Richard Dawkins on Muslim news channel
10:14
13 Feb 2009
Evolution
Riz Khan
Richard Dawkins
This user-augmented video is of an undated episode of Riz Khan’s al-Jazeera English show, Questions & Answers, interviewing Richard Dawkins about evolution. The original show includes questions from viewers around the world; Dawkins presents views strongly in favor of a position supporting both atheism and evolution.
However, the user, probably the one on whose YouTube space the video is found (Wallidjan, www.wallidjan.co.uk) has added blocks of text on nearly every screen with Dawkins. In a few cases they have something to do with what Dawkins says, but generally the text promotes a perspective that seems to support finding evolution in the Qurʾān (although without stating where) and an intelligent designer (as the evolution “was not blind or random”).
The viewers participating present a variety of perspectives.
Evaluation:
The Islamic perspectives presented in the user-created text are within the bounds of what Muslims have historically understood as acceptable. Those who call into the show are also presenting the wide range of Muslim ideas on the topic. Dawkins’ ideas are completely outside the bounds of what Muslims have historically understood as acceptable.
The science presented in the user-created text is problematic. Evolutionary biologists do not support intelligent design.
There is insufficient historical material on which to base an evaluation.
About Richard Dawkins
Born in Nairobi, Kenya on March 26, 1941, Richard Dawkins is an English scientist famous for his writings on evolution and atheism, his advocacy for the ideas of Charles Darwin, and his critical views of religion. Dawkins moved back to England in 1949, and eventually received his undergraduate degree from Balliol College, Oxford University in 1962. Four years later in 1966, Dawkins had earned his doctorate from Oxford and moved to California to teach zoology at the University of California, Berkeley, though in 1970 he returned to Oxford to teach.
Dawkins specializes in animal behaviour, though the majority of his research has fallen under the field of evolutionary biology since 1965. He is most well known for his first book, The Selfish Gene, which became an international bestseller when published in 1976. In it, Dawkins conveyed his ideas about the co-evolution of genes and ‘memes’ (a term loosely defined as a unit of imitation in regards to culture and society, coined by Dawkins himself) in addition to discussing his ardent atheist beliefs. Dawkins has published several bestsellers since, most notably The Blind Watchmaker (1986) and The God Delusion (2008).
As of 2015, Dawkins still lectures quite frequently around the world, maintains his Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science and has millions of followers between his Facebook and Twitter pages. In addition, a large collection of his work is currently being put together on a Wakelet.
Selected Bibliography:
Dawkins, Richard. Twitter. Twitter, n.d. Accessed 13 June 2015.
“Richard Clinton Dawkins.” World of Sociology. Gale, 2001. Biography in Context. Accessed 13 June 2015.
“Richard Dawkins – The Ultimate Collection.” Wakelet. N.p., n.d. Accessed 13 June 2015.
“Richard Dawkins Bio.” Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. Richard Dawkins Foundation, n.d. Accessed 13 June 2015.
“Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science.” Facebook. Facebook, n.d. Accessed 13 June 2015.
Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. Richard Dawkins Foundation, n.d. Accessed 13 June 2015.