Origin Of Species Quotes

“The known is finite, the unknown infinite; intellectually we stand on an islet in the midst of an illimitable ocean of inexplicability. Our business in every generation is to reclaim a little more land, to add something to the extent and the solidity of our possessions. And even a cursory glance at the history of the biological sciences during the last quarter of a century is sufficient to justify the assertion, that the most potent instrument for the extension of the realm of natural knowledge which has come into men's hands, since the publication of Newton's ‘Principia’, is Darwin's ‘Origin of Species.”
― Thomas Henry Huxley

“If origin defines race, then we are all Africans – we are all black.”
― Abhijit Naskar, We Are All Black: A Treatise on Racism

“Sentiments that glorify humanity know no racial distinction.”
― Abhijit Naskar, We Are All Black: A Treatise on Racism

“In the biological sense, race does not exist.”
― Abhijit Naskar, We Are All Black: A Treatise on Racism

“It is character that should be the sole measure of judgement in the society of thinking humanity, and nothing short of that would do.”
― Abhijit Naskar, We Are All Black: A Treatise on Racism

“If not as a true human, let me tell you as a Biologist, color of the skin does not define an individual’s intelligence – it does not define an individual’s ambitions - it does not define an individual’s dreams – and above all, it does not define an individual’s character.”
― Abhijit Naskar, We Are All Black: A Treatise on Racism

“Call up the ever-pure, the effulgent and the ever-radiant character of true humanism in yourself and in others, and no racism shall have the power to thrive in such society even for a few seconds.”
― Abhijit Naskar, We Are All Black: A Treatise on Racism

“The conflict between science and religion appears when a descriptive falsifiable scientific theory is presented as a substitute and evidence to support a godless philosophy of life. Theory of evolution attempts to describe the process through which life comes to exist in different varieties. All this theory can support is that different forms of complex life did not come to exist all of a sudden and at the same time. It merely identifies and explains intermediate steps in the long chain of events. The theory does not concern with the question of the meaning of life itself.”
― Salman Ahmed Shaikh, Reflections on the Origins in the Post COVID-19 World

“A descriptive theory might or might not adequately describe the physical process, but if it transcends boundaries of physical explanations and starts giving philosophical meaning of the reality, then the latter endeavour is not within the scope of science. Theory of evolution might be an admissible scientific explanation of the physical process if the evidence supports it, but the Darwinian view of life beyond biology and into social organization is a philosophical conjecture.”
― Salman Ahmed Shaikh, Reflections on the Origins in the Post COVID-19 World

“The Creator in faith’s perspective is the source of all physical and non-physical stuff and the laws which govern matter and the physical processes which convert matter into different inorganic and organic forms. He gave consciousness to human beings like He gave to all living things. We may have evolved into the specie we are. Like other living beings, our bodies are made up of matter that exists in the universe. Our biological body is a chemical composition. Faith essentially addresses not our chemical composition of bodies, but our personality and consciousness. Soul is embodied in our skull. Our physical body is made up of chemicals. Body is just the host of our soul. Animals also have bodies and some have similar chemical composition as ours in some respects.”
― Salman Ahmed Shaikh, Reflections on the Origins in the Post COVID-19 World

“Our soul is given the innate and strong ability to differentiate right from wrong actions. We have likeness for and the wish to see fairness, justice, honesty, truthfulness and cooperation in the universe where species survive on survival instincts. These values reflect in our art, prose and poetry. If the feelings, emotions, aesthetics, values and morality are merely a chemical mixture, then our labs shall be producing Shakespeare, Rumi, Iqbal and Picasso just through chemistry experiments without any human intervention, instruction and programming.”
― Salman Ahmed Shaikh, Reflections on the Origins in the Post COVID-19 World

“Having conscience, we despise unfairness, injustice, unkind behaviour, lies, and dishonesty. The life does not seem to be fair. Sometimes, people with bad morals and actions survive, thrive and claim resources, power and fame. In contrast, people with honesty and upright character often struggle, underachieve and remain under-rewarded. Injustice happens to people and even entire nations. If we go by the morals of evolution, it should not bother us if there is extinction of species. However, our soul, which is our true identity, does not remain indifferent to harm, injury, destruction, injustice and unkindness.”
― Salman Ahmed Shaikh, Reflections on the Origins in the Post COVID-19 World

“Not only consciousness, but why the physical processes have led to us having consciousness in the first place is beyond explanation through science or scientific method. Some scientists try to skip or assume this question away by denying consciousness.”
― Salman Ahmed Shaikh, Reflections on the Origins in the Post COVID-19 World

“Faith speaks to the soul and asks us to purify our soul. When faith gives guidelines about body, it is to make sure that the body hosting the soul should become pure by cleanliness and by being non- injurious to others. Even if we have evolved through a physical process to get our current physical form, it does not matter in the faith based worldview since the faith based worldview attributes every creature’s origin and creation to the Ultimate Creator. But, we humans in our current form and nature have been given a strong ability to differentiate right from wrong actions. This ability is not within our chemical composition. We might be having same colonies of bacteria and cells like other animals. This is the chemical description of our body, i.e. the host which embodies the human soul and spirit. The ability to differentiate right from wrong is in our conscience. We like to act in ways that are essentially good and virtuous and dislike acts which are wrong and unjust. Yet, this world is not fair. Belief in afterlife accountability actualizes the cause and effect in moral matters. It will give deterministic results to every act of goodness and every act of evil. That makes life meaningful and purposeful. That enables us to look beyond our survival instincts in organizing life on the basis of moral values of justice, fairness, honesty, sacrifice and cooperation.”
― Salman Ahmed Shaikh, Reflections on the Origins in the Post COVID-19 World

“Corona Virus has once again reminded us that the world at the level of viruses and bacteria may operate on survival instincts alone where survival of the fittest is the only moral code. Human body structure might have evolved to be in the present form, but the Ultimate Creator has given us the human soul and spirit which has consciousness like animals, but also has conscience. To focus attention on consciousness alone is to live with survival instincts and ignore higher morals. To act on goodness suggested by conscience requires looking beyond animal instincts and embrace goodness as a habit and wilful choice. Accountability in life hereafter urges that and promises cause and effect in moral matters.”
― Salman Ahmed Shaikh, Reflections on the Origins in the Post COVID-19 World

“The medical cure for Corona Virus can be sought keeping in view the viral behaviour in bio-chemistry. But, the cure for purifying human soul lies in looking beyond viral, bacterial, cellular and animal behaviour and paying attention to goodness in behaviour urged by the conscience in human soul.”
― Salman Ahmed Shaikh, Reflections on the Origins in the Post COVID-19 World

“In the Godless worldview, the battle of survival ends with destruction eventually for Corona Virus, bacteria, other unicellular organisms and multi-cellular organisms like animals and humans the same way. Humans having consciousness and conscience may define their personal meaning of life by themselves as to how best to spend few million breaths under the sun in maximizing self-pleasure. But, the life ends without due justice for many people who are killed, robbed and discriminated against and it ends without due punishment for many people who cause these crimes. Some are lucky and some are unlucky in the mortal combat of survival of the fittest.”
― Salman Ahmed Shaikh, Reflections on the Origins in the Post COVID-19 World

“Belief in single origin of life from the Ultimate Creator brings humility that we are one of many creations in the universe and should not be proud as all creatures have single source of origin, no matter howsoever they differ in the chemical composition of their bodies and respective strengths.”
― Salman Ahmed Shaikh, Reflections on the Origins in the Post COVID-19 World

“Faith based worldview explains how and why humans are different from other species in their strong sense of morality. It urges them to be thankful to their Creator and shun any pride because they too belong to the same Creator. It informs them that their free will allows them to choose the right and wrong paths in life. After they die, they will be held accountable for the use of free will in choosing goodness over evil, ethical over unethical and fair over unfair acts. It will provide them the chance to earn eternal blessing if they choose the righteous behaviour. Else, they will be held accountable if they choose evil over goodness, unethical over ethical and unfair over fair acts. Not only this worldview makes life meaningful, but fulfils the aspiration of seeing absolute justice not just for oneself, but for everyone.”
― Salman Ahmed Shaikh, Reflections on the Origins in the Post COVID-19 World

“Author of the book ‘Selfish Gene’, Prof. Richard Dawkins once said that evolution is the biggest show on earth. We learn the characters in the show and their respective evolving roles, but forget who is running the show and the purpose of that show. We are all part of the show as well at some point. Some episodes of the show are missing. Initial pages are muted. There are no living characters, but just description of details of the environment in the scene. One by one, characters start appearing. To get to know these other characters and their physical attributes does not make us the Producer and Director of that show.”
― Salman Ahmed Shaikh, Reflections on the Origins in the Post COVID-19 World

“Some of the evolutionary biologists who do not believe in any God review the previous episodes of the show by literally reading the plot line by line, but miss some important scenes that define the whole plot. They also miss the point that the writer does not start any story by introducing himself explicitly. He only introduces his characters and then makes them play out their roles. What these scientists are quoting from the plot is not necessarily wrong. Perhaps they are quoting exactly the pages of the plot they like and read again and again. But, why the show is happening in the first place? Who is running it? What is the role of human characters in this show? We can only learn from the Producer and Director of the show. He has spoken to us through some of his characters as messengers. The important details of such correspondence are all available inside the plot through the lives and documented dialogues of those messengers. But, the eyes of some people just focus on what they want to see. They have the remote to go to where they can find sensible answers to the entire plot. But, they do not want to see those details. They like the scenes where everyone plays their role in predictable ways day after day. It allows them to make predictions about future episodes. They forget those are just selected scenes of the plot, but not the entire plot. But, their refusal to pay attention to the whole plot would not change the plot. Eventually when the show is over, the ending would not be what they want or what any of the characters in the show want, but what the Producer and Director of that show wants.”
― Salman Ahmed Shaikh, Reflections on the Origins in the Post COVID-19 World

“Sometimes, question is raised that what is the purpose of the universe and other species. Why there was a wait for billions of years before humans began to exist in the universe. What is the purpose of millions of other life-forms in animals and plants? Why there is no life on other planets?

First of all, time is a relative concept. Thus, human’s conception of time on planet earth is just how we experience movement of earth around sun and about its own axis. Venus and Mercury take longer time to fully rotate about their axis than to complete their orbits around sun. This means Venus and Mercury have days that last longer than their years, i.e. orbiting around sun is faster which determines years and rotation around their axis is slower which determines days.”
― Salman Ahmed Shaikh, Reflections on the Origins in the Post COVID-19 World

“Other life-forms exist and have consciousness. Their lives give us a lot of food for nutrition and food for thought. We get food for our physical needs from plants, trees and farm animals. We are able to use some animals for our safety and travel. Even the microorganisms are important in decomposing waste and are a source of medicines and vaccines. In a way, these life-forms support our sustenance. Humans as consumers depend on nature for their sustenance more so than the plants which produce their own food and supply nutrients for other animals including humans.”
― Salman Ahmed Shaikh, Reflections on the Origins in the Post COVID-19 World

“We also get food for thought if we look at these life-forms. Reflecting on animals, we can see that they have limitations. They live on instincts and do not have ability to look into distant past and far future. They operate on survival instincts. Should humans be like that and only pay attention to survival and animal instincts? We know from our own introspection that we have a clear and strong moral conscience and free will to choose goodness and evil in our choices. Not only do we have that power of recognition, but a strong urge to see goodness, fairness and justice prevail in society. We never like to be cheated and be dealt unfairly. Even those who act in bad ways, they also recognize the evil acts as bad. Belief in afterlife accountability as included in monotheistic faith solves the puzzle by giving deterministic results for choices done with free will. It completes the cause and effect relation in moral matters. Steven Weinberg once remarked that looking at cosmos; one gets the impression that it is pointless. However, religious worldview makes life of every human being meaningful and purposive with promise of deterministic justice in the life to come.”
― Salman Ahmed Shaikh, Reflections on the Origins in the Post COVID-19 World

“Matter without any apparent life, i.e. abiotic matter, also supports our sustenance. Without Jupiter and Saturn orbiting out past Earth, life may not have been able to gain a foothold on our planet. The two gas giants likely helped stabilize the solar system, protecting Earth and the other interior, rocky planets from frequent run-ins with big, fast-moving objects. Sun and moon give us light and their pre-determined movements make our days and night liveable in terms of length and temperature. Due to the Sun and Moon’s gravitational pull, we have tides. Seas and rivers give us food and water. Likewise, forests, life in forests, mountains and bio-diversity together provide the ecological balance which helps in sustaining life.”
― Salman Ahmed Shaikh, Reflections on the Origins in the Post COVID-19 World

“As humans, when we look into our inner self, we find that we also have survival instincts like animals. But, we also have conscience to differentiate right from wrong. Our brains have memories, emotions and intellect to go beyond physical reality and find answers. Our aesthetic sense likes beauty, art, culture and nature. We also have the ability to use matter for our convenience in making objects bigger and powerful than us so as to make us transcend our physical limits. Science has facilitated us to use matter in useful ways. However, as stated before, we also have conscience. We have inherent morals and values. Religion speaks to our soul and asks us to purify our inner soul as well as ensure that our physical self is also pure, clean and peaceful while engaging with our outer environment where we meet people and nature.”
― Salman Ahmed Shaikh, Reflections on the Origins in the Post COVID-19 World

“A human child requires nourishment and care to sustain itself. This experience of being dependent for our survival needs gives us a chance to not forget our fallibility and weaknesses despite our strengths and superior ability in youth. Sometimes, a virus creates havoc in our routine life. It makes us understand that despite having consciousness, superior intellect and accumulated knowledge passed over from generations to generations, we are still fallible and vulnerable. We are not God nor can we be. Pandemics and natural calamities invite us to ponder that if life is going to end from one reason or the other, then what is the purpose and meaning of life. If we have been created by the Ultimate Creator, then what is the purpose defined for our lives. The purpose of life defined by religion is not constraining when we look at life in far future. We have this ability to reflect on the far future. Good morals and virtuous lives using our free will can enable us to achieve what we want to achieve in this world without success, i.e. everlasting life, peace of mind, no regrets of past, no vulnerabilities and no constraints of nature. It is up to us whether we look into the far future for which we have the ability or succumb to our survival instincts and perish as another life-form.”
― Salman Ahmed Shaikh, Reflections on the Origins in the Post COVID-19 World

“Several major and significant discoveries in science occurred in the 19th and 20th century through the works of scientists who believed in God. Even in just the last 500 years of modern scientific enterprise, a great many scientists were religious including names like Isaac Newton, Nicholas Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, Robert Boyle, William Thomson Kelvin, Michael Faraday, James Clerk Maxwell, Louis Pasteur and Nobel Laureate scientists like:

1.Max Planck
2.Guglielmo Marconi
3.Robert A. Milikan
4.Erwin Schrodinger
5.Arthur Compton
6.Isidor Isaac Rabi
7.Max Born
8.Dererk Barton
9.Nevill F. Mott
10.Charles H. Townes
11.Christian B. Anfinsen
12.John Eccles
13.Ernst B. Chain
14.Antony Hewish
15.Daniel Nathans
16.Abdus Salam
17.Joseph Murray
18.Joseph H. Taylor
19.William D. Phillips
20.Walter Kohn
21.Ahmed Zewail
22.Aziz Sancar
23.Gerhard Etrl

Thus, it is important for the torchbearers of science to know their scope and highlight what they can offer to society in terms of curing diseases, improving food production and easing transport and communication systems, for instance. To mock faith and faithful, the scientists who do not believe in God do not just hurt the faithful people who are non-scientists, but a great many of their own colleagues who are scientists, but not atheists.”
― Salman Ahmed Shaikh, Reflections on the Origins in the Post COVID-19 World

“We are experiencing one of the most significant pandemics in recent history. Corona Virus can transmit from one person to another person. To avoid exponential growth in the spread of Corona Virus cases, social distancing is suggested. Father of Monetarist School of Economics, Milton Friedman said that one thing which a person can always be sure of is that everyone would put his or her self-interest before others. Apparently, it is realized by governments that this is perhaps not the right thing to expect and put faith in at the moment. Private choices in pursuit of self-interest and invisible hand were deemed to be less reliable in current situation. Lockdown was considered necessary by governments in everyone’s individual and collective interest. Things do not work out randomly. They have to be worked out.”
― Salman Ahmed Shaikh, Reflections on the Origins in the Post COVID-19 World

“Like animals, humans also have consciousness, but they also have a conscience which gives them the ability to differentiate right from wrong actions. But, why we should adopt right and not wrong actions. Prof. Richard Dawkins said that it is necessary for survival. But, Prof. Dawkins needs to be asked that haven’t we evolved through mutations in the game of survival of the fittest. Rawls said ignorance of the veil shall be a guide to behave in a way so as not to be on the wrong side of someone’s prior irresponsible or unjust action.

But, living in any age, we exist and we do not come back again. In the lottery of who comes first in the world, we have already won and are here. Then, what can motivate preferences to act rightly and avoid wrong actions permanently and as a well-grounded behaviour, norm, and habit? The biggest motivation to act on the call to conscience is when there are deterministic rewards. The concept of deterministic rewards in life hereafter on the criterion of sincerity in virtuous and upright conduct in life by each person according to one’s ability and by each person according to personal circumstances makes every living moment in this life meaningful.”
― Salman Ahmed Shaikh, Reflections on the Origins in the Post COVID-19 World