Ask the Atheist

There are passages of the Koran which do seem to refer to aspects of modern science. That's because they're vague as all get out and, as the carpet example shows, enough creative interpretation can make anything fit the old writings.

The Islamic creationist lobby is very active in certain countries, for example Turkey. Sometimes it even collaborates with the Christian creationist lobby to fight evolution. Evolution contradicts the Koran too, and even if it didn't Muslims regard the basic timeline of the Bible as accurate. They fight evolution to preserve the inerrancy of their core texts, just like the creationists we're used to.

The anti-evolution claims and arguments in Islamic creationism are interchangeable with the Christian ones. On public access TV here in Australia, a Muslim host presented a Christian creationist video with no qualms.

The difference is that there is no equivalent to the Intelligent Design movement in Islamic creationism. While some of the arguments aren't religious in nature, there's no attempt to present creationism as a secular scientific theory. There's a far more honest and direct effort to defeat evolution and replace it with the Koran's version of events.

This is not surprising as church-state separation isn't always a constitutional issue outside of the United States. Turkish school curricula are under direct religious assault, as in many countries. There's no need for such contingency campaigns as "critical analysis of evolution" and "teach the controversy". Those only came about in America when the initial Intelligent Design movement was blocked in court. Intelligent Design itself was only conceived in 1987 when Christian creationism in schools was ruled unconstitutional.

- SmartLX

There are a great many issues with the truth claims of Islam. I suggest starting by searching Wikipedia for "Historicity of Muhammad" and working from there. Do not take Wikipedia at face value, of course.

Unfortunately fundamentalist Muslims, like any other religious fundamentalists, will not generally accept criticism of their religion. Muslims who lose the faith, apostates, are marked for death. Non-Muslims are infidel and not to be trusted. You can see how it's difficult to attain a platform from which you'd actually be listened to.

Don't take it for granted that if Muslims were presented with evidence that their beliefs are false, they would abandon them. It would be far easier to believe that the evidence itself is false or, even more cunningly, a test of faith.

Nobody wants to be a traitor, but that's currently the only official way to leave Islam. Fundamentalist Islam especially has insulated itself against Muslim and non-Muslim reason alike. It'll be tough to inject any.

- SmartLX