Month: December 2020

HISTORY OF CREATION

koneliblogLeave a comment

Introduction

Sometimes I imagine myself, ascending above into the space, then beyond the solar system, and then beyond the Milky Way, and then out of the space and time and I imagine the whole existence in front of me. What is it exactly? Where did it come from? Without the infinitesimally small planet and the life on it, the rest is all dark, dull, and meaningless.

 The story of humanity in the universe is a twofold story within each other. First, we need to answer the question, as a human being, what are we or who are we? The second question is what is the essence of the existence? The second question only makes sense with the first one because the whole existence including all the galaxies and the earth only make sense with the existence of human consciousness. The whole existence indeed exists in our consciousness. Without human consciousness, the existence of the universe or its non-existence would have been equal. What meaning a most exquisite gem would have if nobody has seen it? Or the most beautiful song if nobody has ever heard of it. Therefore, the history of universe only relies upon the essence of human consciousness. That is why Turkish poet Mehmet Akif says in his poem, “Human, your essence is even superior to angles, in you the worlds are hidden the heavens are convoluted.” [1] And Said Nursi says “Just as man is a small world, the microcosm, so is the world a large human being, the macro anthropos. Small man is an index and summary of the macro anthropos.”[2]

Where did we come from? Why did we come for? Where are we going? Indeed, these three existential questions comprise the purpose of our lives as well as the purpose of the whole universe in them. Trying to answer these questions without a Creator is self-contradictory, just like the existence of the whole universe. If there is existence, then there must be something that made it exist in the first place. We can only think within the parameters of our reason and logic and based upon our experience, our reason dictates two fundamental rules; i- every action has a cause and ii- nothing can exist from void and nothing disappears from existence. Therefore, in the most simplistic fashion, if there is existence, then there must be a Creator.

A Brief Story of the Universe

Story of man starts with the story of universe. It is almost a certainty today that the universe started almost 14 billion years ago with a huge explosion that is called Big Bang.

“In one of the most famous classic papers in the annals of science, Edwin Hubble’s 1929 PNAS article on the observed relation between distance and recession velocity of galaxies—the Hubble Law—unveiled the expanding universe and forever changed our understanding of the cosmos.  Extrapolating this cosmic expansion backwards in time using the known laws of physics, the theory describes a high density state preceded by a singularity in which space and time lose meaning. There is no evidence of any phenomena prior to the singularity.”[3]

So, the story of humanity actually started 13.8 billion years ago when also the time we are bound to live in started with this explosion. Science cannot go any further in time. The theory assumes that all the energy and matter in the universe was contained in that initial singularity with infinite mass and gravitational force, and with zero dimensions and no volume. Where this initial singularity, the seed of all existence, came from is beyond our comprehension. After the initial explosion, the energy scattered around in the form of light started to cool down in the expanding space and intensified into subatomic particles and which eventually resulted in formation of atoms and then formation of the initial stars around 13.4 billion years ago.[4]

In the history of humanity, this initial explosion, Big Bang is given little emphasis because it cannot be explained by chance at all. The fundamental laws of the physics were set in such a fashion that it would result in formation of a stable space and time and galaxies and planets such as earth where all the conditions would be perfect match for supporting life on it. There are four fundamental laws in the universe that governs all the existence as we know it. Those are gravitational force, electromagnetic force, weak nuclear force, and strong nuclear force. Science can explain how these laws work in nature; however, it cannot explain why and by whom the rules of the game were made this way in the first place.

The formation of our galaxy and the earth took place much later, almost 9.3 billion years after the Big Bang. “When the solar system settled into its current layout about 4.5 billion years ago, Earth formed when gravity pulled swirling gas and dust in to become the third planet from the Sun.”[5] If we put it into stages,

  1. the first stage would be the Big Bang and its aftermath until the formation of earth
  2. the second stage is the formation of the earth,
  3. the third stage would be the appearance of life on the earth, and
  4. final stage would be the appearance of humans as we know them today.

Another important aspect of history is time is relative.

“Albert Einstein, in his theory of special relativity, determined that the laws of physics are the same for all non-accelerating observers, and he showed that the speed of light within a vacuum is the same no matter the speed at which an observer travels. As a result, he found that space and time were interwoven into a single continuum known as space-time. Events that occur at the same time for one observer could occur at different times for another.”[6]

That means when objects move at higher speeds that is close to the speed of light, time slows down. And gravity causes space and time to bend. Therefore, the time intervals for these four stages are only relevant according to the time on the earth. At another corner in the universe, it might correspond to a much shorter or longer time frame. For instance, “To a distant observer, clocks near a black hole would appear to tick more slowly than those further away from the black hole. Due to this effect, known as gravitational time dilation, an object falling into a black hole appears to slow as it approaches the event horizon, taking an infinite time to reach it.”[7]

When we pay attention to nuclear physics, we understand that everything that we thought to be absolutely real and certain are not that certain. As cosmology shows both time and space are relative concepts, nuclear physics also tell us that the most certain thing that we can rely upon, “matter,” also loses its certainty if we go deeper. Matter as we know it, consists of atoms, and atoms consist of subatomic particles such as protons, neutrons, and electrons. These subatomic particles are made of other subatomic particles called quarks. Although they have never been observed, their existence is theoretically proven. However, quarks’ essence is a little bit complicated. “In quantum terms, the strong nuclear force is carried by a field of virtual particles called gluons, randomly popping into existence and disappearing again. -That means- matter is built on flaky foundations. Physicists have now confirmed that the apparently substantial stuff is actually no more than fluctuations in the quantum vacuum.”[8] The matter does not have an absolute, concrete building block, it is merely energy appearing in a different form.

A wise man once said ignorance is bliss. Once we start to think about these issues, empirical science loses its relevance, and we step into the field of philosophy and religion. As human beings, we must understand that our intelligence and senses are limited. We can only sense and think within the parameters of our consciousness. Our intellects cannot comprehend too small, too large, too short, or too long. I believe, the most significant defect of the modern science is that it lacks humility and arrogantly claims that it can explain anything.

A Brief History of Life on the Earth and the Theory of Evolution

It is believed that the earliest life forms on the earth appeared 3.8 billion years ago which is not long after the formation of the earth 4.5 billion years ago. “The earliest known life forms on earth are putative fossilized microorganisms found in hydrothermal vent precipitates. The earliest direct evidence of life on Earth are microfossils of microorganisms permineralized in 3.465-billion-year old Australian Apex chert rocks.”[9] Again, little emphasis is given to how life started out of lifeless matter in the first place just like the beginning of universe. “The fact is, we don’t really know exactly how life arose from inorganic matter all those billions of years ago.” [10] The only life we know of today can only originate from parent organism or organisms through reproduction. In spite of all the advancement in science, we do not have capacity to start life in laboratory.

So, how lifeless molecules were aligned in such a way that they become alive and start to replicate themselves. Although there are several theories about how life started on the earth,[11] such as ‘it started with an electric spark,’ or ‘molecules of life met on the clay,’ none of them are credible enough to be widely accepted in the academia. They are just speculations based upon unsupported assumptions. I think the most credible one is ‘life was brought to earth from elsewhere in the space.’ Again, it seems like it is impossible to explain the origin of life without a Creator.

The Theory of Evolution that aims to explain how life forms were diversified through natural selection was first introduced by Darwin, in his book ‘On the Origin of Species’ in 1859. “The theory of evolution, both currently and as first conceived by Darwin and Wallace, neither provides, nor requires, an explanation for the origin of life. As Gould (1987) noted over two decades ago, Evolution, in fact, is not the study of origins at all. Evolution studies the pathways and mechanisms of organic change following the origin of life.”[12] Darwin’s theory was formulated before the discovery of genetic material in 1940’s. In fact, the Theory of Evolution was supposed to be discarded after it was discovered that genetic information was caried to offspring through DNA and physical changes throughout the lifespan of organisms do not change genetic code, yet by then, the theory had become a well-established dogma in the academic circles.

After the discovery of DNA, Theory of Evolution through natural selection evolved to Theory of Evolution through natural selection and mutation. According to modern Darwinism “As random mutations occur, natural selection decides which mutations will live on and which ones will die out. If the mutation is harmful, the mutated organism has a much-decreased chance of surviving and reproducing. If the mutation is beneficial, the mutated organism survives to reproduce, and the mutation gets passed on to its offspring.”[13] Natural selection is a well proven mechanism that explains the variation within species, yet there is no empirical or fossil proof that random mutations can be beneficial and cause a jump from one species to another species. The theory today is much different than its original form as Darwin stated it. As it can be understood from its popular term, Darwinism, it became an ideology or rather a belief. It is far from being a scientific theory because it can neither be proven or falsified like other scientific theories.

“The fossil record shows many primate human-like species from as early as 4 million years ago, where they were bipedal, i.e. capable of walking on two feet. Eventually, these fossils begin to look more and more like the Homo sapiens, the anatomically modern human.”[14] Compared to 3.8 billion years when first signs of life were discovered on the earth, humanoids appeared much later. However, the first human-like creatures, humanoids (Homo Habilus) appeared on the earth 2.4 million years ago. And the actual humanoids that are believed to be the ancestors of humans, Homo Sapiens appeared almost 200,000 years ago. “At Herto, in Ethiopia’s Great Rift Valley, researchers dated Homo Sapiens skulls to about 160,000 years ago; farther south at Omo Kibish, two skullcaps are dated to about 195,000 years ago, making them the oldest widely accepted members of our species, until now.”[15]  

We really do not know how human they were other then they could make and use stone tools, they buried their dead and at some point started to draw on the walls of caves. The earliest cave drawings that were discovered in Spain, Altamira, in 1868 date back 36,000 years ago.[16] The popular story again claims, “At some point, but the time is much debated, humans learned to speak to one another.”[17] Again, at some point, it is assumed that humans or humanoids learned how to use fire and cook their food which allowed their bodies to take better advantage of the proteins and eventually helped their cognitive growth. These are all speculations just like the theories of origins of life with little or no evidence.

However, the actual human civilization started quite recently compared to the time passed since Big Bang.

“Evidence for agriculture begins roughly 12,000 years ago where evidence for it has been found in the Zagros mountains in Iran. Moreover, domesticated agriculture and community settlements appear together in the fossil record, marking what is known as the Neolithic revolution by some evolutionists. This time period is when mankind flourished according to evolutionary biologists. It is a period marked with the appearance of agriculture, human settlements, and a mysterious leap in technology alluding to the advancement of the human intellect.”[18]

There is a significant difference between the Homo Sapiens that lived prior to Neolithic revolution and after it. Another significant feature of the Neolithic Revolution is it almost started at the same time, in different corners of the world. Therefore, we can assume humans as we know them today with intellect similar to ours, language ability, religion, and other socio-cultural aspects appeared on the earth 12,000 years ago. The reasons for Neolithic Revolution is much debated and although “there are several competing (but not mutually exclusive) theories as to the factors that drove populations to take up agriculture,”[19] any of them are not credible enough to be widely-accepted.

Islam vs Theory of Evolution and Popular History of Humans

If we apply Darwinism to computer technology, the story would be like this: Computers’ basic building block is transistor. All electronic devices are composed of transistors at different levels of complexity. All smartphones or laptops today are advanced models of the first computer, ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) that was invented in the 1940s; just like all the living organisms share the same building blocks, amino acids and the human body and brain is the most advanced form of the basic one-celled living organism. As a rational person, on the physical anatomic sense, I have no problem with accepting that humans are the most advanced model of all living creatures on the earth, apes in particular, yet the problem is, has this advancement happened by coincidence through arbitrary mutations in genetics and natural selection or did it happen by the making of an Almighty Creator? There is no proof or fossil remains of transitional forms that would support the presumption that all these advancements happened by blind chance.

We can count hundreds of different reasons why Darwin’s Theory of Evolution does not make sense. Just a few of them are:

  1. Something impossible does not become possible in time. For example, if you toss a coin once, the chances of head and tail are fifty-fifty. Toss it twice, the chance of two tails in a row is 25%. If we toss it three times, the chance of three heads in a row is 12.5%. As we increase the number of throws, the chance of heads in a row will diminish and will approach 0. Throwing billions of coins and repeating the experiment for billions of years will not make it possible that it will be 50 heads in a row.
  2. The evolution of two separate sexes and them continuing to evolve in compatible fashions to each other down the road makes the chances twice impossible. If evolution took place by chance without a Designer, it would make sense that living organisms would reproduce asexually which is way easier than sexual reproduction.
  3. One of the most complex chemical processes in the universe is photosynthesis, capturing the energy from sunlight and storing it in the sugar molecules. Its evolution must have taken place very early in the evolutionary process yet there is no clue how and when this happened. With the most advanced technology today, that is maybe two thousand years of scientific accumulation of humanity, we cannot make artificial photosynthesis in the lab today. Assuming this most complex chemical reaction started to take place in one-celled organisms by chance is just an absurd claim which is impossible to believe and impossible to prove.
  4. In every minuscule corner of the evolutionary process, there is the seal of consciousness. Attributing this consciousness to an obscure theory such as “Evolution” and keep talking like ‘evolution required this, evolution required that’ does not make this highest consciousness disappear.
  5. An organism does not feel a need for something that is unknown to it. For example, if we were all blind, we would not know what seeing was and we would never feel a need for it. If we were all deaf, we would never feel an urge to hear. So how did our senses come to being in the first place? Assuming our senses and sense organs come to being as a result of blind chance is something impossible to believe in and there is no fossil proof for it.  
  6. I see the Theory of Evolution as attributing God’s decree to blind laws of nature.

These are just a few reasons why evolution through arbitrary mutations does not stand the test of reason in the anatomic sense, yet my biggest objection to the theory is that it does not and cannot explain human consciousness. Everything in the universe means something with human consciousness, the universe exists within human consciousness and it is impossible to explain consciousness as a set of chemical reactions and electric currents in the midst of protein soup called the human brain. There is a famous book called “Mind and Cosmos” by Thomas Nagel that addresses this issue.

As somebody who has read and thought about evolution quite a bit, it is impossible for me to believe in blind evolution. If evolution is presented as the introduction of different and more advanced life forms in stages by the Creator, I can accept evolution, otherwise, it is just an alternative dogmatic belief system that creates a suspicion that God might not exist. I think trying to explain the humans’ evolution without the origin of the universe and life is quite hypocritical of modern science to avoid any possible discussion of a Creator at all.

So, what does Islam say about the creation of the universe, the creation of life, and the creation of humans? David Solomon Jalajel did a great job in compiling all the ayahs and hadiths about the Theory of Evolution in his book Islam and Biological Evolution. Also, Fatemah Meghji’s papers “Becoming Bani Adam- A Discussion on Humanity’s Evolutionary Ancestry I & II” explain humans’ evolution on the earth in reference to Islamic point of view. The Quran has hundreds of verses regarding to these three subjects. I will list just a few of them to show that Quran’s explanation is quite reasonable and does not contradict with the proven scientific facts.

  1. “Originator of the heavens and the earth. When He decrees a matter, He only says to it, “Be,” and it is.” (Quran 2:117). This verse and several others including the phrase ‘kun fa yakun,’ be and it is, clearly shows that existence was created at once as in Big Bang without a cause and neither the universe nor the time are permanently existing.
  2. “And the heaven We constructed with strength, and indeed, We are [its] expander” (Quran 51:47). This verse corresponds to the expanding universe without a doubt.
  3. “And We have certainly honored the children of Adam and carried them on the land and sea and provided for them of the good things and preferred them over much of what We have created, with [definite] preference” (Quran 17:70). This ayah points out Children of Adam or existing Homo Sapiens were not the only creatures God has created. ‘We preferred them over others’ points out to the extinction of other humanoids. ‘… carried them on the land and sea’ emphasizes the appearance human civilizations in the different parts of the world in a vey short time frame during the Neolithic Revolution. ‘… provided them of good things’ can be read the blessings of agriculture and animal domestication that suddenly took place with the creation of Bani Adam.
  4. “And [mention, O Muḥammad], when your Lord said to the angels, ‘Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority.’ They said, “Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood, while we exalt You with praise and declare Your perfection?” He [Allah] said, ‘Indeed, I know that which you do not know’” (Quran 2:30). This verse is quite interesting and has many layers of meaning like all other verses of the Quran. First, it tells us that when Adam was created, the earth and other creatures already existed and angels were quite familiar with them.  The angels’ critical question ‘Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood’ clearly shows that they were familiar with human-like creatures, humanoids who shed blood and caused corruption. It cannot refer to animals because shedding blood and causing corruption are moral terms and there is no morality for animals. We cannot blame a lion for killing and eating its prey as shedding blood. God’s statement ‘I will make upon the earth a successive authority’ and angles statement ‘while we exalt You with praise and declare Your perfection’ refers to the fact that this new updated version of humanoids or Homo Sapiens in particular, will worship their Creator. We know that the first temple on the earth, “Göbekli Tepe was founded about 11,500 years ago. It is arguably the world’s oldest known temple.”[20] The sources generally consider burial practice that goes back almost 100,000 as the first sign of religion on the earth, yet considering several other animal species also have funerals and bury their dead, it cannot be sign of belief for life after death or worshipping.
  5. “And He taught Adam the names – all of them. Then He showed them to the angels and said, “Inform Me of the names of these, if you are truthful (Quran 2:31). “Created man, [and] taught him speech, (Quran 55:3-4) These verses and several others emphasizing the speech capability of humans tell us that Bani Adam were the first [and only] creatures that have intelligence, ability to learn, and speak.
  6. “And when I have proportioned him and breathed into him of My soul” (Quran 17:52 & 38:72). To me, this ayah clearly refers to the human consciousness that is not of this world. As humans, unlike other creatures, we are aware of our existence as well as the existence of the universe. We are the only creatures that have ability to create as in arts and thoughts.
  7. “Have those who disbelieved not considered that the heavens and the earth were a joined entity, and then We separated them and made from water every living thing? Then will they not believe?” (Quran 21:30). Again, this verse has several layers of meaning and refers to two very important facts about creation of the earth and life. First, when read along with the ayah “Then turned He to the heaven when it was smoke, and said unto it and unto the earth” (Quran 41:11), it refers to the fact that the heavens and the earth was one entity in the form of smoke [or gas] as it was after Big Bang and earth was formed later. Second, it miraculously points out to two distinct facts about living things, i- life started in water[21] and ii- water is the essence of all life, as the largest percentage of all organisms composed of water. Almost 60% of human body consists of water.
  8. In several verses such as “You [God] bring the living out of the dead, and You bring the dead out of the living” (Quran 2:27), Quran specifically tells us that only God can create life out of non-living elements and also, he created the concept of death for all living things. According to the Theory of Evolution, living organisms’ life span was supposed to increase gradually to immortality in each generation because of the rule of “fittest continue to survive and reproduce and unfit species die and disappear.” There is no reasonable explanation to why all living organisms are genetically coded to age and die at some point.

Conclusion

As I mentioned, the Quran has hundreds of verses about the creation of the universe, the earth, the humans, as well verses about the ecological system, natural laws, animal kingdoms, heavenly bodies such as earth, moon, sun, stars and their motion within an orbit, etc. To me, the greatest aspect of the Quran is not pointing out different facts in the universe (for it could have been explained as lucky guesses), but its real miracle is that it does not contain any verses that are in conflict with scientific facts which were discovered centuries after its revelation. No matter how genius, all books contain several misconceptions, mistakes, and fallacies reflecting their time. However, the Quran does not have any misconceptions of ancient knowledge, such as universe and time permanently and indefinitely existed, the earth is the center of the universe, the earth is flat, it is carried on the back of turtle, everything in the universe was made out of classical elements (whereas “all ancient cultures in Greece, Egypt, Persia, Babylonia, Japan, Tibet, and India had all similar lists”[22]) and so on so forth.

Finally, I believe,

  1. The existence of universe is the biggest proof for the existence of its Originator.
  2. Human consciousness [soul] can only be explained with the ultimate consciousness behind creation.
  3. Life and death as well as the concepts of good and evil [morality] can only be explained by God.
  4. Our lives only make sense with the existence of a Creator. Without Him everything is transient, void, and meaningless.
  5. The Quran has the most reasonable explanations about the creation of the universe, the earth, life and most importantly the purpose of our lives.

Bibliography

  1. Said Nursi, Flashes, Thirteenth Flash, Forth Point, accessed December 11, 2020. http://www.erisale.com/index.jsp?locale=en#content.en.203.119
  2. “Hubble’s Law and Expanding Universe”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of The United States of America, accessed December 11, 2020. https://www.pnas.org/content/112/11/3173
  3. “Solar Exploration,” NASA Science, accessed December, 11, 2020, https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/earth/in-depth/#otp_formation
  4. “Einstein’s Law of General Relativity,” Space.com, accessed December 13, 2020, https://www.space.com/17661-theory-general-relativity.html
  5. “Black Hole,” Wikipedia, accessed December 13, 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole#:~:text=To%20a%20distant%20observer%2C%20clocks,infinite%20time%20to%20reach%20it.
  6. “It is Confirmed: Matter is Merely Vacuum Fluctuations,” New Scientist, accessed December 13, 2020, https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16095-its-confirmed-matter-is-merely-vacuum-fluctuations/
  7. “Earliest Known Life Form,” Wikipedia, accessed December 13, 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earliest_known_life_forms#cite_note-NAT-20170301-1
  8. “The Origins of Life on Earth,” Australian Academy of Science, accessed December 13, 2020, https://www.science.org.au/curious/space-time/origins-life-earth#:~:text=Prokaryotes%20were%20the%20earliest%20life,to%20generate%20their%20own%20energy.
  9. “7 Theories on the Origin of Life,” Life Science, accessed December 13, 2020, https://www.livescience.com/13363-7-theories-origin-life.html
  10. Justin Rice, Daniel Warner, “The Theory of Evolution is Not an Explanation for the Origin of Life,” Evo Edu Outreach,  2010, 3, 141-142.
  11. “How Evolution Works,” How Things Work, accessed December 14, 2020, https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/evolution/evolution6.htm#:~:text=As%20mutations%20occur%2C%20natural%20selection,which%20ones%20will%20die%20out.&text=If%20the%20mutation%20is%20beneficial,passed%20on%20to%20its%20offspring.
  12. Fatemah Meghji, “Becoming Bani Adam- Part II.
  13. World’s oldest Homo sapiens fossils found in Morocco. http://www.sciencemag.org.
  14. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/06/world-s-oldest-homo-sapiens-fossils-found-morocco#:~:text=At%20Herto%2C%20in%20Ethiopia’s%20Great,of%20our%20species%2C%20until%20now.
  15. “Cave of Altamira,” Wikipedia, accessed December 14, 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_Altamira
  16. Davis, James C., The Human Story- Our History from the Stone Age to Today, (New York, HarperCollins, 2004).
  17. “Neolithic Revolution,” Wikipedia, accessed December 15, 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neolithic_Revolution#:~:text=The%20Neolithic%20Revolution%2C%20or%20the,an%20increasingly%20large%20population%20possible.
  18. “Temple,” Wikipedia, accessed on December 15, 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple.
  19. “Earliest Known Life Form,” Wikipedia, accessed December 13, 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earliest_known_life_forms#cite_note-NAT-20170301-1

[1] Mehmet Akif: Insan: Senin mâhiyyetin hattâ meleklerden de ulvîdir/ Avâlim sende pinhandır, cihanlar sende matvîdir.

[2] Said Nursi, Flashes, Thirteenth Flash, Forth Point, accessed December 11, 2020. http://www.erisale.com/index.jsp?locale=en#content.en.203.119

[3] “Hubble’s Law and Expanding Universe”, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of The United States of America, accessed December 11, 2020. https://www.pnas.org/content/112/11/3173

[4] Ibid

[5] “Solar Exploration,” NASA Science, accessed December, 11, 2020, https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/earth/in-depth/#otp_formation

[6] “Einstein’s Law of General Relativity,” Space.com, accessed December 13, 2020, https://www.space.com/17661-theory-general-relativity.html

[7] “Black Hole,” Wikipedia, accessed December 13, 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole#:~:text=To%20a%20distant%20observer%2C%20clocks,infinite%20time%20to%20reach%20it.

[8] “It is Confirmed: Matter is Merely Vacuum Fluctuations,” New Scientist, accessed December 13, 2020, https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16095-its-confirmed-matter-is-merely-vacuum-fluctuations/

[9] “Earliest Known Life Form,” Wikipedia, accessed December 13, 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earliest_known_life_forms#cite_note-NAT-20170301-1

[10] “The Origins of Life on Earth,” Australian Academy of Science, accessed December 13, 2020, https://www.science.org.au/curious/space-time/origins-life-earth#:~:text=Prokaryotes%20were%20the%20earliest%20life,to%20generate%20their%20own%20energy.

[11] “7 Theories on the Origin of Life,” Life Science, accessed December 13, 2020, https://www.livescience.com/13363-7-theories-origin-life.html

[12] Justin Rice, Daniel Warner, “The Theory of Evolution is Not an Explanation for the Origin of Life,” Evo Edu Outreach,  2010, 3, 141-142.

[13] “How Evolution Works,” How Things Work, accessed December 14, 2020, https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/evolution/evolution6.htm#:~:text=As%20mutations%20occur%2C%20natural%20selection,which%20ones%20will%20die%20out.&text=If%20the%20mutation%20is%20beneficial,passed%20on%20to%20its%20offspring.

[14] Fatemah Meghji, “Becoming Bani Adam- Part II,” 7.

[15] World’s oldest Homo sapiens fossils found in Morocco. http://www.sciencemag.org.

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/06/world-s-oldest-homo-sapiens-fossils-found-morocco#:~:text=At%20Herto%2C%20in%20Ethiopia’s%20Great,of%20our%20species%2C%20until%20now.

[16] “Cave of Altamira,” Wikipedia, accessed December 14, 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_Altamira

[17] James C. Davis, The Human Story- Our History from the Stone Age to Today, (New York, HarperCollins, 2004).

[18] Fatemah Meghji, “Becoming Bani Adam- Part II,” 11.

[19] “Neolithic Revolution,” Wikipedia, accessed December 15, 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neolithic_Revolution#:~:text=The%20Neolithic%20Revolution%2C%20or%20the,an%20increasingly%20large%20population%20possible.

[20] “Temple,” Wikipedia, accessed on December 15, 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple.

[21] “Earliest Known Life Form,” Wikipedia, accessed December 13, 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earliest_known_life_forms#cite_note-NAT-20170301-1

[22] “Classical Element,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_element