‘It is He Who
brings out the living from the dead and brings out the dead from the
living and Who gives life to earth after it is dead… ’ {Al-Qur’an. 30:19}
During the past few days the news
that scientists had found nucleotides in the meteorites is appearing in media
circles. The new finding is intended to lend credence to a theory which
postulates that some of the basic components of living beings (cells) were
formed outside this earth and were transported to earth via the medium of
meteorites. (Earlier amino acids too have found on the meteorites.) On reaching
earth these building blocks somehow came together and got assembled and gave
rise to the first living cell which through various stages of evolution gave
rise to all the living creatures present on the earth today. This article is
the refutation of the claim, though it deals with only one aspect regarding the
appearance of life and its continuation, otherwise the drawbacks of the theory
would require many volumes for proper elucidation.
Facts
of life: In order to
understand the theory of evolution an understanding of the structure of the
living beings is necessary. Therefore a brief description is given here. Proteins,
which are made up of amino acids, are the basic components of a living cell.
There are twenty different amino acids and depending upon the sequence of these
amino acids, there are different kinds of proteins. A protein may consist of
thousands of amino acids and every combination of amino acids is not a protein;
it is only the linking up of amino acids in some particular sequence that is
regarded as a protein.
For life to continue, the information about various life processes and
modes of life must pass on from generation to generation. A special molecule
called DNA performs this function. DNA performs this action by directing the
protein synthesis, which in turn directs various life processes. The basic unit
of DNA is a nucleotide molecule (which is claimed to have been found on
meteorites.) There are four different types nucleotides depending upon the base
molecule attached to it. A combination of three different nucleotides stands as
a code for a particular amino acid and another sequence of three nucleotides
stands as a code for another amino acid and so on. The segment of DNA which
contains code for a particular protein is called as a gene. In this way the
information for the formation of proteins is contained in the Genes. When a cell divides, DNA
also replicates and a complete set of DNA in the form of chromosomes is passed
on to each daughter cell. In this way each cell of living organism receives
complete information for carrying out its life processes. And the process goes
on.
The theory: Until the early 19th century evolutionists
believed in the spontaneous generation
of certain forms of life from non-living matter. It was in this background that
Darwin put forth his theory of evolution, which would deceive a large portion
of human beings. However, Pasteur
disproved the theory of spontaneous generation i.e. the living organisms emerge
only from living beings not from non living beings.
The finding of Pasteur gave a terrible
bolt to the theory of evolution. In response, Russian chemist, Oparin came out with a new hypothesis that
the basic organic building blocks of life could have formed from simpler
molecules in the primitive atmosphere of the earth by lightning or similar
kinds of energy. The complex organic molecules created in
the atmosphere would then rain into the primitive ocean, forming an “organic
soup.” as molecules came together in this soup, they combined together and
formed the basic components of living cell i.e., amino acids which later linked
together in appropriate manner and ultimately proteins were formed and
subsequently a cell was formed. (How this combination of molecules got life, he
says nothing.) That is how, according to him, the single celled animals came
into existence.
The descendents of first single organism
which was formed in the first instant slowly adapted to their environment and
underwent changes and with the passage of time gave rise to various forms of
life i.e. different animals and plants were formed. For instance giraffe got an
elongated neck because it needed to eat the leaves of plants from heights. The
theory proposed that an animal gets changed as per environment and as per its
needs.
Later Mendel’s experiment and other
findings established that changes cannot occur in an organism by adapting to
environment as the different traits of animals were controlled by genes. Now
the evolutionist came up with new hypothesis that genes too underwent changes
(mutation) with the passage of time giving rise to different traits which finally
leads to evolution of different kinds of animals.
Problems of the theory: the theory may appear simple but it is
fraught with insurmountable problems, that is why the theory itself is being
continuously changed to keep it adapted to the new environment.
First of all how were the amino acids (which are the building blocks of
the proteins) formed by coming together of various atoms and molecules? Or was
there any other force that directed the formation of amino acids. Let us agree
on this point too that amino acids somehow got formed or transported to earth
from outer space and on earth those different amino acids came together got
linked to form meaningful proteins (because all chains of amino acids are not
proteins.) which thing directed the amino acids to assemble in a particular way
and sequence. If amino acids had not got linked up in a particular way and
sequence, it would not have been a protein. Even if proteins were formed, how
did they get other material for the formation of a cell? Did the inanimate
proteins themselves sought those other materials and got mixed up with
them. Now let us for arguments sake accept that all the components, which
constitute a cell, are brought together and got arranged in the same sequence
as in a living cell, it would still be a heap of atoms or at the most a heap of
molecules or of proteins. But the question is how did it come to life? No
evolutionist touches this point.
Nothing can bring this ‘heap’ to life.
If the evolutionists were true that life came into existence by the transfer of
some materials from the outer space to this earth and then those materials got
assembled and gave rise to a living cell then in our age it should not have
posed any problem to create a living cell in the laboratory. Why should today’s
Man, who has invented so many things which didn’t previously exist and about
which he knew nothing, fail to make a living cell about which he knows
many things and knows about the material of which it is made.
If it is assumed that all these problems were overcame and first cell
somehow go formed and got life, how did it survive? How did it know how to
divide and how to get material for further life? How it could have transferred
the information about the life processes to the next generation or to next cell
and for that purpose it needed to develop the genetic system (DNA and RNA). Let
us accept that the basic components of genetic material i.e. nucleotides were
formed in the outer space and they were then transferred to earth, how did the
cell come about those nucleotides and transform them to genetic material and
how long would it take to make DNA & RNA from nucleotides; would the cell
survive that long? Was this entire intelligent feat performed by the inanimate
molecules themselves?
Some witty evolutionists would
argue that it was the genetic material that formed first. But the problem still
remains as it was. How long had the genetic material to wait before it got the
other materials for the formation of the cell and how did that genetic material
know for what purpose it was meant? Anyway who decided that genetic code? Who
decide which combination of (three) nucleotides would act as a code for a
particular amino acid. And it is not just a code for one amino acid, but for
thousands of amino acids and that too in a proper sequence, otherwise it would
not be a protein. How was all this arranged?
Evolutionists also fail to explain why and how did the genes undergo
changes (mutation) to give rise to new traits in an organism and to ultimately
produce a new organism. Evolutionists say that it just happened by chance. But
is it acceptable to any sane person?
The new proposition
that the building blocks of life were formed outside the earth and were
transferred to earth through meteorites reveals the frustration of
evolutionists. It is an admission on their part that they no longer believe in
what they had been saying till now. When it became established fact that the
building blocks of proteins could not have been formed in the way the
evolutionists had envisaged, they came up with a new theory (i.e. components of
living beings (cells) were formed outside this earth and were transported to
earth.) The finding of the nucleotides and the amino acids on the meteorite
does not explain anything, but posits more problems and leaves more questions
to be answered.
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