Episode 31 – Wake Up!

Peace be upon you. Let us see whether everything our children study in schools and universities is fact—or whether there are politicised aspects through which they are misled by myths that contradict facts established for 130 years.

Let us tell you a shocking story that sums up much about science and Western scientists. It is the story of the "whale's rear legs". So stay with us.

The Myth of the Whale's Rear Legs

If you asked followers of the evolution myth, "What are your clearest examples of evolution?" they would tell you: the evolution of whales.

Bring us evidence for the evolution of the whale. They say: the whale's rear bones. At the back of the whale are two bones with no use. Clearly, they are remnants of the pelvic and leg bones of a land animal that lived 52 million years ago, then underwent random mutations and natural selection until it became the whale we see; and these two bones remained as witnesses to chance and purposelessness. If God created living beings, then why would He place useless bones in a whale?

Perhaps the first to describe these bones as useless was the book "Biology by Curtis and Barnes" in 1989, which called them "Useless vestigial organs / Useless vestiges": that is, useless relics.

Then most—if not all—biology books in Western universities, and those approved in Arab universities as well, followed it in describing these bones as useless remnants, such as "Glencoe Biology", "Modern Biology", "Biology By Raven and Johnson", and others and others.

Hardly any biology textbook studied by students of medicine, pharmacy, nursing, and biology—or by school pupils in the international "IG" and "SAT" programmes—lacks these illustrations and statements affirming that these bones have no function. All of this comes under the title "evidence for evolution".

You can scarcely listen to one of the myth's godfathers without hearing him speak delightedly of these bones as proof of evolution, such as Jerry Coyne and Richard Dawkins.

"Wake Up": Discovering the Function of the Rear Bones

Then what happened? In 2014, one evolutionary journal—indeed, a journal named after the myth itself, Evolution—published a paper entitled: "Sexual selection targets pelvic bones in dolphins and whales."

Suddenly, after this research, news websites were filled with headlines such as: "Whale reproduction depends greatly on pelvic bones."

• Really?! So they have a function?
• Not merely a function: they are indispensable to reproduction, and without them these whales would not exist.

One site even said: "A recent study has turned a long-standing evolutionary belief upside down by proving that pelvic bones play an important role in mating." And Smithsonian.com—highly partisan toward the myth—headlined: "Whales benefit from their pelvic bones."

Fine, excellent... did those websites then admit that this weakens the evolution myth, after the collapse of an argument on which they had relied heavily? Of course not. Rather, they inserted evolutionary words—"evolutionary" and "evolved"—at the beginning of their articles and credited evolution with these bones and their function.

As though they were saying: Truth must disappear so that the myth may live on; whoever makes stubbornness his mount will spend his whole life falling into pits.

Yet we would like to say to the many websites that published this news: "Wake up." The scientific paper in Evolution that caused this commotion was not about proving that pelvic bones are essential for mating. That has been an accepted, long-known fact, as the introduction to the paper makes clear.

Followers of the myth, do you not read?! I myself took the trouble to read the paper. In its introduction I found a paragraph stating that many people had imagined these bones to be useless, and that this is untrue because they are important for mating. The authors then explain their already-known importance for mating and name (11) scientific studies detailing it; they also include a diagram showing the connection of these bones to the reproductive organs in whales.

So the function of these bones in whale mating was already known. It was not the subject of the 2014 research paper. Its subject was to study the differences in the shape of these bones among different species of whales and dolphins, and to show that their sizes and shapes correspond to the internal organs of the whale or dolphin in ways that assist mating.

In other words, once again: what supporters of the myth turn into a doubt to mislead those deceived by them becomes, through sound science, new evidence for thoughtful people of precision, mastery, and that everything has been determined with exact measure.

The History of Knowing the Bones' Function

Wait... let us return to the previous research cited by that paper as work detailing these bones' role in mating. The strange surprise, brothers, is that the first scientific paper to discuss the importance of these bones in mating was Struthers's paper in 1881. 1881: one year before Darwin himself died.

So the fact that these bones are important for mating was known in Darwin's time, not through the 2014 paper as the "scientific" websites imagined. Indeed, it was known in the days of my great-great-grandfather—may God have mercy on them both.

This Struthers was a follower of the myth. I went back to his paper too and found that he studied and drew these bones in detail, then explained in detail their relationship to whales' sexual organs. Struthers says that these bones are remnants of the legs of creatures from which whales evolved, and that their function in whales changed so as to be confined to mating.

Let us leave aside this amusing stubbornness in order to prove the myth. What matters is that Struthers explained the importance of these bones in detail more than 130 years ago. Many researchers came after him to confirm the same fact in their studies published in 1885, 1907, 1918, 1966, 1998, 2004, 2007, 2009. All these studies mention the bones' role in mating as an accepted fact, then move to another, more detailed subject.

Misleading School Textbooks

But wait... is this not absurd? Assuming that bones once used for walking became bones for mating? How did Struthers assume that the thigh bone evolved into bones connected to the whale's sexual organs to help it mate? How did he assume that without evidence? We are already making a mess of it, so why stop there? Why do we not erase the fact that they help with mating and retain the assumption that they evolved from a land creature?

This is the magic touch performed by "Biology by Curtis and Barnes". Instead of the sentence, "These bones are evolutionary remnants important to whale mating," the sentence became: "These bones are evolutionary remnants, and they are useless." Then a vast number of approved textbooks followed "Biology by Curtis and Barnes", as we saw.

• Approved textbooks, taught by doctors and professors in universities, and subject to scrutiny, review, and updating every year or every few years?
• Yes—how?!

At the end of the Evolution paper that caused the stir in 2014, the researchers—who are also followers of the myth—again affirm the role of these bones in whale mating and describe those who say they are unimportant as non-specialists in whales. Non-specialists? Fine, where are the specialists to draw attention to this grave error that has polluted biology textbooks with a myth contradicting a fact known for 130 years?

Therefore we say to the scientific websites that published that a benefit of the bones at the back of the whale had finally been discovered: "Wake up." This fact has been known for 130 years, but many followers of the myth do not take the trouble to read.

So we offer the followers of the myth this advice—listen to it: "That is why, in science, you cannot take a book from 100 years ago and tell me that you are criticising evolution. You cannot... science requires continuous updating. If you rely completely on a book written even 5 years or 4 years ago, you may fall into scientific scandals. If you speak about science, you must follow it constantly. Science has no sleep; no one can sleep, wake up, and then keep up with science. It does not work." Exactly. Well said, thank you.

Let us see how they keep up with science. They say: well, what are these two parts? These two rear limbs in this enormous streamlined body that swims in the water. True, there are no two hind limbs visible, are there? But if you penetrate the internal structure, you will be amazed and find a group of very small bones, much smaller than the bones in the flipper.

But when these bones are studied and examined, it becomes completely clear that they are the bones of two rear limbs, remaining bones. Of course, they are of absolutely no use, according to the consensus of biologists. These bones are inside the body, clear? And it is clear that they are not adapted at all—not in the least—to an animal with this streamlined shape. They have no use whatsoever and are not needed. Why, then, are they there? Why are they embedded at the end of this body? They are vestiges, of course... of two rear limbs that were once useful and necessary for a Tetrapod, a four-limbed creature that walked on four. Of course it did not walk in water; surely it walked on land. Amazing and strange evidence, yes, amazing and strange evidence. Of course, they are of absolutely no use according to the consensus of biologists. Of course, they are of no use by consensus. So there are people to whom we say: wake up; and there are those who have not yet awakened.

Let us see what our children are taught in videos translated into Arabic and published in 2016, supposedly to enlighten minds and spread science: (narrator's voice): "Modern whales have no legs, but they do have a pair of strange little bones where hips and legs would be expected. Here is a picture of these bones. Is this similarity mere coincidence? Or are these real leg bones? Perhaps remnants of whales' evolutionary history."

Rather, let us see the most famous approved international textbooks, studied by our children in universities and schools, especially in the IG and SAT programmes. Surely they were ashamed of this scandal and corrected the mistake, were they not?

Let us look at "Holt Biology", taught to Muslim children in the international SAT programme. Its 2011 edition still misleads them with the whale's rear bones. So go back today to your son and daughter, brother, and show them this episode so they know how they are being fooled.

What about the well-known worldwide "Biology by Raven And Johnson" in its latest edition from 2017? No, that cannot be; surely they corrected the error, did they not? Let us look at page 434. Not yet! It still repeats the same lie and tells students that these bones "have no apparent function"; it tells them that "it is difficult to understand these functionless organs except as evolutionary remnants from the past."

Other Scientific Scandals

This scandal, brothers, resembles the scandal of Haeckel's embryo drawings, which we showed in the episode For the Sake of the Myth had been exposed as false more than a century ago, in 1909. Yet approved "Text books" and websites supporting the myth continue to circulate them to this day, side by side with the myth that whale rear bones are useless and with many other myths.

These same books still say that the appendix has no function, as in "Biology by Raven And Johnson", 2017 edition, page 992. Yet we showed in the episode Got You! that the followers of the myth themselves had discovered many years ago that this too is a lie.

Some of these books bear the title "Modern biology". Modern! Yet they have not updated their information for 130 years. It is as though they say: what is the problem? We believe in evolution, and evolution takes millions of years; therefore, after millions of years, you will find this "vestigial" piece of information—in English—has disappeared from our books.

But I bring you good news, brothers. In 2018—only months or weeks ago—the fifth edition of "Essentials of Biology" was issued by the well-known global publisher McGraw-Hill’s. To be fair, they did not repeat the same lie. Its smell had spread. So what did they do? Did the authors admit that these bones are essential to whales' survival and apologise for the error in the earlier editions? Of course not. They did not mention these rear bones at all, as though they did not exist. Frankly, it is a scandal. Something you used as evidence for decades turns into evidence against you?! Then there is no need to mention it. Do not mention it at all.

But what do we do with the evolution of whales, which we consider the clearest example—especially when every claimed stage has a comic story, as we shall see, God willing? They therefore moved the lie that the bones have no use to another creature on the alleged ladder of whale evolution: Rodhocetus.

• Who, excuse me?
• Rodhocetus.
• Pleased to meet you.
• Fine, may we see this fellow and examine him to see the story of his bones as well?
• No, sorry, he died.
• He died?! When?
• 30 million years ago.
• Can you prove that we are wrong and that his bones were not pointless? We challenge you.

And you find the 2018 book repeating another lie about the protrusions at the back of snakes. It claims that they are useless evolutionary remnants, remnants of the legs of a four-limbed creature from which snakes evolved. The same lie repeated by other approved textbooks, although it has also been discovered, for at least 40 years, in published scientific research that these protrusions are claws or spurs that help snakes during mating and in conflict between males. They are not useless legs, as those who scorn people's minds promote.

Perhaps we should wait another 130 years for the books to hide this lie and turn its page, while they discover new lies that keep the myth suspended on its bridges so that it does not fall... Thus followers of the myth look for any protrusion in any creature in order to say: "useless evolutionary remnants."

Sound Science versus Pseudoscience

If you, believer in the evolution myth, respect science and are so zealous for scientific facts, then I respect sound science and am more zealous for it than you are. By God's grace, we excelled in the biological sciences and distinguished ourselves in the academic stage. I do not merely receive science from the West; I contribute to it through published research, patents, correcting the equations on which experimental research is built, and correcting errors in approved "text books" in some fields.

Yes... I love the sound science in the books mentioned. As for the pages of false science, "pseudoscience", ideologised to serve the myth, respect for science has taught me that these pages are fit only for wrapping lupin beans—in our local expression. But with a recommendation to make sure those papers contain no lead or any health contaminant, just as they contain mental contaminants, especially since they are coloured.

Other Examples of Misinterpretation

There is much more, brothers, but I do not want to take too long, so I refer you to some sources.

The Giraffe and the Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve

The giraffe—do you remember, brothers? Do you remember its magnificent systems, the special system for pumping blood to the brain and preventing it from accumulating in the legs, and how NASA took inspiration from its model and tried to imitate it? Followers of the myth leave all that aside; it means nothing to them. Rather, they say of the giraffe's recurrent laryngeal nerve: "But the strange thing is, he did not notice the implication, he did not grasp the implication... he did not ask: why does this nerve take this long loop, which apparently is a stupid, foolish loop? There is no need for it. Why did this happen?"

No need for it! That is what they say... Therefore, brothers, I refer you to this article from our brothers at "Muslim Researchers" so that you can see how evidence of greatness and precise design becomes, for followers of the myth, evidence of chance and randomness.

Conclusion and Questions

There is much more. Today we spoke about one element of the alleged evolution of whales. Stephen Jay Gould, one of those who formulated modern Darwinism, after reviewing the alleged evolution of whales and the evidence of the whale's useless bones—as he claimed—said delightedly of whale evolution: "It is a fossil victory. I cannot imagine a better story to represent science to the public, nor a more persuasive and rational political victory over backward creationists."

There is much more, but this much is enough for whoever seeks guidance. What has preceded is a warning to one stung by the priests of false science and their Arab godfathers. A believer is not stung from the same hole twice.

We may ask: by God, if the protagonists of this resounding scientific scandal had been devout Muslim authors of textbooks, how would Muslim youth themselves—impressed by the West and renting out their minds to it—view them? Would this not be a scandal for which publishing houses would be shut down, or at least prosecuted for giving misleading information to students and doctors?

From the story of the whale's rear bones, brothers, we learned much. Our understanding grew more and more that what supporters of the myth take as a doubt concerning creation becomes, through sound science, new evidence for God's saying: “The work of Allah, who perfected all things.” [An-Naml 27:88]

We also learned that we must warn our children in universities and schools so that they do not become new victims of backward information and politicised false science. And from the story of whale bones we learned to smile when someone who has rented out his mind tells you: "You are obsessed with a global conspiracy against religion. All the books teach evolution; all universities teach evolution. This is science, brother—science."

Let us ask: when we see these myths cling to books for decades, indeed for more than a century, despite the books' extensive review in all matters except the myth, are these all merely mistakes? Or is science being politicised? Or is science being used to mislead people? I will not answer; I leave the answer to you...

But later, at its proper place in Journey of Certainty, God willing, we will have an important pause with extremely shocking and documented facts, including some from my own experience, in which we answer these questions.

But it is very important to end with what we began with. Suppose, brother, that you have not watched any of the three episodes: (Got You!), (The Cocktail), and (Wake Up). You are not required to search for an explanation for every question we mentioned. Rather, while sitting with one leg over the other and drinking coffee, you could tell the follower of the myth: "The burden of proof is on you: prove that the very creatures whose parts you demand that I explain can be produced by your randomness and your blind selection. This is our sufficient rational and logical answer. Everything stated in these three episodes was merely a side note, an “incidentally”, to tell the godfathers of the myth: read and learn before you speak, you ignorant people."

O God, teach us what benefits us, benefit us by what You have taught us, and make us guides who are rightly guided. Peace be upon you.

(Quran recitation): “This is the creation of Allah. So show Me what those other than Him have created. Rather, the wrongdoers are in clear error.” [Luqman 31:11]