THE HISTORY OF CREATION
Sumer was the first known civilization in history. Those who would inhabit this region (Mesopotamia) later migrated to other regions of the world and they founded new civilizations in Egypt, India (Harappa) and Cretan around 3000 BC. This expansion continued and humans founded the Chinese civilization around 2500 BC. These dates are not given by me but by historians. Humans later reached the Americas and founded the Maya civilization there, archeological findings point to the date 2000 BC for the beginning of the Maya civilization. These civilizations did not appear suddenly and independently of each other, these civilizations were actually relatives of each other. In an attempt to explain the similarity –particularly in their languages- between different nations, evolutionist historians claimed that a tribe called Indo-Europeans which originated from Ukraine invaded the whole of Europe, Anatolia, Central Asia, Iran, and India, and established civilizations in these lands. They have thus sought to explain the similarities between different nations by associating them all with Indo-Europeans. It is difficult for a tribe to establish dominion over such a large piece of land, and it is even more difficult for them to change the languages of the natives by enforcing their own language in all these lands. The theory of Indo-Europeans is fabricated to fill the gaps in evolutionary historiography.
4-) The question of how humans went to the Americas and Australia for the first time has been a subject of debate for a long time. Evolutionists propose very old dates for these travels and claim that those who reached these lands were hunter-gatherers. However, it is impossible for primitive hunter-gatherers to make intercontinental journeys. One has to travel across the ocean to reach Australia because it is not connected to Asia by land, and advanced boats are required for this type of voyage. The question of how humans went to the Americas is even more problematic. One theory suggests that they passed over to the Americas through the Bering Strait. However, the date given for this journey corresponds to the Ice Age during which the Bering Strait was covered with ice altogether, thus excluding any possibility of a journey over it.The Bering Strait with its very high latitude was even colder than its current state during the Ice Age and it wasn’t hospitable to the nomadic lifestyle of hunter-gatherers. (The temperature over there falls down to -40 ºC even in our time.) Another theory suggests that the first arrivers voyaged over the Pacific Ocean for a sizeable destination, for which they needed advanced ships. Both possibilities force us to believe that the humans who went to the Americas and Australia were not primitive hunter-gatherers like how evolutionists describe them, they were civilized people with considerable technology. We had told that the knowledge of building ships was delivered to Sumerians by Noah (pbuh), those who voyaged for long distances while going to the New World continents must have used this type of ships. This fact shows that humans must have gone to the New World continents after the age of Sumerians.
5-) If the lineage of Adam is separate from other human lineages, do they have biological differences that set them apart? Anthropology answers this in the positive, it is discovered that humans of the last ten thousand years (the children of Adam) are biologically very different from those that lived before. Let’s quote an evolutionist article in regards to this matter: “Hawks reported that it (human evolution) has actually accelerated 100-fold in the past 5,000 to 10,000 years… People who lived 10,000 years ago were much more like Neanderthals than we are like those people.[4]” In other words, humans of the last 10,000 years are so different from those that lived before that a human being of 10,000 years ago was more similar to a Neanderthal than he is to us. Scientists say that the human brain reduced in size by 10% (as big as a tennis ball) on average in the last 10,000 years. So the human race of the last 10,000 years is biologically starkly different than the previous human races. This too supports our opinion that Adam (pbuh) lived around 10,000 years ago and his lineage is different and separate from the previous human lineages. Some scientists have claimed that attributes such as strong biceps muscles and smoke addiction may have passed to modern humans after interbreeding with Neanderthals. We had told before that the conclusions of evolutionists cannot shape the belief of creation because of different premises that evolutionists have for shaping their theories, and mounting a hypothesis that is premised on evolutionist assumptions on creation is like measuring something in inches but using it in the metric system. We should remark here that even Africans who have never interbred with Neanderthals have the attributes of strong biceps muscles and smoke addiction, therefore it is not possible for these attributes to have passed to us from Neanderthals. There are other genetic facts proving that the differentiation and diversification of humans did not happen a long time ago. For example, evolutionists allege that the people who went to the Far East evolved over time to have the characteristics of Far Eastern people. However, these characteristics are seen as well in places that have no connection with Asia whatsoever. For instance, the Khoisan people living in southern Africa have Asian phenotypic traits despite being black: they have slanted eyes and high cheeks. It is genetically proved that the Khoisan people are pure Africans and have never had immigrants coming from Asia. Well, how did these people attain Asian traits if the genes of Asian phenotype have not come through immigration? It is because the formation of races did not happen a long time ago and independently of each other. Even Africans and Far Eastern people separated from each other relatively a short time ago despite being geographically far away. The characteristic genes of the Far East were already present before humans went to the Far East, only the frequency of these genes changed over time. Today, there are many people who have features unexpected of their nation (we sometimes run across slant-eyed people in Europe, and sometimes run across blonde and blue-eyed people in the Middle East…) Although migrations of the past might account for some of these instances, certain cases can only be explained by the proposition that all humans have diversified from a common gene pool.
What might be the event that caused the previous human lineage to be replaced by the lineage of Adam? We can suggest hypotheses by looking at the present scientific theories despite the absence of concrete evidence regarding the matter. Many scientists now believe that a giant comet impacted the Earth around 13,000 years ago, which changed the global climate abruptly and significantly for a thousand years (The Younger Dryas). This period is believed to have had an adverse effect on many species including humans, contributing strongly to the extinction of numerous species such as mammoths. If we evaluate this disaster from our perception of history, we can think that this disaster annihilated the human lineage before Adam (pbuh), and Adam (pbuh) was placed on the earth when the earth was void of human beings. We cannot make deep analyses given that we are deprived of detailed knowledge about the prehistoric period, what we do here is laying the framework based on the most probable possibilities. This interpretation accords with the narrative of the Quran which calls Adam “the successor on the earth”. The first known human settlement is Gobekli Tepe site in Turkey. Gobekli Tepe site dates back to a millennium after the comet impact, which means that it was constructed after the arrival of Adam (pbuh). No doubt that Gobekli Tepe cannot be constructed by primitive hunter-gatherers as conceived by the evolutionists, and those who built it must have considerable knowledge and skills. The fact that the artifacts in Gobekli Tepe have elements similar to those in Australian aboriginal culture is a sign that the dispersion of humans on the earth happened relatively a short time ago, and the human civilizations did not form independently of each other.
If God sent prophets to all nations preaching them about Islam, why don’t we see the traces of Islam among ancient nations?
Most people were pagans until the emergence of monotheistic religions such as Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism. It is very difficult to find the Islamic monotheism in most of the ancient nations. This situation may seem contradictory to the Islamic teaching that all nations were sent prophets and Islam has existed since the time of Adam (pbuh). Let’s look into the reasons why we don’t see many traces of Islam in the past.
1-) God sent prophets with different mandates and prohibitions according to the different conditions of each era and nation. We cannot expect people of the 21st century to abide by the same laws enforced on the first human beings. Although the religions that God sent throughout history had the common tenets of monotheism and belief in the afterlife, they were different in terms of their rules and practices. That’s why we cannot expect to see Islam with its current rules and practices among ancient nations.
2-) Throughout history, almost all prophets that were sent to disbelieving nations were denied. The Quran informs us that only the nation of Jonah (pbuh) had accepted their prophet: “Then has there not been a [single] city that believed so its faith benefited it except the people of Jonah? (Qur’an 10:98)” Prophets that were sent in the past would generally have only a few believers, and they would be killed along with their believers as they wouldn’t be powerful enough to put up a fight against their aggressors. No nation would easily leave their long-standing habits and follow a prophet who despises their habits and sacred beliefs.
3-) There wasn’t a single Muslim in the world at the time of Abraham (around 2000 BC), that’s why the Quran calls Abraham (pbuh) a nation by himself. Abraham (pbuh) did not learn God from people, he found God through rational deduction. God sent most prophets from the lineage of Abraham (pbuh) after him as his lineage was blessed and glorified by God. The nation of “the children of Israel” came into existence from the lineage of the Prophet Israel who was a grandson of Abraham (pbuh), and each generation of this nation had been blessed by a prophet. Most prophets that came after Abraham (pbuh) were from the children of Israel who would live in the Middle East. Another reason why the Quran generally mentions the prophets that lived in the Middle East is that it was revealed in the Middle East on people who were only familiar with Middle Eastern prophets.
4-) Many pagan religions originated from Islam in essence but were later distorted. In almost all pagan religions; there is a belief in Heaven and Hell, destiny, devils and angels, good deeds and sins although the names given to these concepts differ in each religion. This fact is a sign that these religions originated from Islam in essence. Pagans would believe in a God who created everything and who is above all his creation. They would worship things whom they considered the proxies of God since they thought of God as too lofty to concern himself with the affairs of humans. Even Pharaoh would believe that he is going to account for his deeds before the major God although he had declared himself a god as well. This demonstrates that all pagan religions were monotheistic in essence but were later blemished by shirk (polytheism). Even Brahmanism (Hinduism), the third largest religion in the world, which requires belief in Brahma as the first god is said to have derived linguistically from the name “Abraham” (remember that vowels are not written in Semitic languages)
5-) We told that Islam often evolved into other religions over time by the addition of false beliefs and practices. This may not seem reasonable by today’s standards but we can imagine how much a religion may change over a few generations under the circumstances of the ancient world. First of all, writing was rarely used in the past and people by and large would rely on oral communication. The idea of “book” was developed with the invention of paper only after the time of Abbasids, and it only became popular after the invention of the printing press. Also, most people in the past had no education and it is very likely for uneducated people to confuse the truth with falsehood. It is inevitable for something that is transmitted verbally by ignorant people to mix with superstition to the point of being unrecognizable within a few generations.
6-) 95% percent of pagan beliefs originated with a picture or statue of a revered person in society, including the idolatry in Mecca. People often regard those they love as infallible and attribute supernatural features to them. Unfortunately, almost all people have this disposition. After the death of these people who are regarded as perfect and supernatural, people start asking them for help and replacing God with them in their invocations. This is exactly what Turks did to Ataturk in the 20th century; Ataturk was a successful commander in the Turkish Independence War who later became a godlike figure in Turkey. It is very easy to idolize a person especially with the help of pictures and statues in this propaganda. Prophetic traditions inform us that in the past, devils showed many miracles and often talked to people inside idols in order to deceive them. Owing to all these reasons, it was very easy for beliefs that had Islamic tenets to evolve into paganism in the past, this should not surprise us at all.
7-) Islam is the religion of “fitrah (human nature)”, all people born with the natural disposition and need to believe in Islam. People who inherently have this need look for something else to believe in if they never get to know Islam because belief is an innate spiritual need. Nations that couldn't receive the message of Islam satisfied their need for submission to a high being by creating false gods.
8-) The human mind is unable to comprehend God. God can see, hear and manage everything at the same time and he is not bound by space and time. People conceived of God as similar to themselves as their minds were unable to comprehend these unique attributes of God, and depicted him as having human-like features. In an attempt to fit God into their small minds, people conceived of God as a weak being like themselves and created gods in the shape of men that have weaknesses, that fight each other, and that marry and raise offspring like Greek gods. Since the Islamic monotheism transcends the limits of the human mind, people often deviated from it. Unfortunately, even those who call themselves Muslims in this age attribute human characteristics to God out of ignorance and falsely think of God like a man watching the Earth from the sky.
9-) Far Eastern teachings that we are introduced as religions such as Buddhism and Confucianism are not actually religions, they are philosophies. It is wrong to designate these teachings as religions: these are ways of thinking that depend on the philosophical ideas of their founders and they lack any type of belief in a deity or divine revelation. Some people falsely think that there are too many religions in the world since they cannot differentiate between religion and philosophy.
Although ancient pagan religions can be considered under the category of “religion”, most of them don’t have a claim of divine revelation either. These religions have no specific founder nor are they ascribed to any prophet; they are formed by the development and evolution of oral legends circulating among people into systematic religions over time. Gods in pagan mythologies are conceived as within nature and in need of nature as opposed to being beyond it. No doubt attributing the origin of nature to the entities dependent on nature further complicates ontological problems, much less resolve them.
[1] Bilmen, Ömer Nasuhi. "Secde Suresi." Kur'an-ı Kerim'in Türkçe Meâli Âlisi Ve Tefsiri. Volume. 6. Istanbul: Bilmen Yayınevi, page 2761. Print.
[2] Futuhat al-Makkiyya; translated by W. C. Chittick in "Imaginal
Worlds: Ibn al-`Arabi and the Problem of Religious Diversity," p. 90.
[3] GonzaÌ lez-Wippler, Migene. The Complete Book of Spells, Ceremonies, and Magic. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1996. 19. Print.
[4] Shute, Nancy. "Where Is Human Evolution Heading?" U.S.News. N.p., 24 July 2008. Web. 29 Jan. 2017.
THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE
Up until the 20th century, the static universe model was by and large accepted among scientists. This model suggested that the universe is infinite both in time and space. The static model clearly contradicts the Quran and the Bible. This contradiction had created a clash between science and religion in the field of physics on top of the clash in biology during the first half of the 20th century, and this was another excuse being put forward for rejecting religion altogether. The God who created this world for test never gives a decisive worldly victory to either side in the struggle between faith and disbelief. God destroyed this source of disbelief at the time when religion had seriously lost ground, and the static universe model which rejected the creator became history. If time and matter came into existence with the Big Bang, the power that initiated the universe must not be bound by time and space within the universe. This indicates a creator beyond all dimensions of the universe.
Physics is a vague field with lots of questions still awaiting answers. Our technology is not yet advanced enough to research the deep and ambiguous topics of physics, therefore physicians generally avoid using certain statements when expressing their studies. Nevertheless, the common point that almost all scientists agree upon is that the universe was formed with the explosion of an entity that had a very high temperature and density, and the universe is still expanding in size. This approach is in line with the verses of the Quran: “Have those who disbelieved not considered that the heavens and the earth were a joined entity, and We separated them and made from water every living thing? Then will they not believe? (Qur'an 21:30)” “And the heaven We constructed with strength, and indeed, We are [its] expander. (Qur’an 51:47)”
Isn’t it a mind-blowing miracle of God that everything including us, around 10^12 galaxies and 10^23 stars, and the universe whose size we cannot even imagine were gathered in a single point 13.8 billion years ago? What else do those who demand miracles for believing in God expect? The above-mentioned Quranic verse implying the expansion of the universe is arguably even greater of a miracle than this. The most prominent question that had been discussed among philosophers and scientists throughout history was the question of whether the universe is infinite in size or finite and static in size. The Quran rejected both of these models for the first time in history, and described the universe as finite but continuously expanding, which is a contention that was unheard of until the 20th century. Even Einstein had a hard time believing in the expansion of the universe and for a long time, he had objected to his friend who would endorse this theory. This means that the Quran which was revealed to an ignorant nation living in the desert in the 7th century has beaten all scientists and philosophers that lived before the 20th century.
THE AGES OF THE UNIVERSE AND HUMANITY
Some Christians (Young Earth creationists) claim that the age of the universe is less than ten thousand years, thus completely rejecting the pre-Adam history of the world. The reason why these people hold such an absurd view is that they misunderstand the concept of creation in six days.
How Should We Understand the Six-Day Creation?
“And We did certainly create the heavens and earth and what is between them in six days, and there touched Us no weariness. (Qur'an 50:38)" The Quran acknowledges that the creation took place in six days as mentioned in the Torah. Well, what does the creation in six days mean? God could have created the universe in one second had he willed, but then everybody would've believed in God and the test of this life would've been meaningless. God tells us that he created the universe in a time frame and not in an instant. God might have done so to set a precedent for us. He might have done so for he wants us to work for six days in a week and designate one day to rest and worship. As you know, all religions declare one day in a week as holiday and require its followers to worship in it (Friday for Muslims, Saturday for Jews and Sunday for Christians). It is not a coincidence that the week consists of seven days. The number seven is an important number that is frequently repeated in creation. God created seven heavens and seven continents, and he gave seven colors to light. “It is God who created seven heavens and a similar [number] of earths. (Qur’an 65:12)” It is a miracle that we now have discovered seven continents and God talks about seven earths in the Quran.
The word that is translated as “day” in the phrase “the six-day creation” is the Arabic word “yawm”. This term is expressed in the Torah with the Hebrew word “yom” which has the same meaning with “yawm” in Arabic. These words can also mean “period, age” in their languages depending on the context. Just as scientists divide the history of the Earth into different geological periods, the Quran divides the creation of the universe into six periods. “Say, “Do you reject the One who created the earth in two days? And you attribute equals to Him? That is the Lord of the Universe.” He placed stabilizers over it; and blessed it; and planned (qaddara) its provisions in four days, equally to the seekers. Then He turned to the sky, and it was smoke, and said to it and to the earth, “Come, willingly or unwillingly.” They said, “We come willingly.” So He completed (qadha) them as seven heavens in two days (Qur’an 41:9-12)” This verse makes it clear that the Earth was created in two days. God destined everything that will happen in this world in four days, and during the following days his creation obeyed his destiny and realized what was written for them. You may think at first glance that the above-mentioned process must’ve taken eight days and it contradicts the six-day duration assigned to the creation. However, the process of planning (the word “qaddara” is used in the verse which means “to destine”) as mentioned in the verse is not a physical process, it describes the planning and writing of destiny. After that, God asked the Earth and the heavens to submit to their destiny so as to realize the destiny, and they both submitted willingly. In the last verse, the word qadha is used which means “the execution of what is planned in destiny”. The destiny that God planned in four days became qadha (it came about) in two days with the obedience of the heavens and the Earth. As a summary, the Earth was created in two days as stated in the verse “Do you reject the One who created the earth in two days?”, and the universe was created in six days in total. The age of the Earth is one-third of the age of the universe according to this Quranic timeframe. This is miraculously in line with the ages that modern scientists have assigned to them: The Earth is approximately 4.55 billion years old and the universe is approximately 13.7 billion years old. (4.55*3=13.65~13.7)
Is it ever possible that the word “yawm” in the six-day creation be used to refer to a 24-hour duration? God is beyond time. We perceive a night and day created by the Earth’s one complete rotation around its own axis as one day, but this is definitely not the case for God. The Sun is created on the fourth day according to the Bible. If we think of the “day” in the Bible’s creation narrative as a 24-hour period, how can we explain the time period before the creation of the Sun whose motion defines the day and night? We define the day according to the Sun’s position in the sky and the concept of “day” is out of the question in Sun’s absence. It is weird how shallow some Christians’ understanding of the scripture is in consideration of all these facts.
“And they urge you to hasten the punishment. But God will never fail in His promise. And indeed, a day with your Lord is like a thousand years of those which you count. (Qur’an 22:47)” the phrase “a thousand years” doesn’t refer to one thousand years exactly. The word “thousand” can be used in the meaning of “too many to be counted” in Arabic. Let’s look at the tafsir (the explanation of the Quran) of Omer Nasuhi Bilmen regarding this matter: “It is said that a thousand represents a very long time period. The number “thousand” is considered to be the highest of numbers in the Arabic language and very high amounts are intended by it even if they are greater than a thousand.[1]” Namely, it is possible that this verse means “a day with your Lord is like thousands of years which you count”. Likewise in English, when we use expressions like “I warned you a thousand times”, it is clear that the word “thousand” represents multitude and not exactly one thousand. Time flows differently in different parts of the universe. God points out the relativity of time in this verse and warns people not to question God with their own subjective perception of time. “The angels and the Spirit will ascend to Him during a Day the extent of which is fifty thousand years. (Qur’an 70:4)” This verse points out the different perception of time that angels have, and that fifty thousand years pass in the world while angels are ascending to heaven. It is said in another similar verse: “He arranges [each] matter from the heaven to the earth; then it will ascend to Him in a Day, the extent of which is a thousand years of those which you count. (Qur’an 32:5)” Given all these verses, it is clear that the word “yawm” doesn’t refer to a 24-hour period that we know. The Quran acknowledges that the creation of the universe happened long before the creation of humans. Many Muslim scholars had advocated that the universe is very old at the times when scientific knowledge was weak. The age of the universe has never been an issue in the Islamic world as it has been in the Christian world.
Is Adam (pbuh) the First Human Being?
“And [mention, O Muhammad], when your Lord said to the angels, "Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority (Khalifah)." They said, "Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood, while we declare Your praise and sanctify You?" God said, "Indeed, I know that which you do not know." (Qur’an 2:30)”
This verse implies that when God announced the creation of Adam (pbuh) (before he created him), the Earth was already in existence and God wanted to establish Adam (pbuh) as a successive authority. The word “Khalifa” means “successive” and its usage here implies that there were rational creatures on the Earth before Adam (pbuh). The angels’ remark “Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood” is noteworthy as well. Angels cannot know the future, there must have been creatures who caused corruption in the world and shed blood before Adam (pbuh) because of whom the angels expressed prejudice against Adam (pbuh) and passed judgment on him. If there weren’t so, the angels wouldn’t even know what corruption is. Many scholars had speculated that there were jinns in the world before humans, and those who caused corruption and shed blood were jinns. However, the phrase “shedding blood” contradicts this opinion because jinns do not have blood, they are made of energy. A few scholars conjectured based on this verse that there had lived human lineages before Adam (pbuh) who would cause corruption and shed blood, therefore the angels were biased against the lineage of Adam (pbuh). It is important to consider here this prophetic narration that Ibn Arabi used: "One hundred thousand Adams passed; we are the children of the last one.[2]" There is not a single verse in the Quran implying that Adam (pbuh) was the first human being although it is clearly stated that Adam (pbuh) was the father of our lineage. As I had said before, the Quran gives us very limited information regarding the state of the world before Adam (pbuh), that’s why no possibility regarding this issue would contradict our creation narrative.
We cannot exactly know how different the lineage of Adam is from those that lived before Adam. What made the lineage of Adam honorable is that God breathed his Spirit into Adam (pbuh). Adam is the first taught human, his lineage could develop because of what God taught him. If there was a human race before Adam, we can say that they weren’t honored with God’s spirit and weren’t taught anything, and they were not different from animals in many ways. The angels had first thought that the lineage of Adam would be wild and primitive like the previous human races, that’s why they opposed his creation. God responded to them: “He said, "O Adam, inform them of their names." And when he had informed them of their names, He said to the angels, "Did I not tell you that I know the unseen [aspects] of the heavens and the earth? And I know what you reveal and what you have concealed." (Qur’an 2:33)” God gives the fact that Adam (pbuh) learned the names of everything as a response to the angels' claim. In other words, God might have proven to the angels that the lineage of Adam (pbuh) is not ignorant and uncivilized like the former human races; and they can speak, learn, and progress unlike the previous human races.
If God created human races before Adam (pbuh), he may have done so to teach us an important lesson. If God hadn’t taught Adam (pbuh) the knowledge he needs; we would have remained wild, primitive and uncivilized like the previous human lineages. Seeing the primitive states of the former human races makes us grateful for God for he honored and blessed the lineage of Adam (pbuh) above all, and knowing that we could not have developed were it not for God’s intervention and blessing diminishes our arrogance. Finally, let’s quote a Quranic verse and leave its interpretation to you: “Has there [not] come upon man a period of time when he was not a thing [even] mentioned? (Qur’an 76:1)”
When did Adam (pbuh) live?
Evolutionists and creationists have different premises on which they derive conclusions, therefore it is not logical to combine these two approaches to reach a conclusion. For example, creationists believe that Adam and Eve were created with the genetic code of all human beings in their DNA: some of their kids were black, some of them were blonde, some of them had slanted eyes… In contrast, evolutionists believe that human beings were all black and similar in appearance at first, and they have diversified and differed from each other as time passed by. This distinction may seem petty but actually is of paramount importance. Due to this difference in approach, any theory that evolutionists produce by researching on human DNA cannot be considered valid for creation. Trying to judge creation by the findings of evolutionists is like measuring something in inches and using it in the metric system. Evolutionists could not yet create a consistent evolutionary tree by researching human DNA anyway.
There is no clear information in the Quran and Prophetic narrations regarding the time Adam (pbuh) lived and how back does our lineage go in time. However, since the time periods between prominent prophets are more or less known, the best prediction is that Adam (pbuh) lived around ten thousand years ago. The writing of the prehistoric era (the era before writing) depends almost completely on assumptions and our findings regarding that era are just the tip of the iceberg. This vagueness often forces evolutionists to use their imagination for filling the gaps. What contradicts the Islamic view of history is the imagination of evolutionists rather than the scientific findings present. Now, let’s look into the reasons why it is likely that Adam (pbuh) lived at most ten thousand years ago.
1-) The knowledge of complex skills such as agriculture and animal husbandry were taught to Adam (pbuh) by God. When we look at history, we see that many beneficial practices such as these appeared around ten thousand years ago. Most of what makes us human were absent before ten thousand years ago. According to evolutionary historiography, humans had no progress in anything for hundreds of thousands of years but everything about them changed dramatically at a high pace in the last ten thousand years, creating new skills and technologies along the way. The evolutionary view of history is inadequate to explain what brought about this abrupt progress. If agriculture and civilization are beneficial, why did it take hundreds of thousands of years for humans to adopt them? If agriculture and civilization are detrimental, why did humans prefer to leave their hunter-gatherer lifestyle for the sake of them?
2-) It is said that the conditions of the earth were made suitable for mankind when Adam (pbuh) came to the earth. We know that the final ice age ended around ten thousand years ago. It is as if God prepared the earth for the children of Adam when Adam (pbuh) came to this world.
3-) It is very interesting that civilizations emerged at similar times in places that had no connection with each other. According to secular historiography, Sumer appeared in 3500 BC as the first civilization, and after that other civilizations quickly appeared in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Anatolia, China, and India. It is important to keep in mind that due to the primitive conditions of the past, any type of communication was quite difficult in places that were surrounded by deserts such as Egypt, and these civilizations had virtually no communication with each other. It is weird that civilizations appeared in different places at the same time despite this lack of communication. What is even more interesting is that even the people of the Americas began engaging in agriculture at a similar date and the Maya civilization appeared in America. Those who went to the Americas were yet hunters-gatherers according to secular historiography, therefore it was impossible for them to have learned agriculture, farming and settled life from other people. Yet, Mayas had adopted a civilized lifestyle like the people of the Old World but independently of them. Attributing the fact that two groups of people who were separated by an ocean and had no connection with each other whatsoever discovered agriculture and adopted a civilized lifestyle almost at the same time (a difference of few centuries is negligible in comparison to human history) to a coincidence does not appeal to a sane mind. The invention of writing is very interesting too due to the same problem. Writing was invented at similar times in different civilizations that had no communication with each other. Even the people of America who were isolated from the rest of the world discovered and used writing before Christ.
Everything will fall into place when we look at the history of civilizations under the light of Islam. Noah’s flood took place around 3500 BC in the Middle East and humans had not spread across much of the world until his time. The followers of Noah (pbuh) continued to live in Mesopotamia after the flood and it is not a coincidence that the first civilization after the flood appeared in Mesopotamia. Sumer appeared right after the flood in Mesopotamia around 3500 BC. There is archeological evidence suggesting a flood in this area and the flood is recorded in the Epic of Gilgamesh written by Sumerians who lived right after the flood. Also, we know that Noah (pbuh) had taught people the knowledge of building ships and he built the first ship in history which became a refuge during the flood. One of the most remarkable achievements of Sumerians that historians accept is their invention of the sailboat. This is not a coincidence either; Sumerians must have learned how to build sailboats from Noah (pbuh). Finally, let’s quote very interesting verses from the Quran proving that the people who came after the flood were Sumerians. The Quran narrates that some nations had opposed their Prophets on the basis on monotheism, and some of them had opposed their Prophets on the basis of both monotheism and belief in the afterlife. For example, the tribe of Noah (the tribe that was destroyed in the flood) had not opposed Noah’s messages about the afterlife since they would already believe in the hereafter. However, the primary reason why the post-Noah tribe opposed their Prophet was his preaching about the afterlife. “Then We raised after them (after Noah’s tribe) another generation. And We sent to them an apostle from among themselves, (saying), “Worship God! You have no other god but Him. Will you not fear (Him)?” And the chiefs of his people, who disbelieved and denied the Meeting in the Hereafter, and on whom We had bestowed the good things of this life, said: “He is no more than a man like yourselves: he eats of that of which you eat, and drinks of what you drink. “If you obey a man like yourselves, behold, it is certain you will be lost. “Does he promise that when you die and become dust and bones, you shall be brought forth (again)? “Far, very far is that which you are promised! “There is nothing but our life in this world! We shall die and we live! But we shall never be raised up again! “He is only a man who invents a lie against God, but we are not the ones to believe in him!” (Qur’an 23:31-38)” We had claimed that the people who succeeded Noah’s nation were Sumerians, and this claim requires that the post-Noah nation mentioned in this verse be Sumerians. Historical records inform us that Sumerians would reject the afterlife and resurrection, and they used to believe that the soul will exist in a dark place forever apart from the body.[3] Whereas indeed many nations that were contemporary of Sumerians had a firm belief in the hereafter. Egyptians, for instance, would bury their dead with his/her nice belongings owing to their belief in the afterlife. This too is evidence in favor of our claim that the nation which succeeded Noah’s nation was Sumerians.
