Note: This is the English version of my series of blog posts 'Irtiq aur Islam'. If you would like to read the Roman Urdu versions, you can read them here:
Part 1 explains how scientific theory is different from normal use of the word 'theory', its significance for science and how it is one of the most credible source of scientific knowledge we have. I am not going to cover this part in English version. If you want information similar to what I wrote there in Roman Urdu you will find these websites useful:
http://www.nebscience.org/theory.html
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Scientific_theory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_theory
Part 2 covers a brief history of life from prokaryotes to humans. You will find these pages interesting and useful for information:
http://animals.about.com/od/evolution/ss/evolution_2.htm
http://humanorigins.si.edu/resources/intro-human-evolution
Part 3 expounds the mechanisms of evolution: Mutation, Migration, Genetic Drift and Natural Selection.
Part 4 goes into the details of natural selection. For the information in 3rd and 4th part check out these sites:
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/evo_01
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution
http://www.evolution.mbdojo.com/evolution-for-beginners.html
http://animals.about.com/od/evolution/ss/evolution.htm
http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange1/current/lectures/selection/selection.html
Part 5 and Part 6 states the Islamic arguments presented by Muslim Creationists against evolution and its counter-arguments by Muslim Evolutionists. This, is what I intend to cover in today's post.
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The concept of evolution is not something new for Muslims. Al-Jahiz (c 776-869), a Muslim scientist and philosopher, wrote a few lines in his book Kitab al-Haywan (Book of Animals) which are quite similar to the modern concept of 'Natural Selection'.
Some may ask, though, that if the case is as stated above why did the concept of evolution not spread in general Muslim public. Ghaffar Hussain tries to answer the question in this article and the 2 main reasons he explains for that are:
1. At that time the efforts were made to centralize the knowledge and it was not spread as widely as it is now. There used to be houses of knowledge in cities like Cordoba and Basra where scientists used to study and gain knowledge but such knowledge was confined to 'elites' so to speak. When these cities were conquered and destroyed, as Baghdad was in 1256 by Mongols, most of the knowledge was lost too.
2. The religious authorities, the clerics and the maulanas were even at that time, as now, regressive. They believed and preached that there should be no other source of knowledge except Quran and Muslim leaders at that time as well supported these religious authorities because of political reasons.
So according to Ghaffar Hussain it was due to these reasons that regressive ideology of the clerics spread around in the public while evolution did not and slowly along with the Christian rejection of evolution similar culture flourished in Muslim world as well.
While it is true that over the time Muslim theologians, philosophers and scientists have accepted the possibility of evolution, it is also true that many have rejected it as well. Majority of scholars who reject evolution believe that evolution contradicts Quran. Those who reject evolution could be divided into 2 groups:
1. Those who outright reject evolution and believe that God made all the organism simultaneously and sent them down to Earth.
2. Those who accept evolution in general but reject human evolution.
Those who totally reject evolution base their argument on 'Kun fayakun' (Be! And it was.). They contend that according to this concept in Quran, we must believe that when God wants to do something. He just orders it and it happens instantaneously. It doesn't take 3.8 billion years or anything.
Muslim evolutionists on the other hand, present the following ayah, which explains the birth of Jesus (P.B.U.H.) to counter the argument:
Another argument of those who totally reject evolution is something I, myself, have seen around quite a lot is:
The truth, however, is that this argument is presented by those who don't bother to do any research and are ignorant of the facts. For example, Maulana Abu-al-ala Maudoodi, who is a creationist by the way, while commenting on this ayah explains that in Surah al-Hajj ayah 47 God says:
Moving on to the group that rejects only the human evolution. Their main argument is based on this ayah:
Muslims evolutionists put forward several counter-arguments to this. One of them is that which Muhammad Asad (Lopald Weiss) presented in his book The Message of Quran. While others say that exegetes have interpreted and translated this from Biblical and Talmud's point of view. Nowhere in Quran can we find the details of when and how Eve was created from Adam. It isn't even clear that Eve was created out of Adam. This is only its biblical interpretation. The same has been said by Maudoodi in his commentary. For example if we look at alternative translations of this ayah we see:
Another argument of those who reject human evolution is that Adam was created in Jannah (paradise).and not on Earth so he could not have evolved.
Dr Usama Hasan and other evolutionists argue that this assertion of the creationists is controversial even amongst the orthodox commentators. It is doubtful that the Jannah in which Adam and Eve were created was the same Jannah in which Momineen go after dying. It could have been a 'walled garden' on Earth itself, as was believed by Ibn-e-Kathir and Al-Tabari.
Although anyrhing that isn't contrary to basic principles of Quran is acceptable in Islam. So just refuting the Islamic arguments against evolution is enough but some people go a step further and try to find proof of evolution in Quran. I will not mention those because I believe Quran is not a book of science, history or geography as some Muslims try to make it. Everything written in it is for the sole purpose of guiding man's individual, social and political life for the betterment of humans themselves and it so moulded as to cater to that. It is silly to try and derive sciences from it. But if someone would like to read some of such attempts, they can check the links at the end of this post.
There is one thing, however, which I believe is worth mentioning. It is something that was also mentioned by Professor Fatimah Jackson in a conference called 'Have Muslims Misunderstood Evolution?'organized by The Deen Institute. Which is that the scientists believe that all men currently alive have descended from a single woman called Mitochondrial Eve. Similarly it is believed that all men are also related to a single male called Y-chromosomal Adam. According to the most recent research both of them might have lived at the same time as well. Though scientists at the moment believe that they never actually met. So may be they are the same Adam and Eve mentioned in the scriptures?
God can do whatever he likes, no doubt about that, but anyone who has ever bothered to look at Quran will see that whenever He wants to show the proof of His existence and unity. He mentions the natural processes. He mentions their orderliness, their regularity. What does evolution teach us? Exactly that! It explains to us that everything that exists in this world exists for a reason. There is a regularity in the natural process. The only issue is that for science to do its work properly it has to believe that everything is mechanical and automatic. There is no reason for us to take out God from the equation if we believe that He is the cause behind everything that happens. Don't listen to these clerics, remember what I mentioned above? They never wanted us to get any knowledge anyways! All they think is halal for us to do is to listen to their stupid sermons and say Subhan'Allah smoking the opium of their religion night and day.
If anyone would like to do some more research on the topic they would find these links interesting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbynBJVTWKI%E2%80%8E
http://www.thecommentator.com/article/2440/the_muslim_theory_of_evolution
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2013/jan/11/muslim-thought-on-evolution-debate
http://www.al-bab.com/arab/islam_and_evolution.htm
http://www.understanding-islam.com/q-and-a/overview-of-islam/does-islam-refute-evolution-4989
http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/657
http://www.onislam.net/english/health-and-science/faith-and-the-sciences/419283-evolution-in-the-light-of-islam-.html
http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_151_200/islam_and_darwinism.htm
http://www.islamicity.com/articles/Articles.asp?ref=FY1303-5403
http://www.islamtomorrow.com/science/default.asp
http://www.islam21c.com/theology/2127-the-prophet-adam-and-human-evolution/
http://www.khalidzaheer.com/qa/397
http://www.ldolphin.org/islamcreat.html
http://www.studying-islam.org/articletext.aspx?id=1346
Part 1 explains how scientific theory is different from normal use of the word 'theory', its significance for science and how it is one of the most credible source of scientific knowledge we have. I am not going to cover this part in English version. If you want information similar to what I wrote there in Roman Urdu you will find these websites useful:
http://www.nebscience.org/theory.html
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Scientific_theory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_theory
Part 2 covers a brief history of life from prokaryotes to humans. You will find these pages interesting and useful for information:
http://animals.about.com/od/evolution/ss/evolution_2.htm
http://humanorigins.si.edu/resources/intro-human-evolution
Part 3 expounds the mechanisms of evolution: Mutation, Migration, Genetic Drift and Natural Selection.
Part 4 goes into the details of natural selection. For the information in 3rd and 4th part check out these sites:
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/evo_01
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution
http://www.evolution.mbdojo.com/evolution-for-beginners.html
http://animals.about.com/od/evolution/ss/evolution.htm
http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange1/current/lectures/selection/selection.html
Part 5 and Part 6 states the Islamic arguments presented by Muslim Creationists against evolution and its counter-arguments by Muslim Evolutionists. This, is what I intend to cover in today's post.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The concept of evolution is not something new for Muslims. Al-Jahiz (c 776-869), a Muslim scientist and philosopher, wrote a few lines in his book Kitab al-Haywan (Book of Animals) which are quite similar to the modern concept of 'Natural Selection'.
“Animals engage in a struggle for existence; for resources, to avoid being eaten and to breed. Environmental factors influence organisms to develop new characteristics to ensure survival, thus transforming into new species. Animals that survive to breed can pass on their successful characteristics to offspring.”Similarly, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi in his Akhlaq-i-Nasri presented a basic theory of evolution of species. It is interesting to note that it was the Muslims, perhaps, who first mentioned the descent of man from apes. Brethren of Purity, a 10th century secret society of Muslim philosophers, mentions the concept of evolution in such a way that it is considered pretty identical to the modern concept of evolution along with the mention of the possible descent of man from apes in its book The Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity. So much so that some people even speculate the possibility of Darwin's thought being influenced by this book to some extent, since this book was available with English translation in London at the time. Ibn Khaldun in his Muqaddimah (Prolegomena) and Ibn Sina (Avicenna) are said to have contemplated the possibility of evolution in their writings. While Ebn Meskavayh presented the idea of evolution most clearly in his al-Fawz al-Asghar. All this is indeed true but it would still be an exaggeration to attribute the theory of evolution to Muslims.
Some may ask, though, that if the case is as stated above why did the concept of evolution not spread in general Muslim public. Ghaffar Hussain tries to answer the question in this article and the 2 main reasons he explains for that are:
1. At that time the efforts were made to centralize the knowledge and it was not spread as widely as it is now. There used to be houses of knowledge in cities like Cordoba and Basra where scientists used to study and gain knowledge but such knowledge was confined to 'elites' so to speak. When these cities were conquered and destroyed, as Baghdad was in 1256 by Mongols, most of the knowledge was lost too.
2. The religious authorities, the clerics and the maulanas were even at that time, as now, regressive. They believed and preached that there should be no other source of knowledge except Quran and Muslim leaders at that time as well supported these religious authorities because of political reasons.
So according to Ghaffar Hussain it was due to these reasons that regressive ideology of the clerics spread around in the public while evolution did not and slowly along with the Christian rejection of evolution similar culture flourished in Muslim world as well.
While it is true that over the time Muslim theologians, philosophers and scientists have accepted the possibility of evolution, it is also true that many have rejected it as well. Majority of scholars who reject evolution believe that evolution contradicts Quran. Those who reject evolution could be divided into 2 groups:
1. Those who outright reject evolution and believe that God made all the organism simultaneously and sent them down to Earth.
2. Those who accept evolution in general but reject human evolution.
Those who totally reject evolution base their argument on 'Kun fayakun' (Be! And it was.). They contend that according to this concept in Quran, we must believe that when God wants to do something. He just orders it and it happens instantaneously. It doesn't take 3.8 billion years or anything.
Muslim evolutionists on the other hand, present the following ayah, which explains the birth of Jesus (P.B.U.H.) to counter the argument:
Indeed, the example of Jesus to Allah is like that of Adam. He created Him from dust; then He said to him, "Be," and he was. (Quran 3:59] Translation by Sahih International.Evolutionists argue that it is indeed true that Allah can do whatever he wants but here the God also mentions that he said, 'Be' and it was but Jesus didn't just pop out of thin air, did he? He was conceived and grew in the womb of Mary and passed through a whole natural process to be born. So 'kun fayakun' does not reject the possibility of a natural process over time and it does not mean that animals could not have evolved over the billion of years.
Another argument of those who totally reject evolution is something I, myself, have seen around quite a lot is:
It is argued that God created universe in 6 days and it didn't take 14 billion years.
Indeed, your Lord is Allah , who created the heavens and earth in six days.....(Quran 7:54). Translation by Sahih International.
The truth, however, is that this argument is presented by those who don't bother to do any research and are ignorant of the facts. For example, Maulana Abu-al-ala Maudoodi, who is a creationist by the way, while commenting on this ayah explains that in Surah al-Hajj ayah 47 God says:
And indeed, a day with your Lord is like a thousand years of those which you count.And in Surah al-Ma'arij ayah 4:
The angels and the Spirit will ascend to Him during a Day the extent of which is fifty thousand years.Maudoodi expounds that it is possible that these 6 days are 24 hour days but it is equally possible that these were actually 6 periods of time and it is only God who knows their actual meaning. Moreover, nowadays, it is popularly believed in Muslim world that these 6 'days' were actually 6 periods of time. So this argument is presented only by those who are ignorant of exegesis and interpretation of Quran.
Moving on to the group that rejects only the human evolution. Their main argument is based on this ayah:
By looking at this ayah it is speculated that 'single soul' in it means Adam, and Eve was created out of him. They contend, even if we are to believe that Adam descended from apes the creation of Eve still remains unexplained and miraculous and with the help of this they try to prove that human evolution did not occur.O mankind! Be careful of your duty to your Lord Who created you from a single soul and from it created its mate and from them twain hath spread abroad a multitude of men and women....(Quran 4:1) Transaltion by Pickthall
Muslims evolutionists put forward several counter-arguments to this. One of them is that which Muhammad Asad (Lopald Weiss) presented in his book The Message of Quran. While others say that exegetes have interpreted and translated this from Biblical and Talmud's point of view. Nowhere in Quran can we find the details of when and how Eve was created from Adam. It isn't even clear that Eve was created out of Adam. This is only its biblical interpretation. The same has been said by Maudoodi in his commentary. For example if we look at alternative translations of this ayah we see:
O mankind! reverence your Guardian-Lord, who created you from a single person, created, of like nature, His mate, and from them twain scattered (like seeds) countless men and women....(Quran 4:1) Translation by Yusuf Ali.
O people! be careful of (your duty to) your Lord, Who created you from a single being and created its mate of the same (kind) and spread from these two, many men and women;.... (Quran 4:1) Translation by Shakir.Looking at these it becomes pretty much clear that if we don't translate it by borrowing from Bible, it can also be taken to mean that the mate created was of like nature not that it was created from the other one. Or as Muhammad Asad writes it might even be wrong to interpret that Adam is the one mentioned here because the word 'nafs' mentioned in the ayah, which has been translated 'soul' by Pickthall, 'person' by Yusuf Ali and 'being' by Shakir can also mean (any) living entity. In either case evolutionists believe that this argument against evolution does not hold water.
Another argument of those who reject human evolution is that Adam was created in Jannah (paradise).and not on Earth so he could not have evolved.
Dr Usama Hasan and other evolutionists argue that this assertion of the creationists is controversial even amongst the orthodox commentators. It is doubtful that the Jannah in which Adam and Eve were created was the same Jannah in which Momineen go after dying. It could have been a 'walled garden' on Earth itself, as was believed by Ibn-e-Kathir and Al-Tabari.
Although anyrhing that isn't contrary to basic principles of Quran is acceptable in Islam. So just refuting the Islamic arguments against evolution is enough but some people go a step further and try to find proof of evolution in Quran. I will not mention those because I believe Quran is not a book of science, history or geography as some Muslims try to make it. Everything written in it is for the sole purpose of guiding man's individual, social and political life for the betterment of humans themselves and it so moulded as to cater to that. It is silly to try and derive sciences from it. But if someone would like to read some of such attempts, they can check the links at the end of this post.
There is one thing, however, which I believe is worth mentioning. It is something that was also mentioned by Professor Fatimah Jackson in a conference called 'Have Muslims Misunderstood Evolution?'organized by The Deen Institute. Which is that the scientists believe that all men currently alive have descended from a single woman called Mitochondrial Eve. Similarly it is believed that all men are also related to a single male called Y-chromosomal Adam. According to the most recent research both of them might have lived at the same time as well. Though scientists at the moment believe that they never actually met. So may be they are the same Adam and Eve mentioned in the scriptures?
God can do whatever he likes, no doubt about that, but anyone who has ever bothered to look at Quran will see that whenever He wants to show the proof of His existence and unity. He mentions the natural processes. He mentions their orderliness, their regularity. What does evolution teach us? Exactly that! It explains to us that everything that exists in this world exists for a reason. There is a regularity in the natural process. The only issue is that for science to do its work properly it has to believe that everything is mechanical and automatic. There is no reason for us to take out God from the equation if we believe that He is the cause behind everything that happens. Don't listen to these clerics, remember what I mentioned above? They never wanted us to get any knowledge anyways! All they think is halal for us to do is to listen to their stupid sermons and say Subhan'Allah smoking the opium of their religion night and day.
If anyone would like to do some more research on the topic they would find these links interesting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbynBJVTWKI%E2%80%8E
http://www.thecommentator.com/article/2440/the_muslim_theory_of_evolution
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2013/jan/11/muslim-thought-on-evolution-debate
http://www.al-bab.com/arab/islam_and_evolution.htm
http://www.understanding-islam.com/q-and-a/overview-of-islam/does-islam-refute-evolution-4989
http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/657
http://www.onislam.net/english/health-and-science/faith-and-the-sciences/419283-evolution-in-the-light-of-islam-.html
http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_151_200/islam_and_darwinism.htm
http://www.islamicity.com/articles/Articles.asp?ref=FY1303-5403
http://www.islamtomorrow.com/science/default.asp
http://www.islam21c.com/theology/2127-the-prophet-adam-and-human-evolution/
http://www.khalidzaheer.com/qa/397
http://www.ldolphin.org/islamcreat.html
http://www.studying-islam.org/articletext.aspx?id=1346
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