This is part 2 of the response by Ahmed Alhasan to Sayyid Ali Sistani about evolution. This excerpt is taken from the book Atheism Delusion.
From Sistani’s ¹ Center of Belief Researches website:
Quoting from Thimar Al-Afkar [The Fruits of Thoughts] by Sheikh Ali Al-Korani Al-Amili ² , 354-357:
The theory of evolution contradicts many modern sciences . . . placing it in an unenviable position. One of these contradictions concerns physical facts . . . Here is this contradiction: The sun and other stars burn and emit tremendous amounts of thermal, radiative, and light energy into the depths of the universe. But this massive amount of energy cannot be expected to spontaneously return to the sun and other stars. If you leave anything for a certain period of time, it will quickly decay. . . . If you leave a piece of meat out, or a piece of fruit or food, you can see that it spoils after a certain period of time and you have to take certain precautions to protect it from spoiling, like refrigerating it. However, this precautionary measure only helps for a certain period of time. If you abandon a house or a palace, it will deteriorate after some years . . . and so on . . . Thus, everything is moving in one direction toward deterioration, decomposition, and putrefaction. Entropy: in order for scientists to explain the concept of order and disorder in the universe or in any system, they use the term “entropy”. Entropy refers to the amount of disorder, which means the amount of energy that is of no benefit…..
We can put both the hypotheses of evolution and physics together on a single graph. From this, we will see that there is a complete contradiction between the two. The hypothesis of evolution says that changes and transformations occurring in our world and in the universe lead to increasing complexity and order, which means that evolution is continuing at an ever-increasing rate. As for physics, it says that all current changes and transformations in the universe (and in our world) lead to increasing entropy, which means increasing disorder, decomposition, and disintegration.
This means that the universe is not moving toward something better but is instead moving toward something worse, that is, toward death. It also means that there is no spontaneous process that leads to increasing order, complexity, and composition. This shows that time is a factor of annihilation, not construction. Despite this, all evolutionists resort to the issue of time to explain all the objections and difficulties facing the hypothesis of evolution. Therefore, when you rule out blind coincidence producing all of this order, complexity, and beauty that fills the universe, they say: ‘But this did not happen in a million years, it happened in hundreds or thousands of millions of years!’ It is as if when they mention a long time period, they think they are solving all difficulties and providing a solution for all the miracles that fill the universe!
This is ignorance. Rather, it is compound ignorance. We encourage those people to read physics books so they will know that time—which they think is a factor of construction and development—is actually nothing but a factor of destruction, decomposition, and disintegration! So with which view should we side?! Should we side with a hypothesis (or theory, at best) that has not yet been proven to be true and is opposed by many scientists?! Or should we side with a scientific law that has been proven by thousands of laboratory experiments (each device used testifies to the validity of this law) and is accepted by all scientists without any exception?
Therefore, the hypothesis of evolution opposes science to its core. Evolution toward what is better cannot occur in a world that moves toward disintegration and destruction in all its activities, movements, and changes. Therefore, evolution is scientifically impossible. {Nay, but We hurl the true against the false, and it destroys it and it vanishes. Woe to you from what you describe} 21:18. (Sistani 2011, translated).
Response:
In summary, what they quote from Korani’s book is that entropy obligates complex systems to move toward breaking down, and that the universe as a whole is moving toward breaking down, as is Earth and all that it encompasses. According to them, there is relapse and regression, not evolution.
In fact, this argument was first raised by Dr. Henry Morris, who said the second law of thermodynamics states that everything tends toward disorder, making the process of evolution impossible (Morris 1974). The fundamentalist Christians in the United States and Europe pounced on this argument to respond to the theory of evolution. This argument was rehashed by some Arabs after it was translated, and Korani’s friend relayed it. If only he would have just left it as it was instead of adding words to it that demonstrate complete ignorance. Consequently, Korani also pounced on it and put it in his book. Then the ideological website belonging to Sistani took it from Korani, and adopted it as fact and evidence that refutes the theory of evolution.
Overall, it is a trivial argument, and both scientifically incomplete and incorrect. Even though it will be shown later that what observation has led to, and what is now widely accepted by science, is that the universe is flat, open, and expanding at an accelerating rate. Nevertheless, and descending to their level, let’s assume that the physical universe is a closed system to which the second law of thermodynamics applies—since entropy doesn’t decrease within a closed system—and that entropy is increasing in the universe. This doesn’t mean that every part of the universe moves in this direction, or said another way, moves toward increased entropy. It is possible that parts of the universe (which we’ve assumed to be a closed system), such as the Earth, are moving toward more order (at times), as long as other parts are balancing them with increased entropy. What matters is that the system as a whole doesn’t violate the second law of thermodynamics. This shows that their argument is built on a fragile foundation and a superficial understanding of the second law of thermodynamics.
Moreover, the earth itself is not a closed system. There is actually more than one energy exchange system existing within it, and also, there are systems that exchange with it. For example, the sun gives heat and light to the earth, and parts of the earth experience night and day successively, dividing it into several systems. This causes the earth to experience a variable and continuous process of heat exchange since there are a number of systems rather than just one. In addition to this, because the earth’s core is hot and consists of magma, there are unorganized processes of energy exchange occurring between the core, crust, and atmosphere of the Earth. The Earth’s surrounding space is a system as well, and heat exchange occurs between this space and the Earth. The moon’s gravity also affects the Earth, and its effect is even changing over time as it continuously recedes from the Earth.
Therefore, based on the Earth’s state as described above, the law of thermodynamics for two systems would be: “the total entropy of two systems doesn’t decrease when heat exchange occurs between the two”. This means that increasing order on the Earth is possible because it exchanges energy with the surrounding universe. Similarly, increasing order in some parts of the Earth is also possible, because several systems are exchanging energy with each other. What matters is that the total entropy of both systems, not just one of them, doesn’t decrease.
The Earth itself is neither a closed system nor a single system. Rather, it is multiple systems. It could be that entropy increases in one place on the Earth while decreasing in another, as it is possible for deterioration of life, demolition, earthquakes, and floods to occur in one place on Earth, while at the same time construction, growth and flourishing of life occur in another. This is something we witness every day, and it doesn’t break the second law of thermodynamics. Furthermore, it is a foregone conclusion that the universe has not moved toward collapse either in the past or present. It has been scientifically proven, by observing a type of supernova, cosmic background radiation and the Doppler effect, that the universe is flat and expanding at an accelerating rate, and that it will continue to do so for a long time. We will address this issue when we discuss dark energy.
I believe that my clarification of entropy and the second law of thermodynamics is sufficient to rebut the above mentioned naive argument. But to simplify it even more, let’s put entropy aside and move on to the conclusion that they draw and rely on, which is their claim that the universe has moved and still is moving toward disintegration, decay, and dissolution. Their conclusion is incorrect. The situation is the complete opposite according to observations and precise astronomical monitoring, the results of which have proven that, alongside the Doppler effect, cosmic background radiation, and observation of supernovas, that galaxies are moving away from each other at an accelerating rate. The material universe we live in has been and still is expanding, growing, and proliferating. Even the galaxy we live in still contains clouds of gas and dust where the formation and birth of new stars take place, and this will continue for a long time. This scientific fact, proven beyond doubt, is enough to refute what Korani has stated in his book.
In addition to that, the universe didn’t begin as a compound-complex universe according to the Standard Model or Big Bang theory, which is proven by scientific evidence such as the divergence of galaxies and cosmic cooling over time. Instead, the universe began from a point of singularity, or a quantum event, then the Big Bang occurred and matter gradually began to form. The universe is still young, and it is expanding and growing. According to precise scientific calculations that depend on accurate observations, the universe isn’t moving toward collapse nor has it done so in the past. Instead, it is currently proliferating and expanding.
Even if we assume that the universe is not flat, but has positive curvature, like the surface of a ball and will eventually move toward contraction and collapse, it would not be scientifically possible until the universe reaches its maximum expansion point. Then it would move toward reduction and collapse when the energy pushing it to expand, or the positive energy within the universe, is unable to resist the gravity of the matter. The universe hasn’t yet reached the maximum possible expansion point. Rather, it is still expanding at an accelerating rate.
Their claim that the universe has been, and still is heading toward collapse, based on the second law of thermodynamics, is therefore scientifically incorrect. It is also inconsistent with the facts provided by accurate astronomical observations and mathematical scientific calculations. Also, based on the Doppler effect and the presence of cosmic background radiation, the universe is not currently heading toward collapse. And it did not begin as a complex, compound universe, then head toward decrease and collapse. On the contrary, it began as a simple universe, then headed toward augmentation, composition, and complexity, and it is currently continuing on this course.
If we apply what has and still is happening in the universe as a whole—as it started out from zero then proliferated—to the Earth and its inhabitants, just as Korani, his friend, and Sistani’s Center want us to do, the result would be that evolution on the Earth and the movement toward enrichment and complexity of living organisms and life is not problematic. It corresponds completely with the general course of the universe, which is expansion and augmentation, both in the past and in the present.
Even though I responded with the above, showed the misconceptions in Korani’s book that Sistani presented on his ideological website, and clarified that the universe has been and still is proliferating and expanding and will continue to do so for a very long time to come, it would have been sufficient to respond to them by saying that growth, augmentation, and proliferation, as well as movement from simplicity to complexity, proliferation, improvement, and optimization is something we see every day in life on the earth. If evolution violates the second law of thermodynamics and is impossible as a result, then the growth and proliferation of plants also violate this law, and their growth and proliferation would also be impossible.
Plants start as a seed, a gene map, then grow and thrive with time, as is the case for the growth of the fetus and the baby animal. There is no difference between the growth of a fetus, plant, or child, and evolution. All of them demonstrate growth, augmentation, and moving from simplicity towards complexity over time. If evolution violates the second law of thermodynamics—as they claim—then the growth of the fetus, plants, and children violates it as well. Nevertheless, we still see fetuses, plants, and children grow and thrive.
Note: I do not know how Korani, Sistani and his Ideological Center—who all have adopted the above mentioned statements—can make Physics an axis on the graph as they mentioned. Actually, it is the first time I have heard that Physics, with all that it is, can be an axis on such a graph. I hope they don’t keep their genius all to themselves. I hope they send it to prestigious universities throughout the world, so they can learn how Physics can be an axis on a graph like that and any benefit can be shared. If they don’t know what Physics is, then there’s no harm in giving them a simple definition. Physics is the branch of science that deals with the behavior of matter, energy, and dimensions (such as the three spatial dimensions and the dimension of time), in addition to the interactions and associations between them and the laws that connect them.
I’m not mocking these people and the ignorance they have presented. What has happened to us occupies us too much to mock anyone. I only want to alert the oppressed followers of Ahl al-Bayt that they are being deceived by these people who have no shame when it comes to speaking without having the knowledge. This is why every believer in Muhammad and the family of Muhammad pbut—who fears for their faith and hereafter—should not rely on such people to decide for them what their hereafter will be.
¹ https://www.sistani.org/
² https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Al-Kourani
Part 1: Click here
The excerpt is taken from Atheism Delusion by Ahmed Alhasan احمد الحسن
Click here to read similar glaring delusions of men of religion.
