Zakir Naik Is Embarrassing

13:25

2 Mar 2018

Evolution

Apostate Prophet

The Apostate Prophet in this video blog (vlog) discusses a video clip of a debate between Adnan Jahangir, an ex-Muslim, and Zakir Naik regarding the theory of evolution. (Details about the clip below.)  The Apostate Prophet, also an ex-Muslim, draws out a few points to discuss more thoroughly.

His first point is about Zakir Naik’s construction of his own authority by pointing out he’s a medical doctor.  The Apostate Prophet mocks this by inserting the clip of Naik saying “a medical doctor” repeatedly.

In his discussion, the Apostate Prophet points out that Naik presents several common misconceptions about evolution, generously assuming that Naik does not know they are misconceptions.  The first of these is the theory/fact construction, discussed more below.  The second is the “inbetween humans and monkeys” error, which also includes the false statement about human descent from apes.  In all these cases, the Apostate Prophet accurately presents Naik’s errors, and corrects the fallacy.

The definition of a scientific theory versus the word theory in common usage is often a topic discussed based on this clip.  In the original clip, Naik and Jahangir debate this extensively, but the Apostate Prophet boils down their conversation and tries to spend more time detailing the difference between the two uses.  He does not provide any sources beyond showing a Wikipedia page for “theory”.  (See the evaluation on the right for links to brief, accurate presentations.) Towards the end of the video, he presents an image showing the relationship between gravity, Newton’s law, and Einstein’s theory that helps clarify the relationship among them.

The video clip used in this vlog is from a lecture Naik gave on 10 July 2014 at the Al Multaqa Ramadan Forum in Dubai. Naik’s talk was “If the Label Shows Your Intent, Wear It“.  The discussion of evolution occurs during the question-and-answer portion of the talk.  The clip of this part in full may be seen here.  There is also an interview of Adnan Jahangir discussing his experience.

The Apostate Prophet is also known as Ridvan Aydemir.  He is active on a variety of social media, and regularly produces vlogs on a variety of topics.

Evaluation:

Islam:  There is very little here that touches on Islam.  The Apostate Prophet correctly points out that Naik errs when suggesting that the Qurʾān says anything about a “theory of creation”.

Science:  The Apostate Prophet mocks Zakir Naik for using his medical degree to imply he knows anything about science.  Although the Apostate Prophet’s discussion of theory/fact is sometimes a bit rough (see this good, short definition of a scientific theory, and this video for a short discussion of it by a Muslim in terms of evolution), by the end he’s providing clearer examples.

History:  There is not much history here, but the Apostate Prophet provides the clips from the original video in which Adnan Jihangir provides an accurate historical response to Naik’s construction of evolution being only what Darwin presented 150 years ago.