The natural selection process that Darwin proposed suggests that those animals that are strongest and best adapted to their geography's living conditions can survive and continue their species, whereas those that have not adapted well and are weak in comparison perish. According to Darwinism's natural selection scenario, nature is an arena in which all creatures are engaged with one another in a fierce struggle for survival, and where weak individuals succumb to the stronger, leading to the extinction of their species.

According to this claim, every being needs to be stronger, fitter than its counterparts, and must fight to survive. Such an environment leaves no room for devotion, selflessness or cooperation, because any of these traits could work against the animal in question. For this reason, each individual must be as selfish as possible and consider only its own needs—its food, personal safety, and defending its nest.

Is nature really full of selfish and fiercely competitive individuals, where each animal is pitted against every other, trying to destroy or subdue one another?

So far, all the observations made in this respect belie evolutionists. Contrary to their claim, nature is not an arena governed by warfare alone. Quiet the opposite is true. There are many examples of devoted animals that often endanger their own lives, displaying selfless behavior at their own expense for the good of the herd, and intelligent group behavior with no personal benefit. In his book Evrim Kurami ve Bagnazlik (The Theory of Evolution and Bigotry), Cemal Yildirim—though himself an evolutionist, explains why Darwin and other evolutionists of his time concluded that nature is a battleground:

Scientists of the nineteenth century were easily misled into adopting the thesis that nature is a battlefield, because more often than not, they were imprisoned in their studies or laboratories and generally didn't bother to acquaint themselves with nature directly. Not even a respectable scientist like Huxley could exempt himself from this error. i

In his book, Mutual Aid: A Factor in Evolution, evolutionist Peter Kropotkin expresses the error of Darwin and his followers as follows:

... the numberless followers of Darwin reduced the notion of struggle for existence to its narrowest limits. They came to conceive the animal world as a world of perpetual struggle among half-starved individuals, thirsting for one another's blood. . . . In fact, if we take Huxley, who certainly is considered as one of the ablest exponents of the theory of evolution, were we not taught by him, in a paper on the "Struggle for Existence and its Bearing upon Man," that, "from the point of view of the moralist, the animal world is on about the same level as a gladiators' show. The creatures are fairly well treated, and set to, fight hereby the strongest, the swiftest, and the cunningest live to fight another day." . . . [I]t may be remarked at once that Huxley's view of nature had as little claim to be taken as a scientific deduction. ii

This state of affairs also indicates that this theory is not based on scientific observation. To support their evolutionist ideology, scientists have misinterpreted some clear features of nature. The war that Darwin imagined taking place in nature is nothing more than imaginary, because there aren't creatures who fight solely for their own gain. Many animals are friendly with others of their species and even behave selflessly. For this reason, evolutionists find it hard to explain such selfless behavior they regularly encounter. An article on the subject published in a scientific magazine exposes this dilemma:

The question is, Why do living beings help one another? According to Darwin's theory, every animal is fighting for its own survival and the continuation of its species. Helping other creatures would decrease its own chances of surviving, and therefore, evolution should have eliminated this type of behavior, whereas we observe that animals can indeed behave selflessly. iii

Honeybees sting, even kill any animal that threatens their hive. But in stinging, they will have committed suicide. The barb of their sting breaks off in the adversary, taking with it part of the bee's lower abdomen and some of its internal organs. As we see here, the bee sacrifices its own life for the survival of the rest of the hive.

Male and female penguins protect their young even to the death. Both parents are totally devoted to their young. The male penguin shelters its baby between its legs for four months and during this period, it cannot feed. The female penguin goes in the sea, hunting for food for the baby and transports it back in its gullet.

The crocodile is one of the most ferocious animals, but the female crocodile shows astonishing devotion to her offspring. Once they hatch from their eggs, she carries them to the water in her jaws. From then on, she will keep them either in her mouth or on her body until they become self-sufficient. When the baby crocodiles encounter danger, they instantly seek refuge in their mother's mouth.

The crocodile is not just ferocious, but also an animal devoid of reason and logic. It would not be surprising, therefore, if she were to eat her young for food instead of protecting them.

Some animal mothers are forced to leave their own communities until their offspring are weaned, which exposes them to great dangers. Many species look after their young after they are born or hatched for many days or months and, in some cases, even years, providing them with food, shelter, warmth and protection from predators. Many species of birds feed their fledglings between four and 20 times an hour throughout the day. Mammal mothers have a different set of problems to deal with, for while suckling their babies, they need increased nourishment and therefore, need to hunt for more food. While her baby gains weight, she continues to lose it.

Animals without foresight or reason could be expected to desert their offspring at birth, because they could not be aware that those tiny creatures signify the survival of their species as a whole. Yet instead, they take all the responsibility of caring for their young entirely upon themselves.

Animals do not behave selflessly simply because they protect their young. In many cases, animals have been seen to behave very considerately and constructively toward other animals in their community. One example for this can be observed when food becomes scarce. In such a situation, one might assume that the stronger individuals would eliminate the others and seek to keep the limited resources for themselves. But things don't happen the way evolutionists would expect. In his book, the renowned evolutionist Peter Kropotkin gives examples of such behavior: In situations where food resources dry up, he states, ants begin to draw from their food stores. Birds migrate in flocks. And in a stream where the number of beavers becomes unsustainable, the younger ones migrate north, and the older ones south. iv As these facts demonstrate, no merciless struggle for food or shelter is going on. To the contrary, it can be observed that even in the hardest of times, there is solidarity and cooperation in nature, as if each animal were trying to help ease the conditions for the others.

We must not disregard one important point: None of these animals possesses the intelligence or awareness to make such decisions or to create such a protocol. How is it, then, that they can set a common goal to which they all adhere—and that their chosen aim can be the most effective of all?

No doubt it is God, the Lord of all the universe, Who created these creatures, inspires them to the most befitting behavior, and guards them at all times. God reveals His protection over all His creation as follows:

There is no creature on the Earth which is not dependent upon God for its provision. He knows where it lives and where it dies. They are all in a Clear Book. (Qur'an, 11: 6)

In the face of these realities, the evolutionists' claim that nature is a battlefield, that the selfish ones that fight in their own self-interest come out on top, is unsustainable.

Jul 07, 2008

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