is the method of Hz. Ibrahim (Abraham) to investigate evidences and to try to strengthen belief. He looked at the moon and the sun and said that those who set could not be deities.

The flowers that add beauty to our world, the forests that add peace to life, the fruits and vegetables that decorate our table are worth contemplating and meditating.

Botanists have not been able to solve the secrets of plants fully yet. Botany has dozens of sub-branches: Plant Morphology, Plant Physiology, Plant Systematics, Pharmaceutical Botany, Paleobotany, Ethnobotany, Geobotany, Plant Sociology, Plant Ecology, Plant Genetics, etc. In all these sub-sciences, the positivist view presents a dry botanical knowledge. However, the flowers that add beauty to our world, the forests that add peace to life, the fruits and vegetables that decorate our table should also be meaningful in our world of thought. A spiritual value should also be considered beyond the physical value of everything.

The Importance of Trees and Greenery in the Quran

The Quran, our holy book, attracts attention to the ecological balance between man and the universe and states that man is connected with the universe. The following is stated in the Holy Quran; “There are signs in every plant for a thinking person and society.” (ash-Shuara / 7-9) The trees are granted a high degree in the Quran since Allah swears by them:“By the Fig and the Olive” (at-Tin 95/1) Verses about trees are seen in many places throughout the Quran from the first to the last chapters. [2] These reminders are often made in the Holy Quran and the image of “tree” is kept alive in people’s minds.

The Importance of Trees and Greenery in Hadiths

The Prophet (pbuh) gives glad tidings to the people who plant trees in hadiths:

“If Doomsday strikes and if one of you has a sapling in his hand, let him plant it.”. [3]

Planting trees is an ongoing charity (sadaqah jariyah).

The Prophet (pbuh) gives glad tidings to the people who plant trees in hadiths:

“If a Muslim plants a tree or a plant, everything that is eaten from it is a sadaqah (charity) for him, everything that the beasts or the birds eat from it is a sadaqah for him, everything that a person takes from it is a sadaqah for him”. [4]

Watch the Nature in Green (Mawlana)

According to Mawlana, “We should listen to the sound and music in the plants”. Mawlana says, “A stone will not bloom even if it lives for one thousand springs”.We need to hear this sound if ourfeelings are not frozen and petrified. Mawlana explains the manner of watching plants as follows in a poem:

“Go to the countryside; watch the vineyards and the nature dressed in green. It looks as if there is a florist’s in every corner; watch the art of Allah. The roses smile and say to the nightingales: "Keep silent and watch in silence."”

We are invited to take pleasure from meditation by listening to the  dhikr of the plants accompanied by the music of the universe. It is the greatest spiritual wealth to listen to the voice of the glorification and dhikr of Allah by the beings in the universe. The tune of the dhikr of plants and trees is likened to the “strings of music”. It is even said that “the membrane in the ear hears the spiritual sounds coming from the universe when it is illuminated by the light of belief”. [5] The universe is virtually likened to a divine music circle.

Go to the countryside; watch the vineyards and the nature dressed in green. It looks as if there is a florist’s in every corner; watch the art of Allah. The roses smile and say to the nightingales: "Keep silent and watch in silence." Mawlana

The Importance of Plants in Risale-i Nur

Badiuzzaman Said Nursi, who wrote Risale-i Nur Quranic Tafsir, gave great importance to trees and greenery. He calls the plant kingdom “Nabatat”. He presents plants as the miraculous works of mercy and wisdom written on the earth and displayed on the page of spring.

The atoms and subatomic particles that make up the leaves and flowers of a plant are always mobile. Since their movement is a kind of speech, the tree becomes a dhikr circle when the movement of branches, leaves and flowers with the wind is considered.

According to Nursi, plants glorify and praise Allah in their own language, and plants and trees adorn their beautiful fruits and present them to humans. He expresses it as follows:

“The well-proportioned and balanced assemblages of the beings are all testifying tongues. And their perfect lives are all glorifying tongues”. [6]

Thus, the forms of the beings are their tongues in a sense and the plant kingdom tells us with their adorned and comforting forms that they are the works of the Creator.

They testify the existence of their Creator with well-proportioned structures that are in compliance with benefit and wisdom.

They glorify and praise their Creator with the perfect continuation of their lives.

Nursi considers the movement in beings as their silent speech in a way and states the following:

“The activity of divine power in the universe and the constant flood of beings are so meaningful that through them the All-Wise Maker causes all the realms of beings in the universe to speak. It is as if the beings of the earth and the skies and their motion and actions are the words of their speech; their motion is their speech. That is, the motion and decline arising from activity is speech glorifying God. The activity in the universe is the universe’s silent speech and that of the varieties of its beings; their being made to speak”. [7]

The movement of atoms in solid matter is little. It is more in liquid matter and much more in the air. That is, the atoms forming the substances are mobile. The electrons around the atom are made rotate around themselves and make 50,000 revolutions per second in a certain orbit around the atom.

The neutrons in the nucleus of the atom are also made rotate in a certain orbit. In addition, subatomic particles, namely, quarks, muons, pions, neutrinos are also mobile.

On the other hand, the atoms and subatomic particles that make up the leaves and flowers of a plant are always mobile. Since their movement is a kind of speech, the tree becomes a dhikr circle when the movement of branches, leaves and flowers with the wind is considered.

Badiuzzaman said Nursi expresses what the plants want to say with their movements as follows:

“If you want to observe these elevated truths from close, go andask the spring; you will hear many Names like: “O Gentle One! O Most Merciful One! O Most Compassionate One! O Most Generous One! O Gracious One! O Benevolent One! O Giver of Forms! O Giver of Light! O Bestower! O Adorner!”.[8]

Plants are Sustenance and They Come from the Sustainer

Human beings use more than forty thousand plants and animals as nutrients. Thanks to the nutrients, our cells are renewed and our tissues are repaired.

Badiuzzaman Said Nursi points out that trees carry the food of animals on their heads:

“Now look, a strange caravan has appeared, coming from the Unseen. [9] The mounts in it resemble trees, plants, and mountains. Each bears a tray of provisions on its head. And look, they are bringing the provisions for the various animals awaiting them on this side.”. [10]

Plants are a Source of Cure for Humans

The universe is a pharmacy. The pharmaceutical authorities of the world have started to give up tablets, and have begun to searchwhich plant species is good for which disease. Every plant is definitely a cure for a disease. What matters is to be able to discover it like Doctor Luqman, the pioneer of doctors. The universe is a great pharmacy. There are many plants mentioned in the Prophetic Medicine. All synthetic drugs are chemical substances. Therefore, they all have side effects. The biggest side effects are seen in the kidney and liver. Our beloved Prophet (pbuh) stated the following said 14 centuries ago:

“This black grain (cumin) includes cure for everything except death.”

From Plant Seeds to Genetic Codes

A seed first breaks down; then,it begins to develop by the Divine permission; it comes out of the ground, grows and becomes a sapling. Then, it becomes a tree, ramifies, blooms, and finally the flowers are transformed into fruits, whichform the sustenance of humans and animals.

God Almighty keeps all the features of the tree, everything that has happened to it in the genetic structure in the form of codes.

In fruits, there is a genetic structure encoded into seeds that is more delicious than the fruit itself and sweeter than sugar. God Almighty keeps all the features of the tree, everything that has happened to it in the genetic structure in the form of codes. In the second spring, these codes are opened and everything that has happened to that treeis shown as the manifestations of Asma al-Husna (the Most Beautiful Names of Allah).

Nursi expresses that God Almighty, who records everything that has happened to the tree with his name al-Hafiz (the All-Preserving One), records what happens to man similarly as follows:

“The One Who preserves a fig tree’s seed while it is changing into a fig, and does not allow it to rot in the ground so that it can grow into a fig tree—that All-Preserving and Protecting One Who protects all other plants and animals—will not neglect the deeds of humanity, His vicegerent on Earth”.[11]

The Wonderful Designs the Perfect Timing in Plants  

The adornment of trees with leaves in the spring season and their decoration with flowers tell people something with the special mouths of the leaves and the special language of the flowers.

Badiuzzaman Said Nursi expresses it as follows:

“Come, now look carefully at a tree! See its delicate mouth within the orderly emergence of the leaves in spring, and the blossoms opening in a measured manner, and the fruits swelling with wisdom and mercy and dancing at the blowing of the breeze in the hands of the branches like innocent children.” Badiuzzaman

“Come, now look carefully at a tree! See its delicate mouth within the orderly emergence of the leaves in spring, and the blossoms opening in a measured manner, and the fruits swelling with wisdom and mercy and dancing at the blowing of the breeze in the hands of the branches like innocent children. See the just balance within the wise order expressed through the tongue of the leaves becoming green at a generous hand, through that of the flowers smiling with the joy of a favor received, and through the words of the fruits laughing through a manifestation of mercy. See the careful arts and embroideries within the balance demonstrating justice; and the mercy within the skillful embroideries and adornment; and the various sweet tastes and delightful scents, which indicate mercy and bestowal; and the seeds, each of which is a miracle of power within the agreeable tastes: all these point in most clear fashion to the necessary existence and unity of an All-Wise, Generous, Compassionate, Beneficent, Bountiful Maker, a Bestower of Beauty and Favors, to the beauty of His mercy and perfection of His dominicality.”.[12]

He expresses as follows that leaves finer than broadcloth and flowers whiter than linen are woven in the loom of the spring with the opening of the seeds:

“...For example, a poppy seed like an atom, the kernel of an apricot stone, and a tiny melon seed, produce from the treasury of mercy woven leaves finer than broadcloth, flowers whiter than linen, and fruits sweeter than sugar and more delicate and delicious than sweets and conserves, and they offer them to us.”. [13]

It means, a Sustainer decorates the plants and trees with beautiful fruits and presents them to people.

As anyone can understand with a little attention, it is Allah who sends all fruits and boons intentionally and deliberately at the appropriate time, in the season and in times of need. All the beauty in the universe comes from Allah. All beings are divine mirrors. The universe changes and is renewed any all the time. All of the beauties that appear in this universe come from such a beautiful being that this constantly changing and renewed universe depicts and describes the beauty of that beautiful one with all of its beings and their languages that serve as mirrors.

The Designation of Trees and Animals According to Humans

It is stated as follows that trees are prepared, clothed and decorated in accordance with the needs of human beings:

Plants and animals are designed and created according to human needs.

“In the spring, all the trees are garbed in clothes as fine as silk, just like the houris in Paradise; they are encrusted with flowers and fruits, as if with jewels, and caused to offer us numerous varieties of the choicest fruits, on branches delicately outstretched like the hands of a servant. Similarly, we are given wholesome and sweet honey to eat, from the hand of the bee with its sting; we are clothed in the finest and softest of clothes by means of an insect that has no hands; and within a small seed a great treasure of mercy is preserved for us. It is self-evident that all of this is the effect of a most beauteous generosity, a most delicate sense of mercy.”. [14]

Just as people wear jewelry on their clothes to embellish themselves so too are flowers and fruits placed on the clothes of the trees.So, the trees were designed as servants to us, but not as servant in shabby clothes. The plants are dressed in beautiful dresses, and flowers and fruits are placed on the dresses of the trees.

That is, plants and animals are designed and created according to human needs.

Plants are also Evidences of Oneness

Badiuzzaman attracts attention to the look at the beings in the universe. He mentions the difference between looking and seeing. He states that it is necessary to look at the creatures and the whole universe with the significative meaning, that is, on behalf of Allah and as the art and work of Allah:

“It is necessary to look at the universe with the significative meaning, that is, on behalf of Allah. It is a mistake to look at them with the nominal meaning, on behalf of causes.

Yes, everything has two aspects. One aspect looks at God and the other looks at people. The aspect that looks at people should be like a veil that will show the aspect looking at God, like veil with laces or a transparent piece of glass, showing the aspect looking at God under it. Therefore, when we look at a boon, the Bestower should come to mind; when we look at the art, the Artist should come to mind and when we look at the causes, the Real Doer should come to mind.”. [15]

It is stated as follows that the adornment of the mountains and hills with flowers is evidence for  the existence and oneness of Allah:

When we look at plants with significative meaning, it is understood that all leaves, flowers and fruits witness the existence and oneness of Allah with their shapes, structures and functions.

“Also, just as, being adorned with numerous varieties of well-ordered flowers, the small hills in the plains and among the mountains each testifies to the necessary existence of an All-Wise Maker and points to His unity, and all together show the majesty of His sovereignty and the perfection of His dominicality, so the great variety of the orderly shapes of all the leaves of the grasses and trees, and all their different stages and states and well-balanced and ecstatic movements again show the necessary existence and unity and perfect dominicality of the All-Wise Maker.

Also, just as the regular development at the time of their growth of all living bodies, and each being equipped with all sorts of organs and their being directed consciously towards numerous different fruits again testify to the necessary existence of the All-Wise Maker and indicate His unity, and in their totality show on a truly vast scale His all-encompassing power, and all-embracing wisdom, and the beauty of His art, and the perfection of His dominicality”. [16]

Thus, when we look at plants with significative meaning, it is understood that all leaves, flowers and fruits witness the existence and oneness of Allah with their shapes, structures and functions.

There are also Evidences Related to Resurrection in Trees

Badiuzzaman Said Nursi points out that the death of the seed is the beginning of a new life:

“The death of the seed is the onset of the shoot’s life. Indeed, since its death is like life itself, it is created and regular the same as life is.

Similarly, as a seed sown in the ground becomes a tree in the world of the air, so a man who is laid in the earth will surely produce the shoots of an everlasting life in the Intermediate Realm. Badiuzzaman

Moreover, the death of living fruits or animals in the human stomach is the beginning of their rising to the level of human life; it may therefore be said that being thus, their death is more orderly and created than is their life.

If the death of plant life, the lowest level of life, is created, wise, and ordered in that way, the death that befalls human life, the highest level of life, must be the same. Similarly, as a seed sown in the ground becomes a tree in the world of the air, so a man who is laid in the earth will surely produce the shoots of an everlasting life in the Intermediate Realm”. [17]

One Who has disposal over the universal death and revivification in the alternation of the seasons on the earth; and a pen of power inscribes the mighty globe with the ease and orderliness of a garden or even a tree, and the splendid spring with the facility and symmetrical adornment of a flower, and the species of plants and animals as though they were three hundred thousand books displaying three hundred thousand samples of resurrection, all one within the other and intermingled and mixed up together yet without disarrangement or disorder, all resembling each other yet without confusion, error, or fault; perfectly, regularly, and meaningfully; and since despite this vast profusion that One works with boundless mercy and infinite wisdom…”

It is pointed out as follows that a power that revives in the spring all the plants that die in the autumn can easily resurrect:

“Yes, if one considers the power which every spring raises to life identically the roots of all the trees and plants and creates the three hundred thousand plant and animal samples of the resurrection of the dead, and if one visualizes the thousand year period of each of the communities of Moses and Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon them), and they are pictured in the imagination, it will be seen that the two thousand springs display a thousand samples of resurrection and a thousand evidences. [18] It is to be blind and unreasonable a thousand times over to consider bodily resurrection difficult for such a power.[19]

Paradise is Described as Garden

Allah describes Paradise in the Quran as the woods through which rivers flow.

Hebrew: It comes from the word Eden. Eden means "garden in land of fruit".

Arabic: al-Jannah: It means garden, shade and vineyard.

You may see the manifestation of a Name’s beauty in a single flower; the spring is also a flower; Paradise is a flower yet unseen. If you can visualize the whole of spring and see Paradise with the eye of belief, you may understand the utter majesty of everlasting Beauty. Badiuzzaman

It is stated that eternal fruitful trees and flowering plants are prepared in Paradise in a way that is worthy of Paradise as follows:

“Also, these precious gifts and bounties and this extraordinary outlay and bestowal, in this temporary hostel and transitory guest-house, for this brief time and fleeting life, indicate through the hands of the trees and plants, indeed, testify, that in order not to make all creatures say, contrary to the necessary result of all His expense and bestowal which is to make Himself loved and known: “You gave us a taste, but then executed us without permitting us to eat;” and not to nullify the sovereignty of His Godhead, and not deny His infinite mercy and make it denied, and in order not to turn all his yearning friends into enemies through depriving them thus, the munificent All-Compassionate One has of a certainty prepared for His servants whom He will send to an everlasting realm, an eternal world, fruit-bearing trees, and flowering plants appropriate to Paradise out of the treasuries of His mercy, in His eternal Paradises. Those here are merely samples to show the customers”. [20]

Paradise is a Flower Yet Unseen

Nursi describes Paradise asa flower yet unseen:

“You may see the manifestation of a Name’s beauty in a single flower; the spring is also a flower; Paradise is a flower yet unseen. If you can visualize the whole of spring and see Paradise with the eye of belief, you may understand the utter majesty of everlasting Beauty. If you respond to that Beauty with the beauty of belief and worship, you will be a most beautiful creature. While if you meet it with the boundless ugliness of misguidance and loathsomeness of rebellion, you will be both a most ugly creature and will in effect be loathed by all beautiful creatures”. [21]

The Company of Houris is also a Flower

Houris are also described as flowers:

“Thus, Paradise is a flower. The company of houris is also a flower. The face of the earth is a flower. The spring is a flower. The heavens are a flower, while the stars are their gilded embroideries. And the sun is a flower, while the seven colours in its light are the flower’s embroidered colors. The universe is a beautiful and huge human being, in the same way that each human being is a miniature universe.” [22]

Paradise Tree: Tuba Tree

It is stated that the root of this tree is above and its branches hang down. The fruits of those trees do not run out since new fruits will be created instead of the fruits that are picked in Paradise.

Like human beings and animals here, the trees and stones there (in Paradise) will understand commands and carry them out. If you tell a tree to bring you such-and-such a fruit, it will bring it. And if you tell such-and-such a stone to come, it will come. Badiuzzaman

Although plants are half alive and stones are lifeless in this world, they will attain such an advanced level of life as to obey orders in the hereafter. It is stated that the trees and stones there will have a more advanced level of life than the animals here as follows:

“Substances, matters, which are inanimate and without consciousness and life in the abode of this world, there will be living and conscious. Like human beings and animals here, the trees and stones there will understand commands and carry them out. If you tell a tree to bring you such-and-such a fruit, it will bring it. And if you tell such-and-such a stone to come, it will come. Since stones and trees will take on this elevated form, it surely necessitates that, together with preserving their bodily realities, eating, drinking, and sexual relations also will take on a form higher than their worldly form, higher to the degree that Paradise is higher than this world”. [23]

Conclusion

Trees have an effect that gives people tranquility, makes them considerate, that makes hearts feel joyful and secure. Man loves flowers naturally. Plants are virtually “a feast for the eyes that watch”.

We should detect the secret behind beauty. We should sense the meaning that a flower has beyond its material existence. When we are interested only in the material aspects of plants, we condemn them to meaninglessness.

The following is stated in the article titled "Consciousness in Plants: Skills Deprived of Intelligence" in Nature, the international journal of science: “Plant cells communicate with one another using sometimes proteins and hormones, sometimes nucleic acid, carbohydrates and sugars, and sometimes chemical and electrical signals.” The positivist view attributes it to nature and chance completely.

There is virtually a harmony and interaction between man and plants. We should not forget the aspects of flowers that affect our eyes, nose, heart and inner world. We should also read the meanings reflected by flowers in Sufistic and spiritual sense. In fact, in Sufism, “Rose represents Hz. Muhammad(pbuh). It is narrated that the sweat of the Prophet smells like roses. Rose is related to the Prophet and Tulip is related to Allah”.

Plants are heralds of divine grace… Theones in the worldare merely samples to show the customers. He has prepared fruit-bearing trees, and flowering plants appropriate to Paradise out of the treasuries of His mercy, in His eternal Paradises.

The similes of Nursi related to plants can be summarized as follows:

• Trees are likened to wagons of mercy coming from the Unknown.
• Trees are the pulpit of birds; they deliver their sermon to people there.
• Trees are likened to dervishes in tranquility in the presence of Allah.
• Trees are Allah’s works of art.
• The universe is also a tree; its fruit and seed is man.
• The religion of Islam is also a tree. Its seed and fruit is Hz. Muhammad.
• Every tree that has blossomed is a beautifully written poem, a eulogy praising Allah.
• The tree is a Divine showcase.
• The tree is a displayer. He presents divine fruits to humans.
• Fruity trees are bowls. Boons are offered to people in those bowls.
• Plants come in groups and they are presented to the Pre-Eternal Sultan on parade.
• Every tree says Bismillah and brings the fruits of mercy.

In conclusion, the colors, scents and ornaments of flowers are remarkable with their suitability to human nature. There is virtually a harmony and programming between man and flowers. It is necessary “to love” and “to know the meaning a flower” has beyond its material existence.

We should thank Allah, who put the whole universe including plants under our order and appointed us as their commander of the universe, and we should not fall behind the trees, flowers and herbs that glorify and praise Allah with hundreds of thousands of tongues every moment.

----------------------------------------------------

[1] Yusuf, 12/105.
[2] See the following verses of the Quran about trees and greenery: Surah al Baqarah, 35; Surah al-An'am, 141; Surah al-A'raf, 19-20, 22; Surah ar-Ra'd, 4; Surah al-Ibrahim, 26; Surah an-Nahl, 10-11, 13, 67-68; Surah al-Isra, 60; Surah at-Taha, 120; Surah al-Hajj, 5, 18; Surah al-Mu'min, 19-20; Surah an-Nur, 35; Surah an-Naml, 60; Surah al-Qasas, 30; Surah Luqman, 27; Surah as-Sajdah, 27; Surah al-Saba', 16; Surah Ya Sin, 80; Surah as-Saffat, 146; Surah ad-Dukhan, 43; Surah al-Fath, 18; Surah Qaf, 10; Surah ar-Rahman, 6; Surah al-Waqi'ah, 28-29, 52, 72; Surah al-Hashr, 5; Surah Abasa, 27-32.
[3] Ahmad, III, 191, 183.
[4] Muslim, Musaqat, 7.
[5] Nursi, Badiuzzaman, S. İşârât’ül İ’câz. Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı Yayınları-983. Second Impression, Ankara, 2014, p. 214.
[6] Nursi, Badiuzzaman, S. Sözler. Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı Yayınları-600, Istanbul, 2nd Impression, 2016, p. 824.
[7] Nursi, Badiuzzaman, S. Mektubat. Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı Yayınları-605, Ankara, 2nd impression 2016, p. 365.
[8] Nursi, Badiuzzaman, S. Sözler. ibid, p. 400-401
[9] They are the caravans of plants and trees that carry the sustenance for all animals.
[10] Nursi, Badiuzzaman, S. Sözler. ibid, p. 338.
[11] Nursi, Badiuzzaman, S. Mesnevi-i Nuriye. Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı Yayınları-1182, Istanbul. 2nd impression, 2015, p. 272.
[12] Nursi, Badiuzzaman, S. Sözler. ibid, p. 831.
[13] Nursi, Badiuzzaman, S. Sözler. ibid, p. 334.
[14] Nursi, Badiuzzaman, S. Sözler. ibid, p. 79.
[15] Nursi, Badiuzzaman, S. Mesnevi-i Nuriye. ibid, p. 91.
[16] Nursi, Badiuzzaman, S. Sözler. ibid, p. 818.
[17] Nursi, Badiuzzaman, S. Mektubat. ibid, p. 12.
[18] Every spring that passed is dead; the next spring is the resurrection of the previous spring.
[19] Nursi, Badiuzzaman, S. Şuâlar. Envar Neşriyat, Istanbul, 1995, p. 212.
[20] Nursi, Badiuzzaman, S. Şuâlar. ibid, p. 52.
[21] Nursi, Badiuzzaman, S. Şuâlar. ibid, p. 78.
[22] Nursi, Badiuzzaman, S. Sözler. ibid, p. 785.
[23] Nursi, Badiuzzaman, S. Sözler. ibid, p. 618.

Prof. Dr. Levent ÜNLÜ
Selçuk University Faculty of Agriculture Plant Protection Department, KONYA.
[email protected]

Insects, which were created perfectly by the Sublime Creator, reached today in their original form, without undergoing any change. Different species have never emerged from one species. The data obtained from DNA barcoding methods today show that the variations in living beings remain within the species.

Evolution is a general concept that expresses gradual change. However, the meaning of evolution in the sense it is used in the theory of evolution will be discussed here because that is meant when evolution is said today. The word “evolution”expresses the occurrence of higher and more complex animals and plants during geological times, from primitive ancestors that had previously existed, through change and differentiation by chance.[1]

The efforts of the advocates of evolution to prove evolution do not go beyond drawing the transitional forms of their dreams with some of the bones they find.

The efforts of the advocates of evolution to prove evolution do not go beyond drawing the transitional forms of their dreams with some of the bones they find. Evolution is often confused with perfection. Perfection means becoming mature, becoming perfect gradually like a seed’s sprouting and becoming a sapling, and a sapling’s becoming a tree, a zygote’s transformation into a baby, the baby’s transformation into a child and the child’s transformation into an adult.

Entomology is the science that examines insects and Palaeoentomology is the science that examines prehistoric insects. Insects, which consist of a few million species, were created a long time ago and were assigned some tasks on the earth. We can understand this by looking at the ecological balance. The insects, which have lived on earth for perhaps millions of years, die by completing the tasks assigned to them, some living for a day, some for a week or a month.

Although human beings are not aware, insects are very useful to the earth. We benefit directly from the products of some insects such as honey and silk; the insects that feed on harmful organisms, that provide pollination, that are used in scientific studies, and that feed on garbage and carrion benefit us.

When insect fossils, DNA sequencing in insects, and pheromones are studied, it is understood that there is no evolution in insects and that their ancestors are insects.

One of the direct products of insects that we benefit from is silk. Silkworm, was cultivated for the first time in China in 2600 BC. The silk, which was first produced by the Chinese more than 4000 years ago, started to be produced in Anatolia, and then in Europe, after how it was produced was kept as a secret for many years. It is known that it has been produced in Anatolia for about 1500 years.[2]

Another insect product is honey. The first traces of bee culture can be traced back to the Neolithic Age, 5000 BC in the Middle East.[3] Both insects continue to perform their duties without showing any changes for many years.

When insect fossils, DNA sequencing in insects, and pheromones are studied, it is understood that there is no evolution in insects and that their ancestors are insects.

Insect Fossils

When geologic ages are studied, it is understood that insects lived millions of years ago. Insect fossils are now exhibited in museums around the world. Paris Natural History Museum, London Natural History Museum, Sichuan (Western China) Insect Museum, New York Museum of Natural History, Denmark Museum of Natural History are just a few of them.

It is estimated that insects began to live in geological times and performed many activities necessary for humans.As a result of research conducted throughout history, it was found that the first insect fossil was Strudiella devonica. This fossil,which was found in the southeast of Belgium by French and Belgian scientists, aroused interest in the scientific community not only because it belonged to the Devonian period, but also because it was the oldest insect found as a whole. This fossil, which is in the Museum of Natural History of Paris, belongs to an insect called Strudiella devonica; it is 8 mm long and 1.7 mm wide.The insect has a triangular mouth, antennae, six legs in the chest, and an abdominal region consisting of ten segments.[4]

Another insect fossil was unearthed in 1920 by the Australian scientist Robin John Tillyard; it iskept at the Natural History Museum in London. The team investigating the fossil includes David A. Grimaldi, the curator of entomology at the American Museum of Natural History and a professor at the University of Kansas, and Michael S. Engel from the same university. Dr. Grimaldi stated that the insect in the fossil was 5 mm in size and had wings. Dr. Engel said that the first insects fed on plants. It was determined that the fossil belonged to one of the oldest insect species called“Rhyniognatha hirsti”. Dr. Grimaldi noted that the fossil in question was aged between 396 and 407 million years.[5]

Similarly, another fossil insect belongs to a dragonfly, which is said to be from the Cretaceous period of 142 million to 65 million years ago.[6]

Researchers at the Paleobiology Department of the University of Colorado in the United States showed the fossil insect collection. They reported that there were more than 120,000 insects, spiders, leaves, flowers, fish and other vertebrates in the sediments that settled at the bottom of large lakes about 48 million years ago in Colorado, Utah, and part of Wyoming.[7] Fossil insects provide a unique depth record of ecological response to the past environmental changes and are therefore invaluable for understanding the impact of climate change on the current biodiversity crisis.

Some rare insect fossils, including the ant that is believed to be 165 million years old, are kept in the Insect Museum in Sichuan Province, China. The fossils consist of the oldest ants, dragonflies and bees; it is stated that most of them date back to the Jurassic period. Scientists also discovered the butterfly-like fossil beetle from the deep Mesozoic period.[8]

In Denmark, there are fossil insects, spiders, etc. at the Museum of Natural History in Copenhagen. There are approximately 8000 fossils, most of which have not yet been examined. In Utah (USA), the fossil of an insect (Curculionidae) was found in the green sea.[9] Likewise, it is stated that fossils of scorpion flies from Mecoptera order belonging to the Lower Cretaceous (~ 125 million) period also exist in theprovinces ofLiaoning and Hebei (China).[10]

The larvae of the Ephemeropsis trisestalis (Ephemeroptera) insect of one day order in Liaoning, China was exhibited in the insect museum. It was recorded that the heteroptera which were estimated to have lived in Late Aptian-Cenomanian period, fed on aquatic organisms and acted as predators.[11]

A fossil cockroach from the Early Cretaceous Period was found in Brazil. This fossil is estimated to belong to the Lower Cretaceous, Late Aptian-Cenomanian (108 to 92 million years ago).[12]

DNA Sequencing in Insects

Another evidence showing that there is no evolution in insects is the DNA sequence or DNA barcoding in their bodies. In the past, the identification of insects was made by looking at the morphological characters but now the systematics of insects are made by DNA barcoding, which is one of the modern ways of diagnosis. The data obtained from DNA barcoding methods today show that the variations in living beings remain within the species. The fact that each species has different DNA sequencing indicates that there is no evolution in individuals.

Insect Pheromones

It is also a known fact that pheromones used in the communication by insects have been the same for millions of years. Pheromones are the secretion of attractive odor glands, which areamong the exocrine glands of insects. Those odors are used in the communication by insects belonging to the same species. The fact that each species has different pheromones is one of the most important evidences that insects have not evolved.

Conclusion

Bergman reports that insects form a powerful test ground for any theory of evolution.[13]

All fossil remains prove that insects did not evolve and that each came from a created ancestor.

The reason for this is that the external structures are often preserved in perfect detail in the fossil record. Many textbook discussions for evolution are largely based on vertebrate bones. However, vertebrate bone fossils lack the soft tissues that contain the most important information about the differences among species. Darwinists rarely discuss insects in Arthropoda as evidence for evolution.

Bergman states that Chap Chapman, the leading reference of insects, never mentioned the origin of insects[14] and that Gould, who has an evolutionary view, avoids mentioning the issue of insects.[15]

More than one million species of living insects have been identified so far. If all the insects in the 33 insect orders had evolved without an ancestor insect, many transitional forms would have lived. However, numerous fossil record have shown that there is no evidence for insect evolution.

In conclusion, all fossil remains prove that insects did not evolve and that each came from a created ancestor. In addition, the importance of insects in ecological balance, and all the measure in all of their systems and order are too subtle to be attributed to coincidence. Such a conscious system cannot be the work of unconscious coincidence.

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[1] Anonymous.2017a. http://www.sorularlaevrim.com/makale/evrim-terminolojisi-125.html    14.11.2017
[2] Anonymous, 2017b. https://www.tatliaskim.com/hayvanlar-alemi/434367-ipek-bocekleri.html 15.11.2017
[3] Anonymous, 2017c. http://farmersguru.com/index.php/bal/tarih-ve-arkeolojide-aricilik   15.11.2017
[4] Anonymous, 2017d. https://www.dunya.com/gundem/en-eski-eksiksiz-bocek-fosili-bulundu-haberi-181184     14.11.2017.
[5] Anonymous, 2017e. http://arsiv.ntv.com.tr/news/256756.asp   14.11.2017.
[6] Anonymous, 2017f. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2709629/The-beauty-fossilised-insects-.html     10.11.2017.
[7] Anonymous, 2017g. http://paleobiology.si.edu/FossiLab/projects.html       10.11.2017.
[8] Anonymous, 2017h. https://australianmuseum.net.au/dragonflies-and-damselflies-order-odonata    14.11.2017.
[9] Anonymous, 2017i. http://facweb.furman.edu/~wworthen/bio440/evolweb/devonian/rhyniognatha.htm    14.11.2017.
[10] Anonymous, 2017j. http://fossilinsects.colorado.edu/         10.11.2017
[11] Anonymous, 2017k. http://www.india.com/buzz/rare-insect-fossils-to-be-exhibited-in-china-579620/      10.11.2017.
[12] Anonymous, 2017l. https://phys.org/news/2016-02-paleobotanists-jurassic-butterflies.html     10.11.2017
[13] Bergman, J., 2004. Insect evolution: a major problem for Darwinism. TJ 18(2):91-97, 2004.
[14] Chapman, R.F., 1998. The Insects; Structure and Function, 9^th edition, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1998.
[15] Gould, S.J., 2002. The Structure of Evolutionary Theory, Belknap Press of Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 2002.

Prof. Dr. Fatih SATIL
Balıkesir University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Biology Department, Balıkesir.
[email protected]

In plants, a special transport tissue is needed for the water, the substances dissolved in the water and the substances produced in the leaves to reach the relevant organs. Starting from the roots of the plant, this transport tissue should proceed to various organs above the ground and extend to the furthest point. There are two types of transport tissues with different structures and functions in plants. They are called Xylem (wood vessel), which transports water and inorganic substances dissolved in water and Phloem, which conveys nutrients.

Water-transporting wood vessels are ultra-capillary tubes created with the most suitable design to carry the water required for plants several meters up from the plant roots (Figure 1). These capillaries undergo regular stages of differentiation from the initial formation to the development stage.

                       A                                                        B

Figure 1: Wood vessels that transport water in plants. A: Appearance in vertical section, B: Appearance in cross-section (Bar: 20 µm).

Transportation of water in the transport tissue takes place as a result of the elongation of the conducting cells in the direction of transport,the expansion of the transverse wall surfaces of the elongated cells as much as possible and the complete elimination of the transverse walls in those cells.[1]

Water pipes in charge of transporting water in plants are the ultra-capillary pipes where water is transported from the plant roots to the highest point. Those pipes are composed of long dead cells that are lined up in the direction of transmission that lost their protoplasts in the adult phase and whose walls were lignified. Thickening is formed on the walls of these elements, which appear circular or polygonal in cross-sections, in order to increase resistance and strength.(Figure 2)

Figure 2: The inner structure of water transport vessels in plants (Cross-section, Bar: 60 µm).

Regardless of the size of the plant, the diameter of these pipes constituting the transport system is approximately 0.25 mm in oak (Quercus sp.) and 0.006 mm in lime (Tilia sp.). These pipes, which are called wood vessels, are of two types: trachea and tracheid: Tracheids are dead cells with a sharp tip, narrow diameter, that are closed and approximately 1 mm long. Tracheasare tubular dead cells that are shorter and wider in diameter than tracheids and that are open. [2]

The Evolution of Wood Vessels

Wood vessels are formed from meristematic cells arranged lengthwise in the cambium. These capillary tubes display regular developmental stages from their initial formation to maturity.

These pipe cells,which are initially live, have been programmed to be dead cells. When these cells are evolved based on a plan, they lose their protoplasts completely; their transverse walls melt; they become hollow and dead pipe cells. The genetically programmed cell death in the differentiation of wood vessels in this way is called apoptosis.[3]

It is necessary for those cells to die so that the water will be actively transported. How does it happen? When does it happen? Who decides when it will happen? They are very important issues.

Apoptosis in wood vessels occurs based on a plan. The cytoplasm and the nucleus take the peripherical position under the cell membrane. The lower and upper walls of the cell begin to melt. This task is assigned to enzymes that dissolve the transverse walls. Then, the cells lose their protoplasts completely; the transverse walls between the cells melt.Finally, large and hollow cells in the form of dead pipes form. (Figure 3).

Figure 3: The development of wood vessels that transport water in plants (Yentür, 2003).
Longitudinal section. The young cells are on the left. They expand gradually, lose their cytoplasm and nuclei; the membranes between the cells melt and they are transformed into transport pipes.

Doubtlessly, these differentiation events in highly complex cells are not the work of genes, hormones and chance that lack intelligence and consciousness.

The differentiation is explained by plant physiologists and molecular biologists as the activation and repression of the genes in cells depending on time and conditions.[4]

In that case, how is it decided that differentiation is necessary and when it will start and stop?

The activation and repression of genes are also controlled by hormones. The roles of Auxin and Cytokine hormones in initiating differentiation in those cells have been proved in several morphogenetic studies. However, the synthesis and control of these hormones are also under the control of the genes involved.[5]

This brings the following question to mind: “Are these events under the control of genes or hormones?”In conclusion, the differentiation in cells has not been fully explained yet.

Doubtlessly, these differentiation events in highly complex cells are not the work of genes, hormones and chance that lack intelligence and consciousness.

As it is the case in the design of the water transport pipes in plants, this biological phenomenon, which is very deep, unknown and very important, and which contains numerous wisdoms,has been tried to be explained with scientific names like“control of genes”, ”totipotency in cells” and “hormonal orientation”.

However, it is not an explanation but naming. To give a name to an unknown fact that is so deep and great that even if it is described in a hundred pages and the wisdoms behind it are explained can hardly be knownas if it is something known and to say ,”That is it” by attributing incidents to chance and nature means to hidethe wonderful power that works behind those miracles.

The Wisdom Behind the Evolution of Wood Vessels

There is a very important reason for this evolution in wood vessels. It is necessary for water to move freely in vessels without encountering any obstacles while being transported in vessels. In order to achieve this, the cell must be transformed into a completely empty vessel. In addition to this change, the hollow region of the cell is created in accordance with the hollow of the next cell so that they can be easily connected to each other. Thanks to this harmony, the cell extensions are transformed into a series of pipelines along the body (Figure 4).

As it can be seen, wood vessels were created in the most appropriate design to carry the water required for plants several meters up. The criteria for this design in water vessels with a diameter of approximately 0.25 mm-0.006 mm are as follows:

• The inside of the cells must be empty so that the water can be easily transported without encountering any obstacles.
• These cells, which are smaller than 1 mm, must be connected with each other.

Figure 4: The structure of the wood vessels transporting water in plants (A, B, C: Longitudinal section, D: Cross-section) (Bar; A: 200 µm, B: 40 µm, C, D: 5 µm).

• Cell connection points must be compatible.
• They must not leak water.
• They must be resistant to pressure and decay.
• They must be resistant to bending and adapt to the growing plant.

Can these designs, which require great knowledge and wisdom, be explained by chance and causes?

The Inner Design of Wood Vessels

The walls of the wood vessels are quite thick because water is to be transported through absorption and under a certain pressure with this vessel system in the tree. The vessels must resist this negative pressure, which is quite strong. There is also a need for a waterproof solid material that is resistant to decaying. Therefore, the wall of the water vessels is made of solid material that can withstand pressure.

The Material Used in the Inner Design of Water Transport Vessels

The side walls of the water-transporting vessels is transformed into a durable and waterproof structure with the addition of a solid material called lignin (wood). Lignin that accumulates in the cell wall protects the vessels against pressure and decaying in addition to being waterproof.

There are questions to be answered about the formation of this structure. They are as follows: 

• Why is lignin used though there are many different wall materials?
• How was it determined that such a material is suitable for this task?
• How is the pressure generated by the water to be transported in the water vessel calculated?

The water vessels in plants need to be flexible in order to be resistant to bending and to adapt to growing plants. Wood vessels are designed in accordance with those circumstances with special thickening in the form of rings, spirals, and webs in the inner part of the side walls (Figure 5). This design allows the cell, tissue and organ lengthen, grow and stretch.

It is necessary to know several sciences such as construction science, building materials science, physics to calculate pressure, biochemistry, physiology, systematics, anatomy and morphology in order to make all those designs.However, dead cells, which we call wood, have neither reason nor life to know them.

                      a                                         b                                     c

Figure 5: Inner wall design of wood vessels. a. The cross-section of the inner appearance of vessels b, c: Inner wall thickening types of vessels (Bar: 10 µm).

In conclusion, this structure cannot be made by anyone but a being with endless wisdom, unlimited power and comprehensive knowledge.

This measure and system in the formation of wood vessels shows us the Almighty Creator, who has infinite knowledge and wisdom. The Quran indicates this fact in many verses:

“It is Allah who created all things, and ordered them in due proportions”.[6]

“Verily, all things have We created in proportion and measure”.[7]

The evolution of water vessels in plants, which are planned and changed in a remarkably systemized manner and designed according to a special measure and plan cannot be explained by “spontaneity”,“ nature ”or“causes”. Nobody but a being with endless wisdom, unlimited power and comprehensive knowledge can establish this system and place it in the trees. Allah’s art of creation is expressed as follows in the Quran:

 “He is Allah, the Creator, the Evolver, the Bestower of Forms (or Colors) …”. [8]

These wood vessels, which are placed in every plant with Allah’s name of al-Batin (the Hidden One), are created in compliance with all tissues and organs of that tree and in precise measures.

The Wisdom behind the Non-existence of Wood Vessels in Some Plants

Only tracheids are found in ferns and open seed plants. Both tracheids and tracheas are present in closed seed plants (Figure 6). The existence or non-existence of tracheas and tracheids is directly related to the need for water. As it is known, open seed plants are coniferous. Since the sweating surface of the leaves is narrow, little sweating occurs. Such plants require less water. Therefore, only tracheids are sufficient to transport water in this group of plants.

However, closed seed plants are generally broad-leaved plants. Since the sweating surface of the leaves is large, water loss is more. The need for water is more. Therefore, tracheas also work in addition to tracheids in this group of plants.

This issue can be considered as an artist’s exhibiting different features in his art. The following is stated in verse 79 of the chapter of Yasin: “… He is Well-versed in every kind of creation.” Acting upon this verse, we can understand that the Creator can create plants with or without vessels, or that He can do different things related to the wood structure of different plants.

In conclusion, plants are created with the necessary equipment to meet their needs within the framework of the “principle of meeting needs” in accordance with their living environment.

They all show usthe existence of a being who knows, sees andmeets the needs of plants.

                                   a                                                              b    

Figure 6: Cross-sections from the wood of different plants: a) Open seed plants (Gymnosperm), b) Closed seed plants (Angiosperm).

Conclusion and Proposals

Biological Events cannot be explained by “Spontaneity” or “Randomness”.

As it is the case in this issue, most of the biological events are remarkably planned and programmed, and they are extremely complex. It is not a simple or two-stage event.

Behe (1996) tries to explain that “biological events are a necessity of a plan and program” with some biochemical examples he gives. “The Intelligent Design” theory, which was developed by Behe, which aroused great interest in the world, reveals with scientific explanations that the existence of beings does not happen by chance but based on the magnificent plan of knowledge, wisdom and power. When he does so, he explains the matter with purely scientific examples without giving a name about the doer and without mentioning revelation. However, at the end of all the examples, he displays the existence of a designer withinfinite knowledge and power.

In conclusion, it is a miraculous event that the water needed by the trees is transported from the soil to the furthest leaves without any interference from outside. The trees are equipped with a very detailed and perfect system so that this perfect activity will be realized. Water is transported through a system built from ultra-thin vessels extending from the roots of the tree to the trunk and branches. Doubtlessly, this is not the work of the trees or water molecules or chance that lack intelligence and consciousness. This system cannot have been placed in the trees by anyone except a being that has endless wisdom, unlimited power and comprehensive knowledge.

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[1] Bollhöner B, Prestele J, Tuominen H. Journal of Experimental Botany, 63 (3): (1081–1094), 2012.
[2] Yentür, S. Bitki Anatomisi, İstanbul Üniversitesi Yayınları, 2003.
[3] Bollhöner B, Prestele J, Tuominen H. Journal of Experimental Botany, 63 (3): (1081–1094), 2012.
[4] Kocaçalışkan, İ. Bitki Fizyolojisi, Nobel Yayınevi, 2008.
[5] Kocaçalışkan, İ. Bitki Fizyolojisi, Nobel Yayınevi, 2008;
[6] al-Furkan, 25/2.
[7] al-Qamar, 54/49.
[8] al-Hashr, 59/24.

EVOLUTION: IS IT GRADUAL IN CREATION?
Prof. Dr. İsmail KOCAÇALIŞKAN
Yıldız Technical University, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Istanbul.
[email protected]

The answer to this question is about the perspective. One of the reasons that propose to those who claim that they are formed by an evolution in the form of transformation of living things from one species to another may be the similarities between them despite the rich diversity seen in living things. However, this does not indicate evolution, but the unity of the Creator. Because all living things are similar in that they emerge from a single creator's plan and design.

The second reason is that all living species were created at different times. First, one-celled, then multi-celled, and finally the human species were created. Because the initial conditions of our world were not yet conducive to human life. We see the existence of a gradual change in the final form of our world for some important aims. Initially, geological studies show that climate changes occur alongside earth changes. Parallel to all these, the creation of living species has been gradually. This grading can have two main dimensions; one can say that in every period, living species that are able to live in the climate and earth conditions of that day are created. When the conditions of the world become suitable for human life, man is created.

The second dimension of the grading in creation is; creatures are created according to their place in the food chain. Generally speaking, we can say that first a cell, then plants, then grass eaters, then meat eaters, and finally human beings were created. The food chain in living things generally shows this order of creation. Because the latter need to survive before.

Evolution is one of the words on which the concept confusion is made most. There are those who use the word evolution instead of many words such as growth, development, variation and modification. Whereas, in fact, evolution is the name of a theory or some hypothesis that, in biology, refers to the evolution of one species from another. Theory and hypothesis is a view but is not a proven scientific reality.

In the view of evolution, the origin of all living species is based on a cell. After this cell also came into being by chance from non-living substances, another cell from this cell also came into being by the formation of multicellular organisms, plants and animals, from one species to another. Some have tried to explain this by natural selection (like Darwin) and later by mutations (Neo-Darwinists). [1]

Some advocates of this view explain the event completely by chance. They claim that living things evolved spontaneously without a creator, for example, from one species of fish, toad, and ape to another and finally to human. Whereas, by chance, the possibility of a living organism, not even a cell, is neither biological nor mathematically possible. Some others say that; “There is such an evolution, but not by chance, but by the will and savings of a creator”. Surely the Almighty is able to do all things. For example, it is possible and easy for him to create toad from fish and human from monkey. However, “every possible thing is not occur” is a famous principle.Now we should examine; Has there actually been such an evolution? Is this how the law of species creation took place?

Data from various branches of the science of biology, such as paleontology, genetics, molecular biology and biochemistry, do not support the occurrence of such an evolutionary event. Since the emergence of species occurred during geological times in history, the first source to be used in this matter should be the science of paleontology that examines fossils. Because if there is an evolution in the form of the emergence a species from another species, it will not happen suddenly. There must be thousands of intermediate forms that bear the similarities of both species. Despite the fact that millions of fossils have been studied so far, no other evidence has been obtained from the few fossils claimed to be intermediate forms. It was later discovered that these were obtained by a manipulative assembly of different fossils. [2]

On the other hand, religious sources do not support such an evolution. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi a famous scholar all over the world and commentator (alim and mufessir) of the Koran (1876-1960); In his book Isarat-ul-I’caz, he describes this aspect while he described the 21st verse of the sura of baccarat of Koran:

“It has also been demonstrated by zoology and botany that there are more than two hundred thousand sorts of living species (Nev’) [3] and that each has a progenitor and forefather. These progenitors and forefathers emerged without intermediary directly from the hand of divine power of Allah. Because it is impossible for the species to go chained to infinity. Thus, the supposing that some species emerged from others is invalid. For, since either the offspring are mostly barren or the generation can notcontinues, the individuals born from the mating of individuals belonging to different species can not become the start of new species chains through reproduction. In summary, the chains of human beings and other living species will end up in a son, as they were first start in a father.”[4]

In this regard, Hamdi Yazır-the commentator (mufessir) of the Koran (1977-1942)-says while he described the 12st verse of the sura of mu’minun of Koran: “It is neither natural nor necessary to claim that the species of animals with close proximity are born frome achother. To tell that frogs are born from fish, an observation is needed. Since there is no observable example and a necessity, it cannot be a scientific provision. [5]

As stated in the above statements, each species has a first ancestor. Some scholars call this the “basic type”. This first ancestor carries the genetic potential and total characteristics of that species. This potential is also the gene pool of that species. A male and female couple, the first ancestor of each species, was created at a suitable geological time. From these ancestors, members of the same species multiplied by mating and they have spread to other parts of the world.

Subsequently, some variations within the species (race, variety, etc.) may occur. However, these subsequent minor changes are permissible to the genetic potential of the first ancestor. In other words, the changes that occur can be within the gene pool of the first ancestor. Otherwise, it is not at a level that will allow the formation of another species. Breeding studies by methods such as sexual hybridization, somatic hybridization, gene transfer or mutation yield new breeds or mutant types, but these are in-species variations.

All these studies show that there is no evolution in the form of the formation of another species. Intra-species variations, on the other hand, are not species evolution, whether in nature or in the laboratory. For example, when the cat species are mentioned, various breeds (Wild cat, Van cat, Siamese cat, etc.) come into it. The genetic potential of all of these is present in the first ancestor cat, and these variations may occur within the boundaries of that genetic potential. Otherwise, the genetic potential of any cat breed is not conducive to forming a dog or lion. Let us give an example of plants in this regard. Since the 1800s, breeding and hybridization studies have been carried out in order to increase sugar yield in beet plant. As a result, a 20% increase in yield was achieved. But the obtained plant varieties are still beets. No new plant species was emerged.

One of the reasons that suggest that living things evolved from one species to another could be diversity and similarities in living things. But this does not mean evolution, but the unity of the great creator (Allah). Because all living things are similar in that they emerge from the will and might of a single creator (the reality of tawheed). The second reason is that the species were created at different times but not at the same time. First, one-celled, then multi-celled, and finally, human beings were created. Because the initial conditions of the world were not yet suitable for human life. Gradually, the world took its final form. Geological investigations show that there are many earth changes such as the rise of the mountains, the collapse of the valleys, the formation of the seas, the separation of the continents, as well as many climate changes such as cold, heat, humidity and oxygen density. Therefore, the creation of living species has been occurred gradual depending on the suitability of environment conditions.

This grading can havetwo main dimensions. Someone; From the outset, in accordance with the gradual changes in the world, we can say that in every period, living species of that era could be created in climatic and earth conditions. But since the world has not yet takenits final form, there have been new changes, and some species have not survived in thesechanges, such as thedinosaurs. When the earth becomes suitable for human life, the human species is created. We can say that in theworld, one-celled creatures were created first. But thisdoes not mean that one celle volved to form multicellular organisms, but that the conditions of that time were more favorable for the life of one cell organisms.

These condreason for the grading in creation is that livingthings were created according to their place in the food chain. To put it very generally; firs to cell organisms, then plants, then grass-eating animals, then meat-eating animals, and finally humans were created. Their food chain shows this order of creation. Because the latter need to survive before.

“Response to needs” principle in creation can obviously be seen. First, one-celled organisms (such as bacteria, amoeba) and then multi-celled organisms (plants and animals) were created. So there is a gradual. But this does not mean that one cell evolved to form multi-celled. Let's look at it from a different dimension. When we examine living things, we see that maximum economy and saving laws occur in all livingthings from a cell to a large organism. We don't come across any waste and absurdity. In other words, every creature has given organs and structures in number and perfection to meet their needs. Because more is wasted. This is called the “need-response” priciple.

When we look at a bacterial cell in the light of this principle; Since the bacteria are a small cell (prokaryotic cell) we see that it is given structures according to its needs. It does not have a real nucleus (nucleus), but it has genetic material (DNA) to meet its needs. Therefore, it does not need nucleus. There is no mitochondria in bacteria as well, but there is a recessed membrane system (mesosome) that produces the enough energy (ATP). Therefore, even without mitochondria, the bacterial cell meets energy needs. Perhaps the capacity to produce energy is low, but that is enough for it. Because this cell is small, more wasted.

The cells that make up animals and plants (eukaryotic cells) are at least ten times larger than bacteria. Therefore, it needs a real nucleus and mitochondria. So it is not possible to explain this with the opinion that eukaryotic cells have evolved from prokaryotic cells. Although today genetic methods have become very advanced and even the engineering of genes has become feasible, it is not possible to turn a prokaryotic cell into a eukaryotic cell. However, by playing with genes, it is possible to change some characteristics of living things and make them more responsive to today's needs. [6]

In coniferous plants such as pine and fir, water pipes called trachea are not exist. The transport of water from the roots to the leaves is done in these plants only through the transmission cells called tracheid. In broad leaves plants, both trachea and tracheid are present, and water transport is carried out with these two transmission systems. Some scientists suggest that; “Coniferous plants are more simple. Because they have no trachea. Conifers have then evolved into broad leaves plants”. [7]

Actually, it is understood from the fosil studies that coniferous plants existed on earth earlier than broad leaves. But, is this because they are simpler, so they don't have trachea?

If we look at the event from the perspective of the “need-response” principle, we see that these plants are not in need of tracheas. Since these plants have needles haped leaves, the surface of the leaves is narrow. There is a thick cuticle layer on the leaf surface. They also contain abundant resin materials. For such reasons, the water loss of these plants is very low. Thus, there is no need to carry the water taken from the roots abundantly and rapidly. Therefore, they do not need large diameter water pipes such as trachea. Whereas, in broadleaves plants, the loss of water is high as the leaf surface is wide. There is also a need for a cooling device by evaporating a large amount of water from the leaves as a means of overheating the leaves as the large leaf surface is exposed to sunlight and heat. For this reason, the presence of tracheas in broad leaves besides tracheids is an answer to this need. Thus, it would be wasted if trachea was found in conifers, it would be deficiency if trachea was not found in broad leaves. This shows that every livingthing is answered according to their needs.[8]

In this respect, it is possible to give examples for the number of living things.

We can see to be given exactly what anatomical structure and genetic and physiological features they need for each living species to survive. It doesn't seem logical to refer to the evolutionary mechanisms of living beings equipped to meet their needs. How can know nature, causes or evolutionary mechanisms needs of a living species? Just as a machine emerges from an engineer's plan, we can say that living things point to the existence of a planner and creator.     

As a result; Each living species is created independently. However, living speciesare not created at the same time in past, but in different time periods. So creation has been gradual. This graduation mainly depends on the geological and climatic conditions of the world and the place of the species in the food chain. The“need-response” and “maximum economy” principles are clearly seen in living things, both in individuals and in species. In otherwords, what ever organs and structures are necessary for each living thing and for each living species, neither missingn or more, they are given. This cannot be explained by evolution in the form of transformation from species to species. Biological and geological data do not support such an event. Instead, view of gradual creation is more logical.

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[1] Şengün, A.,Evolution (InTurkish), Second Ed., Beta Press, İstanbul, 1985.
[2] Gish, D.T. (In Turkish, translated from English by A. Tatlı), Fossils and and Evolution, Cihanpress, İstanbul, 1984.
[3] Nev’: Correspond to species in biology.
[4] Nursi, B. S. İşarat-ulİ’caz (In Turkish).It is written originally Arabic and translated to English as the name of “Signs of Miraculousness”.
[5] Yazır, H., Hak Dini Kuran Dili,Vol 1, page 331,Huzur Press, 1971.
[6] Kocaçalışkan, İ., Bilimlerin Işığında Yaratılış (InTurkish, 2th Press), Usküdar University Press, 493-497, İstanbul, 2017.
[7] Yentür, S., Bitki Anatomisi (InTurkish), İstanbulUniversityPress, İstanbul, 1984.
[8] Kocaçalışkan, İ., Bitki Fizyolojisi (InTurkish), Nobel Press, Ankara, 2008.

Prof. Dr. Orhan ERDOĞAN
Atatürk University, Faculty of Science, MolecularBiologyandGeneticsDepartment, Erzurum.
[email protected]

The being that knows the intensity of light knows the sensitivity of the eye too. Therefore, the one that creates color is also the one that creates light. The one that creates color is the one that creates the eye and the receptors in the eye.

Colors are found in almost every field of our lives. They can be either natural or synthetic. All colors emerge as a result of reflection of the seven colors of the sun from the object or living being it penetrates. It is impossible for colors to emerge without light. We can see the world in color with colors but the colors in living beings have wisdoms peculiar to them.For example, living beings are created with wisdom in terms of many ways like recognizing one another, hiding (camouflage), reproduction, diet, state of danger, family and herd formation. Colors are formed in all living beings, from bacteria to viruses, which we are unable to see with our eyes. Even the internal organs of living beings are colored. Natural or experimental mutations on the genes that cause the formation of colors prevents the formation of color and causes alpinism (absence of pigment) because they disrupt the gene codes. [1]

Migration and Transformation in the Neural Crest Cells

During the development of the embryo, after the formation of the neural tube, a group of cells on the roof, i.e. the upper, dorsal part of the tube, becomes nomadic and breaks away from the tube (Figure 1). Then, they are distributed all over the body. [2]

When they reach their destination, they are transformed into different cell types. How these cells know when to depart, where to go, and which tissues to make in the place where they go have been an intense research topic.

Figure 1. Humanembryoand the migration of neural crest cells.[3]

These cells, which move and differentiate with such a perfect mechanism, act and differentiate for some reasonsbased on the command of the Supreme Creator. It is clear that these mindless, unconscious, blind and deaf cells do not act based on their own will but with absolute obedience to the Creator. The causes are only veils here.

All this shows that all the colors in living beings are created deliberately for multiple purposes and aims within a certain plan and measure.

Melanocytes (Pigment Cells)

Melanocyte cells are located in the epidermal layer and are responsible for the production of melanin. When these cells are transported to the melaninkeratinocyte cells (skin surface cells) that they produce, the skin assumesa dark color. The formation of melanin in melanocyte cells occurs whenseveral enzymes, especially the tyrosinase enzyme, catalyze a series of reactions (Figure 2a).[4]

As a result of these reactions, a color scale ranging from black to brown and yellow to red is produced. This is the manifestation of the work of the Creator, who creates many things from one thing, on the living beings based on causes.

Figure 2.a) Melanin biosynthesis, b) Melanin transportation. [5]

These cells, which move and differentiate with such a perfect mechanism, act and differentiate for some reasons based on the command of the Supreme Creator. It is clear that these mindless, unconscious, blind and deaf cells do not act based on their own will but with absolute obedience to the Creator. The causes are only veils here. All this shows that all the colors in living beings are created deliberately for multiple purposes and aims within a certain plan and measure.

There is no doubt that a scientific mechanism operates in the production of melanin in melanocyte cells. Color formation and diversity in living beings is controlled by very different and complex biochemical mechanisms. For example, when Figure 3 is studied, it will be seen that some proteins (receptor proteins) are present on the surface of a melanocyte cell. When those surface proteins are stimulated by various hormones and some other proteins responsible for signaling, a wide range of colors occur. For example, black color forms when the EDN3 protein binds to the EDNRB receptor on the surface, whereas brown color forms when the ASIP protein binds to MC1R receptor. When MC1R receptor does not work another shade of light brown occur; when Oca2 does not work, pigment absence called albinism emerges.

KITLG is a protein involved in the development, transportation and differentiation of cells, especially melanocyte cells. It also works in the transportation of melanosomes.

Figure 3.Cell receptors and color formation.

In some European countries, if there is a single nucleotide change, i.e. “G” in the upper region of the gene encoding theKITLG protein in humans, it results in the formation of blond hair (If it is“A”, black hair color is formed) (Figure 10). [7]

All these mechanisms are just a few examples of the formation of various colors. There are hundreds of such mechanisms. In addition, a protein called MITF within the cell nucleus is a protein that enables the formation of the enzymes that function in the production of melanin (Transcription factor) and is responsible for the opening of genes and cell differentiation in addition to its several other functions.

Now we need to ask the following question: Who directs these molecules, which act like a switch that turns on a light bulb, and how do they know one another? All these mechanisms are the work of the supreme Creator’s name al-Alim (the Knower of All).

The formation of melanin also enables the realization of structures such as skin, scales, fur, feather and eye color in living beings. The emergence of these colors is caused primarily by the expression of genes (opening and coding proteins), as well as the effect of heat, light, nutrition and various hormones.

These cells, which cause pigment formation, are called melanocyte cells in mammals and birds while they are called chromatophores in frogs, fish, reptiles, crustaceans and cephalopods.

Figure 4. Color diversity in a fish and spider. [8]

Skin Cancer

Melanin production does not cause only color formation in living beings. It also helps to protect our skin from the harmful effects of sunlight. In case of prolonged exposure to the sun, the ultraviolet A rays coming from the sun cause DNA breaks in the keratinocyte cells located in the upper layers of the epidermis. If precautions are not taken, these DNA fractures in the cells can cause skin cancercalled melanoma.

As it can be seen in Figure 5, a gene expression starts in the cells by a protein called p53 in order to be protected against the harmful effects of the sun and the hormone that is produced binds to the MC1R receptor and triggers melanin synthesis,. Then, melanin is transferred to keratinocytes adjacent to the melanosomes. Thus, the melanosomes that are transported to the surface protect the cell from ultraviolet rays like a shield in order to prevent the harmful effect of the sun.

Figure 5. UV effect and melanosome transfer. [9]

Is it possible for this mechanism described above to take place on its own or by chance? Who sends those unconscious molecules to their destination? How do these molecules know the directionand the region to go?

Allah, who knowsthe sun and its features, created the formation of this mechanism and its precaution knowingly. All these molecules fulfill their duties with absolute obedience based on causes.

As it can be seen in Figure 6, DNA damage mutations that occur in the gene structures of melanocyte cells can cause skin cancer called melanoma (Figure 6.a) and melanoma in the eye (Figure 6.b). It is claimed that living beings developed and were derived from one another as a result of mutation and natural selection. It is clear that this view has no scientific basis. It means mutations and damages in the genetic structure do not develop andimprove living beings; on the contrary, they cause the death of living beings.

Figure 6. The accumulation of mutations and uncontrolled increase of cells in melanocytes causes cancer called melanoma. a) Skin melanoma cancer, b) Eye melanoma cancer. [10]

What is the Function of Genes in the Formation of Colors?

The variations in colors are the result of the combination of alternative codes placed by the Creator in genes. The variety of colors in living beings is placed by Allah  in combination with their genes according to the environment in which they live or will be able to live.

The concept we call gene is the basic unit of heredity that can encode any character located in a specific region of chromosomes. Although the color formation in living beings is mostly encoded by genes, some of these genes work alone and some of them work in combination. In a study on the formation of body stripes in chipmunks(a type of squirrel),Mallarino et al., 2016, found that the body stripes in chipmunks occurred as a result of the combination of several proteins, especially a protein called Mitf, (Figure 7).

The change of DNA codes can cause diseases in living beings. This shows that living beings are created with all of their features. Mutations cannot make living beings better.

Mitf is a protein responsible for the formation of melanocyte cells. When this protein is suppressed by another protein called Alx3, a light color occurs. As a result of the increase of Edn3 protein, black color occurs. As a result of the increase in Asip protein, yellow color forms. It is a great mistake to attribute the engineering of this stripe color, which is the result of the apparent work of some proteins, to protein molecules that are unconscious and devoid of science, power, will and strength. It is clearly seen here that the Supreme Creator makes these molecules a veil for His own knowledge, will, and might.

Figure 7. The formation of stripes in the squirrel. a) Proportional stripe formation. b) Gene expression levels. c) color formation mechanism in squirrels. [11]

In addition to the aforementioned stripe structure, stripe forms having different shapes of patterns are also seen in Figure 8. As a result of the combination of proteins, the living body is woven virtually like a carpet.

Figure 8. Different shapes of stripes in squirrels.[12]

In humans, a mutation in the protein gene called MITF results in a genetic condition called Waardenburg syndrome type 2 (Figure 9). This means that the change of DNA bases, that is, DNA codes by mutation, can cause diseases in living beings. This shows that living beings are created with all of their features. Mutations cannot make living beings better.

All this pattern structure, variety, shape and building style in living beings show the manifestation of the Creator’s infinite wisdom and will and reveal that there is no chance in anything.

Figure 9. Waardenburg syndrome type 2 occurs when the MITF transcription factor, which controls color formation in living beings, is mutated in humans. [13]

The Formation of Skin and Eye Color in Man

Eye color variation among humans depends on the amount and type of melanin pigment, the number of melanosomes, and differences in the distribution of those melanosomes. 16 different genes are responsible for the eye color formation. However, according to recent studies, it has been understood that two important genes in chromosome 15 are responsible for the formation of eye color. They are the HERC2 and OCA2 genes.[14]

As it can be seen in Figure 10, the brown eye color occurs in the upper DNA sequence of the OCA2 gene when a single DNA code is “T” in a specific region in the sequence. When “T” is replaced by “C”, the blue eye color is formed.

Figure 10. Locus control region single nucleotide change. [15]

The other eye colors are related to the type of the melanin that is produced, and the combination and density of the other melanin that is  produced. Similarly, as it can be seen in Figure 10, the black and blond hair color seen in people living in European countries is caused by the change of a single nucleotide in the upper region of the gene encoding a protein called KITLG from “A“ to ”G”. [16]

All of these conditions are a polymorphism and occur in a controlled manner like SNP (like single nucleotide polymorphism), which produces external image differences in humans. It is contrary to science to say “micro evolution and random changes made living beings perfect” though different images are displayed in a controlled manner with such small changes. It has been scientifically shown that a small uncontrolled change causes serious health problems in living beings. So, the alternative codes for these small changes in living beings are already in DNA. As a result of the mating of living beings, they can occur in different combinations. In humans, the OCA2 gene also plays a role in iris, skin and hair color. Although this gene plays a role in normal pigmentation, a mutation in the gene causes Oculocutaneous albinism (absence of pigment). [17] If melanin production stops completely, the absence of albinism pigment occurs throughout the body.

The Formation of Feather Color in Birds

In birds, colors are obtained from melanin, which is produced from melanocyte cells, just like in mammals, as well as carotenoids, a number of other chemical molecules and many pigment materials. The diversity of colors in birds is mostly coded by genes but also occurs due to some reasons like food, temperature, breeding season, hormones, etc. As it can be seen in Figure 11, this regular color and shape diversity and arrangement, which even a painter will have difficulty in drawing, is related to the genes’ opening and closing with combination.

Figure 11. The Diversity caused by colors in feathers. [18]

It is clear that this diversity of colors is the work of the Supreme Creator and occurs based on a program. Materialistic philosophy claims that this variety of colors emerges on its own and under the influence of the environment. This claim is similar to the construction of a building or a magnificent palace without an engineer and architect, on its own, by the influence of the environment and nature, or by the stones’changing automatically. This view is contrary to science and reason.

Genetic Variation in Living Beings and the Effect of the Environment

Genetic variation in living beings is quite diverse. Genetic variation is closely related to the environment in which the living being is located. The phenotype (external image) due to genetic diversity can also cause a living being to remain there or to migrate. This may lead to an increase in the frequency of allele (alternative form of the gene) of some genes and shifting in one direction in a suitable environment. Thus, different phenotypic groups can form in different environments. This is due to the diversity of the genetic structure of the living being (Figure 12). It doesnot transform the living being into another one.

Figure 12. Red and black are dominant to yellow. Color polymorphism in Gouldian Finch. [19]

As it can be seen in Figure 13, living beings are created harmoniously with the environment they live in.

Figure 13. Fur color variation in the mice living in different environments. [20]

In 2010, Manceau et al. investigated the effect of the environment on fur color of mice. As a result of their genetic analysis, they found that although the genetic characteristics of these mice were very similar, there was still a difference. As it can be seen in the figure, it is clear that the relationship of these mice with their environment is closely related to their genetic structure. It is seen that this phenotypic variation of mice is caused by a genetic variation and that every living being lives within the boundaries of its own region.This is the result of the combination of genetics and life field that the Almighty Creator gave to those living beings. In other words, this diversity is already present in their genes; it can occur in alternative ways and become dominant in the region to which the living beingadapts, it is also related to migration to the environment in which the living being feels more comfortable and camouflaged because of its color characteristics. This statenever causes that living being to be transformed into another one. It originates from the fact that its gene becomes dominant due to intra-population mating in the population formed in a certain region because of its color compatibility.

How do we see colors?

It is certain that color formation in living beings is related to the intake of certain pigment substances with various nutrients. Colors in living beings become visible withthe reflectionof the received light at a certain wavelength. Color formation in living beings occurs based on a certain system as described above and is controlled by very complex mechanisms associated with one another. The formation of color becomes significant with the effect of light and the receptors in the eye.

Mutations in the genes involved in color formation seriously affect the colors that will occur. Mutations cause color and pattern loss as well as diseases in living beings. [21] All this color variety is created originally and is diversified in a controlled way.

So, the concept we call color becomes significant with pigments, the reception and perception of the light reflected from light and living beings. No matter what color occurs, its value is closely related to the eye that will see it. If there is no eye, color has no significance.

The being that knowsand creates color knows that color will occur with the effect of light. Therefore, the one that creates light is also the one that creates color. The one that creates color is the one that creates the eye and what the eye sees. This shows that the diversity of colors in living beings emerges as a requirement of Allah’s names of al-Mulawwin (the Giver ofColor), al-Jamil (the Beautiful One), al-Muzayyin (the Decorator) and al-Hakim (the Perfectly Wise).

Camouflage and Natural Selection in Living Beings

Kettlewell’s study with moths (Biston betularia) on natural selection, which is frequently mentioned in biology books, has been criticized and shown as unreliable by many scientific publications and articles. [22]

In his study with moths, Kettlewell argued that during the industrial revolution in England, the trees became black due to industrial pollution, and that of the black and white moths (Biston betularia), the black ones were protected better from birds by camouflaging on the tree trunks and survived. He claimed that the white-colored moths were recognized by the birds and hunted because they were more noticeable on the black trees. However, further studies showed that both Kettlewell’s experiment and its results were flawed. Kettlewell made the following mistakes in his experiment:

1. The varieties he used in the experiment were wild moths and moths grown in the laboratory. He mixed them up
2. Although moths moved at night, the experiment began during the day.
3. Although the amount of moths he placed in the forest is high, the number of samples he caught was quite low to confirm the experiment.
4. It was determined that moths had a low tendency to settle in tree hollows. After 40 years of intensive research, only two moths were found in such a position. It was found that Kettlewell glued the moths that he had killed onto the tree trunks and then photographed them. In fact, it was found that it was not possible to obtain a real moth photograph on tree trunks as moths rested under branches.

Conclusion

Many genes cause color formation in living beings. Along with this information encoded in genes, many factors such as the age of the living being, light, temperature, nutrition and hormone secretion also influence colors.

Colors are made in melanocyte and chromatophore cells, depending on the species. Melanocyte cells originate from neural crest cells and cause color formation in mammals and birds. Chromatophores are found in frogs, fish, reptiles, crustaceans and cephalopods. They are the cells that contain pigments and reflect light. In cold-blooded animals, they cause the formation of the skin and eye color to a great extent and they are produced from neural crest cells during embryonic development.

The first ancestors of all these living beings were created by Allah out of nothing. When the subspecies of a species are crossed, hybrids are formed and different color combinations may occur.

Mature chromatophores are classified according to their ability to produce color under white light. Of these, xanthophores cause the formation of yellow, erythrophores red, iridophores silver, leukophores white, melanophores black/brown and cyanophores blue color. Chromatophores also cause color formation in some species of bacteria.

The diversity of colors in living beings is under the control of Allah’snames al-Hakim (the Perfectly Wise), al-Mulawwin (the Giver of Color), al-Jamil (the Beautiful One) and al-Muzayyin (the Decorator). The formation of color becomes significant with the effect of light and the receptors in the eye. The being that knows and creates color knows that color will occur with the effect of light. The being that knows the intensity of light knows the sensitivity of the eye too. Therefore, the one that creates color is also the one that creates light. The one that creates color is the one that creates the eye and the receptors in the eye. Mutations in the genes seriously affect the color and the recipient eye depending on the region.

Mutations cause color and pattern loss as well as diseases in living beings. This shows that all this color diversity is created and controlled in an original way.

Mutations cause color and pattern loss as well as diseases in living beings This shows that all this color variety is created originally and is diversified in a controlled way.

In conclusion, we can say that the first ancestors of all these living beings were created by Allah out of nothing. When the subspecies of a species are crossed, hybrids are formed and different color combinations may occur. The offspring that are born asa result of the mating of one species with other species cannot continue their lineage; or,their lineage ends after one or two generations.

The variations in colors are the result of the combination of alternative codes placed by the Creator in genes. The variety of colors in living beings is placedby Allah  in combination with their genes according to the environment in which they live or will be able to live. That phenotypic image becomes dominant with the migration of the living being to another life environment where it is camouflaged and feels more comfortable. It is clearly seen that even a single nucleotide change (SNP) in the diversity and variation in hair and eye color is controlled by such regular mechanisms. This is the result of alternative structures found in genes.

 The issue of speciation through micro-evolution is a complete fallacy for the reasons we have described above. It is clearly seen that living beings cannot turn to another species as a result of random micro-change in the course of time because random changes cause the living beings to become sick and to be winnowed out of the population through death or not to continue their lineage. It is not possible for a species to emerge by chance as a result of mutations and mechanisms such as environmental impact or natural selection in the course of timeaccording to  scientific methods and the calculus of probability.

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[1] Bennett, D. C., and Lamoreux, M.L., The Color Loci of Mice – A Genetic Century, Pigment Cell Res. 2003, 16: 333–344.
[2] Mayor, R., Eric, T., The role of the non-canonical Wnt–planar cell polarity pathway in neural crest migration. Biochemical Journal. 2013,10, 457 (1) 19-26.
[3] Anonymous 1, 2017. https://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/embryology/index.php/Neural_Crest_ Development
[4] Sturm, R. A. ve Larsson, M., Genetics of human iris colour and patterns. Pigment Cell Melanoma Res. 2009, 22; 544–562.
[5] Grønskov, K., Ek, J and Brondum-Nielsen, K., Oculocutaneous albinism, Orphanet. Journal of Rare Diseases, 2007, 2:43.
[6] Adapted from Strain, G. M., The genetics of deafness in domestic animals. Frontiers in Veterinary Science. 2015, 2, 29. ; Bellono, N. W, Escobar, I. E., and Oancea, E., A melanosomal two-pore sodium channel regulates pigmentation. Scientific Reports. 2016, 6:26570, DOI: 10.1038/srep26570
[7] Hoekstra, H.E, The secret of a natural blond. Nature Genetics 2014, 46, 7.
[8] Anonymous 2, 2017. https://i.ytimg.com/vi/d_yYC5r8xMI/maxresdefault.jpg
[9] Anonymous 4, 2017. https://biology.stackexchange.com/questions/35713/what-is-happening-when -we-get-a-tan/35716
[10] Anonymous 5, 2017. http://www.wikizero.net/index.php?q= aHR0cHM6Ly9lbi53aWtpcGVkaWE ub3JnL3dpa2kvTWVsYW5vbWE
Anonymous 6. http://www.natural-health-news.com/eye-melanoma-eye-tumor/
[11] Mallarino, R., Henegar, C., Mirasierra, M., Manceau,M., Schradin, C., Vallejo, M., Beronja, S., Barsh, G.S., & Hoekstra, H.,E., Developmental mechanisms of stripe patterns in rodents. 2016. Nature.539, 24 November, 518-523.
[12] Anonymous 7, 2017, http://www.wikizero.net/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly9lbi53aWtpcGVkaWE ub3JnL3dpa2kvRmlsZTpUaGlydGVlbi1saW5lZF9ncm91bmRfc3F1aXJyZWwuanBn
Anonymous 8, 2017. https://www.flickr.com/photos/neoporcupine/2095389732
[13] Gaikwad, R.P., Mukherjee,S., Saha, A.,  Naphade, P., Waardenburg syndrome type 2. Indian Journal of Paediatric Dermatology. 2015, Vol 16, Issue 3.
[14] Sturm, R. A. and Larsson, M., Genetics of human iris colour and patterns. Pigment Cell Melanoma Res. 2009, 22; 544–562.
[15] Visser, M, Kayser,M., Grosveld, F., and Palstra, R.J., Genetic variation in regulatory DNA elements: the case of OCA2 transcriptional regulation. Pigment Cell Melanoma Res. 2014, 27; 169–177.
[16] Hoekstra, 2014, ibid.
[17] Donnelly, M.P., Paschou, P., Grigorenko, E., Gurwitz, D., Barta, C., Lu, R.B., Zhukova, O.V., Kim, J.J., Siniscalco, M., New, M., Li, H., Kajuna, S.L.B., Manolopoulos, V.G., Speed,W.C., Pakstis,A.J., Kidd, J.R., Kidd, K.K., A global view of the OCA2-HERC2 region and Pigmentation. 2011, Hum Genet, 131:683–696, doi 10.1007/s00439-011-1110-x
[18] Lin, S. J., Foley, J., Jiang, T.X.,  Yeh, C.Y.,  Wu, P., Foley,A., Yen, C.M, Huang,Y.C., Cheng, H.C., Chen, F.C, Reeder, B., Jee, S.H., Widelitz, R.B., Chuong C.M., Topology of Feather Melanocyte Progenitor Niche Allows Complex Pigment Patterns to Emerge. Science. 2013, 340, 1442.
[19] Pryke, S.R ve  Griffith, S.C. Red dominates black: agonistic signalling among head morphs in the colour polymorphic Gouldian finch. Proc. 2006, R. Soc. B 273, 949–957.
[20] Manceau, M., Domingues, V.S., Linnen,C.R., Rosenblum, E.B., Hoekstra, H.E., Convergence in pigmentation at multiple levels: mutations, genes and function. Marie. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci., 2010, 365(1552): 2439–2450.
[21] Donnelly et al. ibid
[22] Coyne, J.A., , Evolution under pressure (Not black and White. Melanism: Evolution in Action by Michael E. N. Majerus). 2002, Nature, 396.

Prof. Dr. Murat ÜNAL¹, Prof. Dr. Lütfi BEHÇET^2
1Van Yüzüncü Yıl University. Faculty of Education. Biology Education Department, Van.
²Bingöl UniversityFaculty of Arts and Sciences, BiologyDepartment.
muratunal yyu.edu.tr

Biosystematic studies, which are shaped by the development of science and technology, show that each species is created with its own characteristics.

Every living being is equipped by the Creator with the ability to give answers to the environment within the limits of its genetic potential. Those answers actually form a continuity in series of continuation. This continuity in the biological activity of an living being is called ecocline in the sense of ecological line. If the species’ ecological boundaries and their responses to the environment are not studied in detail, intraspecies variations are often defined as different species by mistake. With this diversification series, they aim to meet the need for intermediate forms under thecover of science. The concept of ecological line shows us that each species is limited to its genetic codes, that those limits can only be changed by the will of the Creator, and that this wise change cannot be attributed to the environmental effects that are deprived of the ability to plan and target. In the past, it was accepted that intraspecies changes were intermittent and stair-stepped; the plant whoseeach difference in these steps was reflected on the phenotype was called ecotype (ecological type). However, recent research has shown that the changes in the species are continuous and that it showed continuity depending on the changing ecology along a line and hence has shown that there is no new ecotype formation after an ecotype is formed with a definite termination.

A lot of work has been done to explain the relationship between living beings and the environment until today and the basic principles that determine the outlines of this relationship have been tried to be put forward. However, a claim that the creation of the universe, the functioning of its laws, the perfect design of the living beings were all made and are still being made by something blind, deaf and ignorant thing called nature (all of the living and non-living beings in the universe), which has no will and which is deprived of the ability to plan, has been imposed as science. Every living thing is created with the equipment and ability to live in certain environments. The interaction between the environment and living beings is the subject of ecology. The issues of when, within which limits and how a living being that develops in an environment is given the ability to give new responses in order to make its life easy are the issues that interest  plant genetics and plant morphology as well as plant ecology. Besides, the feedback of the plant’s responses to the changing environment and the investigation of the relevant foundations interest physiology and genetics as well as ecology. Therefore, it is necessary to know some ecological basic concepts and to consider them together in order to understand the interaction. Some of those basic concepts are as follows: ecosystem (every thinker needs to accept fact that there is no system without a plan and program), law of the minimum and rules of tolerance.

The universe, the solar system, the world and seasons are necessary for the formation of an apple. One thing interacts with everything in the universe. Therefore, in order to place one thing in its proper place, it is necessary to know the relationship network and the place of everything in the system and to manage the system.

About 100 years ago, a researcher named Humboldt wrote that everything was to some extent connected and in solidarity; the King Friedrich called it ecosystem; it was also called holocoenotic. The concept of ecosystem was also demonstrated by Billings that a single environmental factor cannot influence the abundance or distribution of species and the isolation of a species because environmental factors act together and are in solidarity. [1] Therefore, plant distribution has been accepted as the best determinant of the study of all important environmental factors. We can explain it with an example: In addition to non-living agents such as soil, light, water and gases for the formation of an apple, pollinator insects are necessary for the formation of the apple seed; besides, micro and macro organisms in the soil, i.e. biotic components are necessary for the development of the seed. Thus, the universe, the solar system, the world and seasons are necessary for the formation of an apple. One thing interacts with everything in the universe. Therefore, in order to place one thing in its proper place, it is necessary to know the relationship network and the place of everything in the system and to manage the system. This is possible only by a master planner with infinite power and management by only one being.Therefore, it is not possible to take part in the ecosystem in an unplanned and unscheduled manner.

In 1840, Justusvon Liebig, an agriculturist and physiologist, stated that any crop developed based on the nutrient with the lowest amount among the nutrients in the soil; he called it the “law of the minimum”. However, in the scientific world today, the substances used by plants in the least amount in the soil are not regarded as only limiting, but instead whichever factor that the living being needs is below the critical level (the factors like water used by the plant in large amounts are also limiting) is considered the most important limiting factor in development. Although the development and spread of a species in certain areas is shaped according to the common effects of all environmental factors on varying scale, the limiting value of one of these factors is more (critical level) in the foreground than the effects of other factors.

The American animal ecologist Victor Shelford (1913), inspired by Liebig’s results, developed a concept called ‘tolerance theory’ in 193 for the first time. This theory states that one species being tolerant to one factor does not mean that it will be tolerant to another factor, that organisms with large tolerance spread to larger areas and that if a factor is not suitable for the species, its tolerance to other factors will also change. [2]

Each plant species responds to the environment based on the abilities inherent in its nature. Those responses become visible in its phenotype (outward appearance). Therefore, the responses given to the environment change as the characteristics of the environment change. However, if the environment changes gradually, those responses will continue based on change along the line where the ecology changes; it is called the ecocline (ecological line).

Intra-species change is the response given by each member of a species to the environment they are located in. The response is not unlimited. The border is determined by the Creator.

We will try to explain it with an example: Suppose that we take bean seeds taken from the same bean plant and sow themin a line beginning from the district of Kuşadası (Aydın) sea level elevation (0 m) from the coast and randomly along a line ending at 5137 m height of Mount Ağrı (Ararat) at 1 km intervals (the distance between those two cities is 1648 km). The ecological characteristics (climate, topography, soil characteristics, biotic effects, etc.) change from as we movethe coast of Aydın to Mount Ağrı. Therefore, the progress of bean seeds sown at 1 km intervals and the response of the beans to the changing environment will change. There will be many changes in the phenotype of the plant from Kuşadası to Mount Ağrı and there will be many different bean variants in appearance to some extent.

When the bean plants growing from the seeds sown at 1648 points between the two cities are examined, many different ecotypes will be seen. However, physiological responses in the growing bean plants are in the form of a continuous change depending on ecology. The plants in each step were named as “ecotypes” for the macro changes seen only in morphology, with the understanding as if ecotypes were separated with a definite boundary (the change was previously thought as a ladder step). It is now accepted that this change is uninterrupted, that the physiological responses constantly change along a line (Figure 1) (even if the changes at the micro level are not seen in the phenotype); that is, the view of “ecocline”, which means change along the ecological line, is more appropriate. [3]

This state, which we can call intra-species change, is the response given by each member of a species to the environment they are located in. The response is not unlimited. The border is determined by the Creator. Even to think that the change is limitless will bring questions that we will not be able to answer such as: “Where will the species stop?”“Will the species be able to survive at the point where it is?” However, there is no confusion and uncertainty in the real world. It means the Creator, who creates everything, controls His creatures every moment. He does not leave anything up to chance, nature and the species itself.

At the beginning of the twentieth century (in 1922), a research was made by scientists from 4 different branches (consisting of geneticists, physiologists, taxonomists and ecologists) along a transect (323 km) starting fromsea level elevation in North America to the height of 3600 m; they watched 60 species (they started with 180 species) for 16 years and evaluated the results. It was found in the research that responses to the changing environment were shaped at a certain time and that their reinstatement wouldhappen in the course of time. [4]

Findings

This research was made along a long line of 400 km in the east of Turkey between Bingöl andVan provinces. There are different ecologies such as vegetation diversity, changing soil structure, topography, precipitation and climate characteristics there.

Figure 1. The concept of ecocline. Diagrams showing the difference between the concepts of ecotype and ecocline. At the initial step, the ecotypes are different and separate due to discontinuity in the morphology and other characteristics of each one (vertical lines indicate discontinuity). In ecocline, there is no discontinuity; the variation is completely continuous (modified from Barbour, Burk & Pitts 1987).

Figure 2. Photograph 1. A close-up view of the striped squill (Puschkinia scilloides).

The morphological and phenological structure of Striped Squill (Puschkinia scilloides), which is given in the picture in Figure 2, which is granted by Allah the genetic potential to live in a wide area, were examined. The results were compared with the values in the Flora of Turkey (Table 1).

Table 1 Comparison of the morphological characteristics of Striped Squill (Puschkinia scilloides)

In addition, the ecological foundations of morphological and phenotypic differentiation was tried to be supported by soil analysis (Table 2).

Table 2. Soil characteristics of the habitats in different regions where Striped Squill (P. scilloides) develops

Discussion

There are many variations in several characteristics like the plant length, leaf size and number of flowers, which are phenotypical features, of the Striped Squill (Puschkinia scilloides), which has a wide distribution in the east of Turkey, in the samples collected in the provinces of Bingöl and Van. In the soil where we collected the striped squill samples that develop around the forests in the province of Bingöl, the amount of phosphorus (P2O5) is 8.24 kg/da, the rate of lime (CaCO3) is % 4.43, the amount of organic substances is 12.1% and pH is 7.2 in % 1.12 while in the soil where we collected the P. Scilloides samples that develop on Mount Pirreşit in the province of Van and that are in compliance with the definition in the Flora of Turkey, there is no phosphorus (P2O5), the rate of lime (CaCO3) is % 0.88, the amount of organic substances is 5.35% and pH is 6.5. [5] These two environments, in which the striped squill develop, are under the influence of quite different ecology. This different ecology affects the physiology of the plant, causing important anatomical and morphological differences. For, the climate (rainfall, temperature, light, wind, etc.) topography and soil features cause very different physiological events and ecophysiological behaviors in the plant. [6] For instance, the cold impact at high altitudes affects the disintegration of organic matter adversely; the organic matter is very high and the phosphorus amount is very low in the soils where the Striped Squill develop on Mount Pirreşit but theamount of organic matter is less and phosphorus is high around the forests in the province of Bingöl: This indicates the difference in biological activity of microorganisms in two habitats.[7]

Conclusion

This state, which we can call intra-species change, is the response given by each member of a species to the environment they are located in. The response is not unlimited. The border is determined by the Creator.

Biosystematic studies, which are shaped by the development of science and technology, show that each species is created with its own characteristics. As the biological data are produced, the place of the species in the living world becomes clear. These data show that nature, causes and self-occurrence are not possible. Therefore, it is clear that the attempts to attribute all scientific data to a common ancestor with the preliminary acceptance of the common ancestor is absolutely meaningless

With the development of technology in recognizing plants, observations with the naked eye are gradually being replaced by in-depth examination with instruments and accumulation of knowledge in detail and at the atomic level. Therefore, as our knowledge about plants increases,the creatures we previously described as simple turn out to be as complex as or more complex and subtler than the ones that we described as complex.

This state, which we can call intra-species change, is the response given by each member of a species to the environment they are located in. The response is not unlimited. The border is determined by the Creator.

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[1] Billings,W. D., 1952. The Environmental Complex in Relation to Plant Growth and Distribution. The Quarterly Review of Biology 27, no. 3: 251-265.
[2] Öztürk, M.,Pirdal, M., Gökçeoğlu, M., Tokur, S., 1989.Bitkilerde Ekotipik Farklılaşma, Doğa TU Botanik D. 13.3: 572-583; Öztürk, M., Seçmen, Ö., Bitki Ekolojisi, Ege Üniversitesi, Fen Fakültesi Yayınları, Yayın No: 141, 1996, İzmir – Bornova
[3] Barbour M.G., Burk J.H.&Pitts W.D., 1987. Terrestrial Plant Ecology. The Benjamin/ Cummings Publishing Company, Inc. California. USA.
[4] Barbour, Burk &Pitts, . ibid.
[5] Davis, P.H., 1984. Davis, P.H., Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands,Vol.8, Edinburgh Univ. Press., Edinburgh. 1984.
[6] Öztürk, M.,Pirdal, M., Gökçeoğlu, M., Tokur, S., 1989.Bitkilerde Ekotipik Farklılaşma, Doğa TU Botanik D. 13.3: 572-583
[7] Behçet, L., Ünal, M., 2001. Doğu Anadolu Bölgesinde B Karelerinde Toplanan Çeşitli Taksonlarda Belirlenen Varyasyonlar, Gazi Üniversitesi Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü Dergisi, 14 (4): 1095-1116.

Prof. Dr. Kazım UYSAL¹, Prof. Dr. Rahmi KASIMOĞULLARI², Prof. Dr. İrfan TERZİ^3
1Dumlupınar University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, BiologyDepartment, Kütahya,
[email protected]
²Dumlupınar University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Chemistry Department, Kütahya
³Dumlupınar University, Faculty of Education, Mathematicsand Science Education Department, Kütahya

All of the building blocks of the fish like cells, tissues, organs, oil and protein are full of evidences showing the Creator. For example, the size of cells varies according to their types but they are about 1/1000th of a millimeter or smaller. There are approximately 30 million cells in a volume of 1 cm³.[1] Biochemical substances that can hardly be made only in advanced laboratories after working for a long time or that cannot be made at all are made very quickly in tiny cells. Even today, when science has developed so much, we do not know the cell and most of the things that take place in the cell. Even many years later, there will probably be many unknown aspects of the cell. As time goes by and as science progresses, we encounter more and more unknown things about living beings and cells. In fact, we see that eternal knowledge becomes manifest in the living beings and cells, which are their smallest building blocks.

Cell membranes made of mindless and unconscious substances such as fat and protein act wisely and are selective consciously.

As evolutionists who  base their views on materialism such as Dawkins and Oparin argue, it is impossible for‘atoms and matter to organized by themselves and to form the cell by chance over time’. Even if amino acids are biologically present in a place, no protein can form spontaneously. [2] For,proteins cannot come into being without software (DNA or gene). The same thing applies to fat in biological systems. In other words, biologically, cells cannot form without fat, and fat cannot form without cells. There are thousands of biochemical substances produced for specific purposes in the cell; the cell continues to live thanks to them. One group of these biochemical substances is fats.

Fats are produced in cells for specific purposes and they are the basic building blocks of life. Fatty acids are the simplest fats synthesized in cells and they participate in the structure of complex fats that are to perform specific tasks in cells. Fat types that function in cells, especially in cell membranes, are glycerophospholipids, sphingolipids, glycolipids, gangliocytes, sterols, etc.

Cell membranes made of mindless and unconscious substances such as fat and protein act wisely and are selective consciously. Fats, which have many functions in the cell, form about 6 times more energy than glucose when they break down. [3]

There are dozens of types of fat synthesized for a specific purpose in cells. The cell is like a perfect kitchen. Imagine a kitchen where thousands of meals are cooked perfectly in seconds. Nobody can argue that there is no cook in this kitchen and that things happen as a result of strange coincidences. In fact, a cell is far more perfect than a kitchen because a cell is very small and the substances synthesized in the cell are far more perfect than the meals cooked in the most excellent professional kitchens. The fat content of living things is quite different from each other.

The most important feature that distinguishes fish oil from the fats of other living things is the long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids. [4] The presence of these special oils in fish abundantly is not a coincidence, but a result of the Creator’s deliberate design. For, fish can live in cold waters thanks to these special oils with very low melting temperatures. If there is deliberateness in an event, the existence ofa being that makes it deliberately is necessary. Things that are done knowingly and according to benefits cannot take place by chance and spontaneously. The formation of fat synthesis mechanisms in fish cells and the enzymes involved there through aprocess based on coincidences is impossible. Fatty acids are synthesized by considering special factors such as the physiology of the fish and the state of its environment.

Fish and fish oil are quite beneficial for human health. It has therapeutic properties for many diseases, primarily cardiovascular diseases. However, due to its unstable structure, fish oil becomesoxidized and goes bad very quickly. Therefore, if the fish is eaten fresh, it is a cure but if it is eaten stale, it is a disease.

Fatty Acids Detected in Fish and Fat Synthesis

The number and amount of fatty acids in fish oil varies according to many factors such as species, season, habitat and nutritional status. For example, 33 fatty acids detected in freshwater mullet (Squalius pursakensis) are given in Figure 1.

Figure 1. The chemical structure of fatty acids and palmitic acid detected in Squalius pursakensis.

Millions of reactions in billions of tiny cells in a fish in such a short time can be realized only by the infinite knowledge and power of the Creator.

It can be said that the number will increase if thefatty acids that are unrecognizable and unidentifiablein the gas chromatography device are taken into account. Fatty acids are synthesized according to need in a very short time in tiny cells. For example, the process for adding only two carbons to palmitic acid, which is a saturated fatty acid of 16 carbons, is roughly as follows:

First, Acetyl CoA, the precursor, should be synthesized in the cells for fatty acid synthesis. Acetyl CoA is made in the mitochondria of the cell through many complex mechanisms. Fatty acid synthesis is made in the cytosol. Acetyl CoA that is made in the mitochondria passes through the mitochondrial membrane to the cytosol with complex mechanisms called the citrate-pyruvate shuttle. After that, AcetylCoA is transformed into MalonylCoA. Then, the acetyl and malonyl groups are attached to the acyl carrier protein (ACP). The acetyl group attached to the fatty acid synthetase enzyme complex is transferred to the malonyl group and condensation is carried out. After the transfer of the acetyl group to the malonyl group, tens of complex biochemical reactions are performed to reduce the acyl group. As a result of the complex long reactions given so far in broad strokes, only two carbons are attached to the fatty acid chain. [5]

Organelles such as mitochondria, cytoplasm, ribosomes and nuclei work together for the synthesis of fat in the cell.So, there is a great organization in the cell for fat synthesis. Beings that become organized perfectly cannot be unconscious. The great organization in the cell for fat synthesis cannot be attributed to mindless and unconscious matter.

The reactions given here in broad strokes must be repeated 8 times for the synthesisof 16-carbon palmitic acid in cells that are too small to se with the naked eye. Palmitic acid is a medium chain saturated fatty acid among fatty acids. The synthesis of longer chain and polyunsaturated fatty acids in fish oil takes place, definitely, through much more complex reactions. Biochemical reactions that cannot be synthesized even in the most advanced laboratories are carried out in the cell in a very short time. Extremely perfect and complex materials are synthesized with the use of simple substances such as carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.

Millions of reactions in billions of tiny cells in a fish in such a short time can be realized only by the infinite knowledge and power of the Creator. If all of the biochemistry professors in the world came together, they could not do the reactions and the resulting products only for fat synthesis in a tiny cell of a fish. However, the beings that do such complex and perfect works are seemingly unconscious simple substances.

A being that does something with knowledge cannot be ignorant. So, we cannot attribute the infinite science we see for the synthesis of fat in the cell to the mindless and unconscious elements of the cell because they do something that is beyond their power. This clearly shows that they rely on a secret power.

It is pointed out in the Quran that the knowledge of Allah is infinite. [6] The work done in the cells clearly shows that the Creator’s knowledge is infinite, and that there is no difference between little and much and small and great for His Power. Fat synthesis does not occur only in one part of the cell or in one organelle. As it can be understood from the short description above related to the synthesis of fat in the cell, organelles such as mitochondria, cytoplasm, ribosomes and nuclei work together. So, there is a great organization in the cell for fat synthesis. Beings that become organized perfectly cannot be unconscious. The great organization in the cell for fat synthesis cannot be attributed to mindless and unconscious matter.

Special enzymes are used in fat synthesis reactions in the cell. Without these particular and complex enzymes, fatty acid synthesis reactions cannot take place. For instance, linoleic and linolenic acids that are essential (that cannot be synthesized in living beings and that must be taken from outside) for all human beings and animals are synthesized only in plants since they do not have the necessary synthesis enzymes. Fat cannot be synthesized in biological systems without special enzymes,. Therefore, it is not possible for the cell to occur through evolution by chance in the course of time. The cell was specially designed by a Creator whose knowledge and power are infinite, with all of its building elements, systems and mechanisms. The production oftens of special and complex enzymes that are essential for fatty acid synthesis cannot be attributed to mindless substances and blind coincidences.

An official or a soldier of the state does somebig things that he cannot do on his own on behalf of the State and relying on the power of the state; if those mindless, ignorant and unconscious cells are regarded as officials and soldiers of Allah, it is clearly understood that theyact on behalf of Allah, relying on His infinite power.

Thus, all of the causes in the universe, which we see doing things beyond their own power, should be considered from this perspectivelike the cow’s giving milk, the tree’s yielding fruits, the honey’s producing bee, the hen’slaying eggs, the thin fibers and roots of plants piercing through hard stones and soil.

Oil Synthesis in the Cell is Made According to Special Purposes

The cell membrane is 5-10 nm thick. All biological membranes are generally made of two phospholipid layers though the content may vary. More than 100 different types of phospholipids are used in the construction of cell membrane. The fat content of the cell membranes affects the biological properties of the membranes.The fat layer in the cell membranes is about 6nm (0.000006 mm), that is, one millionth of a millimeter. Vital tasks such as selective permeability of cell membranes, intercellular and intracellular communication are carried out by proteins placed in the double-layer phospholipid layer. [7]

The ones that select and the ones that are selected in the cell membrane are molecules that have no mind, consciousness and will; they are created together. Science, will and power are necessary to select. It cannot be said that there is knowledge, power and will in atoms and molecules. However, it is clear that the atoms act selectively and make the selection according to a purpose. So all atoms must be in the hands of a Creator who has power and who can do what He wants. When an element establishes a selective relationship, it also knows what will happen in the future and binds accordingly. However, an atom or molecule does not have the ability to see the future and behave accordingly. So, the power that makes biomolecules work in the cell is the Creator who also knows the future.

Fatty acid synthesis in the cell is made according to the living being, tissue and organ. For example, oleic acid is found in olive oil, linoleic acid in corn and sunflower oil, linolenic acid in walnut and hazelnut oil, eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids in fish oil. The synthesis of fatty acids that are unique to the organism is made for a specific purpose. For example, eicosapentaenoic (C20: 5n3) and docosahexaenoic (C22: 6n3) acids, which are frequently found in fish, are very important for the fish to live in water and to adaptto cold. [8] This topic will be explained in more detail later.

Fat and fatty acids are also synthesized according to the needs of tissues and organs and according to the change in ecological conditions. If the synthesis mechanisms in the cell always produced the same product like a factory, the living being would not be able to adapt to changing conditions, needs could not be met and life would not continue. Let us examine a few points related to the issue under separate subheadings.

Oil Synthesis Suitable for Living in Cold Waters

The viscosity determines the physical state of the cell membranes. This is controlled by the carbon lengths and degrees of unsaturation of the phospholipid fatty acids constituting the cell membranes. As the degree of unsaturation of the fatty acids constituting the cell membrane phospholipids increases, the tight packing pattern decreases and fluidity increases. In general, the double-layer phospholipid layer of cell membranes in all living things contains substantially unsaturated fatty acids.If the body temperature is maintained at 37^oC, the phospholipid layer that forms the cell membranes is liquid and fluid. In that case, each phospholipid can rotate around its axis and move laterally. An oil molecule in the cell membrane phospholipid leaf can change places with its neighbors 10 times per second. [9]

To attribute the deeds that are done with the mind to mindless beings and with the consciousness to unconscious beings is not something that can be accepted by a sane and conscious person.

What is interesting here is that the highly mobile and fluid structure also maintains its stable structure. We can only explain the strange things in the cell membrane, which still contain many secrets and which are still incomprehensible today, only by the manifestation of the infinite knowledge of the Supreme Creator. When we understand how perfectly functioning mechanisms work, we actually understand how the infinite knowledge and power of the Creator work. The fatty acid composition of the cell membrane phospholipids is relatively constant in homeotherm animals whose body temperature is kept constant. However, in cold-blooded animals such as fish (poikilotherm), blood temperature varies depending on the water temperature. Therefore, in cold-blooded living beings, the cell membrane fluidity should be maintained based on the temperature change of the living environment. This is done by altering the phospholipid fatty acid composition of the cell membrane. The short chain and unsaturated fatty acids have a lower surface area because they wriggle about their own axis. As the surface area of ​​the fatty acid increases, the interaction increases and the gel state becomes more stable. Therefore, the melting temperatures of short-chain and unsaturated fatty acids are lower than those of long-chain and saturated fatty acids. The higher the degree of unsaturation of the phospholipid fatty acids constituting the cell membranes, the lower the temperature required for the double layer to gel. Cell membrane viscosity must be maintained for the realization of the  physiological tasks in the cell membrane. Cell membranes must be kept fluid for the biomolecules, primarily proteins, with different duties to interact, communicate, and diffuse in order to perform a certain reaction. Cellular events such as movement, growth, division, and endocytosis of the cells depend on the maintenance of the cell membranes in a viscous structure.

Fish are cold-blooded creatures; their blood temperature varies depending on the water temperature. Even in very cold waters that are covered with ice in winter, the fish continue to live even though the blood temperature is very low. In cold winter days when food decreases, the ice on the lakes and creeks is broken and fish are hunted (Figure 2). Besides, the fat content of fish caught under those circumstances is more and the taste of the fish is excellent.

Figure 2. Fishing made by breaking ice in a lake in winter.

The maintenance of the fluidity of the cell membranes in cold conditions for cold-blooded animals such as fish is ensured by altering the fatty acid content of the cell membrane phospholipids. The maintenance of the fluid properties of the cell membrane phospholipids in cold conditions is ensured either by desaturation of a bond in saturated fatty acids, or by increasing the degree of unsaturation of unsaturated fatty acids. [10]

Fatty acids with very low melting temperatures instead of fatty acids with high melting fatty acids are added to the phospholipid structure of the cell membrane, (Figure 3).

The presence of polyunsaturated fatty acids in fish abundantly and theincrease of the proportion of these acids especially in cold water fish actually aim to enable the fish to live in cold conditions. The transformation of saturated bonds into unsaturated bonds in fatty acid chains (desaturation) is catalyzed by enzymes called desaturase. The rearrangement of phospholipid fatty acid content of cell membranes according to conditions is realized by phospholipases that separate fatty acids from the glycerol skeleton and acyltransferases that transfer suitable fatty acids to them.The mechanism of cell membrane fluid maintenance by altering the cell membrane phospholipid fatty acid composition in fish has not been fully understood yet.

Figure 3. The relationship between unsaturated bond numbers and melting temperatures of fatty acids with the same carbon number.

First of all, receptors that perceive outdoor conditions and intelligent decision-makers that will change the synthesis mechanisms in accordance with the conditions are necessary for this incident to take place. Such perfect systems that have not been understood yet cannot have come into being as a result of coincidence, as atheistic evolutionists say. It is unthinkable that the being that responds according to needs can be unwise and unconscious. Only the one that creates the fish in cold water and knows the requirements for the life of fish can create these wonderful mechanisms of synthesis. And that being is Allah, whose Knowledge and Power are infinite. To accept the contrary means to attribute an infinite mind and consciousness to mindless and unconscious matter. [11]

Oil Synthesis and Storing Oil According to Needs

The oil synthesized in the cells during the intensive feeding times of the fish is stored for future needs and used when needed. Let us see two striking examples of it. The first example: Although there are some exceptions, the fish are the beings that produce the most eggs among vertebrate. Although it varies from species to species, the eggs that are produced are equal to approximately one third of the body weight of a fish. A lot of protein and oil are needed as food for the ovaries to grow and for eggs to develop. The oil needed for gonadal development is synthesized before and stored. For example, it is stated in a study that n3 and n6 group polyunsaturated fatty acids are needed more for the gonad development of zander fish. The oil that will be needed later is stored in different parts of the body beforehand and is sent to the gonads when needed (Uysal et al., 2005).

Fat transfer between tissues and organs is as complex a biochemical event as fat synthesis. It is not enough to have fat transport mechanisms in the body in order to have fat transfer in the body of the fish. However, it is necessary to know where in the bodyand whattype of fat is needed.

The second example: An eel (Anguilla anguilla) living in any river or lake in Anatolia feeds and grows in fresh water until sexual maturity. It reaches the highest fat level in life before reaching sexual maturity. The eels that reach sexual maturity take a long journey across the ocean to the Gulf of Sargasso off the coast of South America (Figure 4).

Figure 4. Eel (Anguilla anguilla) migration.

The eels travel more than about ten thousand kilometers, use the shortest way and do not get confused. They do not eat during migration; they use the oil that they have previously stored. All A. anguilla eels in the world reproduce in the same place. A. anguilla eels, which reproduce only once in their life, lay eggs and die. The young eels, whose parents have died, go back to the fresh waters of Anatolia by following the same long route that their parents have traveled. The reasons why eels migrate, why they go to the Gulf of Sargasso, which is so far away, and how theyfind the shortest route in the ocean without being confused are the questions waiting for answers in the branch of fish biology.

We cannot say that the fish does these things by knowing, planning and with consciousness. The part of this mysterious event that is related to oil is the preparation of the eel for the journey as if it knows the journey and the storage of enough oil to use as fuel. All these wonderful works cannot be explained by chance-based evolutionary tales that exclude the creator.

There is only one logical explanation for this. The being that creates the eel and makes itdo the mysterious migration in the sea is the one that creates all the relevant mechanisms that we do not know even now.

We cannot understand those wonderful and strange incidents by the term “instinct”, which is used by the people of aberration and philosophers to explain them. In fact, they all happen based on “natural inspiration” and “impulse of destiny“.

Fish is an Important Source of Sustenance and Cure for Man

Fish is both food and cure. It is an excellent food in terms of protein, fat, minerals and vitamins. It contributes to the development of the nervous system, brain and intelligence. It prevents cardiovascular diseases, cancer, Alzheimer’s, asthma and psoriasis. It lowers bad cholesterol, prevents vascular occlusion andwidens blood vessels. Fish reduces blood pressure and increases vascular elasticity. It regulates heart rhythms and reduce the risk of heart attack and sudden death.. [12]

The Creator created fish as a sustenance and cure for man. The most important point to be considered related to consuming such an important food is that it should be fresh.

Fish should be consumed fresh

The Creator created fish as a sustenance and cure for man. The most important point to be considered related to consuming such an important food is that it should be fresh.

The water content and pH of fish meat is generally higher than the meat of the animals living on land. Therefore, microbial and enzymatic activities in fish meat are rapid and it goes bad quickly. Fish contains high levels of trimethylaminoxide, whose  enzymatic degradation is high, and non-protein nitrogen compounds. Therefore, fish loses its freshness more quickly than other types of meat and compounds that are harmful to health form in a shorter time in fish meat. Biogenamine compounds form faster in fish meat than the meat of the animals living on land. Excess histamine that forms in stale fish causes poisoning. However, one of the most important things that makes fish meat go bad quickly is that fish contain more phospholipids and fatty acids such as polyunsaturated eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid than other animals. This is why, fish oil is beneficial to human beings. However, since fish oil contains too many unsaturated bonds, it is unstable and it is rapidly oxidized to form free radicals. Therefore, fresh fish is nutritious and healing while stale fish is harmful. The information that seafood meat goes bad more quickly than the meat of the animals living on land and that they should be eaten fresh is quite new. [13]

However, this scientific fact was stated concisely in the Holy Quran about fifteen centuries ago:

‘It is He Who has made the sea subject, that ye may eat thereof flesh that is fresh and tender (fish), and that ye may extract therefrom ornaments to wear. [14]

The following is stated in another verse:

‘Nor are the two bodies of flowing water alike,- the one palatable, sweet, and pleasant to drink, and the other, salt and bitter. Yet from each (kind of water) do ye eat flesh fresh and tender (fish), and ye extract ornaments to wear”. [15]

The word  طَرِيًّا(fresh) is mentioned only twice in the Quran, which contains over six hundred pages, and it is used for fish in both cases. This fact, which is known only by those who study aquaculture, biology and food sciences, was clearly stated in the Quran about fifteen centuries ago. Then, the Sustainer, who makes fish sustenance for human beings, is also the sender of the Holy Quran.

Conclusion

The Creator did not create any nonsensical and meaningless  things. There is one or more wisdoms in the creation of every being. The same is valid for the fish. The polyunsaturated fatty acids created in fish actually aims to enable the fish to live in cold conditions.

There are evidences showing the existence and oneness of the Creator in all beings. In this article, we have tried to know the Creator and to understand the evidences that showed Him by examining only the fish oil.

The reactions in fish cells to synthesize fat show clearly the infinite knowledge and power of the Creator because the biochemical reactions made for fat synthesis in tiny cells are too complex and too perfect to be performed even in today’s best equipped biochemistry laboratories.

These wonderful systems, which work before our eyes, cannot have come into being based on coincidence over a long period of time by the organization of mindless and unconscious substances on their own as the atheistic evolutionists claim. Fat synthesis in the cell occurs as a result of a tremendous organization of cell elements. The synthesized enzymes and intermediate products are synthesized according to a purpose. Mindless and unconscious matter cannot be organized on its own; a being that always acts based on a special purpose cannot be unconscious. So, there must be a Creator who creates cells by organizing mindless and unconscious substances and who makes tiny cells do great things.

The creation of fish in harmony with water and the synthesis of special fatty acids with very low melting temperatures for the fish to survive in water makes it necessary that the creator of water and fish to be the same. For,a being that does not know the conditions of life, cannot make systems suitable for living in water.

These special oils are also a source of healing for human beings. Therefore, the creator of fish and human beings must be the same. Fish oil is the oil that goes bad the fastest among oils due to its unstable structure. The meat that goes bad the fastest among meats is fish meat.

In the two verses of the Quran related to fish and other sea products, it is stated that fish should be consumed fresh. The fact that this issue has been understood only recently when molecular biology, food and nutrition sciences are advanced is a sign of the miracle of the Holy Quran.

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[1] Yavuz Z., DNA mucizesi ve hayatın gerçeği, Bizim Büro Matbaa Yayıncılık San. Ltd. Şti. Ankara, 2015.
[2] Monod J. Rastlantı ve Zorunluluk, Translated by: Elodie Eda Moreau, Alfa Basım Yay., Istanbul, 2012.
[3] Karaçalı S., ve Deveci R. ‘Biyomoleküller ve hücre’, Moleküler Biyoloji kitabı, Ed: Ahmet Yıldırım, Fevzi Bardakçı, Mehmet Karataş, Bahattin Tanyolaç, Nobel yayınevi, p. 1- 53. 2007.
[4] Uysal K., Yöntem M., Dönmez M., Balık Yağının Koroner Kalp Hastalıkları Üzerine Etkisi, Dumlupınar Üniversitesi Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü Dergisi, 8, 179-198, 2005.
[5] Yöntem M. ve Önaldı, M. Biyokimya, İstanbul Medikal Yayıncılık, 2018.
[6] at-Talaq, 65/12., al-Baqara, 2/20.
[7] Sanal F., ve Kızılay G. ‘Plazma membranlarının yapısı ve fonksiyonu’, Moleküler Biyoloji kitabı, Ed:Ahmet Yıldırım, Fevzi Bardakçı, Mehmet Karataş, Bahattin Tanyolaç, Nobel yayınevi, p. 323- 375, 2007.
[8] Bell M.V.,Henderson R.J., Sargent J.R., The role of polyunsaturated fatty acids in fish,  Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part B: Comparative Biochemistry, 83 (4),711-719, 1986.
[9] Karaçalı S., and Deveci. ibid, p. 1- 53.
[10] Uysal K., Bülbül M., Dönmez M., Seçkin AK. Changes in some components of the muscle lipids of three freshwater fish species under natural extreme cold and temperate conditions. Fish Physiology and Biochemistry, 34, 455–463, 2008.
[11] Cossins A. R. ve Macdonald A.G. Journal of Bioenergetics and Biomembranes, 21( 1), 1989.
[12] Leaf, A., Diet and sudden cardiac death, J Nutr Health Aging. 5(3), 173-178, 2001.
[13] Uysal K., Yöntem M., Dönmez M., 2005. ibid.
[14] an-Nahl, 16/14.
[15] Fatir, 35/12.

Nüket ÇALIŞKAN¹,  Prof. Dr. Hasan AKAN¹, Çiğdem GÖVER^1
1 Harran University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, BiologyDepartment, Şanlıurfa.
[email protected]

What is Pseudogene?

Pseudogenes, which are called fake genes, are defined asgene-like regions of DNA that do not code a functional product and that have no duty. However, recent studies have shown that these genes have duties and that may play a role in the pathology of some diseases if they are developed.

Pseudogenes are known as gene-like regions that result from the duplication of a gene present in the genome. For many years, these genes were thought to be ‘junk DNA’ regions without any tasks. Pseudogenes were used by pro-evolution scientists as evidence of evolution. According to those scientists, the harmful mutation that disrupts the activity of the gene should be eliminated from the society through natural selection.However, pseudogenes are shown as an exception to it because the pseudogene is seen as a copy of an existing gene; in this case, the harmful mutation that occurs in one of the additional copies will not be eliminated because the other copy of the gene is already working. Consequently, the mutation in the additional copy will be transferred to the next generations. It is claimed that if any two species have the same pseudogenes and if those pseudogenes contain the same harmful mutations, they come from a common ancestor. The sharing of non-functional sequences and mutations is considered to be evidence of evolution.

Then,the following question comes to mind: “Why do the cells governed by the principle of minimum energy use so much energy to transfer those imitating genes, which have no function, to the next generation?”. For, according to creation, there is no room for the aimless genes in perfect creation. Pseudogenes must also have a purpose of creation. Indeed, recent molecular studies have shown that pseudogenes, which are thought to have no role for many years, have various tasks such as the regulation of mRNA stability and gene expression.

The pseudogenes’ having a duty is no different from other homologous structures in nature. All of this reflects the fact that the Creator uses the same "draft" or "art form" repeatedly when He builds different living beings. In thatcase, it is the duty of scientists to investigate and reveal the great engineering and harmony in creation.

DNA, that is, deoxyribonucleic acid, is the genetic material that carries the information necessary for the liveness and biological activities of all organisms and some viruses. The gene is the DNA region that allows a functional product such as polypeptide or RNA to be produced. [1] A gene region, a regulatory region called a promoter, and a termination codon that terminates the transcription are necessary for a functional product to form from the DNA region in a eukaryotic organism. After the gene region is transcribed from the DNA to primary RNAs with all parts, regions that will not be translated, such as the promoter, termination codon, intron, and, if present, the enhancer region, are removed. Finally, the exon regions are joined and mature mRNA is formed. Then, it is sent to ribosomes for amino acid synthesis. [2]

It is thought that those gene-like regions are caused by the duplication of an initially existing gene but that it subsequently lost its duty as a result of deletion, insertion, frame shift that prevents expression of the gene, or the accumulation of mutations forming a stop codon before normal time.

Pseudogenes first appeared in 1977 when Jacq et al. reported that there was a region in the genomic DNA sequence of Xenopus laevis, (African clawed frog)which is homologous to the gene that replicates 5S RNA, and that does not transcribe. [3] Later, it was demonstrated that these groups, whose transcription does not happen, existed in many living beings from prokaryotes to eukaryotes. [4] It is known that the human genome contains approximately 20,000 pseudogenes. [5] Although these pseudogenes show high homology in sequence as ancestral gene, they are regarded as the remnants of the genes that show homology because they somehow lost the ability to transcribe.

These genes are called pseudogenes, "false genes", based on the claim that these regions have no function. [6] However, recent studies have shown that these genes have duties and that may play a role in the pathology of some diseases if they are developed. [7]

Pseudogenes are divided into three groups according to the mechanism of formation (Figure 1):

1. Unitary pseudogenes
2. Duplicated pseudogenes
3. Processed pseudogenes

It is thought that unitary pseudogenes were formed by the disruption of the transcription and translation mechanisms that enable the gene to form a functional product by accumulating random mutations in the ancestral gene. Pseudogenes in this group are called evolutionary waste or fossil genes by some scientists. Such pseudogenes occur when a single copy ancestor gene lose its function.[8]

Duplicated pseudogenes occur as a result of duplication of the ancestral gene. However, as a result of the duplication errors that occur during this duplication, the disruption of the gene’s enhancers and promoters, or themutation of the frame shift and the formation of early stop codon, the ability of the gene to transcribe is lost. Those pseudogenes are likely to be clustered on and near the same chromosome as the ancestral gene.[9]

As for processed pseudogenes, they are thought to formwhen the mRNA that forms as a result ofthe transcription of the ancestral gene is transformed into the cDNA with the reverse transcriptase enzyme and enters into the genome again. Since those pseudogenes are composed of mature mRNA, they do not contain introns and can also be located in areas away from the ancestral gene.[10]

Figure 1: The mechanism of pseudogene formation A. Unitary Pseudogenes, B. Duplicated Pseudogenes, C. Processed Pseudogenes.[11]

The View of Evolution

According to the view of evolution, mutations that disrupt the activity of the gene are eliminated from the society through natural selection. However, gene duplication is regarded as an exception because even if mutation occurs in the duplicated copy, natural selection will not take place because the other copy is already working and can meet the needs of the organism. That is, the duplicated gene containing the mutation can be transferred to other generations. The defective genes caused by harmful mutations in additional copies are also called pseudogenes. In other words, if any pseudogenes are found in any two species and if these pseudogenes are formed as a result of the same harmful mutations, it is shown as evidence that they come from a common ancestor. According to this view, the sharing of non-functional sequences and errors is defined as evolution. In addition, pseudogene sequences are considered genomic "fossils" in plant and animal genomes.

In a study, Ohta and Nishikimi compared the sequences of man, orangutan, chimpanzee, rat and macaque GULOP pseudogenes. At the end of the study, only 4 bases were found to be different among the GULOP pseudogenes containing around 120 nucleotides of man and chimpanzee. This difference is 8 nucleotides between man and orangutan (Figure 2). Acting upon this result, they suggested that the chimpanzee was closer to man.In short, chimpanzees, which we call apes, have a genome close to humans rather than another orangutan. In fact, according to this study, the animal with which we share the most pseudogenes is chimpanzee. A general picture is drawn showing that the shared genes and pseudogenes decrease as you go to other mammals, reptiles and fish.[12]

Figure 2: The comparison of GULOP pseudogene sequence of rat, man, chimpanzee, orangutan and macaque.[13]

The View of Creation

Everything in the cells and in the living body is extremely measured and calculated, and is carried out according to a plan and schedule. Such unnecessary, extra and waste materials are prepared to be used in another place by breaking down into the atoms in the cell.

According to the information above, those pseudogenes in many living groups insert themselves into DNA and are transferred from generation to generation. However, in that case, the following question comes to mind: “Why do the cells governed by the principle of minimum energy use so much energy to transfer those imitating genes, which have no function, to the next generation?”. [14]

However, there is no extra and redundant structure in the cell, not even an atom.Everything in the cells and in the living body is extremely measured and calculated, and is carried out according to a plan and schedule. Such unnecessary, extra and waste materials are prepared to be used in another place by breaking down into the atoms in the cell.

Pseudogenes have many different functions, such as mRNA regulation, increasing genetic diversity, reducing or increasing gene expression.

We need to go back a bit to understand the status of junk DNAs that are deemed to be non-functional. It was reported many years ago that only 3% of the DNA was necessary, and the remaining 97 percent were non-scientific and "insignificant". Biologists thought that DNA lost its function through evolution.

Similarly, it was claimed in the past that more than 80 structures and organs in humans were unnecessary vestigial organs and tissues. After that,those DNA sequences, whose duty we do not know, were considered insignificant.

However, according to the scientists who adopt the view of Creation, nothing can be purposeless in an organism that is perfectly designed and created. Everything that has been created must have a purpose. The fact that it has not been proved yet does not change this fact.

The pseudogenes are no different from other homologous structures in nature. All of this reflects the fact that the Creator uses the same "draft" or "art form" repeatedly when He builds different living beings. 

In that case, why pseudogenes exist and what their functions are should be investigated. As a matter of fact, recent studies have shown that pseudogenes are not purposeless and functionless genes but that they have a serious role in regulating the expression of genes. [15]

Pseudogenes have many different functions, such as mRNA regulation, increasing genetic diversity, reducing or increasing gene expression. For instance, the Oct4 gene, which has more than one pseudogene, acts as a transcription factor in stem cells, and one of the pseudogenes of this gene, overexpression of Oct4P, inhibits the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells. [16]

A study involving bioinformatics techniques and experimental studies on genome basis was conducted by Chan et al in 2103. In this study, pseudogenes, target genes andesiRNAs were compared using the databases;it was found that the PPM1K gene, which is vital for cell survival and organ development, encodes esiRNA in the pseudogene, and that esiRNAs regulatethe expression of several genes including NEK8 gene, which is associated with cancer cell growth.

Experimental studies on 41 pairs of hepatocellular cancer tissues and normal tissue showed that PPM1K pseudogene in cancerous tissue decreased significantly compared to normal tissue while NCR8 expression increased.[17]

In a large-scale study conducted in 2012, 13 different cancer types and 293 tissue samples were studied and the activity of 2,082 different pseudogenes related to cancer was determined.[18]

Conclusion

It is impossible for any scientist or a worldwide consortium of scientists to test all those DNA base pairs one by one because the operation of DNA involves many different complex processes. To conclude that a DNA sequence has no function, it is necessary to test each base pair. It is an easy way of escape to call a DNA sequence "junk DNA, fake DNA" just because we do not know its duty.

The human genome consists of approximately 3 billion DNA base pairs. This long molecular code is responsible for the transformation of the cells that make up the human body into an adult cell from the zygote, and a development that lasts for decades. DNA has been assigned the task of controlling and managing all vital systems of the living being, and it has a very, very complicated structure.

Obviously, it is impossible for any scientist or a worldwide consortium of scientists to test all those DNA base pairs one by one because the operation of DNA involves many different complex processes. To conclude that a DNA sequence has no function, it is necessary to test each base pair. It isan easy way of escape to call a DNA sequence "junk DNA, fake DNA" just because we donot know its duty.

Instead, we should look at the genome from the perspective of widespread engagement and incredible bioengineering.Considering that there is nothing aimless in creation, we must work harder to discover the unknown things in the light of science.

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[1] Watson JD, Crick FH. Molecular structure of nucleic acids; a structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid. Nature. 1953;171(4356):737-8.
[2] Kasap M. Gen İfadesinin Kontrolü. In: Kasap H, editor. Tibbi Biyoloji ve Genetik. Adana: Nobel Kitap Evi; 2010. p. 231-8.
[3] Jacq, C., Miller, J. R., & Brownlee, G. G. (1977). A pseudogene structure in 5S DNA of Xenopus laevis. Cell, 12(1), 109-120.
[4] Li, W., Yang, W., & Wang, X. J. (2013). Pseudogenes: pseudo or real functional elements?. Journal of genetics and genomics, 40(4), 171-177
[5] Han, Y. J., Ma, S. F., Yourek, G., Park, Y. D., & Garcia, J. G. (2011). A transcribed pseudogene of MYLK promotes cell proliferation. The FASEB Journal, 25(7), 2305-2312.
[6] Sönmez, D., Göğebakan, B., Ecevit, H., Ataç, L., Küçük, M. U., & İzmirli, M. (2016). Sahte İsmini Haketmeyen Genler; Psödogenler. Mustafa Kemal Üniversitesi Tıp Dergisi, 7(25).
[7] Tutar, Y. (2012). Pseudogenes. Comparative and functional genomics, 2012.
[8] Zhang, Z. D., Frankish, A., Hunt, T., Harrow, J., & Gerstein, M. (2010). Identification and analysis of unitary pseudogenes: historic and contemporary gene losses in humans and other primates. Genome biology, 11(3), R26.
[9] Sönmez et al., 2016.ibid.
[10] Xiao-Jie, L., Ai-Mei, G., Li-Juan, J., & Jiang, X. (2015). Pseudogene in cancer: real functions and promising signature. Journal of medical genetics, 52(1), 17-24.
[11] Sönmez et al., 2016. ibid.
[12] Ohta, Y., & Nishikimi, M. (1999). Random nucleotide substitutions in primate nonfunctional gene for L-gulono-γ-lactone oxidase, the missing enzyme in L-ascorbic acid biosynthesis. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA)-General Subjects, 1472(1), 408-411.
[13] Ohta and Nishikimi, 1999. ibid.
[14] Pink RC, Wicks K, Caley DP, Punch EK, Jacobs L, Carter DR. Pseudogenes: pseudo-functional or key regulators in health and disease? Rna. 2011;17(5):792-8.
[15] Tutar, Y. (2012). ibid.
[16] Lin H, Shabbir A, Molnar M, Lee T. Stem cell regulatory function mediated by expression of a novel mouse Oct4 pseudogene. Biochemical and biophysical research communications. 2007;355(1):111-6.
[17] Chan, W. L., Yuo, C. Y., Yang, W. K., Hung, S. Y., Chang, Y. S., Chiu, C. C., ... & Chang, J. G. (2013). Transcribed pseudogene ψPPM1K generates endogenous siRNA to suppress oncogenic cell growth in hepatocellular  carcinoma. Nucleic acids research, 41(6), 3734-3747.
[18] Kalyana-Sundaram, S., Kumar-Sinha, C., Shankar, S., Robinson, D. R., Wu, Y. M., Cao, X., ... & Iyer, M. K. (2012). Expressed pseudogenes in the transcriptional landscape of human cancers. Cell, 149(7), 1622-1634.

Prof. Dr. Kazım UYSAL
Dumlupınar University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, BiologyDepartment, Kütahya.
[email protected]

Man can live healthily and peacefully in a clean and natural environment. The human soul always seeks natural things and finds peace in unspoiled environments. However, unspoiled natural environments have decreased or disappeared day by day as a result of human influence. In particular, thousands of man-made chemical and industrial wastes have been thrown to nature for years. It was thought that natural environments would never be polluted and lost but they have been damaged and natural resources have been on the brink of finishing.

The materialistic evolutionist view sees life as a struggle and argues that only the strong can survive. The Islamic view argues that life continues as a result of cooperation and that cooperation is essential.

Humanity has been struggling withdozens of environmental problems such as global warming and climate changes, unplanned urbanization and infrastructure problems, environmental and food pollution, elimination of biological richness, destruction of green areas, desertification and erosion, acid rain, eutrophication, ozone layer thinning and harmful sun rays and poverty. Human beings are the only cause of the current important environmental problems. In the face of this fact, the following question comes to mind. What different characteristics of man cause such severe environmental problems? The answer to this important question is as follows in outline:

There is no limit to the emotions of man; his needs and desire for comfort are unlimited; he does not comply with the laws of nature that are valid in nature; he tries to adapt nature to himself; his feeling of thinking about the future is too much. In particular, environmental problems have accelerated with materialistic ideas of evolution inciting social Darwinism and wild capitalism, which do not conform to human nature. The misapplications of human beings that are contrary to nature have led to today’s environmental problems. As a result, man has suffered the most directly or indirectly. So, only when man changes his point of view and returns from his mistakes can he reduce or prevent today’s severe environmental problems.

According to the materialistic evolutionist view, life consists of only this world whereas the Islamic view considers that the real life is in the hereafter and plans the world life accordingly.

Man has been under the influence of materialistic evolutionist thought for the last hundred and fifty years. As a result of materialistic evolutionist thought, the message of the celestial religions based on the creationist perspective has weakened and the materialist evolutionist perspective has become dominant. With the influence of the materialistic evolutionist view, especially after the second half of the 19th century, some positivist philosophers argued that science and technology could satisfy humanity and that religions were meaningless and should be eliminated. Darwin’s theory of evolution supported materialistic and confrontationist thought, shook the creationist conservative understandings, arguing that species came from a common ancestor, and contradicted secular beliefs and humanistic beliefs that put man at the center of nature and life.[1]

Industrialization definitely has a great effect on bringing environmental problems to the public agenda. However, it is a fact that human beings cannot solve today’s environmental problems unless they change their lifestyles and viewpoints. The materialistic evolutionist view and the Islamic view put forward very different principles related to the protection of the environment.

For instance, the materialistic evolutionist view sees life as a struggle and argues that only the strong can survive. The Islamic view argues that life continues as a result of cooperation and that cooperation is essential. According to the materialistic evolutionist view, life consists of only this world whereas the Islamic view considers that the real life is in the hereafter and plans the world life accordingly. The materialistic evolutionist view argues that all beings occurred as a result of coincidences. On the other hand, the Islamic view believes that Allah created the system and every being in the system deliberately and every being has a duty in the system. It argues that Allah did not create anything in vain and meaninglessly in the system. According to the Islamic view, man is extremely helpless and weak but he attains the highest degree with the help and mercy of Allah. In the materialistic evolutionist view, man is the most developed and unquestionable being in the evolutionary process. We can mention more fundamental differences between the materialistic evolutionist view and the Islamic view. In this study, the discussion is about whether the materialistic evolutionist view or the Islamic view,both of which have very opposite viewpoints in each field, is more important for the protection of the environment.

Basic Characteristics of Man That Cause Environmental Problems

Animals are sent to the world equipped with the skills necessary for life; their talents and abilities are limited; they do not improve, and their skills to establish cause and effect relationships is absent or very weak. Therefore, animals live in accordance with nature. Human beings start life as very weak beings. However, their talents and abilities are limitless and they constantly improve by learning. They establish cause-effect relationships. Therefore, they do not comply with the existing functioning system and they try to adapt the system to themselves.

Another important difference between man and animal is that the needs of animals are limited because of their limited feelings, and the needs of man are unlimited because of his unlimited feelings.

For instance, let us compare humans and animals in terms of protection from cold winter conditions. When it becomes very cold in winter, some animals die, some hibernate, some migrate to the appropriate places and some live in the cold thanks to theirbodies that are suitable for cold weather. The nests of animals are simple and they cannot develop them over time. For example, animals cannot think as follows: Let me develop my nest more to be protected against cold or let me warm my nest by using energy sources. For example, the nightingale’s nest is the same today as it was a thousand years ago. However, human beings are very different regarding the issue. The development of construction and insulation technologies, the discovery and use of various energy sources are behaviors that are peculiar to human beings.Thanks to his well-equipped nature, man has been protected from cold and heat, has not complied with the conditions, and has been able to resist different conditions by developing systems.

The needs of animals do not increase. For example, the needs of the sparrows a hundred years ago are the same as the needs of those living today. However, man is not like animals. Human needs are a lot and they increase day by day.Thousands of products displayed in large supermarkets are the best examples showing the plenitude of human needs. A person encounters many products that he has never seen before and that he needs when he first sees them. Man’s desire of comfort is also unlimited. In fact, man tries to satisfy his unlimited feelings in a limited world. Man’s limitless feelings and desire of comfort, the multiplicity of his needs and their increase in time causedthe exploitation of natural resources more. This led to environmental problems.

Every living being except man has important duties in the ecosystem. However, it is difficult to say that man plays an important role in the functioning of this system. For example, if there were no human beings in the world ecosystem, their absence would not be felt and the balance would probably be better. Since man is at the top of the food pyramid, his absence would not cause a significant change in the pyramid. However, the absence of a part (a living being) below or in the middle of the pyramid would cause significant changes and distortions in the structure of the pyramid. Since man is at the top of the food pyramid, all living things work for him either directly or indirectly. If you look at his table, it is immediately understood that man is privileged. It consumes both plants and animals and also their products. Man is the creature with the richest table. The reason for the domination of man over the system is neither muscle nor claw strength. Man is weaker than many animals in terms of these characteristics. It looks as if man has been given preferential treatment and the whole system has been put under his order. In fact, Islam’s and other Abrahamic religions’ (Judaism and Christianity) partly human-centered understanding of the environment is actually the expression of a fact. However, Islam has an understanding that places Allahin the center, which is much more different and powerful than the other heavenly religions. This important aspect is also the essence of this article and will be explained in more detail later.

Comparison of the Materialistic Evolutionist and Islamic Viewpoints on the Protection of the Environment

According to the materialistic viewpoint, life is a struggle; the strong one wins and the weak one is eliminated and lost.

According to the materialist theory of evolution,‘Mindless, unconscious and purposeless substances came together as a result of strange coincidences in the course of time and all living beings, including human beings, were formed from one another in a chain. There is no creator who creates and intervenes in the universe and the living and non-living beings in it. Man’s superiority over other living beings is a result of the evolutionary process.’

The discussions about the theory of evolution have focused more on human beings than other living beings because according to the theory of evolution, human beings either come fromapes or have the same ancestor as apes. The materialistic evolutionist view argues that the behavioral system and morality of a living being as well as its physical structure come into being through evolution.[2]

According to the materialistic evolutionist view, the whole system and every being in it occurred by chance.

Materialistic evolutionists cannot explain how a mechanism differentiates human beings from other living beings so much, how mindless and unconscious matter forms mind and consciousness, and why there is no creature that has mental functions other than human beings..[3]

According to the Islamic point of view, the universe and all beings in the universe were created by a Creator whose Knowledge and Power are infinite. There is a perfect balance, system and order in the universe. It is essential that this balance and system not break. Man has been given some responsibilities to keep this balance.

According to the Islamic point of view, the universe and all beings in the universe were created by a Creator whose Knowledge and Power are infinite. The proof of it is that the universe and all living and non-living beings have a perfect balance and order. For example, according to the Islamic point of view, every being,from the smallest atoms to the largest celestial bodies, is evidence for the existence of the Creator because every being in this perfect system works in harmony with each other and do wise things. Since it is impossible to do intelligent works without having intelligence, there must be a creator who makes mindless and unconscious beings do wise things.

According to the Islamic view, Allah creates at every moment and manages the system and its contents. The existence of a perfect system in the universe indicates the existence of Allah and the continuation of thatsystem shows that Allah’s control continues. Among all creatures, Allah created only human beings as capable of being addressed by Him and assigned important duties to man. Therefore, man will be called to account for whatever he does; he will either be rewarded or punished. The place of reward and punishment is not this world but the land of immortality called the hereafter. Let us compare the Islamic and materialistic evolutionist viewsmentioned above in terms of protection of the environment.

View on the World and the Beings in it

According to the Islamic viewpoint,every flower or insect is a meaningful letter written for people to read.  The creator introduces himself to man with unique works of art and shows the perfection of his names and attributes.

According to the Islamic view, the Quran is the work of Allah’s attribute ‘Kalam (Speech)’ and the universe is the work of His attribute ‘Power’. The universe and everything in it are created and ruled by Allah. Everything that is created is the reflection of Divine Wisdom and names; they are signs and evidences showing the existence of Allah. Let us considera flower or a beetle as an example in order to understand better the difference between the Islamic view and the materialistic evolutionist view in terms of the protection of nature and the prevention of environmental problems.

And the Firmament has He raised high, and He has set up the Balance (of Justice), In order that ye may not transgress (due) balance. Verse of the Quran

Just as a painter enjoys watching the beautiful paintings he made so too does AllahHimself watch first the unique works of art that He creates in every living being and gets a sacred satisfaction that we are incapable of understanding. Therefore, Allah creates His works of art abundantly everywhere, removes them and creates them again. That is not the only purpose of the creation a flower or insect. Each flower or insect is a meaningful letter written for people who have mind and consciousness to read.The creator introduces himself to man with unique works of art and shows the perfection of his names and attributes. The following is stated in the Quran regarding the issue:

“Verily in the heavens and the earth, are Signs for those who believe. And in the creation of yourselves and the fact that animals are scattered (through the earth), are Signs for those of assured Faith. And in the alternation of Night and Day, and the fact that Allah sends down Sustenance from the sky, and revives therewith the earth after its death, and in the change of the winds,- are Signs for those that are wise.”.[4]

“... Every day in (new) Splendor doth He (shine)!.[5]

‘But to Allah belong all things in the heavens and on earth: And He it is that Encompasseth all things.”.[6]

Allah created and creates marvelous beings because He Himself wants to see His perfection and beauty first and then show them to humans, who are conscious beings.

According to the Islamic point of view, the universe and the beings in it are a whole. The universe and all of the systems in the universe with all of their parts were created by Allah. Allah is the Perfectly Wise One; that is, He does not do anything without a purpose and wisdom. Although a Muslim does not know the wisdom behind the creation of everything, he believes that nothing useless and unnecessary has been created, and that there are innumerable purposes and wisdoms in the creation of every being. For instance, he thinks that every flower or insect has necessary tasks in the ecosystem even if he does not know their duties in the ecosystem. For example, the following is stated in the Quran regarding the issue:

“Men who celebrate the praises of Allah, standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth, (With the thought): "Our Lord! not for naught Hast Thou created (all) this! Glory to Thee! Give us salvation from the penalty of the Fire.”.[7]

“...No want of proportion wilt thou see in the Creation of (Allah) Most Gracious. So turn thy vision again: seest thou any flaw?”.[8]

“Verily, all things have We created in proportion and measure,[9]

‘And the earth We have spread out (like a carpet); set thereon mountains firm and immovable; and produced therein all kinds of things in due balance”.[10]

“And the Firmament has He raised high, and He has set up the Balance (of Justice), In order that ye may not transgress (due) balance.”.[11]

As it is seen, it is clearly stated in many verses that the balance is perfectly formed and that Allah has created nothing in vain. It is also pointed out that everybeing glorifies Allah with a language peculiar to them. For example, the following is stated in verse 44 of the chapter of al-Isra:

“The seven heavens and the earth, and all beings therein, declare His glory: there is not a thing but celebrates His praise; And yet ye understand not how they declare His glory! Verily He is Oft-Forbear, Most Forgiving”.

All of the incidents like irregularity, disasters, illnesses and death in the universe that are not liked by man are a necessity of the Divine Wisdom. It is clear that the Islamic view, which points out that every being and every incident in the universe is based on wisdom, will provide a more protectionist approach than the ecology-centered view adopted by modern ecology. Today, it is understood that environmental problems can be solved only with a holistic and ecology-centered approach. In ecology, the conceptionof wholeness sees nature as a whole and evaluates an event with all of its relations.[12]

According to the materialistic evolutionist view, the whole system and every being in it occurred by chance. For example, each flower or insect came into being as a result of strange coincidences and as a work of nature. Since blind coincidences, mindless and unconscious causes are effective in its occurrence, its existence may be meaningless. Its value isbased on the extent of its benefit to man and its duty in the ecosystem. A living being survives because it is powerful and lives for its own benefit. If a living being has no direct benefit to human beings and its role in the ecosystem is unknown, its existence is meaningless. Therefore, it is more precise to say that the materialistic evolutionist view is primarily self-centered, then human and ecosystem-centered.

Some materialists such as White and Toynbee blamed the heavenly religions due to the occurrence of environmental problems and argued that the main source of environmental problems originated from the human-centered view of the heavenly religions. Today’s materialistic evolutionists who have waged war against the heavenly religions are generally of the same opinion.

One of the main reasons for today’s severe environmental problems is not the holistic view on nature and events, but the reductionist and selfish view. The ideas that materialistic evolutionists put forward to deny the Creator like ‘if there were a Creator, there would be no undesirable incidents such as irregularities, diseases and disasters’ are actually the result of a fragmentary, reductionist and selfish view. It has been understood how important tasks and benefits the organs or living beings that materialist evolutionists regarded as useless and unnecessary in the past have today. It is an undisputed fact that the food and nutrition relationshipsamong animals, which made materialistic evolutionists say ‘Life is a struggle’ (bad practices in history such as Social Darwinism are a result of this view), have many ecological benefits.[13]

Nowadays, modern ecology accepts that there is no useless living being in ecosystems and argues that every living being needs to be protected. Unfortunately, however; ecology books and the history of humanity are full of bad examples man did as a result of his reductionist and selfish view.

View on Life

According to the Islamic view, the most dominant truth in the universe is solidarity and life continues with solidarity. All non-living beings (the Sun, Earth, atoms, etc.) are created to serve living beings and they perform their duties obediently. Plants are created for animals too; they serve animal life. Animals and plants serve to human life directly or indirectly. In fact, solidarity is dominant in all beings, from non-living beings to the most organized living beings; all living beings survive thanks to the solidarity (mutual help) that is valid in the universe.

According to the Islamic point of view, man’s position is great but his responsibility is great too. Man has been given responsibilities that have not been laid to any other living thing.

On the other hand, the materialistic evolutionist view deals with the issue with aview that is opposite of the Islamic view. According to them, life is a struggle. The strong survive and the weak are eliminated. According to materialistic evolutionists, the fact that the weak do not have the right to life is a rule of nature. It is clear how insufficient and wrong such an understanding is according to the Islamic point of view related to the protection of the environment because, according to materialist evolutionists, the weak deserve to be eliminated and it is regarded normal.

However, the truth is not so at all. What kind of struggle is it that all non-living beings,from the smallest ones like atoms to the largest ones like the Earth and the Sun,work for living beings? What kind of struggle is it that all plants meet the most basic needs of animals (such as oxygen, food)? What kind of struggle is it that plants and animals meet human needs? What misleads materialistic evolutionists and what shows them life as a struggle is the food and nutrition relationshipsamong living beings.

It is an issue that is not even discussed how importance it is ecologically for animals like lions, wolves, jackals, eagles on land and some fish in the sea to feed carnivorously for the  healthy functioning of ecosystems. For example, otters feeding on fish actually cause the fish populations to be healthier. [14] What is really tragical and funny is that the materialistic evolutionist view decreed that life was a struggle acting upon the food and nutrition relations that are valid in the animal kingdom and that are an element of ecological balances, leading to practices deprived of compassion and mercy like social Darwinism in the realm of humanity. This distorted view also applied the feeding behavior of parasites and parasitic living beings in the animal kingdom to the realm of humanity and legitimized colonization. The materialistic evolutionist view, which does not conform to the human nature, looked at a carnivorous animal eating another animal and sanctified the power and the strong one, and defended that the powerful was right, causing a lot of blood and tears to be shed in the realm of humanity.

View on Man and Human Races

According to the materialistic evolutionist view, man is the result of evolution based on chance. Man is an animal (Homo sapiens)in the animal kingdom.The superiority of man is measured by the wealth and authority he possesses in the world. He attributes everything that he has to himself. He does not liking sharing because he has the following understanding:‘I earned’ and ‘Life is a struggle’.

Since a materialistic evolutionist has no belief in the hereafter and sees life as consisting of only this world, he tries to satisfy his unlimited feelings and thoughts. According to the materialistic evolutionist view, human races are the result of the ongoing evolutionary mechanisms. According to this understanding, some human races are superior races that have completed their evolution. For example, according to materialist evolutionists, the black people living in Africa are in the inferior steps that have not completed their evolution. [15]

According to the creationist view, man is the most honorable one among the beings. Allah gave man intelligence and consciousness specially and created man with an ability to recognize Him.In other words, the ability to recognize the artist from the art, the master from the work, the embroider from the embroidery and the clerk from the letters was given only to human beings. Therefore, the Creator chose man as His interlocutor/addressee. [16]

There are many verses in the Holy Quran about the importance of man:

‘It is He Who hath created for you all things that are on earth’, [17] ‘It is He Who has made the earth manageable for you’, ‘He has made subject to you the Night and the Day; [18] the sun and the moon’, [19] ‘And He has subjected to you, as from Him, all that is in the heavens and on earth: Behold, in that are Signs indeed for those who reflect’, [20] ‘Do ye not see that Allah has subjected to your (use) all things in the heavens and on earth, and has made his bounties flow to you in exceeding measure, (both) seen and unseen?…’ [21], ‘I will create a vicegerent on earth…’[22], ‘We have honored the sons of Adam; provided them with transport on land and sea; given them for sustenance things good and pure; and conferred on them special favors, above a great part of our creation’. [23] ‘It is We Who have placed you with authority on earth, and provided you therein with means for the fulfilment of your life [24] ’Many verses like the ones above reflect a human-centered view.

Man has been given privilege in the universe; he has been given blessings that have not been given to any living beings materially and spiritually. In fact, all non-living and living beings in the world serve human beings directly or indirectly. When we look at the perpetuation of matter in ecology and the food and nutrition relationships (food chain) among living beings, we see that man is in the center or at the top.

However, according to the Islamic point of view, man’s position is great but his responsibility is great too. Man has been given responsibilities that have not been laid to any other living thing. For example, the great responsibility given to man is expressed as follows in verse 72 of the chapter of al-Ahzab in the Holy Quran:‘We did indeed offer the Trust to the Heavens and the Earth and the Mountains; but they refused to undertake it, being afraid thereof: but man undertook it.’

When the principles likeevery being and incident being the work of the creator, prohibition of wasting, nature being entrusted to humans, humans being given important responsibilities and man’s being called to account for whatever he does, theIslamic view cannot be said to be solely human-centered. [25]

What is really wrong is not to give value and priority to human beings, but the selfish view of materialistic evolutionists, which is a bad gift to humanity, and the understanding that distances man from Allah. Human nature has not been analyzed well, and all beings and riches, including human beings in nature, have been trivialized in order to meet the arbitrary demands of human beings.

Moreover, in the Islamic view, the superiority of man is not related to the things that are valuable in the world, such as wealth and authority, but the degree of being able to be addressed by the Creator, which is his primary duty. Man is valuable not according to his matter, but according to hisspirituality. Man can attain a rank above the angels in the sight of Allah and can fall to a degree below the animals. In addition, all of the blessings given to man are entrusted to him by Allah; man has to act with the understanding of trust. Man is not the owner of the money and property, but the trustee and officer in charge of distributing it to the needy. There is no limit to human emotions and in this narrow world he cannot be satisfied by any worldly thing. For a Muslim, the world is a place of service, a place only to taste samples and demand the originals. The reward of his services will be provided and all of his feelings and thoughts will be satisfied in the life of the hereafter.There is no doubt that such an understanding will make man more humble, more sharing and more protective of the environment.

According to Islam, human races are also the works of the Creator. It is stated in verse 13 of the chapter of al-Hujurat that the reason why their races are different is to know each other better and to help each other:

‘O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise (each other)’.

In that case, a person who looks at through the creationist view does not discriminate between human races. Regardless of race, every human being is the most glorious of all beings and is worthy of being addressed by Allah.

Social Darwinism

One of the worst consequences of the materialistic evolutionist view for humanity is Social Darwinism. Social Darwinism is the application of Darwin’s theory of evolution to the social field; in short, it is social evolution. The theory of evolution, which advocates the idea ‘Life is a struggle for survival in which the strongest will survive’, caused racist and imperialist ideas in the social and political field.

According to Social Darwinist thought, the poor are doomed to lose in life since they are weak, imprudent, lazy and unskilled. That is the law of nature itself. The most popular slogans of Darwinism ‘Struggle for survival’ and ‘Survival of the fittest’, are applied to social life. It is natural for inequality of wealth, social and political inequalities and differences of status to emerge in society; the intervention of political will in social life is wrong. Aids to the poor, needy, unemployed and disabled is against the spirit of nature.

The theory of social Darwinism has been a reference to elitism, fascism, liberalism, imperialism, eugenics (genealogy, i.e. the biological purification and strengthening of race) and racism. It supports imperialism for the selection of races and advocates limiting the birth rates of unwanted people or groups. Instead of waiting for natural change for social progress, it regards direct intervention in the society legitimate.[26]

According to Islam, man is not unattended; all his deeds are recorded. He will be questioned not only for the evil deeds he does to humans but also to all living beings.

Social Darwinism has supported eugenics. The idea of eugenics became widely influential in the United States, and reached the peak in Hitler’s Germany. Population growth in all countries, including Turkey, was seen as a major problem and they made efforts to improve the generation. According to the eugenicists, the poor and weak will increase more when natural selection is left to itself. Therefore, the rich should have more children and the poor and the weak should have fewer children.[27]

Between 1907 and 1933, a law was enacted in dozens of states in the USA for the sterilization of insane, retarded, murderous and flawed people, and hundreds of thousands of people were castrated against their will; social massacres occurred. Similar practices were implemented in many countries, such as Cuba, Japan, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Estonia.

There were some eugenicists who thought the salvation of the Ottoman State would through importing men for breeding from Europe. The idea of eugenics was so widely accepted that it caused the death of millions of Jews during Nazi rule. [28]

The theory of evolution was not a source of inspiration only for atheists and positivists, but it also became a useful evidence in ideologies such as socialism, capitalism and fascism, which are very different from one another. [29]

Animals are sent to the world equipped with the skills necessary for life; their talents and abilities are limited; they do not improve, and their skills to establish cause and effect relationships is absent or very weak. Therefore, animals live in accordance with nature. Human beings start life as very weak beings. However, their talents and abilities are limitless and they constantly improve by learning. They establish cause-effect relationships. Therefore, they do not comply with the existing functioning system and they try to adapt the system to themselves.

Social Darwinism, which is the result of materialistic evolutionist view and which sees wars and deaths as a rule of nature, has given nothing but blood and tears to the realm of humanity. It is unthinkable for the materialistic evolutionist view, which is not compassionate even to human beings, to be compassionate to nature and to the living beings in nature.Such a ruthless and selfish materialistic evolutionist view also caused the emergence of environmental problems. Social Darwinism plays a major role in the emergence of social injustice and poverty, which are two of the most important environmental problems. Social Darwinism, which is one of the important consequences of the materialistic evolutionist view, is one of the major mistakes made throughout human history and must be condemned ethically. The thought of materialistic evolution has a great share in the formation of miserable, grim and colonial western civilization.

Understanding of Justice and Accountability

One of the basic principles of being a Muslim is to believe that man will be resurrected after his death and that he will questioned for what he does . According to Islam, man is not unattended; all his deeds are recorded. He will be questioned not only for the evil deeds he does to humans but also to all living beings.The following is stated in the Quran about the fact that human beings will be called to account:

‘We shall set up scales of justice for the Day of Judgment, so that not a soul will be dealt with unjustly in the least, and if there be (no more than) the weight of a mustard seed, We will bring it (to account): and enough are We to take account.[30]

“Then, shall ye be questioned that Day about the joy (ye indulged in!).[31]

According to the materialistic evolutionist view, life is limited to the world. According to the materialistic evolutionist view, there is no second life after death and the book of deeds closes. However, justice does not become manifest fully in the world life and some people are not punished at all.

Nowadays, we regret to see how some people who harm the environment escape worldly penalty by using their authority and influence. It is necessary to spread the Islamic view, whichplaces a policeman in the hearts of everyone,related to the protection of the environment and preventing environmental problems and whichgives people the understanding of accountability in the hereafter.

The Understanding of Wasting

But waste not by excess: for Allah loveth not the wasters’ Verse of the Quran

One of the main reasons for today’s environmental problems is that people try to satisfy their spiritual hunger with the pleasure of consumption, consume for show-off, and spread the habit of non-essential and luxurious consumption. Wasting in consumption has increased so much that nature’s ability to recycle wastes has been insufficient.

However, Islam prohibits waste strictly. Moreover, according to the Islamic view, the use of the beings that perform the tasks determined by Allah in the ecosystem and that glorify Allah unnecessarily or outside their purpose is againsttheir purpose of creation.the following is stated in the Quran regarding the issue:

“…But waste not by excess: for Allah loveth not the wasters’. [32]

“O Children of Adam! wear your beautiful apparel at every time and place of prayer: eat and drink: But waste not by excess, for Allah loveth not the wasters”. [33]

There are many more verses of the Holy Quran that criticize and prohibit waste. The need for the Islamic view that forbids waste in solving today’s environmental problems is clear. According to the Islamic view, man is a slave of Allah.

A person who refuses to be a slave of Allah like materialistic evolutionists ‘takes as his god his own vain desire’ as the Quran puts it. [34] There is no limit and measure of human desire and enthusiasm. A selfish life, the habit of over-consumption, the increase of waste, and the fondness of luxury are the result of man’s being defeated by his desire and enthusiasm.

In today’s brutal capitalism practice, the effect of the following understanding of the materialistic evolutionist view is great:‘Life is a struggle, the strong one survives. Life consists of only this world‘. Wild capitalism, which is the product of this understanding, requires dominating nature, growing at any cost, and making as much wealth as possible.

Today, while one part of the world lives in hunger and misery, another part lives extravagantlyin pursuit of false needs, which is product of wild capitalist understanding..[35]

The source of today’s severe environmental problems is not the majority whose income level is below the average, but the selfish minority who pursues their desires and enthusiasm.

Conclusion

Environmental problems have never been as serious as they are today. The only cause of tens of environmental problems like air, land and water pollution, elimination of biodiversity, destruction of forests, global warming, climate change and ozone layer depletion today is man. Basic characteristics of human beings that cause environmental problems are the fact that their needs are limitless because there is no limit to their emotions, that they do not comply with the basic principles such as economics and solidarity that are valid in the universe and that they do not pay attention to the messages of Islam and the other heavenly religions seriously.

The difference between the materialistic evolutionist view and the Islamic view related to the  protection of the environment is quite big. While the Islamic view states that every being is a Divine work of art, that nothing useless is created and that the evil deeds done in this world will be questioned in the hereafter while the materialistic evolutionist view states that everything emerges as a result of chance, that the strong will survive, and that man will not be questioned for what he does in this world. That is why the environmental understanding and sensitivity in the Quran, which was revealed about 1430 years ago, is much more advanced than the books about the environment written today.

When factors like the importance given to living and non-living beings, the approach to humans and human races, the understanding of justice and accountability in the Hereafter and the prohibition of waste are taken into consideration, it will be seen that the Islamic view is the most reasonable approach in terms of protecting nature and preventing environmental problems.

The solution to today’s severe environmental problems and the sustainable use of natural resources are possible through the change of human perspective and lifestyle.

It can be said that one of the main causes of today’s environmental problems, primarily poverty and social injustice,is the materialistic evolutionist view, which does not have compassion even for human beings, which leads to bad results like social Darwinism, which is contrary to human nature, and which sees life as a struggle.

When factors like the importance given to living and non-living beings, the approach to humans and human races, the understanding of justice and accountability in the Hereafter and the prohibition of waste are taken into consideration, it will be seen that the Islamic view is the most reasonable approach in terms of protecting nature and preventing environmental problems.

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[12] Kılıç S. Modern Topluma Ekolojik Bir Yaklaşım. Kocaeli Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 12, 108-127. 2006. Access: 18.12. 2016.
[13] Kula N. Kur’an ışığında insan-çevre ilişkisinin ruh sağlığı açısından önemi, Uludağ Üniversitesi İlâhiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, 9 (9), 2000.
[14] Geldiay R. Kocataş A. Genel Ekoloji, Ege Üniv. Fen Fak. Kitaplar Serisi. No: 65,1983.
[15] Ergün and Çobanoğlu, ibid.
[16] Nursi B.S. Sözler, Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı Yayınları, 2017; Koçyiğit Y. Dünyada değişen çevre algısı ve İslam’ın çevrecilik anlayışı, Tüketim toplumu ve çevre sempozyumu, 16-17 November 2012 Karabük.
[17] al-Baqara, 2/29.
[18] al-Mulk, 67/15.
[19] an-Nahl, 16/12.
[20] al-Jasiya, 45/13.
[21] Luqman, 31/20.
[22] al-Baqara, 2/30.
[23] al-Isra, 17/70.
[24] al-A’raf, 7/10.
[25] Feyzioğlu E. Ekoloji, İnsan ve Din. Yayınlanmamış Yüksek Lisans Tezi, Selçuk Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Konya.2011. Access: 25.12. 2016.
[26] Dursunoğlu I. Sosyal Darwinizm, Karabük Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, 6(1), 2006.
[27] Karaömerlioğlu A. Darwin ve Sosyal Bilimler, Birikim, 251, 111-22, 2010.
[28] Dursunuğlu, ibid.
[29] Çakmak M. Evrim teorisi tanrının varlığı için gerçek bir tehdit midir? Uludağ Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, 22 (2), 55-81, 2013.
[30] al-Anbiya, 21/47.
[31] at-Takathur, 102/8.
[32] al-An’am, 6/141.
[33] al-A’raf, 7/31.
[34] al-Jasiya, 45/23.
[35] Demir R. Doyumsuz tüketim arzusu ve çevre sorununa Kur’an çerçevesinde bakış, Tüketim toplumu ve çevre sempozyumu, 16-17 November 2012 Karabük.

1. There are as many complexions as the number of the people on earth. For, no complexion is the same as another. The complexions of people are arranged differently so that they will enable their identities to be determined just like fingerprints. 

2. “The number of complexions” is not mentioned in the Quran and hadiths but the existence of different complexions is mentioned.

“He it is Who shapes you in the wombs as He pleases.” (Aal-i Imran, 375),

“O man! What has seduced thee from thy Lord Most Beneficent?- Him Who created thee. Fashioned thee in due proportion, and gave thee a just bias; In whatever Form He wills, does He put thee together.” (al-Infitar, 82/6-8)

In the verses above, it is pointed out that people were created, fashioned and shaped in different ways based on Allah’s will and wish.

“And among His Signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the variations in your languages and your colors: verily in that are Signs for those who know.” (Rum, 30/22)

It is pointed out in the verse above that people have different complexions.

- According to what Abu Musa al-Ashari states, the Prophet (pbuh) said,

“Allah created (first man) Adam from a handful of soil He took from the whole earth. Therefore, Adam’s children/humans had so different colors. Some of them became white, some reddish-blond, some black and some yet other shades of colors.”(Ibn Kathir, the interpretation of ar-Rum, 30/22)

3. It is accepted by exact sciences that people have different complexions. It is not possible for an atheist to claim something different. It is necessary to remember that what an atheist needs the most is the issue of Allah’s existence and oneness. It is not possible for a person who does not believe in Allah to believe that the Quran is Allah’s word. Risale-i Nur Books are among the main books that explain belief in Allah and that show the wrongness of atheism in the strongest and best way. We recommend those books strongly. We think it will be useful to contact the people who have a good command of those books in order to know about those issues in a short time. As you know, the following is stated in a hadith:

“Causing a person to become a believer is better than having red sheep covering all deserts.” (Majmauz-Zawaid, 5/334)

4. The equality of the number of the eyes, ears, hands, feet, fingers, etc. in people witnesses that they were created by the same Maker and hence the oneness of Allah; the differences in things like complexions, colors and languages witness Allah’s will. For, differences show a choice, a preference made by a will, which is a reflection of Allah’s absolute will. 

- As it is mentioned in item 2, “And among His Signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the variations in your languages and your colors: verily in that are Signs for those who know” (Rum, 30/22), the verse above points out those facts.

Various stages took place in the creation of the first man like the creation today.

"He Who has made everything which He has created most Good. He began the creation of man with (nothing more than) clay." (as-Sajda, 32/7)

The nature of the clay is mentioned in the following verse:

"We created man from sounding clay, from mud molded into shape." (al-Hijr, 15/26)

We understand from those verses that creation started with soil and that it was transformed into mud. This mud was filtered and the essence of mud occurred.

"Man We did create from a quintessence (of clay)." (al-Mu'minun, 23/12)

Then, it is stated that this quintessence of clay, which was transformed into wet clay afterwards, changed in the course of time.

"(Iblis) said: ‘I am not one to prostrate myself to man, whom Thou didst create from sounding clay, from mud molded into shape’." (al-Hijr, 15/33)

Some tafsir scholars state that the decree "We created man from nutfah (sperm)" can also be valid for Hz. Adam. According to them, nutfah was obtained from that mud.  (Elmalılı, V / 3058)

The developments up to this phase are similar to the first period of the fetus today. The sperm is filtered from the food in the stomach; similarly, mud was filtered and quintessence of clay (sulala) was obtained. This quintessence, which remained like that for a while, was transformed into mud molded into shape (hamain masnun) and then into sounding clay. We understand that the mud that dried was given the shape of man after that stage.

"... We created you and gave you shape; then We bade the angels prostrate to Adam..." (al-Araf, 7/11)

It is indicated in the chapter of Nuh that both the first man and human beings were created in stages:

"Seeing that it is He that has created you in diverse stages." (Nuh, 71/14).

It can be said that the first man was subject to the laws of growth, development and differentiation seen in plants and animals up to that stage. After that, a new stage started like the one in the fetus. That is, the spirit entered the body since the composition and shaping of man were completed:

"… Then we developed out of it another creature..." (al-Mu`minun, 23/14)

"When I have fashioned him (in due proportion) and breathed into him of My spirit, fall ye down in obeisance unto him." (Sad, 38/72)

We can deal with the creation of man according to the Quran in two parts: the creation of Hz. Adam and the creation of the baby in the mother’s womb. The creation of Adam was different from other human beings but his creation also took place in a process.

The verses of the Quran about the creation of Hz. Adam are as follows:

"Behold thy Lord said to the angels: "I will create a vicegerent on earth." (al-Baqara, 2/30)

"We created man from sounding clay, from mud molded into shape." (al-Hijr, 15/26)

"He created man (Adam) from sounding clay like unto pottery." (ar-Rahman, 55/14)

"Just ask their opinion: are they the more difficult to create, or the (other) beings We have created? Them have We created out of a sticky clay!" (as-Saaffat, 37/11)

"He Who has made everything which He has created most Good. He began the creation of man with (nothing more than) clay." (as-Sajda, 32/7)

"He it is who created you from clay, and then decreed a stated term (for you)." (al-Anam, 6/2)

"From the (earth) did We create you." (Taha, 20/55)

"Among His Signs is this that He created you from dust; and then Behold ye are men scattered (far and wide)." (ar-Rum, 30/20)

If the verses above are summarized, we can say, "Adam was created out of clay." (al-Isra 61, al-Araf 12, Sad 76,as- Sajda 7),

"Them have We created out of a sticky clay." (as-Saaffat, 37/11)

"Man We did create from a quintessence (of clay)." (al-Mu'minun, 23/12)

" We created man from sounding clay, from mud molded into shape." (al-Hijr, 15/26; ar-Rahman, 55/14). 

Adam (a being that came from the earth) edim (earth, land) is derived from a Hebrew word. It is stated that Adam was created out of clay; that is, a mixture of land and water; to express it clearly, from sounding clay, from mud molded into shape; he was given life after divine spirit was blown into it:

"He Who has made everything which He has created most Good. He began the creation of man with (nothing more than) clay." (as-Sajda, 32/7)

"But He fashioned him in due proportion, and breathed into him something of His spirit. And He gave you (the faculties of) hearing and sight and feeling (and understanding)." (as-Sajda)

Elmalılı Hamdi states in his tafsir book that Hz. Adam was created from an essence from clay, that is, from an essence extracted from clay through selection, that he was created virtually like the creation of man in the uterus from a nutfah; thus, he was created from the essence like nutfah extracted from clay; then, spirit was given to him; Hz. Adam was created like that.

Fakhruddin Razi emphasizes in his Tafsir al-Kabir that Hz. Adam was created from an essence chosen from clay.

First of all, there are two false expressions in your question.

The first one: You will not turn to dust (earth).  

Yes, in this world, where you are being tested now, your body, which has been entrusted to you so that you will get to know and understand the world but which you think belongs to you, will turn to dust, but not your soul. Your soul will be given a new body appropriate for life in the hereafter.

The second one: You say you feel as if you do not live.

Do you not become happy at all? Do you not feel sad? Do you not fear? Do you not have any worries and ambitions? Do you not feel any pains?

Since you are not deprived of those material and spiritual feelings, it is indisputable that you live and feel it to the hilt.

What makes you ask that question then?

“Who am I? Where did I come from? Why did I come? Where will I go?…” You probably ask yourself questions like the ones above and you have not found answers to them. Therefore, you feel empty.

Do not worry; all of us have been sent to this world for very sublime purposes and to be tested. As a necessity of the secret of the test, God Almighty, who created us, gave us free will to see whether we will obey His commands and prohibitions.

As we obey His commands and prohibitions and get to know Him, we approach peace in the world and in the eternal hereafter. When we do not know Him and live in accordance with our souls and minds, we feel empty in the world and destroy our life in the hereafter.

We do not say it; the Quran, Allah's last book and Muhammad (pbuh), His last prophet, say so.

The only thing that we have to do for peace in the two worlds is to live in the way that He wants by getting rid of all our prejudices, by contemplating, adhering to the Quran and the Sunnah, repenting and asking for forgiveness.

He who loses Him finds nothing; He who finds Him loses nothing.

For more information, please click on the link given below;

Our Purpose of Creation

In the debate in question, there are believers on one side and unbelievers on the other side. It is a fact based on experience that unbelievers try to support irreligion by reversing scientific facts as much as possible. However, having been defeated by the scientific explanations of the opponent, the other party had to quit the debate.

It is already an accepted rule that “those who are defeated scientifically and intellectually immediately resort to brute force.” However, in that debate, when the unbeliever saw that his opponent was superior in terms of physical strength - as well as in the science of physics - he could not apply the rule of “brute force”; he invented a new rule and ran away!

- Those who wrote the article in question made their choice in favor of irreligion and insulted the Muslim scientist. It is such nonsense that although they wrote the title of the irreligious person as “Prof”, they turned out to be so hateful that they did not use the “Prof” title of the religious person. It is shameful even to evaluate such an article.

However, the following points in the article in question are noteworthy:

a) “First of all, we should state that we will deal with these issues in detail afterwards. However, this point is important here: The concept of ‘Parallel Universes’ was introduced not as an interpretation of the equations of physics, but as a prediction of the equations themselves.”

So, there is not even a physically accepted theory about the idea of “Parallel Universe” because there is not even an “interpretation of the equations of physics”.

Moreover, the theory in question must first have a hypothesis value for the existence of a “prediction of the equations of physics”.

Here, the dream of a “Parallel Universe” has no scientific basis. And it has never entered any field of experience, and it is impossible for it to do so.

b) “In the phenomenon of parallel universes, the state of consciousness of each observer is divided into two. It is accepted that each observer will exist twice and will have different experiences in each existence. In reality, not only the observer but also the entire Universe in which he lives is divided into at least two parts every time he measures the world.”

The statement “It is accepted that each observer will exist twice, and will have different experiences in each existence” is sheer nonsense.

Let them scientifically demonstrate, if they can, which of those observers has existed twice.

That statement also voices a kind of reincarnation delusion.

c) If there is a correct evaluation of the concept of “Parallel Universe”, it manifests itself in the equation of “world-afterlife”.

Parallel to the mortal universe is the eternal afterlife.

It means that some physicists have sensed this reality, but have made wrong interpretations.

There is a beautiful saying about those who confuse something: “A man has heard that people have migrated to a plateau, but he does not know in which plateau they have settled.”

The judgment “A person is the product of seventy percent genetics + thirty percent the environment” is not true. For, the scientific data we have today are not strong enough to be definite evidence for such a judgment.

According to what experts state, every chromosome contains a long strand-like DNA molecule. This DNA molecule consists of thousands of units that are connected to each other like rings of a chain. Hereditary information is kept in the form of special arrangement of these units. This arrangement is called "genetic code". In fact, a code is hidden in each array of the units in the DNA molecule to determine what protein of the cell it will produce. The part of the cell that produces chemicals decodes it and makes the protein necessary for living being.

As it is understood from these explanations, the genetic code is a mechanism designed by divine power and wisdom, which is mostly designed to regulate the biological need of the living body. The test is related to the spirit, mind, consciousness and free will, which are mostly spiritual mechanisms.

The “genetic coding” discovered by the positive science today is a wise reflection of divine sending and predestined sending. The test that Allah Almighty prepared for people is related to consciousness and addresses the mind. For this reason, when man turns the direction of these natural impulses to a wrong path by wrong intervention, the conscious free will of man can intervene and direct this natural impulse that has entered a wrong path to the true path.

Therefore, “genetic codes” do not and cannot necessarily lead people to goodness or evil by force as it is thought. For, the free will of man can say “stop” to this orientation. The duty of the free and conscious will is to function like a brake. The realization of a fair test depends on it. For example, a hungry person cannot say, "I have sense of hunger; so, I can steal."

For a fair test, there must be two opposite poles in the inner realm of man: one that wants good deeds and one that wants evil deeds. This mechanism is composed of heart, mind and lofty feelings that like good deeds and the soul, blind feelings, and lowly feelings that like bad deeds. The realization of these opposite desires depends on the free will of man. A person acts in accordance with the side he chooses and is consequently punished or rewarded.

The idea of the existence of a genetic coding that suspends man's free will and directs it only to evil is purely speculative; it is the product of an approach that ignores the divine justice necessary for the test. There may be some things symbolizing good and bad in genetic codes, but it is never appropriate to think that they are in a dimension that will completely eliminate man’s free will.

A significant number of genetic codes are said to be inherited by heredity. However, the fact that the son of a prophet like Hz. Nuh (Noah) preferred unbelief and Ikrima, the son of Abu Jahl, who was the leader of unbelief, preferred belief is enough to show how debatable this rule is. The proverb “A mad man comes out of a saint and a saint out of a mad man” shows that the issue of heredity is exaggerated in terms of testing.

That Hz. Musa (Moses) was brought up in the palace of Pharaoh, who claimed to be a deity, that Pharaoh’s wife, Asiya, who lived in the same palace as Pharaoh preferred belief, that some people who were brought up in religious families and in a religious environment preferred unbelief or being sinners and that many people who lived in bad families and in a bad environment preferred belief and Islam show clearly that the environment is not an element that forces the test on its own. That many non-Muslims preferred Islam by using their minds and their free will throughout history is a clear indication that a fair test is in question.

“Every child is born with an ability to accept Islam, the religion of fitrah, but his parents and environment make him a Jew, Christian or a Zoroastrian.”

The expression the hadith above indicates that there is no traffic sign showing a compulsory direction in the test area. That the children of some sinners turned out to be righteous people and that the children some righteous people turned out to be sinners is an irrefutable evidence of this fact.

“Say, ‘The truth is from your Lord’: Let him who will believe, and let him who will, reject (it).” (al-Kahf, 18/29)

What is the value of the scientific theories that are always speculative and the words of the materialistic scientists-philosophers who regard it their duty to use those theories against the realities of the religion in the face of Allah’s clear decree showing that man has the right to choose based on his free will in the verse above and in several similar verses?

The best answer to be given to this question is "because Allah wished so". No being was asked about its creation before it was created. Allah created some beings as humans, some as animals and some as plants. There are definitely endless wisdoms behind creation.

No animal has the ability to ask its creator "Why did you create me as an animal?" They do not complain about their states; besides, they glorify Allah - with their tongue of disposition.

"The seven heavens and the earth, and all beings therein, declare His glory: there is not a thing but celebrates His praise; And yet ye understand not how they declare His glory." (al-Isra, 17/44)

The verse above indicates it.

Man was created as the vicegerent on earth. The other beings were put in the service of man. The following is stated in a verse:

“It is Allah Who made cattle for you, that ye may use some for riding and some for food.” (al-Mu’min, 40/79)

The following is stated in another verse:

“And (He has created) horses, mules, and donkeys, for you to ride and use for show." (an-Nahl, 16/8)

If our Lord had created all creatures as human beings, this means that this universe would not be as it is now; this thought means not to want this universe to exist.  

Moreover, if the universe had not been created as it is now, the infinite perfection and beauty of Allah’s attributes and names would not be known; this knowledge would be peculiar to Allah only. By making the spiritual beauties of His names and attributes, Allah Almighty Himself observed His own beauty and perfection on those works and He wanted the angels, humans and jinn to have their share the from this grace.

Regarding whether or not to create creatures, Allah made His divine choice in the form of creating them and this choice has been an eternal mercy for creatures.

Otherwise, it is unthinkable that Allah, one of whose names is Samad (everything needs Him and He is not in need of anything), created this realm due to a need – God forbid.

The creation of man

“I have only created Jinn and men, that they may serve Me.” (ad-Dhariyat, 51/56)

The universe was created for man and man was created to know Allah and to worship Him. Beings like angels and jinn also fulfill the same duty. However, man has an ability to fulfill the duty of worshipping better and more comprehensive than them. The universal purpose in man’s being sent to the world is to fulfill that duty.

First of all, there is no clear statement in the verses of the Quran and sound hadiths about whether “Adam is the first being on earth”. However, it is stated in tafsir books and historical sources that jinn lived on earth before humans. (see Tabari, Tafsir, 1/232)

According to some scholars, that is one meaning of the title vicegerent (caliph) on earth of Adam. In other words, humans were created as successors/caliphs after jinn.

However, there are some scholars who say that the concept of “caliph” was given to Adam because of his duty “to execute the decrees of Allah”. (see Ibn Ashur, 1/228)

Nevertheless, it is possible that the title of “caliph” can have both meanings - even some other meanings.

So, if it has been scientifically proven that there were sounds/voices on earth before Adam was created, they could be the voices of jinn.

On the other hand, according to a sound hadith narration, our Prophet (pbuh) said, “First animals were created on the earth and then Adam was created.” (see Muslim, Sifatul-Qiyamah 27)

Accordingly, the sounds of the living beings/animals created before Adam were also created together with them.

In conclusion, we should say that if the voices of some living beings were detected in our world before Adam was created, it is possible that these voices belonged to both jinn and animals.

As it is known, there is only one correct answer to a question. The wrong answer is infinity minus one. Scientists outside the Islamic world do not have a correct understanding of God. Some scientists are atheists. They deny the creator directly. Some people draw a model of God according to their own world and believe in it. Such a belief in a deity is far from showing the truth.

The correct understanding of deity is in Islam. Allah describes Himself in the Quran as follows:

“Say: He is Allah, the One and Only; Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; And there is none like unto Him.” (see al-Ikhlas, 112/1-4)

A commander makes one soldier march with the command “March!”; he also makes a whole army march with the same command.

Allah’s management and actions in the universe are based on such commands. When He wishes to create an oxygen atom, He says “Be” and an oxygen emerges from the realm of non-existence to the realm of existence. When He wishes to create Paradise and Hell, they are brought from the unseen realm to this visible realm with the command “Be”.

Any understanding of god other than this understanding does not express the truth.

Now we can answer your question:

There are many different understandings of od in the Western scientific world. One of them is the concept of GOD OF THE GAPS.

According to this view, suppose that you have a glass of liquid in your hand. You have investigated what this liquid is and proved that it is water. According to them, this water does not need a creator. You have investigated that liquid but have not been able to reveal what it is. Then, this liquid must have a deity. In other words, according to them, if the reasons for the formation of a being and its nature are known, it does not need a creator. If it is unknown, it is the work of a creator.

They do not accept a creator because of their stubbornness. They also know that there are about 50 trillion cells in human body. Allah creates three thousand events in a cell in one second. We call it reaction. In other words, the change that occurs in a person in one second is 50 trillion x 3 thousand.

If even only one of these reactions is faulty, a person’s life will be in danger. Who does all this? It is obvious that we do not do it.

We put the morsel in our mouth. It’s up to us whether to swallow it or not. After we swallow it, we have no say in anything. We do not have enough strength. Allah separates those foods and sends them to the head, to the tooth, to wherever necessary.

Even though they know these things, they ignore these acts of Allah because of their pride and arrogance.

We will mention a living being that is one of the most intelligent beings of the animal kingdom and that approaches human beings the most. They are the smiling living beings of the seas: dolphins. Like every living being, dolphins are magnificent creatures created with a body to continue living.

The dolphin, one of the best swimming creatures of the sea, is about 2.5 meters tall and 150 kg. Despite this weight, dolphins can hunt their prey quickly and briskly, without any difficulty in the sea. Their smooth and slippery skins allow them to move fast in the water and swim briskly. Another feature that enables them to swim fast is their noses. Their noses are created in the most convenient way so that they can swim very quickly in water. This state of theirs also inspired humans and they regarded the structure of these living beings as a model in the ships they made.

Dolphins have to come up to the surface of the water to breathe at regular intervals while swimming. Therefore, unlike other fish, their tails are not vertical, but horizontal. Thus, they can easily push themselves up to the surface of the water and breathe the air outside into them and dive into the water again.

Dolphins breathe through the blowhole located at the top part of their heads. During diving, the blowhole is closed automatically with elastic “flaps”. Neither water nor food can enter the respiratory system. Therefore, dolphins can feed in deep waters without the fear of drowning and can reach a speed of 40 km per hour. They have the ability to store oxygen in their tissues, especially in their muscles. For this reason, they can stay at a depth of 200 meters for 10 minutes.

Dolphins can easily notice the swarms of fish that are miles away thanks to their sense of hearing. Dolphins emit sound waves thanks to a system similar to the device called "sonar" in their bodies. The sonar possessed by dolphins is much better than the best-known sonar today. If a fish or an obstacle comes in front of those sound waves, they hit it and return; thus, the dolphin can measure the distance, size, and speed of the surrounding objects or fish. In this way, they can perceive the location of the fish that they will hunt from a distance of many kilometers.

Now we ask: How did these dolphins, which are wonders of creation in all aspects, come into being? We ask those who want to deny the creation of these wonderful living beings and try to explain it through causes or coincidences:

Dolphins are excellent hunters. Who taught these dolphins the intelligence needed to hunt, to plan, to be fast and agile? Who sewed the slippery and smooth body suit that allows them to move quickly in water and swim briskly? How did they get the most suitable nose structure to swim quickly that inspired even human beings as a model in the construction of ships? How can it be explained through unconscious causes and blind coincidence that their tails, with which they can easily push themselves up to the surface of the water, are not vertical but horizontal, unlike other fish, which clearly shows the manifestation of a will, knowledge and power? Did the system in the blowhole located at the top part of the head that opens when the dolphin is on the water and closes automatically while diving occur coincidentally? How did dolphins acquire the ability to store oxygen in their muscles and tissues?

Who placed the sonar system that is much better than the best-known sonar today in these living beings? How can a person who attributes the existence of even a small device to an engineer and a master attribute the sonar system that is much better than the best-known sonar today in dolphins to chance and causes? Who taught these living beings how to send the sound waves thanks to this sonar system and to interpret the size, distance and speed of the fish they will hunt according to the speed of the returning sound waves?

If the mind cannot see artist and the doer though the eye sees the art and the deed, these unanswerable questions will go on and on. In fact, to see these magnificent deeds in living beings and not to accept Allah, who is their doer, and to attribute the knowledge, will, and power that appear in them to mindless and unconscious causes and blind chance means to accept as many deities as the number of the causes instead of accepting one deity. Yes, just like these dolphins, all other living beings tell us with their body structures and lives about Allah, who has infinite mercy, power and knowledge, who creates them, makes them live and gives them the organs that suit their needs.

We will mention a living being that is the tallest one of the living beings on land. Giraffes, known for their long legs, long necks and spots peculiar to them, can weigh up to 1.5 tons with their height of 5-6 meters. These living beings, which have a very interesting body design, tell us about Allah, who is the creator, with all their features and reveals the unique beauty in His art and creation.

They can reach the top branches of the trees thanks to their long necks and eat the plants very easily. The thorny plants that giraffes swallow without chewing go to their four-chambered stomach first. Then, they send them back to their mouths to digest and chew them. Finally, they swallow them again and send them another part of the stomach. What is interesting here is that it is necessary for the food in the stomach go up to the giraffe’s neck, which is about 3-4 meters long, to reach the mouth. How is it possible? The giraffes have an elevator-like system that send the food upward from the esophagus.

Who built the elevator-like system that allow giraffes to send what they have eaten back to their mouths that are very high above their stomachs to digest what they eat? How can a person who attributes a lifeless building made of stone and soil and the elevator in it to a master attribute this perfect body, which is like a living building and has an elevator system, to chance, evolution and causes? What unconscious cause and blind chance can be the doer of these perfect acts in which infinite knowledge, will, power and precaution are visible?

The tongues of giraffes are also quite interesting. The tip of the giraffe’s tongue, which can be as long as 50 cm, is covered with a leather-like structure. Thus, giraffes can very easily eat prickly acacia trees and cacti, which are their basic food. These living beings, which have to consume about 35-40 kg of plants every day, would never be able to feed if they did not have such a tongue. So, how did the giraffe have this perfect tongue? Why is its tongue, which can be as long as 50 cm, not like that of other living beings? Who is the one that covered the tip of its tongue with a leather-like structure by having mercy on him so that it could eat thorny plants? What cause other than Allah may have done it?

We will mention another feature of these giraffes, which are a wonder of creation in all aspects. There is a big problem for giraffes when they want to drink water. Since giraffes are 5-6 meters tall, the blood pressure effecting the head descending from this height will also be quite big. If this blood pressure were applied to a human being, he would die immediately as his brain would break into pieces. How come giraffes do not have a brain hemorrhage while drinking water? Because there is a very special mechanism in their heads. There are valves inside the veins in the heads of giraffes. These valves are activated when the height of the giraffe's head changes, preventing blood from applying pressure on the giraffe's head. Thus, the giraffe can drink water easily. Yes, the valves measuring the pressure inside the veins in the head of the giraffe can be placed only by a being with several attributes like knowledge, power, will and mercy; is it possible to claim that the giraffe comes into being through causes, which have no knowledge, power, will and mercy?

The giraffe has quite a large heart as it will be difficult to pump blood into its brain because of its long neck. The heart of a giraffe is 30 times the size of the heart of an adult human being. This heart, which is approximately 12 kg, can pump 50 liters of blood per minute. In addition, the giraffe's heart rate is quite high compared to its size. The giraffe has a heart that beats 150-170 times per minute. Its blood pressure is 280/180. For example, the blood pressure of an average person is 120/80. What coincidence hit the giraffe to make it have a heart that is exactly the required size and that could pump 50 liters of blood per minute?

While it is impossible to accept that even a simple picture of a heart drawn on paper occurs on its own, how do those who deny creation regard it possible for this real and magnificent heart to form by itself?

It is impossible for unconscious causes to come together and form conscious beings; similarly, and lifeless causes can never come together and form a living being on their own.

Is it possible for the causes to form the giraffe to come together and place an elevator-like system in the body that will take food up from the esophagus to the mouth?

Is it possible for the unconscious causes to come together and fix a 50 cm tongue covered with a leather-like structure so that giraffes can eat thorny plants?

Or is it possible for them to make the valves that measure the pressure in the veins and a heart of suitable size for the body since it will be difficult to pump blood into the brain in the head?

Yes, trying to explain all these deeds with causes, evolution, and chance is something that reason, logic, conscience and mercy cannot accept. Just like this giraffe, all beings state that it is Allah, who has infinite mercy, wisdom, will and power, with the tongue of knowledge, wisdom, mercy and precaution that are visible on them; and they tell us about Allah, their creator.

Salmon are wonderful living beings that display the fact of creation. They are wonderful living beings that reach the ocean as a result of a long journey after hatching in fresh water, that grow in salty water, that swim upstream by traveling thousands of miles in the ocean with a great migration and find the tributary where they grew up without being confused and that return to the source of fresh water where they were born.

All salmon are born in streams, hatching the eggs left by their mothers. There is a sac in the form of an egg yolk that contains the nutrients required for the newborn salmon to develop and that is under the belly of the newborn salmon in the first stage. Newborn salmon feed on the yolk sac until they get big enough to look for food. About a year later, thousands of salmon begin to migrate along the riverbed. That is their first journey; finding the place where this river flows into the sea is the biggest problem awaiting them because they will follow the same route years later and come to the fresh water where they were born and will spawn there.

Salmon, which spend most of their adulthood traveling in the ocean, reach their destination, that is, the Pacific Ocean after months. An astonishing new migration will start for these salmon, which have grown thoroughly and reached the reproductive maturity after spending a few years in the sea. The first problem for them is to swim across that sea and find the estuary where the river flows into the sea. However, all salmon easily find the place where the river flows into the sea on the first try.

Nevertheless, a bigger problem awaits them after that. Salmon start swimming in the river bed, which they had passed to reach the sea years ago, this time in the opposite direction, upstream. They struggle against the strong current of the river in the opposite direction of the stream. They overcome obstacles that seem impassable with an incredible effort in these migrations; they even cross low waterfalls by jumping up a few meters. The salmon, which have to pass through shallow waters in this journey, move toward their destination steadfastly, without getting tired despite the birds, bears and several wild animals waiting to hunt them.

However, the difficulties are not limited to the ones mentioned above because these salmon, which are born in any tributary of a river in the inner parts of the land, must reach this place. While the rivers are divided into several tributaries, the salmon must both swim against the current and fight the enemies and find the right way as well. Let us think about it:

You were born in a house in a street in a neighborhood of a city. When you grew up a bit, you left the house, walked for days and traveled 4000 kilometers away from home. After many years, you wanted to return to the house where you were born. Do you think it is possible for you to remember each of the streets that you passed through only once when you were young and to return home?

Scientists who did various research to understand how salmon made this splendid journey came to the conclusion that salmon found their way by “smelling”. Every water, every river, has a unique smell. Young salmon memorize the smells one by one during their first journey toward the sea. They find their place of birth with the help of smells in their memory during the return journey.

Now we ask:

Who put the nutrients necessary for the newborn baby salmon to grow in the sac in the form of an egg yolk under their bellies? Who took this precaution by having mercy on them before they were born?

Why do salmon not continue living in the rivers where they were born but swim thousands of kilometers and go to the sea? Migration is a concept that contains why and how questions. How do they decide for this migration? How do they plan it? How do they know where to go though they have never been anywhere before? While all this is possible through many attributes like knowledge, will and power, is it ever possible to deny the existence of a power and will that and creates and drives those fish by ascribing those attributes to the fish?

What deniers call instinct is in fact Allah’s guiding and driving them. Deniers have described all these attributes as an instinctive feeling so as not to ascribe them to Allah. The answer to the question where this instinct comes from has not been given yet.

Why do salmon put up with such great hardship to reach their goal with a long and troublesome journey to the place where they were born despite the currents, waterfalls and enemies that encounter them after they grow and reach adulthood? Besides, they do so not for themselves, but only to lay their eggs in those waters. Who placed compassion and mercy in these salmon, lifeless and unconscious causes or blind coincidence?

How does each salmon find their way without confusion in this unbelievable journey? While we humans, the most intelligent beings, cannot even find the exit door of a large building that we enter, how can these salmon manage to do it? Do not say with smell because it is never possible to detect a 4000-km way only with smell? If we, intelligent beings, were given such a sense of smell, could we smell and complete this migration successfully? Of course not. We would not be able to complete this migration without a device like a map, compass, and GPS.

Who placed the sense of smell and memory that helped them find the way? Did causes that lack attributes like knowledge, will and power do it?

Salmon show us very clearly both with their creation and miraculous life adventures that it is Allah who both creates and guides them. Salmon are causes and the extraordinary work they do is the effect. If the cause is simple and the effect is perfect, the cause cannot be the doer. The wonderful things these fish do can make even the most stubborn people accept the existence of our Lord, who teaches the fish their duties behind the scenes.

It was discussed by Muslims linguists from what language the word Adam was transferred and from what root it was derived.

Most of the linguists claim that it is of Arabic origin and that it is derived from al-udma (الأدمة), which means “brownness” or from al-adama, which means “protoype; sample”.

According to another view, it is derived from the word al-adima, which means “the exterior surface of something” (in general as adimatul-ard “the surface of the earth”). As a matter of fact, the following is stated in a narration that is generally regarded as sound: “Allah created Adam from a handful which he took from the whole of the earth; so, the children of Adam are in accordance with the earth; they have different characteristics.” (see Abu Dawud, Sunnah, 16; Tirmidhi, Tafsir, 2/1; Musnad, IV, 400, 406)

When Allah Almighty wanted to created Adam (1), he addressed the earth as follows:

"I will create a people from you; some of them will obey Me and some will disobey. I will send those who obey Me to Paradise and those who disobey Me to Hell."

Then (2), He sent Jibril to the earth (3) to take a handful of soil (4), mud from it. The earth said to Jibril,  

"I take refuge in Allah from your taking something from me and making me bad.  (5) I do not want you to take anything from me because Allah will create a people from me and this people will disobey Him. Allah will punish me because of them." (6)

Thereupon, Jibril returned without taking anything from the earth (7). He said,

"O Lord! When the earth took refuge in You, I allowed him. (8) I did not regard it appropriate to insist and to force it." (9)

After that, Allah Almighty sent Hz. Mikail (Michael). (10) The earth told him the same things as he said to Jibril. (11) It took refuge in Allah from what he would do. Mikail allowed him. (12) When the earth took refuge in Allah from something being taken from him (13), Mikail returned without taking anything from it (14) to Allah and said the same things as Jibril said to him. Thereupon, Allah sent the angel of death to the earth. (15) When the earth took refuge from the thing he would take (16) in Allah (17), the angel of death said,

"I took refuge in Allah from returning to him without having fulfilled His order." (18)

He took what he was to take from the earth but he did not take from only one place. (19) He took from red, white and black soil (20) and mixed them. (21) Thus, since Aadam was created from the soil taken from the earth, he was named "Adam". (22)

References:

(1) Ibn Athir-Kamil Vol.1,p.27.
(2) Thalabi-Arais p.26.
(3) Tabari-Tarikh Vol.1,p.45, Mas'udi-Murujudh-Dhahab Vol.1,p.30, Ibn Asakir-Tarikh Vol.2,p.342, Ibn Athir-Kamil Vol.1,p.27, Abulfida-al-Bidaya wan-Nihaya Vol.1,p.85.
(4) Thalabi-Arais p.26.
(5) Tabari-Tarikh Vol.1,p.45, Mas'udi-Murujudh-Dhahab Vol.1,p.30, Ibn Asakir-Tarikh Vol.2,p.342, Ibn Athir-Kamil Vol.1,p.27, Abulfida-al-Bidaya wan-Nihaya Vol.1,p.85.
(6) Ibn Asakir-Tarikh Vol..2.p.342.
(7) Mas'udi-Murujudh-Dhahab Vol.1,p.30, Thalabi-Arais p.26, Ibn Athir-Kamil Vol.1,p.27
(8) Tabari-Tarikh Vol.1,p.45, Mas'udi-Murujudh-Dhahab Vol.1,p.30 ,Ibn Asakir-Tarikh,Vol.2,p.342, Ibn Athir-Kamil, Vol.1,p.27, Abulfida-al-Bidaya wan-Nihaya Vol.1,p.85.
(9) Thalabi-Arais p.26.
(10) Tabari-Tarikh Vol.1,p.45, Mas'udi-Muruj. Vol.1,p.30, Ibn Asakir-Tarikh. Vol.2,p.342,Ibn Athir-Kamil Vol.1,p.27, Abulfida-al-Bidaya wan-Nihaya Vol.1,p.86.
(11) Mas'udi-Murujudh-Dhahab Vol.1,p.30, Ibn Asakir-Tarikh Vol.2,p.342
(12) Tabari-Tarikh Vol.1,p.45, Ibn Athir-Kamil Vol.1,p.27,Abulfida-al-Bidaya wan-Nihaya Vol.1,p.86
(13) Thalabi-Arais p.26
(14) Mas'udi-Murujudh-Dhahab Vol.1,p.30, Thalabi-Arais p.26
(15) Tabari-Tarikh Vol.1,p.45, Mas'udi-Murujudh-Dhahab Vol.1,p.30, Thalabi-Arais p.26, Ibn Asakir-Tarikh Vol.1,p.342, Ibn Athir-Kamil Vol.1,p.27, Abulfida-al-Bidaya wan-Nihaya Vol.1,p.86
(16) Thalabi-Arais p.26
(17) Tabari-Tarikh Vol.1,p.45, Mas'udi-Murujudh-Dhahab Vol.1,p.30, Thalabi-Arais p.26. Ibn Asakir-Tarikh Vol.1,p.342, Ibn Athir-al-Kamil Vol.1,p.27, Abulfida-al-Bidaya wan-Nihaya Vol.1,p.86
(18) Tabari-Tarikh Vol.1, p-45, Mas'udi-Muruj. Vol.l.p.30, Ibn Asakir-Tarikh Vol.2,p.342,lbn Athir-Kamil Vol.1,p.27,Abulfida-al-Bidaya wan-Nihaya Vol.1,p.86
(19) Tabari-Tarikh Vol.1,p. 45-46, Ibn Asakir-Tarikh Vol.2,s,342, Ibn Athir-Kamil Vol.1.p.28, Abulfida-al-Bidaya wan-Nihaya Vol.1.p.86, Ibn Sad-Tabaqat d,p.26, Ahmad b. Hanbal-Musnad Vol.4,p.400, Abu Dawud-Sunan Vol.4.p.222, Tirmidhi-Sunan Vol. 5, p. 204.
(20) Tabari-Tarikh d,p.46,Mas’udi-Muruj, Vol.1,p.30, Ibn Asakir Tarikh Vol.2,p.342, Ibn Athsir-Kamil Vol.1,p.28, Abulfida-al-Bidaya wan-Nihaya Vol.1,p.86.
(21) Tabari-Tarikh Vol.1,p.45, Ibn Asakir-Tarikh Vol.2,p.342, Ibn Athir-Kamil Vol.1,p.28, Abulfida-al-Bidaya wan-Nihaya Vol.l.p.86
(22) Ibn Sa'd-Tabaqat Vol.1,p.26, Tabari-Tarikh Vol.1,p.46 Mas'udi-Muruj. Vol.1,p.3O, Ibn Asakir-Tarikh Vol.2,p.341,343, Suhayli-Rawdul-Unuf Vol.1,p.82, Abulfarad ibn Jawzi-Tabsira Vol.1,p.14, Ibn Athir-Kamil Vol.1,p.28.

(M. Asım Köksal, Peygamberler Tarihi, Hz. Adem)