Evolution in Qur'an
Views on evolution are diverse, ranging from theistic evolution to Old Earth Creationism.[1] Most Muslims around the world believe "humans and other living things have evolved over time," yet some others believe they have "always existed in present form".[2] Muslim thinkers have proposed and accepted elements of the theory of evolution, some holding the belief of the supremacy of God in the process. One modern scholar, Usaama al-Azami, suggested that both narratives of creation and of evolution, as understood by modern science, may be believed by modern Muslims as addressing two different kinds of truth, the revealed and the empirical.[3]
Qur’an is 14 centuries old and the last of the divine books, more than six centuries after the Bible, when humanity had further developed and circumstances changed. It is perhaps the most in-depth, comprehensive and commensurate with the changing circumstances. It came up with a more detailed account of the creation, monitoring social relations and addressing economic, political and even military matters. The evolution in terms of adaptability, change and progress are manifested by the tactful precision and the beauty of creation around us, and may justify the term “divine evolution”. Recently, a range of Christian views about how evolution relates to religious beliefs, has emerged under various terms ; theistic evolution, theistic evolutionism and evolutionary creationism, which give the evolution a “divine” connotation.[4]
Neither proving nor denying the existence of the Creator, are tasks for science, conversely, faith does not require a scientific proof of God.[5] “Evolutionary theories” and “Creation” are not at odds.
Extremism on both sides of the argument has widened the gap of skepticism and exaggerated the dissonance between the proponents of divine creation and those of evolutionism. Historically, religious fanatics were on one side of the argument while the atheists on the other, during an era when the knowledge that we now have was largely unavailable. Both have failed to accommodate and assimilate the views and facts put forward by the other or engage in a constructive debate. With time, the debate has taken the course of dogmatic absolutism rather than constructive objectivity. This dissonance gets tougher, on the issue of evolution which is seen by some believers as blasphemy, while they consider cosmic discoveries and theories as evidence of God.
Evolutionism like all scientific concepts, explained the workings of the universe and natural forces and phenomena and described the principles which governed these processes, albeit without referring to “who decreed these laws?”, because this is not relevant to the “scientific methodology”. “Evolution” being the process of progression, is compatible with divine creation. It scientifically described and explained the emergence of species, just like other natural sciences had described the atom, gravity, chemicals etc. All are “components of the same plan”, which sets the “Existence” into motion by God and have astonishing similarities which point to the conformity of creation, thence the Creator.
Natural Selection and Adaptation[edit]
Verses[edit]
Nuh (14) “Seeing He created you in different phases?”
Al-Rum (22) “And of His signs is the creation of the heavens and earth and the variety of your tongues and hues……...”
At the heart of Darwin’s theory lies natural selection which is based on adaptation, but Darwin explained the emergence of various species i.e. “speciation”, on the basis of mutation. “Adaptation” has been pursued by later naturalists, and it accords with Verse, Nuh (14) “Seeing He created you in different phases?”. But, mutation as a mechanism for producing new species, has been rejected by many naturalists after Darwin and contradicts all the divine books. Richard Forty said; There is no evidence that mutation occurs in animals, and it is an adaptive process in the plant which does not produce new types,[6] and believes in natural selection and adaptation.
After Darwin’s theory of evolution, other evolutionary theories have emerged, which are essentially adaptive, but describe various mechanisms for the emergence of new species, which perhaps infers that none of them is conclusive ; like genetic flow, genetic drift, adaptive radiation and convergent radiation. Neo-Darwinian naturalists have also added other evolutionary mechanisms to Darwin’s theory, some of which have overlapped with other sciences; physics, chemistry, mathematics, cosmology, nuclear sciences, psychology, history and social and humanity sciences, to name a few. Interestingly, the physicist Brian Cox has indicated that amino acids, the building blocks of DNA, contain carbon which is continuously supplied by dying suns, so carbon-based cosmos and creatures can mean that “natural selection” is a universal law.
The vast number and diversity of theories, hypotheses and laws, implies two things; first, it is difficult or even impossible to find a singular theory that can explain the emergence of creatures and “existence” as a whole, second, is the comprehensiveness and uniformity of creation. The multitude of hypotheses to explain the same thing might indicate failure to verify their individual validity.
Darwin and other evolutionary naturalists have drawn our attention to the evolutionary essence of the “divine creation” and they were not the first. Carl Linnaeus ,the 18th century scientist, 100 yrs. before Darwin, published "Systema Naturae", a book in which he said that “ New varieties of plants could arise through hybridization, but only under certain limits fixed by God”. He is perhaps the first evolutionary creationist Charles Darwin (1809-1882) wrote 3 years before he died “I have never been an atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God.".[7]
References[edit]
- ↑ Chang, Kenneth (2009-11-02). "Creationism, Without a Young Earth, Emerges in the Islamic World". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-04-24
- ↑ "The World's Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society" (PDF). Pew Research Center. April 30, 2013.
- ↑ al-Azami, Usaama. "Muslims and Evolution in the 21st Century: A Galileo Moment?". Huffington Post Religion Blog. Retrieved 19 February 2013
- ↑ Al-Ali, Muneer."A Scientific Tafsir of Qur'anic Verses; Interplay of Faith and Science: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (Amazon), South Carolina, USA Hard copy and Electronic Kindle ISBN 978-1480169968 Search this book on
.
- ↑ “Albert Einstein: Religion and Science,” New York Times Magazine, November 9, 1930, pp 1–4. It has been reprinted in (Ideas and Opinions, Crown Publishers, Inc. 1954, pp 36–40). It also appears in Einstein’s book, The World as I See It, (New York: Philosophical Library, 1949), pp. 24–28.
- ↑ Fortey, Richard, Survivors “Great Dying”, BBC, on 24 Jan. 2012.
- ↑ Desmond, Adrian; Moore, James (1991). Darwin. London: Michael Joseph, Penguin Group. ISBN 0-7181-3430-3 Search this book on ..
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