[bpsdb] What do you get when a creationist doctor, with an interest in the comparative study of religions, attempts to merge evolution with Islam? You get extra-terrestrial cows, proof that Darwin was a Muslim, and one of the strangest books published.

The author is one Dr Imad Hassan, a Sudanese doctor who came to Britain in 1991, and maintains an interesting website for his book and associated ideas. Hassan certainly seems to be well-intentioned - he spoke up for British teacher who was imprisoned in Sudan over the notorious teddy bear incident for example - but his views are rather unconventional.

Hassan is a Muslim doctor who has studied the bible, and so unsurprisingly he is interested in reconciling a collection of disparate viewpoints. His book revolves around the idea that the Bible and Qur'an can be reinterpreted to fit with evolutionary theory, but then oddly he throws aliens and intelligent design into the mix. In his own words:

The book proves that all the living beings on Earth originated from one cell and evolved over billions of years. Humans were lower species that were converted later into intelligent beings. The only exception is the group of cattle ‘camels, cows, sheep and goats’ which has a completely different path of evolution. This different evolutionary path was meant to facilitate the civilisation of the intelligent humans, to draw our attention to our shared origin with the rest of the earthly living beings, as well as to prove that evolution is divinely planned and controlled.

Quite a mixture, I'm sure you'll agree. The really weird part is when we get to the camels, cows, sheep and goats, which for some reason Dr. Hassan has decided are not related to other forms of life on Earth.

The Cow is a sacred animal in Hinduism…weird?

The Cow is the name of the longest sura ‘chapter’ in the Qur’an…more weird?

The Cow was the first god the monotheist Jews worshipped immediately after leaving Egypt to Sinai…oohh…that is really weird!

Well no, none of it's particularly weird given how important cattle were to these cultures, the fact that so many previous cultures worshipped animals (like the, er, Egyptians) and the fact that the three cultures were so heavily linked for much of their history. If they all worshipped kangaroos I'd be intrigued, but this just makes me yawn I'm afraid.

Dr Mark Thomas, UCL published a paper in February 2007 revealing for the first time that Europeans developed the gene lactase which produces the enzyme lactase that digests the sugar lactose only 7000 years ago. He concluded that Europeans could not have digested cow’s milk, rich in lactose, before these dates. He assumed that cows must have been introduced to Europe from the Middle East around that time, which must have triggered the evolutionary changes and created the gene lactase…since it is evolutionarily explained, then it is not very weird!

But does Dr Thomas, or any other scientist, have any evidence that there was a single cow on earth before this date?

Well yes, there are cattle remains from Syria dating back to 9,000 years ago, and analysis of mitochondrial DNA suggests that two distinct subspecies of domestic cattle diverged more than 10,000 years ago. In fact cattle were domesticated from wild Aurochs, gigantic and formidable creatures that Julius Caeser described as being the size of elephants, and which were driven to extinction a few centuries ago. The evidence we have suggests Aurochs were in India as long as two million years ago, perhaps longer.

The general perception amongst evolutionists is that: all species have evolved from one common origin, although there is no concrete evidence that there are no exceptions to this generalisation.

This is a slightly disingenuous statement. There can never be concrete evidence that something has never existed. But never mind, because here we come to the end of any sort of logic:

Camels, cows, sheep and goats were created outside this planet and were brought down to the ape man ‘ Adams ’ after they were converted to intelligent beings.

God only knows what evidence Hassan has to back up this claim, but given his lack of knowledge about the scientific evidence concerning the origins of these creatures, I'm not holding my breathe. I am sorely tempted to buy the book though.