The topics of this lecture by the Islamic Forum on Science and Arts have been the following (all this can be seen on the IFSA web site, www.ummah.com/ifsa).

• Life, origin, creation = selection and evolution
• Animals, habitats, adaptation, ecology
• Mankind, origin, embryology, genetics, neurology
• Physiology, nourishment and health
• Lessons from the scientific signs, improving and dawah

The description of deep oceans and fire beneath the seas in an oath of the Quran as well as the creation of all life from water in several different Ayahs indicates the importance of deep sea vents (black smokers) which have been discovered about 30 years ago. The liquid magma from the mantle of the Earth flows through cracks between the plateaus (rifts) and releases valuable minerals into the ocean. As everywhere, here is a delicate balance set up by Allah. The smoke is neither hot enough to evaporate the water above it nor is the water cool enough to extinguish the fire beneath it ("By the oceans set on fire" Quran). Scientists believe that they are the place of the origin of all life on Earth even before the light of the sun could penetrate the surface of the Earth. There are chemical bacteria (archaeobacteria) which live on these vents and win energy through the oxidization of Sulfur and not by photosynthesis with the help of light.

Allah mentions in several Ayahs of the Quran very precisely how life was created by him and he indicates that he then changed or directed it. This means that there has been an evolution of which the selector and sustainer is Allah himself rather than random selection. There is even a precise timeframe given in the Quran which reflects exactly the modern scientific evidence and timescale from paleontology (evidence from fossils and comparative anatomy). So the view of some Muslims who tend to agree with the fundamentalist Christian that here has been no evolution at all cannot be supported from a Quran point of view. It is the case that animals have evolved under the guidance of Allah and human were created separate from animals but from the same substance (water, clay, clinging macromolecules, DNA and proteins). This is important in dialogue with scientists for dawah as well as a compromise between the creationist/evolutionist debate worldwide. There is no point in ridiculing the scientific value of Islam, especially if the Quran supports an evolution (change of organisms through time), under the command and guidance of Allah.

A Hadith of the Prophet (sws) describes in precision the times would scale and chronology of creation which states clearly that live was there before light. This would have been impossible to believe before the bacteria beneath the Ocean were discovered which are the basis of a whole bioshpere which is independent from the light of the sun. Also the spreading of the animals and creation of man are described in this Hadith in a precise chronology. The essay can be found on the above site as well as in the mailing list of the IFSA (www.egroups.com/group/ifsa, mail 180-185).

Animals have developed into different classes and they have adapted to many different biotopes. Fish can do anything from swim (bony fish and modern fish), stand in water (modern fish) to breath on land (mudskipper) and fly (flying fish). The origin of man is separate from animals and apes and pigs are genetically very close to men. This indicates that they might be a degenerated form of man, a punishment as stated in the Quran ("...be you apes and swine, despised and rejected").

The precise embryological development is described in the Quran on a microscopic level, see Dr. Keith L. Moore, Embryology of the Quran. The three cell layers of the mother's body, the different stages from Alaq to Nutfah, etc. are foetus and embryolike stages and the procession from backbone into ribs is seen in the neurological development, the development of the sexual organs, the flow of the blood and the growth of the tissues. This is embryoligical as well as palaeontological evidence.

The neurological order of different parts of the brain, the closeness of hearing to emotions above seeing and the intellect being further away from the emotions are reflected by the chronology of their mentioning in the Quran ("...hearing, seeing and understanding...", "...thunder and lightning...", "deaf, dumb and blind"). This chronology is held up throughout the Quran despite of the fact that we value the optical sense more than the acoustic and lightning is seen before thunder. Hearing is also the first sense which develops in vertebrates and it also develops first in the embryo.

Furthermore, the skin being the site of pain rather than the brain and forehead being the seat of "higher" abilities, such as acting and lying are mentioned in the Quran.

Genetics in the Quran covers the prediction of the sex of the child by the sperm, the uniqueness of genetical fingerprints similar to normal fingerprints and the disability of man and Jinn to create even a fly out of nothing. Cloning is rather artifical reproduction than creating or "playing god". Cloning can be beneficial for the production of vaccines, but many scientists are competing in cloing animals or humans. Muslims must dominate science again in order to be able to change this and apply Shariah law on science.

The fruits which Allah mentions in the Quran as being vluable (figs, olives, dates, etc.) are being neglected by Muslims too much and just because meat is permitted, it is not to be consumed in such huge amounts. The Prophet (pbuh) ate meat every 40 days. Meat is being overproduced and animals are being injected with hormomes and tortured unnecessarily. The Prophet would have never allowed that! We are contributing to environmetal pollution and exploitation of the poor by consuming meat. It is for special occasions.

Forbidden food such as pork can be scientificlly proven to be damaging in many ways. Pigs are impossible to slaughter, genetically close to man (cannibalism), have a high concentration of urine in the blood and muscles (attack the cells) high in human-like hormones (take over the system), pork gives arthritis, cancer, high cholesterol, digestive problems, stress, too much uncontraooled energy, parasites, etc. This is important to know and propagate to Muslims and non-Muslims alike in order to explain to children, why they should keep away from it. Compulsion is not the solution but reasonable argumentation, Allahs orders are always reasonable.

All these signs can only have been revealed to Mohammed (pbuh) by he Creator of the worlds, Allah. He commands us to learn about this creation. He commands us not to transgress the balance.

So we need to learn these signs, propagate them among Muslims and non-Muslims alike, protect the Earth becasue we are Khalifah and we are being tested as such and we need to improve our diet and health. Furthermore, we need to be more mutidiciplinary and not overspecialise.