FROM MICROBITS TO EVERYTHING

FROM MICROBITS TO EVERYTHING Beyond Darwinism and Creationism Volume 3: The Evolutionary Implications

From Microbits to Everything: Beyond Darwinism and Creationism Volume 3: The Evolutionary Implications First Edition All rights reserved under the International Copyright Convention. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews, articles and books. Copyright 2009 Nadeem Haque Optagon Publications Ltd. Website: http://optagon.page.tl/ Author contact e-mail: optagon@mail.com Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Muslim, M., 1966 From microbits to everything : a new unified view of physics and cosmology / M. Muslim, Nadeem Haque. - 1st ed. Vol. 2, by Nadeem Haque and M. Muslim, has subtitle: Universe of the imaginator. Vol. 3, by Nadeem Haque has subtitle: Beyond Darwinism and creationism. Includes bibliographical references and index. Contents: v. 1. The cosmological implications - v. 2. The philosphical implications - v. 3. The evolutionary implications. ISBN 0-9699605-1-4 (v. 1).-ISBN 0-9699605-3-0 (v. 2).ISBN 978-0-9699605-4-6 (v. 3) 1.Cosmology. 2.Relativity (Physics). 3.Particles (Nuclear physics). 1.Cosmologie. 2.Relativit (Physique). 3.Particules (Physique nuclaire). I.Haque, Nadeem, 1960- II.Title. QC28.M88 2001 523.1 C2001-901287-X QC28

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Clay-based Evolution

Introduction The Quran on Clay Primary Passages on Clay and Man Sequence of Creation

Chapter 2: Clay as Catalyst

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Clay and the Origin of Life Role of Water Evolution of Clay itself

Chapter 3: Outlines of a New Mechanism for Evolution

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The true nature of information The Big Bang Origin: Quasi-equilibrium A new definition for information The current shift in biological thinking The importance of sync in evolution

Chapter 4: Madam Im Adam

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The Meaning of Creation from a Single Nafs in the Quran The Meaning of Creation from Dust The dual function of the word Adam in the Quran Conclusion

Chapter 5: Status of the New Concept

57

Bibliography

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Index

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Chapter 1 Clay-based Evolution in the Quran

Chapter 1 Clay-based Evolution in the Quran

Introduction
It has become somewhat common knowledge that the Quran contains many verses that pre-empt scientific discovery, such as those pertaining to cosmology, embryology etc. But what does the Quran say about evolution, if anything? Indeed, the origin and development of life and human beings is one of the greatest unresolved mysteries. In this book, we shall examine some intriguing verses in the Quran which depict macroevolution. It will be shown that the Quranic verses do indeed reveal biological macroevolution, concomitantly leading to the evolution of Homo Sapiens, as being created by a singular and incomparable God. The thesis of this book is that the machinery of life began from clay, which served as a catalyst for the development of enzymes, RNA and DNA. Life then evolved from these components, from single celled lifeforms to multicellular creatures, leading up to human beings, through hominids. A new theory for the mechanism for evolution is also discussed at length. It will be definitively shown how this view unites physics and biology.

From Microbits to Everything

The Quran on Clay

If we are to understand the verses in the Quran on the subject of origins, we need a systems view, where the Quran best explains the Quran itself. In particular, in this connection, the system of Quranic verses is indeed akin to algebraic mathematical equations that need solving. For example, if we have an equation: y=2x +z and want to solve for y, then if we know what x and z are, we can indeed solve for y. We simply plug the values for x and z into the equation y=2x+z and get the answer for y. Analogously, the Quranic verses discussed in the next section, that are designated as 1 , 2 and 3, are at the core of the above-referenced thesis, and are akin to equations that need to be solved by plugging into the general equation, which is taken to be verse 1, it being the most general and basic one.

Primary Passages on Clay and Man

Let us use the following Quranic verses as equations, where we have three primary verses and hence equations: 1. .I am about to create man from (min) clay (tiin). 2. We began the creation of man from clay. (32:7) 3. We created man from (min) an extract (sulaalatin)from/in (min) clay. (23:12) Now when it says in verse 1 that God is going to create man from clay, (38:71)

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Clay-based Evolution

all that the Quran is referring to, is the initiation of life, or its origin. However, we need to factor in verses 2 and 3 to clearly realize this, for if we keep staring at Equation 1, we will not get any further in our understanding. What happens when we do this? Plugging in verses 2 and 3 into 1, we get: We began the creation of man from an extract from clay. or, We originated the human being from an extract in clay, or, yet again, in present scientific parlance: We originated [the species] homo sapiens from an extract [present] in clay. Equation 4

It must be noted that when it says that God is going to create man from clay, it does not mean from the clay itself, but from something in the clay. This is how the Arabic word min is used here. An example of this type of usage of the word min is as follows: We created man min [from] nutfatin amshaajin [the mingled fluid from both male and female partners]. (76:2) It is an obvious fact now (post-mid 20th Century C.E.) that we are not created from such fluid but from the germ cells in those mingled fluids.1 The important clue to the realization that we are not made from clay, but from some components in clay, is the fact that we are carbon-based entities,

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From Microbits to Everything

yet clay is silica based! How did the transformation occur, if we are made from clay itself? This precludes the theory that some espouse that although life began in clay, it was also completed in clay; for the verse pertains only to primal origination. There is another intriguing verse, call it equation 5, the key to solving the issue of how evolution has occurred, and what organisms were evolved: He it is who has created you from clay, and then has decreed a term a term known to Him. And yet you still continue to remain doubtful... (6:2) Equation 5

Now recall that Equation 5 includes Equation 1. But Equation 1 turned into Equation 4: so now we can substitute Equation 4 into Equation 5 and we get the following: He it is who has originated homo sapiens from an extract in clay, and then has decreed a term - a term known to Him. And yet you still continue to remain doubtful... (6:2) Equation 6

1. Dr. Maurice Bucaille, in his book What is the origin of Man?, on page 173174, discusses the word sulaalatin, which he says means one thing extracted from another thing. Bucaille, agrees as do I, with the general concept of the advancement of hominid species in terms of physical attributes and that evolution has proceeded because of the emergence of new information in the genes; however, where Bucaille goes wrong is in ascribing verses 76:28 and 6:133 as proofs of successive hominid species replacing or evolving into one another. These verses, to the contrary, as can be easily evinced by the context in which they occur, refer to a decadent civilization or people being replaced by another after the advent of neolithic societies by social upheavals/wars, cataclysms etc, not one hominid group replacing an older version. See Maurice Bucailles, What is the Origin of Man? The Answers of Science and the Holy Scriptures. 12

Clay-based Evolution

Simplifying this verse into its essentials, we have: God originated man from specific component(s) extant in clay and after a long duration, decreed a fixed term. Now at this juncture one may rightly enquire: What is the meaning of term? To know this, one requires an even deeper analysis of the verse: The first part of this passage (Equation 5) can be divided into three sections: 1.1 He it is who has created you out of clay.

1.2 ...THEN has decreed a term. 1.3 ...a term known to Him... Let us analyse 1.1 and 1.2 further: 1.1.1 We have seen that the first part of this verse is a short form for: He it is who has originated homo sapiens from an extract in clay 1.2.1 The word THEN: Thumma. This is a very significant word. When it is used in embryology (in the Quran) it means a long duration or slow process relative to the other components of the whole process being elucidated, and is a time-gauge for a transformation process. In the Quran, when thumma is used it has three properties. Firstly, it denotes a change from one state to another, in time, from A to B. Secondly, there is a long duration relative to the processes being discussed; in other words, the transformation process from A to B is long. Thirdly, then separates A and B, although they are contiguous processes.

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From Microbits to Everything

This is how the verse is to be understood: The transformative process from A to B is very long. What this verse is saying is that clay is like an ideal cooking pot that re-organizes matter (chemicals, so as to form enzymes etc.). The origination process is the development of the machinery of life: the enzymes, RNA and DNA that got produced. These processes take a long time and do not happen overnight. The Quran then talks about duration with other words. The words used here are qadha ajalan (decreed a term) and waajalun musamman (there is a term fixed with/known to Him). The word ajala is used many times in the Quran and with respect to durations of processes/movements in nature. For example, refer to chapter 13, verse 2. What is this duration? If mans developmental process was not complete in the creation of man from clay, since the verse states that God began the creation of man from clay, the Quran could not have been talking about mans life on earth, resurrection etc., that most older and contemporary scholars opine when they address this verse in their comments on the meaning of duration. For example, Muhammad Asad, in a footnote to his English translation of the Quran on this verse, states that: Some of the authorities are of the opinion that the term refers to the end of the world and the subsequent resurrection, while others relate it to individual human lives. Other commentators, again, see in the first mention of this word a reference to individual lives, and in the second, to the Day of Resurrection; and there is [another] term, etc. However, in view of several other occurrences of the expression ajal musamma in the Quran, it is best rendered here as a term set [by Him]

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Clay-based Evolution

or known [to Him] i.e. relating both to individual lives and to the world as a whole.2 This erroneous view espoused by many commentators arises because of the position taken by such writers on the Quran in terms of most of them assuming that man was wholly completed in clay (fully formed). They then go on to further interpret, based on this flawed interpretation, that when it says that God decreed a time/period, God is referring to the duration on earth, whereas others take it to mean the duration until Resurrection. Let us examine the meaning of decreed a term and also a term known to Him, even further. Firstly, let us construct a parallel sentence so that we can understand this verse better. Verse 6:2 is equivalent to the following statement, in terms of pattern: The process for creating a car (any group of objects known as a car and not any specific car with a unique license plate) is initiated by melting iron ore. Then there is decreed period which is fixed for the development of the car. It is fixed because it is known. Now we may ask: fixed for what? Following the car production analogy, obviously for the evolution of the car, that is, through the production of metal and then car parts and then assembly etc., rather than the following, incorrect conclusion: that the car is taken to the scrap heap (analogous to resurrection/day of judgment) which is an end process, once the car is fully formed. Indeed, why would it be taken to the scrap heap? What about all the intermediate
2. Asad, Muhammad, Translator, (1980), The Message of The Quran, pp. 171-172.

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From Microbits to Everything

processes, especially when the first part of the sentence in the Quran in the final Equation 6, on page 13, does not, using the analogy of cars, even speak about the completion of the car, by iron ore, and in fact talks of the beginnings of the car explicitly and literally! The duration referred to in 6:2 then, refers to the development of singlecelled creatures that emerged after the creation of DNA etc., leading to mutlicellular creatures, plants and vertebrates etc., in turn, leading eventually to the earlier hominids and finally, man. For the individual advanced organism, the completion process does not occur in clay but through DNA etc., in an embryological process. This view then, discounts an evolutionary view of a first man being completely formed within a cocoon of clay, and by the clay material itself, rather than by the other components found in clay. It must be pointed out, that in the Quran there is no concept of the universe having been created in seven, twenty-four hour days as per Christian Fundamentalist Creationism. Far from it, in the Quran, in numerous passages, it is pointed out that the Universe was created in six periods. It is well known that the word in the Quran normally translated as day (yaum) means an unspecified division of time. It could be a picosecond or one billion years. These six periods, however, appear to coincide with the six divisions for the development of earth and life on earth. In the Quran, it states that the first two periods were spent in the creation/evolution of the earth itself: Say: What! do you indeed disbelieve in Him Who created the earth in two periods, and do you set up equals with Him? That is the Lord/ Sustainer of the worlds. (41:9)

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Clay-based Evolution

The total timeline is six periods: Surely your Lord is God, who created the heavens and the earth in six periods of time, and He is firm in power; He throws the veil of night over the day, which it pursues incessantly; and (He created) the sun and the moon and the stars, made subservient by His command; surely His is the creation and the command; blessed is God, the Lord/Sustainer of the worlds.(7:54) The possibility that God created man from clay in a sudden fashion is ruled out by two factors: It is not the clay from which man is created, but other elements that are entrapped in the clay. The amazing fact is that there is an even more complex process hinted in Quran 23:12, from an extract from clay implies that not only is biological life derived from the constituents within clay, that is, the extract in clay, but that life also develops from something within the extract itself, the Arabic word from, min, being used twice in that verse. This is a linguistic double derivative. Keep in mind that the chemical transitions of the elements to form nucleotides, RNA and eventually DNA cannot occur overnight.

Sequence of Creation
Since clay-based evolution has occurred, and clay was not isolated on one spot on the earth, according to the previous analysis of the Quran, life did not develop on one spot on earth, but throughout the earth. There was not just

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From Microbits to Everything

one primeval pond but many on the earth. In 24:45 it is stated that all carbon-based life began from water after the big bang: And God has created water-based (corporeal) creatures. Note that the Quran states that every dabbah is created from water. This verse is taken to mean both that water is the prime ingredient for carbon-based life and also that life evolved out of water as a necessary ingredient for evolution. Since, like clay, water was not only on one spot on earth but universal, it means that life originated throughout the various parts of earth simultaneously. To continue with an analysis of Quran 24:45, the sequence in which the major current groups of animals: mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians is described is as follows: . so of them is that which walks upon its belly, and of them is that which walks upon two feet, and of them is that which walks upon four; God creates what He pleases; surely God has power over all things.(24:45) Here four groups of animals are mentioned. The order of appearance, according to these verses is: 1. reptiles and amphibians, 2. birds and then 3. mammals. However, currently, the theory for the emergence of these groups is: 1. reptiles and amphibians, 2. mammals and then 3. birds. In the Quran, it is likely being stated that birds preceded mammals. In fact, a recent Scientific American article regarding a discovery made in China pushes back the date of the origin

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Clay-based Evolution

of flight in dinosaurs or birds (the classification is uncertain) which walk on two legs. The fossil record shows clearly that the dinosaur/bird had asymmetrical feathers that are the only ones used for flight such as those which exist on present day flying birds. I surmise that it will be firmly discovered that birds originated before mammals.3

3.

Prum, O. and Brush, Alan H., (2003), Scientific American, Which Came First,

the Feather or the Bird?, pp. 84-93.

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Chapter 2 Clay as Catalyst

Chapter 2 Clay as Catalyst

Recent research is pointing to the Quranic solution that we have been created from clay and indeed in the manner presented in this book. The general problem regarding the origin of life has been how DNA, the source of organisms, has been formed. Since you need RNA for DNA, then how did that begin in the first place? In Graham Cairns-Smith theory4, it was suggested that since clay has a crystalline structure, perhaps it formed a template through which life emerged. Eventually this formed life and the initial template or scaffolding that assisted its formation has vanished, much like when a building is being constructed. In other words, at a certain point, the organic molecules took-over and started replication. However, more recently, the relation of clay and the origin of life is converging on the view being presented in this book through the work of James P. Ferris and his colleagues. Ferris has discovered, as stated in the Quranic verses cited above, that clay served as a cooking pot which contained, protected, moulded and synthesized enzymes to produce RNA and thence DNA, that is, the road to life. In their technical paper, James P. Ferris and Shin Miyakawa state the statistically phenomenal improbablility for the minimal requirements for the origin of life based on the RNA world model. They state that:

4. Cairns-Smith, A.G., (1985), Seven Clues to the Origin of Life.

From Microbits to Everything

The random formation of two RNAs containing 40 nucleotides would require the formation of 1048 isomers weighing 1028g, an amount comparable to the mass of the earth. 5

Clay and the Origin of Life

In the 1990s, James Ferris, of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute discovered that montmorillonite clay can serve as a catalyst in forming RNA. When nucleotides were poured onto its surface, this type of clay caused the fusion of the nucleotides. Up to 50 nucleotides at a time accreted together to produce a sole RNA molecule. Currently, many chemists, biologists, physicists, astronomers, and geologists who are researching the origins of life believe that RNA molecules were capable of performing both enzymatic activity and self-replication, defining what is known as the RNA world scenario. Today, proteins are built through the use of both transfer and messenger RNAs; these proteins then can act as enzymes to catalyze a variety of chemical reactions, including the formation of nucleotides. According to the supporters of the RNA world concept, there would be no protein enzymes in existence to form the first nucleotides or catalyze the first formation of RNA strands because these proteins are only formed by RNA
5. Society Miyakawa, Shin, and Ferris, James P., (2003), Journal of the American Chemical Sequence- and Regioselectivity in the Montmorillonite-Catalyzed Synthesis of

RNA. citing Joyce G.F., Orgel, L.E. from the book In the RNA World: The Nature of Modern RNA suggests a Prebiotic RNA, pp. 49-77.

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Clay as Catalyst

(the chicken and the egg problem). Therefore, the phosphate, sugar, and base groups must have bonded through abiotic (non-biological) means. Thus far, scientists have been unable to bind the phosphate to the sugar and base group using conditions that were thought to have been present on the early earth; this is a very active, current field of research. However, once a full nucleotide unit has been formed, scientists have been able to make extended chains of RNA, of up to 50 units (mers) in length, which could then fold to perform catalytic activity, accelerating the ease of synthesis for future molecules and initiating the RNA world. If free nucleotides are combined in solution, they do not react at all. Therefore, many scientists have been searching for what types of activating groups and inorganic catalysts must have been involved in the polymer bonding process. Dr. Ferris, discovered one inorganic material which facilitates this reaction: montmorillonite clay. The particular structure of this clay serves to provide a medium in which the individual activated RNA units combine to form larger chains. Montmorillonite clay is currently the only mineral discovered which catalyzes the synthesis of RNA polymers (containing a minimum of 10 nucleotides) from their single units.

The Role of Water

In verses 21:30 and 24:45 it states that God created every carbon-based/ visible living creature (not jinn or angels) from water. What role would water have played in conjunction with clay? We know the following facts about the involvement of water: It has been realized that four ingredients are required for the origination of life: nucleotides, fatty acids and water and that

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From Microbits to Everything

montmorillonite clay facilitates the two crucial processes that form a rudimentary vesicle analogous to a cell from these components. Firstly, as has been described earlier, montmorillonite clay can combine nucleotides to form RNA; secondly, it is simultaneously able to insert the concomitant RNA into a vesicle that forms as a result of mixing all these components. The next step is to produce more complex reactions from within the RNA housed in the membraned vesicle, in other words, watch a basic level of RNA based evolution occur before ones eyes!6 Note the amazing verse 37:11 that links the creation of man with sticky clay, implying wetness.

The Evolution of Clay itself

The creation of man from turaab (which means dust in Arabic) is the creation of man from the pre-clay situation, because even clay had an evolution! Remember: the earth was formed from the accretion of gas and dust which gradually produced a planet replete with rock and mud. But how did clay form? Most of what we call dirt is a mixture of decomposed organic material and inorganic material; leaves, bark, and insects with rocks interspersed, for example. Clay forms in a dramatically different manner, however. When rocks, specifically feldspar, weather by chemical and physical means, they dissolve into their various elements and compounds. These molecules often form into mainly organized layers as they settle, based on charge, weight and other considerations. This is basically how the clays form their layering and crystal structure, which is based on the charges of the
6. Zimmer, Carl, (2004), Discover, How did life on earth begin?, pp. 40-41. 26

Clay as Catalyst

individual molecules. The following verses speak about the creation of man from dust or clay: 7:12; 17:61; 18:37; 22:5; 30:20; 35:11; 40:67. Other verses elucidate the evolution of clay from mud: He [Iblis] said: I am not such that I should prostrate to a human being, whom you have created from sounding clay (salsaal) of altered black smooth mud (hamaa masnun). (15:33) And when your Lord said to the angels: Surely, I am going to create a mortal out of sounding clay of altered, black, smooth mud. (15:28) The other similar verses are: 15:26; 23:12 and 55:14.

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Chapter 3 Outlines of a New Mechanism for Evolution

Chapter 3 Outlines of a New Mechanism for Evolution

The true nature of information

To see how macroevolution has occurred, we need a new paradigm based on new principles. We need to know how the universe is actually structured. We already know several major things that Darwin was not aware of, such as the Big Bang, genetics and subatomic particles. We also have the concept of information. In the new model of evolution being proposed in this book, information is central; however, the general perception of information in present day science is not that which is completely accurate. Paul Davies elaborates on a new, or better, understanding of information and programming that is needed to understand how life may have begun: We now need to explain, not the origin of material stuff, but the origin of information. Whereas it is good science to seek a physical process to generate matter, it is regarded as unscientific in the extreme to entertain a process that generates information. Information is not something that is supposed to come for free (like cosmic matter), but something you have to work for. This is really just the second law of thermodynamics revisited, because the spontaneous appearance of information in the Universe would be equivalent to a reduction of the

From Microbits to Everything

entropy of the universe a violation of the second law, a miracle. Now, the fact is that the universe containing information is undeniable (because it is not in thermodynamic equilibrium). If information cant get made, it must have been there at the beginning, as part of the initial input. The conclusion we are led to is that the universe came stacked with information, or negative entropy, from the word go.7 Might purpose be a genuine property of nature right down to the cellular or even subcellular level [and why stop there right to the subsubatomic level!]?8 Let us explore these thoughts further.

The Big Bang Origin: Quasi-equilibrium

To fully understand how evolution has really occurred, let us go all the way back in history, to the inception of the universe: When the universe was one piece and was ripped apart during the Big Bang, the explosion caused microbits (the first and smallest indivisible particles) to fly off in all directions including the microbits criss-crossing each others trajectory, the way the piece was set to break up. As they coalesced and started forming groups, the net spin on a grouping of microbits (which comprise particular particles) were
7. Davies, Paul, (1999), The Fifth Miracle: The Search for the Origin and Meaning of Life, p. 62. 8. Ibid., p. 22. 32

Outlines of a New Mechanism for Evolution

imparted, with different spins depending on the mode of collision and the number of microbits coming together; hence the variety of particles (size difference) and spins (where spin is real rotation in three-space and not a mathematical abstraction), which in turn, down the line, created other particles and molecules with left or right handedness and what can be dubbed quasi-equilibrium, the third type of equilibrium after static and dynamic equilibrium. It is therefore evidenced that quasi-equilibrium has its origin in beginning of the universe, that is, to the Big Bang itself. The Big Bang indeed has had a biological slant. No quasi-equilibrium, no biological evolution, and no-one writing or reading this book! Quasi-equilibrium can be defined as a structure that retains equilibrium, though still on the move; once the motion or the re-organization of elements due to the structures internal motion, or placement of the structure itself, reaches a critical threshold, a new state emerges. One notices this in everyday life, as for example when a book suddenly falls from a shelf after seeming to be in static equilibrium, due to its placement without any real static equilibrium. But how does quasi-equilibrium produce macroevolution? We need to gain a new understanding of information and couple it with quasi-equilibrium to understand how evolution transpires.

A new definition for information

Given that the universe originated from the Big Bang, and as discussed in Volume 1 of this series, microbits emerged from the origin as it was ripped apart, information then, is simply our knowledge in terms of human language

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From Microbits to Everything

of the motion and position of these microbits, at any level, even the biological. The hardware is the software and vice versa, and this hardware and software experiences quasi-equilibrium. Now since everything originated from the Big Bang and everything is comprised of the groupings of the smallest indivisible particle (see From Microbits to Everything, Volume 1), then everything is simply the combination of that particle into various conglomerations that have produced all subatomic particles, atoms, molecules and structures. Genes are made of molecules, and the molecules of atoms, and the atoms of subatomic particles, and it is the motion at the subatomic level that governs the change in the genotype (albeit with recursion). An atom finding itself in a particular environment comprised of other atoms will remain in its place unless it is no longer in equilibrium in that place. In other words, a type of molecular structure X is in a quasi-optimally stable position as it keeps shifting in its spatial domain after each generation within the genome due to inter-particle pressures/forces. In this case, at some level, several such groups of particles (i.e. the said molecular structure) keep shifting general (or average) spatial position/orientation. If these groups of particles, forming part of the genome (i.e. the regulatory or structural genes) are the ones that regulate body plans, their very own shifting structure causes a cascade of changes in other parts of the genome when a treshold is reached. For example, with the discovery of genetic switches which govern body plans, switches would operate differently under the changed genomic configurations, thereby altering aspects of body plans. Although this process is natural and automatic, it is designed and sustained by an incomparable intelligence, and it is such a process that I refer to as motion based programming. It is this internal programming that eliminates the God-of-the-gaps. There is

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Outlines of a New Mechanism for Evolution

no God-of-the-gaps whatsoever, but certainly a God of the beginnings and ends, that is, the beginning and end of the universe. Therefore, in this system the environment and the biological organisms act as a unit, in a coevolutionary fashion, but again, not the way we are usually taught to think about this possibility. Since everything follows pathways that are governed by quasi-equilibrium, it is as if everything is numbered in the universe and has a sequence. If a particular plant is sequenced to develop at a certain time because it is best able to survive at that time, and if a creature develops independently at the same time that is perfectly attuned to the plant, it does not mean that there is some information feedback flowing through the three systems of the climate, plant and animal. It just means that they are sequenced to go on together, that is all. They indeed co-evolve, but not through pressure from each other; they are following pre-planned pathways that are in sync with each other, as planned by a unitary mind that gives the whole process its unity and synchronization or co-evolution. Or when the climate changes, for example, the types of plants change, but not through natural selection. When plants evolve with the environment, then, they have their own inbuilt pathway of change based on motion based programming, a mechanism also responsible for the non-biotic environmental evolving. Therefore, the plants are in sync and adapted to the change; they are in perfect lock-step with the inorganic environment. Those that are not in sync die out. However, this extinction is planned and enables the domination of other plant species. With the type of plants existent, they help create a certain mix in the atmosphere needed and serve as food for other animals down the road (i.e. mammals and their sub-group, the humans etc.); however, these early large and numerous plants will need large animals to keep them in check, in terms of

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From Microbits to Everything

consumption; hence dinosaurs. With large plant eating dinosaurs one needs large carnivorous creatures to keep things in balance, hence the T. Rex etc. Indeed, the Big Bang was given a biological slant from the outset. It is as if someone writes a song and then also writes the music that fits the song perfectly. In this case, the song being life, and the music the astrophysical, geological and atmospheric environment. The music and the song are the composition of an infinitely ingenious correlating composer/songwriter. When things occur in the realm of the Mind, or Imagination of God9, no separation exists between vertical (constant intentional) control and horizontal (cause and effect) control.

The current shift in biological thinking

To recap: The view being proposed in this book is based on the concept that the very particles out of which the universe was originated, lent themselves to movement in such away that their positioning at the micro level must change imperceptibly in each generation of species, culminating in a threshold change that eventually produces new species across the board (not hopeful monsters). This is because at the micro level, the particles are created/exist in a state of quasi-equilibrium. It is as if something was almost balanced but not quite; it creeps and eventually collapses (i.e. experiences sudden change). This would account for the reason why there is stasis for long periods and sudden changes. The features that each creature possesses are optimally functional and purposeful, but there is a change in their purpose for other uses, in the
9. Refer to From Microbits to Everything, Volume 2. 36

Outlines of a New Mechanism for Evolution

course of time. All this also explains why it is that one does not require an exceedingly long genetic code, written at the beginning; rather, it is the changes in the physical structure and alignment at the sub-molecular level that accumulate due to physical forces, which, in turn, create genetic changes, and hence the macro-transformations in the organisms structure. In this way, biological evolution is reduced to physics and there is no natural selection in operation anywhere, or at any time. Indeed, objectively assessed, the theorized natural selection cannot explain macroevolution10. Henry Plotkin is of the view as well, that the dominant force of evolution is the internal physical change in the genetic structure itself, caused somehow by physical forces themselves: Given the complexity of molecular genetic mechanisms, at least some alteration in gene structure comes about not just through the chance occurrence of neutral mutations, but as a result of the structural complexities of the genome, i.e. the entire genetic complement of each individual, itself. there are forces that operate as an intrinsic part of genetic structure that are a source of autogenous change in genetic form. For example, it has long been known that not all genes assort independently during the reducing division that occurs in the formation of sex cells.11

10. 11.

Refer to Michael Denton's book, listed in the bibliography. Plotkin, Henry, (1995), Darwin Machines and the Nature of Knowledge: Concerning

Adaptations, Instinct and the Evolution of Intelligence, p. 41.

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Plotkin elaborates that such linked genes may interact with each other during chromosome breakage and joining a process called cross-over which leads to the frequency of one gene or allele increasing at the expense of another when the DNA strands become physically intertwined with one another. With this process, known as gene conversion, changes in gene frequency occur internally without regard to the external environment of supposed selection (according to Darwinism).12 He concludes that: my money is on the existence of these internal genetic forces. The complexity of molecular genetic mechanisms is such that it seems unlikely that such effects would not exist.13 Some of the internal forces that are coming into focus now are genetic switches: [The] genetic logic relies on genetic switches at two levels. One set of switches belongs to the Hox genes themselves. These switches activate each Hox gene in different zones that will become different modules of the animal. Another set of switches contain signature sequences that are recognized by Hox proteins and that control how other genes are expressed in different modules.14

12. Ibid., p. 41. 13. Ibid., p. 41. 14. Carroll, Sean B., (2005), Endless Forms Most Beautiful The New Science of Evo Devo, p. 126. 38

Outlines of a New Mechanism for Evolution

It is surmisable that the regulatory genes that form a network for commanding the construction of body plans, are subtly (imperceptibly) being repositioned within the chromosomes in each generation which has undergone the surmised evolution. Their repositioning within the chromosome changes the language of interaction because the language of biology is the motion of the structures that comprise bodies (motion based programming). However, this change cannot happen unless the network, or perhaps network of networks changes to a critical level. Switching in the genome is the interplay between the genes and specialized proteins that turn on and off certain genes that cause development. The logic of switches forms part of the language of instruction for development; when the sentences in that logic change, the instructions change. But logic is information and we showed that all information is based on physical positioning in biology. The reason why the network changes is because the chromosomal structures are being changed imperceptibly and generationally by pressure forces during the early reproductive process. And the reason why the chromosomal structures change is because of the nature of the molecules that form the structures are in quasi-equilibrium. They are predisposed by the nature of the building blocks to be in such quasi-equilibrium all the way down to the smallest particle (the microbit). There is a subtle clue in a discovery that shows the possibility of subtle changes, generationally. Recently, it has been hypothesized that upon the division of cells, the telomeres keep getting shorter in each species leading eventually to the extinction of each species or the creation of a new species. Reinhard Stindl states that:

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From Microbits to Everything

The species clock hypothesis predicts critical shortening of telomeres after thousands of years depending on the generation time and the initial telomere length of a species. It is well known that replicationdependent shortening of telomeres beyond a critical threshold induces chromosomal instability. If proliferating cells bypass the Hayflick limit, [where normal somatic cells have a limited proliferative life spanrelated not to elapsed time but to the accumulated number of cell divisions (Shay and Wright, 2000)] short and sticky telomeres can lead to numerical and structural chromosome aberrations by forming telomere associations, fusions and dicentric chromosomes (Artandi et al., 2000, Gisselsson et al., 2001). High mortality in the population induced by chromosomal instability would automatically generate isolated groups; each of them would give rise to a new species.15 Though more research needs to be conducted on the exact nature of the telomeres in various species and their reduction, with this new hypothesis of Stindl, natural selection is not seen as the main source of evolution, but, to the contrary, an internal biological mechanism is seen to play the role of extinction and speciation. The similarity between the intelligent design mechanism (Genomic Network Drift) postulated in this book, and telomere shortening as playing a major role in evolution, is that there is an emphasis on purely internal mechanisms for being the driving force of evolution, in terms of the generational change in the genome due to structural and network changes in its
15. Stindl, Reinhard, (2004), Journal of Experimental Zoology, Is Telomere Erosion a Mechanism of Species Extinction?, p. 116.

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Outlines of a New Mechanism for Evolution

components. The picture which is very slowly emerging, but which fits in very well with the entire framework of the theory for macroevolution being propounded in this book, is that internal changes play a major role via the regulatory genes. Here is another example: In stickleback fish, the pelvic fins vary substantively. It has been discovered that although the Pitx1 gene has the same sequence of the protein coding region in the different stickleback populations, it is the genes expression that is significantly different and that: the population with complete pelvic loss shows no Pitx1 expression in appendages but retains patterns of gene activity in other areas, such as the thymus, olfactory pits and caudal fins This type of localized decrease in the activity of the Pitx1 can result in pelvic-fin reduction without affecting other parts of the body.16 This is because regulatory genes affect the timing and location of gene activation and not the actual product of the gene. Another significant conclusion being made, from this example, is that: Extrapolating these results to other taxonomic groups leads to the conclusion that major morphological change can evolve rapidly through regulatory changes in a small number of genes. In addition, these changes can happen in different populations and species.17

16. Neil H. Shubin and Randall D. Dahn, ( 2004), Nature, Lost and Found, p. 703.

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From Microbits to Everything

All of this discussion of the forces of physics structuring genes, leads to the issue of the nature of randomness versus non-randomness. Lynn Caporale describes further, the nonrandom aspects of genetics: It is becoming clearer and clearer that some classes of nonrandom mutations are very appropriate to the needs of the organism. In this book, I will discuss recent information that supports this new understanding of evolution 18 Caporale believes that in order for the organization to survive, genes are creative in selecting to bind to certain sites that do not cause a disruption in molecular function, than to others, and it is those genes that will create evolution.19 While the notion of natural selection still echoes through her views, she is coming close to the idea of Genomic Network Drift, as described in this book, that is, of genetical quasi-structural equilibrium, where enhancers in the genome are one of the new mechanisms being studied for this role. Enhancers control the expression of the gene by acting as key components of switches that, when they are on, for example, trigger the production of an RNA copy of the gene. The RNA is then read by a
17. 323. 18. Caporale, Lynn Helena, (2003), Darwin in the Genome: Molecular Strategies in Biological Evolution, p.7. 19. Ibid., p. 129. Note that this idea pertains to equilibrium and stability pathways that is the basis of the theory being propounded in From Microbits to Everything, Vol. 3. 42 Ibid. p. 703. See also: Shapiro, Michael D., et al, (2004), Nature, Genetic and

developmental basis of evolutionary pelvic reduction in threespine stickleback, pp. 717-

Outlines of a New Mechanism for Evolution

ribosome, which translates the RNAs configuration as information into an amino acid, which in turn folds into an encoded protein. In addition, the sudden re-organization of the genome, may affect the switches themselves by changing the enhancers in various ways and creating or eliminating physiological structures that benefit the creature in its environment. The new paradigm in evolutionary biology is that of developmental pathways that incorporate existing genes in new ways, as, for example, through enhancer mutation allowing gene recruitment20. But what is gene recruitment? Evolutionary biologist David Wilkins explains that: In contrast to such traditionalist models, the phenomenon of gene recruitment can explain evolutionary increases in the complexity of pathways and networks. The process intrinsically involves the insertion or addition of a new gene to a preexisting pathway, either upstream or downstream .21 According to Wilkins and Alonso, aside from enhancers, various other types of regulators may be responsible for macroevolution22 and hot research is ongoing to see exactly what these regulators are doing. The question, however, that these evolutionary biologists are now posing is: what is the evolutionary relevant mutation? The mechanism explained in this book attempts to answer that question, by re-interpreting the very nature of the

20. Wilkins, David S., (2002), The Evolution of Developmental Pathways, p. 317. 21. Ibid., 310. 22. Alonso, Claudio S., and Wilkins, David S., (2005), Nature Reviews: Genetics, The molecular elements that underlie developmental evolution , Vol. 6, No. 9, pp. 709 715. 43

From Microbits to Everything

word mutation in the context of the issue of organic evolution. As the reader by now would have noted, according to the new model of Genetic Network Drift being proposed, macroevolution does not involve mutation, but automated creative pathways based on quasi-balance. In fact, equilibrium or balance in biological structures can also be viewed in terms of symmetry and asymmetry. The late Nobel Laureate, Maurice Wilkins, who I had the pleasure of informally encountering at a cafeteria at Kings College, University of London, in the early 1980s, and who was very fascinated by the parity found in all levels of nature, dealt with this issue head on. In, fact, when I encountered him at the university, he was remarking about the amazing fact of parity found in nature. In an article, written later on, he concluded that: There is also a combination of symmetry and asymmetry in the static structures of many virus particles and other biological assemblies of protein molecules. As well as helping structures to be stable, symmetry can provide a basis for amplification of biochemical changes. Enzymes .[are] arranged symmetrically in a group. If one of these molecules receives a chemical signal which produces a conformational change in the molecule, the enzyme activity of the molecule can be switched on. As a result the group of molecules becomes asymmetric. The forces between the molecules then cause the other molecules in the group to change their conformation so that symmetry is restored. Thus one chemical signal switches on the activity of all the molecules in the group.23 The quasi-symmetrical state is really the quasi-equilibrium state if we modify

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Wilkins terminology. It is a quasi-symmetrical state that creeps into the asymmetrical state slowly, until is reaches critical asymmetry, thus leading to a cascade that causes changes and hence evolution. After this, a more symmetrical state is achieved (stasis). This, is the real reason for the pattern of: stasis, change (evolution), stasis, change (evolution) etc., and not the theory of punctuated equilibrium. Here we see parity, even in process!

The importance of sync in evolution

The importance of synchronization in nature is highlighted in Steven Strogatz book Sync: How order emerges from Chaos in the Universe, Nature, and Daily Life. This synchronization is integral to the process of quasi-equilibrium and motion based programming. Strogatz describes synchronization in myriad aspects of life such as in the flashing of fireflies, the pace-maker cells of the heart, Einstein-Bose condensate, bridge dynamics, pendulums, traffic jams etc. The common feature in the sequence among all these phenomena is: there is information or motion transfer among the various components of objects being examined, with respect to synchronization; a threshold level is reached; a new order emerges. Strogatz highlights the fact that: Aside from its importance and intrinsic fascination, I believe that sync
23. Hiley, B.J. and Peat, David F., (1987), (Editors), Quantum Implications: Essays in

honour of David Bohm., Complementarity and the union of opposites, Wilkins, M.H.F., pp. 349-350.

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also provides a crucial first step for whats coming next in the study of complex nonlinear systems, where the oscillators are going to be replaced by genes and cells, companies and people.24 Biologist, Brian Goodwin on the new emerging paradigm in biology states that: There are no privileged parts [in nature]; everything undergoes flux, flow and transformation, though it is all organized. And the continuity of the living state from generation to generation, via this organized dynamic, results in a view of evolution as also a field of flow and transformation, subject to both internal and external perturbation.25 This general principle corresponds with the new theory of evolution presented in this book, based on motion based programming, and the concept of quasi-equilibrium (or quasi-symmetry), wherein internal perturbations are the result of a history of internal changes.

24.

Strogatz, Steven, (2003) Sync: How order emerges from Chaos in the Universe, Nature,

and Daily Life, p. 287. 25. Hiley, B.J. and Peat, David F., (1987), (Editors), Quantum Implications: Essays in honour of David Bohm., A science of qualities, Goodwin, B.C., p. 336. 46

Chapter 4 Madam Im Adam

Chapter 4 Madam Im Adam

Thus far, in the microbits series, we have presented a unificatory view of the universe. However, this unification is also between science and religion. Does the Quran actually contain knowledge that agrees with macroevolution, aside from the verses on clay? In Chapter 1, we proved that the human being was created from clay. But what of Adam of the scriptures? We do not know what Adam first said to Eve, but the above palindrome is certainly quite fitting! Nowhere in the Quran does it state literally that Adam was the first man. There are, however, other statements that indirectly lead us to believe this, erroneously, within the Quran, due to the contextual use of the language in the Quran being overlooked. We shall soon discuss this in depth. What we do know is that the angels were told that God is going to create a successor and vicegerent (the two complementary meanings of khalifah), and they seemed to know of certain aspects of the future, in that man would commit bloodshed. In this book, we shall not delve into how they know the future. However, in the context of evolution, when in the Quran, it talks about vicegerent, what God is saying is that He is going to create a species, as well as a single specific person. For example: BMW makes the Mini. It is not one Mini, but a class of cars called a Mini. Later on, God does create an individual called Adam (i.e. a particular Mini with a unique licence plate) who serves as a model for the rest of mankind. However, it must be noted that the word

From Microbits to Everything

viceregent is also applicable to Adam, as an individual.

The Meaning of Creation from a Single Nafs in the Quran

There is a widespread misunderstanding pertaining to the Quranic verse on Adam: He created you from a single consciousness (nafs), then from that He made its mate; and He has provided for you of cattle eight kinds. He created you in the wombs of your mothers, creation after creation, in a three layers of darkness. Such is Allah, your Lord. His is the Sovereignty. There is no God save Him. How then are you turned away ? (39:6) (see also: 4:1; 6:98; 7:189; 39:6). Firstly, the above verse is not a reference to God originally creating humankind from a single body, and from that body, creating its mate. This verse pertains to consciousness (nafs). Continuing with the car analogies to understand this point better: Ford manufactures the Ford Taurus and the Ford Mercury. They look slightly different but the differences are superficial because they are built of the same frame. Let us assume that people begin to say that these two cars are mates. Ford created a car from one frame and from that frame created its mate. This does not mean that the cars were created from the same single frame but the same type of frame. That frame is one and undifferentiated. Also, note that since the Quran is not stating that God created you from a single body, and that from that body created its mate; God

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is talking about consciousness. Similarly the nafs is like a frame which is essentially the activated and life experienced ruh in space and time and all humans, male and female are created from that same frame of the ruh/nafs, that embodies the same framework and has the same origin in the mind of God, as created entities. The maleness and femaleness is created with creation of bodies and all the psychology that goes along with that. (In From Microbits to Everything, Volume 2, we discuss the concept of ruh extensively and describe exactly what it is). In this verse, as in others that use this phraseology, emphasis is being laid on the exact equality of male and female, in terms of their humanity, nothing more. The human male and female have equal potential to develop their spirituality and morality and, being in essence the same, due to the same fabric of the nafs, they are to be accorded the same and/or equivalent rights.

The Meaning of Creation from Dust

Surely the likeness of Isa is with Allah as the likeness of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him, Be, and he was. (3:59) It is not accurate to say that we are created from dust in one step, for we are created through embryological processes, mostly, hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen which are not the prime components of dust. Verse 3:59 therefore implies that our creation from dust is ultimately from gaseous/dust in the sense of stellar/planetary formation, and likewise, so is Adams creation, be it the individual Adam or every one of us generically as Adam.

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That is, we are from those very same planetary dust particles as the ultimate source. In other words, Adam was born embryologically the same way we were and had a mother and father. Jesus was also born through embryological processes and ultimately from the same cosmic source of planetary dust. The details of the early stages of Jesuss embryological creation may have been unusual, but he was not created out of dust in one step! All of us, including Jesus and Adam, were created from dust in the sense that this is the first evolutionary point for the formation of clay. Clay evolves from primal cosmic dust. The absolute origin of dust is stardust from stellar system formation processes from which our solar system formed from the accretion of that ambient dust that formed our rocky planet. No dust, no clay! In fact, in the Quran, it is pointed out that just as we were all not miraculously sprung instantaneously from the earth, likewise were Jesus and Adam not miraculously sprung up from dust.

The dual function of the word Adam in the Quran

And certainly [like Adam] We created you, then We fashioned you, then (or moreover) We said to the angels: Make obeisance to Adam. So they did obeisance except Iblis; he was not of those who did obeisance. (7:11) The word Adam, which means ground from Adamah in Hebrew, is both used as meaning humanity, or the human, as well as the name of a specific person in the Quran. The word is used contextually, much like the word samaa

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(in the Quran) which means that which is above, and can mean the whole universe, or the sky etc., depending on the context. Verse 7:11, discussed above, specifically proves that this word has a dual function, in that you, that is the reader, are Adam, where Adam is used generically to represent Man. In other verses, it speaks of Adam as the first person on earth we know of, (through the Quran) with whom God had direct instructional communication. Now based on this inference, if someone was named Adam, he could not have existed before the origin of the Semitic language. This puts the date of the emergence of the individual Adam around 10,000 years ago in the Middle East/North-East African area. Obviously, Adam was not the first man, at that time, and nowhere in the Quran does it state that Adam was the first human. Ibliss (Satans) refusal to bow down to Adam is symbolic of his refusal to bow down to creatures made from clay (or originated in clay as we have shown) and, in effect, he has refused to bow to us as humans, even though ordered by God to do so, and this is another important meaning of 7:11. His rebelliousness continues and will last till doomsday. The verse should be read, in terms of understanding, as follows: And certainly [like Adam] We created you, then We fashioned you, then (or moreover) We said to the angels: Make prostration to Man. So they did prostrate except Iblis; he was not of those who did prostrate. (7:11).
A

Why is it NOT stated in the Quran that: And certainly [like Adam] We created Adam (the historical person),

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then We fashioned him, then (or moreover) We said to the angels: Make prostration to him. So they did prostrate except Iblis; he was not of those who did prostrate. (7:11).
B

The reason for this is because more information is given out in a condensed form, the way the Quran has been structured in A above. Here is how the dual function of the word Adam is utilized in that structure and in the Quran, in general: 1. Iblis, in 7:11 was not told to bow just to Adam, the individual who appeared thousands of years ago, but to the species of homo sapiens, denoted by the word Adam in verse 7:11, by the pre-juxtaposition of the word you. 2. The universal usage of the word Adam, as representing Mankind, also represents a particularization, that is, the individual Adam in the story of the garden of Eden on earth, where the word you is not used, and only Adam has been used. This is the true and non-mythological story is recounted which has a profound message for moral behaviour for all times, as it occurs to two individuals: Adam and his wife.

Conclusion
In the Quran, it is indeed stated that all present day humanity is one species, and that we, indeed, all emerged from a line of hominids (the exact details are yet to be determined; refer to Milford Wolpoffs book in the Bibliography)

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tracing evolution all the way back to clay, billions of years ago. This is denoted specifically in the Quran, by the statements which include the description of mankind as children of Adam (see Quran: 7:26; 7:27; 7:31; 7:35; 7:172; 17:70; 36:60), where the word Adam, represents humankind or Man, in this context, given the dual usage of the word Adam as shown in the previous section. Here we must remember that the word Adam is being used generically, much like the expression Son of Man. The various microevolutionary colours, features etc. then have been pre-programmed to be adapted to various environments. The larger neuro-cognitive changes happened through the evolutionary laws that we discussed in Chapter 3. It was not as if God intervened to create a special brain or physiology. God has not chosen the method of tinkering to create changes, as also shown in Chapter 3. With this new development of the human frame, the human being was able to use consciousness (which is already the pre-existent property of objectless space as discussed in the Microbits series, Volume 2) in a deeper and wider way than ever before. Our consciousness was not blown into an inanimate body suddenly, but arose as the complexity of the neuronal system evolved in such a way that it was able to access objectless space (see Volume 2) in a more remarkable way than other creatures.

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Chapter 5 Status of the New Concept

Chapter 5 Status of the New Concept

The Quran, in passage 6:2, which has been discussed in great detail, in Chapter 1, points to the evolution of all living forms leading to man. God did not suddenly create Adam out of clay. Adam was programmed to arise after billions of years of evolution, where programming has been described in detail in Chapter 3. My view is that verse 6:2 is similar to the one that states unequivocally that the universe is teeming with life; this is verse 42.29, where it is stated that: And one of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and what He has spread forth in both of them of carbon-based corporal creatures; and when He pleases, He is all-powerful to gather them together. In 42:29, the verse deals with respect to extraterrestrial life. Here, we have a situation in which the Quran clearly states some phenomenon, but we have not, as of yet, encountered extraterrestrial carbon-based life. On the other hand, the verse on the Big Bang (21:30) has a different status because we have concrete and ever-mounting evidences for the Big Bang. I am convinced that verse 6: 2 will eventually have the same status as 21:30, in terms of the status of knowledge in nature and in purported revelation. Once the mechanism is further understood, along the basic lines of the mechanism outlined by Genomic Network Drift, then the status of the verse will become that of verse 21:30. It is to be noted that about 1,000 years ago, Al-Jahiz26 is the first person known, so far, to have postulated macroevolution, in writing, albeit

From Microbits to Everything

created by God; it was the Quran that initiated his and his contemporaries thoughts about macroevolution. Indeed, we have now come full circle on this vast subject and there is confirmation in the Quran on the reality of macroevolution through verse 6:2. As far as microevolution goes, there is enough genetic variability and flexibility to allow for minor body changes, as for example the shape of a birds beak, which is sequenced to the change in habitat, through similar principles as macroevolution, but at a lower rung in the network of the Genetic Network Drift mechanism. The view of the mechanism of evolution then, being posited in this book, coincides, in principle, with the record of the fossils and also with new discoveries being made in genetics. Consequentially, the view of evolution being presented here, though unique, has elements of the two camps of nondivine evolution, with proponents such as Richard Dawkins, and creationism as espoused by the Intelligent Design group such as Michael Behe and others. Michael Behe, highlights that there is an irreducible complexity of myriad structures in nature. Behe uses the example of a mousetrap. All the components in a mousetrap have to be present and work in a co-operative fashion for the trap to work at all. Similarly, countless
26. Al-Jahiz, Kitab al-Hayawan, (1909), edition. This was published in seven volumes

in Cairo, Vol. 4, p. 23. See also Bayrakdar, M. (1983) The Islamic Quarterly, Al-Jahiz and the Rise of Biological Evolutionism, p. 152. As M. Bayrakdar observes, al-Damiri noted many of Al-Jahizs statements from Al-Jahizs Kitab al-Hayawan (Book of Animals). AlDamiris and many other Muslim scientists book were translated into Latin by Abraham Echellensis (d. Italy 1664) published under the title De Proprietatibus et Virtutibus Mecdicis Animalium in Paris, 1617. This explains why the first evolutionists were from France as Muslim evolutionary ideas penetrated that region of Europe first.

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structures in biology are similarly interrelated in terms of the components of which they are comprised. Behe does not see how intermediate forms could have arisen because the particular biological structure then would be incomplete and non-functional. Those who oppose Behe et al, and are against any teleological arguments, claim that one can have intermediate structures that can be usefully employed in nature that are evolving towards the so-called irreducibly complex structure, and that hence claim that Behes arguments have no validity. In particular, they propound that evolutionary development theory can account for the evolution of such structures, and, as a result, Behes arguments and case are invalid. The anti-Behe group states that many of the processes have redundancy. This redundancy may act as scaffolding to produce other remarkably complex and functional biochemical/biological structures. The main point to observe in all this counter-argument against Behe is that any explanation used to counter the intelligent design argument is still a process that has to be explained. For example, redundancy has both a useful function and is also a process. However, instead of a God-of-the-gaps explanation, we need a seamless explanation that explains the process through laws. Behe rightly criticizes the Evo-Devo camp of Sean Carroll, where he highlights the fact that Hox genes, enhancers etc. cannot work in conjunction with Darwinian natural selection (through random mutation) to produce major beneficial changes27. The view of evolution by intention, due to an Intelligence behind evolution, as described in this book, From Microbits to Everything, Volume 3, holds that there is a Design and hence a designer of

27. Behe, Michael, (2007), The Edge of Evolution: the Search for the Limits of Darwinism, pp. 183-203. 61

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evolution; in other words, evolution has indeed occurred, but the pathways of biology have been pre-programmed to produce the irreducibly complex structure through motion based programming or structuring along pathways through Genomic Network Drift (GND). It is indeed as if an invisible hand created the mousetrap; it is indeed as if everything knew where to go. Everything knew where to go because of the concept of Motion Based Programming (MBP). The principles of Genomic Network Drift and Motion Based Programming are also the basis of non-biological evolution, for one cannot split things ultimately into the biological and the environmental, in this unitary system, as has been stressed. The view of macroevolution based on GND, also coincides with the Quranic outlook, in which it is described that the basis of the universe is the balance of its components. It coincides with the view of the more open members of the Intelligent Design group that there must exist a Creator and Designer of the Universe. However, it does not agree with the God-of-theGaps scenario, where God has to keep tinkering with the universe to change things, or that some genetic instructions are latent in the past and are turned on at particular periods to produce evolution. The plan of God was inbuilt when He created the Big Bang in that the particles themselves had the nature to form dynamic pathways that led to biological evolution. Consequentially, from the mounting evidence in nature, and the analysis of the Quran presented in this book, biological macroevolution has occurred, but not of the non-divine type, that is, biological evolution is not based on chance and randomness, but order and non-randomness. With this clear evidence from the Quran, and accumulating evidence from nature itself, it is time, once and for all, to end the false dichotomy of the

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separation between creation and evolution: Creation and evolution are not two incompatible processes but are intertwined as one unit and cannot exist without each other, given that this is the mode by which God has chosen to structure the universe by divine fiat. This was well concluded by Alfred Russel Wallace, the independent co-formulator of the theory of evolution by natural selection, who explicitly acknowledged an intelligence that has been responsible for the evolution of all life. His last book was called: The World of Life: A Manifestation of Creative Power, Directive Mind and Ultimate Purpose, published in 1911, in which he states28: the infinite Deity not only designed the whole of the cosmos, but ... He Himself alone is the consciously acting power in every cell of every living thing that is or ever has been upon the earth. Darwinian Natural Selection is a failure, but the evo-devo (e.g. genetic switches) revolution, for instance, is showing us that control and development is possible. A total solution has eluded all the current philosophers and scientists, since they are not aware of the way intelligence, independent of our conceptions of space and time, must be conceptually fused together with the motion of particles for a complete explanation. Indeed, most new explanations, which posit some type of internal mechanism for evolution, beg the question of the ultimate cause of that mechanism. A process cannot cause itself, but if it was caused by another process, infinite regresses of one type or another would have existed, which shows that the
28. pp. 394-395.

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cause of the change, an infinite regress away, could not have reached us (see the STOPAnalysis, in Volume 2 of the Microbit series). This, in turn, leads to a definite origin of the process at a specific time in the past (the Big-Bang), for if the process cannot cause itself, it must be caused by a non-particled process that which is not matter but mind, that is, a non-anthropomorphic Power, or God. All this is spelled out in Volume 2 of the Microbits series in great detail and steps.29 If there is a mind that has created the process, then it is easy to see that the universe follows a trajectory based on laws that govern biological change, in this case: change from one species to another, ultimately governed by the property of the building blocks of everything: the microbit. We have attempted to show how this microbitic trajectory works using the concepts of motion based programming, critical mass through genomic network drift and quasi-equilibrium, for it is the ever-important concept of equilibrium that produces stability or direction based on if/then logic, albeit the logic of motion, shapes and structures. Such a system of development applies across the board and includes the evolution of man too. It is interesting to note that for galactical and geological evolution, the concept of stasis, critical mass and sudden change appears to be the rule, as for example, in the creation of rotating gas/disks which form the solar and stellar systems. It is only inductive common sense that informs us that this too should be the general process of biological evolution. This exposition then, has been an attempt to show the framework for a new paradigm to explain the origin and development life. If there is no Intention, there is no direction and if there is no direction, there is no

29. Haque, Nadeem and Muslim, M., (2007), From Microbits to Everything: Universe of the Imaginator, Volume 2: The Philosophical Implications. 64

Status of the New Concept

evolution. There has to be an Intelligence that creates life and consciousness; and this creative evolution gives us greater opportunity to reflect on such an Intelligences existence and attributes, unsurpassable ingeniousness, and on further exploration to ascertain that Intelligences intention for creating the cosmos. This view of evolution shows us that the creation of the humanbeing is goal directed and that there is a destiny and purpose to creation; everything in nature is goal directed; it is controlled and designed by God, right from the inception of the universe, through laws based on the motion of subatomic particles, where the microbits form the base. Furthermore, all human beings originate from one pair, and were scattered, forming various tribes and nations. We are, therefore, essentially all related and are indeed one family. Hence, even from this angle, racism, that plagues humanity so much to this very day, is the height of absurdity and insanity. All members of the family must be cared for, and dealt with justly. What is important is the proper fostering of that consciousness which has arisen in us miraculously through the laws described in Volume 2. Indeed, the main point is that our consciousness must recognize the higher Consciousness and thus evolve morally. Part of that moral imperative can be gained from the concept of equilibrium, in both the evolution of the universe, and in human relations as is encapsulated in the Quran: And He [God] has raised the universe with a balance so that you may not transgress it. Therefore, weigh things with equity and do not for fall short of the balance. (55:7) The starting point for that type of evolution is the acknowledgment that

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a totally non-anthropomorphic and incomparable God has always been knocking on our door, but most of humanity has adamantly remained oblivious to the perennial thudding, attributing it to something else, if even they hear the sound. However, through absolutely objective-cum-logical thinking, empirical facts, the Quran, and the consistent remnants of some other scriptures, we are unequivocally reminded as to who is doing the knocking. Will we open the door? Will we welcome God, the nonanthropomorphic God described in Volume 2 of this series, into our lives and embrace Him? Do we have the AWE? That is the ultimate question we must evolve to!

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Bibliography
Alonso, Claudio S., and Wilkins, David S., (2005), Nature Reviews: Genetics, The molecular elements that underlie developmental evolution , Vol. 6, No. 9. Asad, Muhammad, (1980), The Message of The Quran, Dar Al-Andalus, Gibraltar. Behe, Michael, (2007), The Edge of Evolution: The Search for the Limits of Darwinism, Free Press, New York.

Bucaille, Maurice, (1983), What is the Origin of Man? The Answers of Science and the Holy Scriptures. Seghers, Paris.

Cairns-Smith, A.G., (1985), Seven clues to the Origin of Life, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Caporale, Lynn Helena, (2003), Darwin in the Genome : Molecular Strategies in Biological Evolution, McGraw-Hill. Carroll, Sean B., (2005), Endless Forms Most Beautiful The New Science of Evo Devo, W.W. Norton and Company, New York/London. Davies, Paul, (1999), The Fifth Miracle: The Search for the Origin and Meaning of

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Life, Simon and Schuster, New York. Hiley, B.J., and Peat, F. David, (Editors), (1987), Implications: Essays in honour of David Bohm, Routledge, London and New York. Plotkin, Henry, (1995), Darwin Machines and the Nature of Knowledge: Concerning Adaptations, Instinct and the Evolution of Intelligence, Penguin Books, London. Prum, Richard O and Alan H. Brush, (2003), Scientific American, Which Came First, the Feather or the Bird?, March, Volume 288, Number 3. Shapiro, Michael D.; Marks, Melissa E.; Peichel, Catherine L.; Blackman; Benjamin K.; Nereng, Kisten K.; Jonsson, Bjarn; Schluter, Dolph; Kingsley, David M., Nature, (15 April 2004), Genetic and developmental basis of evolutionary pelvic reduction in threespine stickleback, Vol. 428. Shubin, Neil H., and Dahn, Randall D., (15 April 2004), Nature , Lost and Found, vol. 428. Stindl, Reinhard, (2004), Journal of Experimental Zoology (Mol. Dev. Evol.), Is Telomere Erosion a Mechanism of Species Extinction?, 302B, pp. 111-120. Strogatz, Steven, (2003) Sync: How order emerges from Chaos in the Universe, Nature, and Daily Life, Hyperion, New York. Wallace, A.R., (1911), The World of Life: A Manifestation of Creative Power,

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Directive Mind and Ultimate Purpose, Chapman and Hall, London. Wilkins, David S., (2002), The Evolution of Developmental Pathways, Sinauer Associates Inc., Massachusetts. Wolpoff, Milford H. and Caspari, Rachel, (1997), Race and Human Evolution, Simon and Schuster, New York. Zimmer, Carl, (June 2004), Discover, How did life on earth begin?, Volume 25, Number 6.

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Index
A Adam 49-55 Al-Jahiz 59-60 Alonso, Claudio S., 43, 67 Asad, Muhammad 14, 15, 67 B Bayrakdar, M. 60 Behe, Michael 60-61, 67 big bang 17, 31-34, 36, 59, 62 Bucaille, Maurice 12, 67 C Caporale, Lynn 42, 67 carbon-based life 11, 17-18, 25, 59 Carroll, Sean 38, 61, 6 chromosomes 39, 40 Creationism 16, 60 D dabbah 18 Darwinian 61, 63 Davies, Paul 31-32 DNA 9, 14, 16-17, 23, 38 dust 26, 51-52 E Einstein-Bose condensate 45 equilibrium 32-34, 36, 37, 39, 42, 44, 45, 65 evo-devo (revolution) 61, 63 extraterrestrial life 59 F feedback 35

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Ferris, James P. 23-25 G genome 34, 37, 39, 40, 42, 67 Genomic Network Drift 40, 59, 62, 64 genotype 34 God 9-18, 25, 34, 36, 49-51, 53, 55, 59-66 God-of-the-gaps 34. 61, 62 Goodwin, Brian 46 H Hayflick limit 40 hominids, 9, 16, 54 Hox genes 38, 61 I Intelligent Design 40, 60, 61-62 internal mechanism 40, 63 irreducible complexity 33 K khalifah 49 L language 33, 39, 49, 53 M macroevolution 9, 31-33, 37, 41, 43, 44, 49, 59-60, 62 microbits 32, 33-34, 36, 42, 49, 51, 55, 61, 64, 65 Miyakawa, Shin 23-24 molecules 23-27, 33-34, 39, 44 morphological change 41 motion based programming 34, 35, 39, 45-46, 62, 64 mud 26, 27 N nafs 50-51 Natural Selection 35, 37, 40, 42, 61, 63
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P pathways 35, 42-44, 62, 69 period(s) 13, 15-17, 36, 62 plants 16, 35 Plotkin, Henry 37-38 pressure forces 39 Q quasi-equilibrium 32-34, 36, 39, 44-46, 64 quasi-symmetrical 44 R regulatory (or structural) genes 34, 38, 41 resurrection 14-15 RNA 9, 14, 17, 23-26, 42 Russel, Alfred 63 S Shubin, Neil H. 41, 68 Stindl, Reinhard 39, 40, 68 STOPAnalysis 64 Strogatz, Steven 45-46, 68 subatomic particles 31, 34, 65 sync 35, 45, 66, 68 T threshold 33, 36, 40, 45 thumma 13 V vicegerent 49 W water 17, 18, 25-26 Wilkins, David S. 43, 67, 69 Wilkins, Maurice H.F. 44-45

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Y yaum 16

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