Evolution and Islam: Difference between revisions

While the study of human evolution is a field regularly enriched by new discoveries and uncertainty regarding the exact ancestral relationships between the various hominid species, there is a scientific consensus on common ancestry - that humans evolved as part of the family tree of life on Earth. It is beyond the scope of this article to provided detailed evidence of human evolution. It suffices to point out that the fact that modern humans evolved and share a common ancestor with all life on earth is backed by multiple lines of evidence, including overwhelming DNA evidence and the numerous fossils of pre-Homo sapiens species that lived on earth for millions of years prior to the evolution of modern humans.<ref>[http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence What does it mean to be human?] - Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History website</ref>  

To give just a couple of examples, powerful DNA evidence that humans have common ancestry with other primates includes [[w:Endogenous_retrovirus|endogenous retroviruses]]. These viral remnants in our genome are now thought to have played a role in our evolutionary development in many cases, but must have been passed down after infecting the germline cells of our common ancestors shared with various other primates. We know this because they appear in the exact same locations of our genome and that of certain primate families. Additionally, for the most part they correlate with what is expected from other evidence regarding the timing of the various points at which each primate family split off from our own lineage (or are otherwise explained by independent evidence).<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXfDF5Ew3Gc DNA Evidence That Humans & Chimps Share A Common Ancestor: Endogenous Retroviruses] - Youtube.com</ref><ref>For a detailed and balanced discussion of the evidence relating ERVs to human evolution, see Jorritsma RN.  (2022) [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8781664/ How Well Does Evolution Explain Endogenous Retroviruses?-A Lakatosian Assessment.] Viruses. 14(1):14. doi: 10.3390/v14010014. PMID: 35062218; PMCID: PMC8781664.</ref> Another powerful genetic line of evidence is the fusion of two primate chromosomes to become chromosome 2 in humans.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK3O6KYPmEw Professor Ken Miller on DNA fusion events] - Youtube.com</ref>

One modern interpretation of this verse claims that instead of clay being a building material for the first man, the word "began" refers rather to the earliest pools of water and clay where life began according to one scientific theory (ultimately leading to the evolution of humans). But there is no major model of [[w:abiogenesis|abiogenesis]] which considers clay itself essential for life (as opposed to a replication surface or catalyst).

More importantly, the very next verse clarifies that this refers to the first man, since his descendants are created from conventional sexual reproduction:

The Quranic six day creation account describes in {{Quran-range|41|9|10}} a four day period during which the nourishment on Earth and its mountains were created. The next two verses {{Quran-range|41|11|12}} then describe the creation of the heavens in two days. Scientifically, however, the evolution of life on earth and [[w:Food chain|food chains]] is an ongoing process which has never ceased.

At least one or some combination of the verses set out in this section are typically quoted by proponents of evolution (or human evolution) in the Quran because they mention that Allah "repeats" his creation. Supposedly, this sounds a bit like evolution. However, this is a distortion of the verses, which are about a future creation of each person after their death. This is so that they can return to Allah after death and be condemned or rewarded. This purpose is most explicit in the first verse quoted below, Q. 10:4. As with some of the other passages quoted in this article, according to classical commentaries these verses are concerned with the future resurrection of the dead. Indeed, the Quran has many other verses aimed at critics who doubted the possibility of resurrection. None of the verses unambiguously mention repeated creation as having occurred in the past on Earth.  

The word translated "stages" is aṭwāran (أَطْوَارًا), which means states or conditions<ref>aṭwāran أَطْوَارًا - [http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume5/00000175.pdf Lane's Lexicon page 1890]</ref> There is no evidence given anywhere to indicate that these ''stages'' refer to evolution. Indeed, in responding to their lack of faith, these verses expect the Quran's 7th century listeners to understand the meaning, which could hardly then be evolution. The tafsir of Ibn Kathir suggests that the topic may have been the stages of [[Embryology in the Qur'an|embryology]] described elsewhere in the Quran.<ref>[http://m.qtafsir.com/Surah-Nooh/What-Nuh-said-when-He-called-H--- Tafsir of Ibn Kathir for Q. 71:13-14]</ref> Since this verse comes immediately after a speech by Noah to his people, alternatively it could be a reference to the pre and post-flood stages of mankind's history.  

This is an outright mistranslation and Muslim apologists even insert some words of their own liking in parentheses. You can see the valid translations [http://islamawakened.com/quran/6/2/default.htm here]. A more typical and accurate translation is as follows (Sahih international):

The phrase "raised you up from the posterity of other people" has been claimed to describe the hominid ancestors of man. However, it is in keeping with several descriptions of destroyed cities elsewhere in the Qur'an, all of which are attributed to Allah (for example the people of 'Ad as successors of Thamud, or the destruction of everyone except Noah and his family by the flood). Even supposing that the verse relates modern humans to earlier hominid species, other verses discussed above nevertheless trace mankind ultimately to the creation of Adam from clay, which is not compatible with the common ancestry of all life on Earth.

This verse is also sometimes cited as a reference to human evolution. However, the context is clear a few verses earlier in {{Quran|56|47}} that this is in fact the Quran's answer to critics who mocked the idea of a final resurrection of the dead ("And they used to say, "When we die and become dust and bones, are we indeed to be resurrected?"). This is also the interpretation found in classical commentaries such as the Tafsir of Ibn Kathir which says that death and transformation here pertain to the Day of Judgement.<ref>[http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1653&Itemid=112 Tafsir Ibn Kathir for Q. 56:47]</ref>

The key to understanding the meaning of these verses is the context apparent in the first verse, 21:30, which is about the creation of the world. Academic scholar Gabriel Said Reynolds notes in his academic commentary on the Quran an earlier parallel taught by the Syriac church father Ephrem (d. 373 CE). He writes, "[...] Ephrem, who explains that God created everything through water: 'Thus, through light and water the earth brought forth everything.' Ephrem, ''Commentary on Genesis'', 1:1-10)."<ref>Gabriel Said Reynolds,  "The Quran and Bible:Text and Commentary", New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2018 p. 553. This is regarding {{Quran|24|45}}, though on p. 508 Reynolds cross references the same parallel regarding the other verse, {{Quran|21|30}}, which is more clearly a statement in the context of the Genesis creation story, like Ephrem's comment.</ref>  

The tafsir notionally attributed to Ibn Abbas contains yet another interpretation, that Q. 21:30 refers to the dependence of all living things on water.<ref>[https://archive.org/details/TanwirAl-MiqbasMinTafsirIbnAbbasEng Tanwir al-Miqbas min Tafsir Ibn Abbas] p.361-362</ref> There is nothing miraculous about the claim that water is a constituent of living things or that it is important for their survival. In fact, the ancient Greek philosopher [[w:Empedocles|Empedocles]] had already proposed that all living things are made from water among other substances, hundreds of years before the Qur'an was revealed,<ref>Frag. B17, (Simplicius, ''Physics'', 157-159)</ref> while another, 'Anaximander' proposed that the first living creatures were made from evaporated water.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anaximander Anaximander] - Britannica.com</ref> Thales of Miletus taught that the originating principle of everything including life is water.<ref>[https://iep.utm.edu/thales/#H5 Thales of Miletus] - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy</ref>

Lastly, even though water is a necessity for animals and plants to thrive, it would be a stretch of imagination to say that it is a more defining characteristic of life on Earth, than say, DNA.

This verse is sometimes claimed to contain an inkling of evolution from the simplest lifeforms to humans, though it remains hard to see how "a growth from the Earth" could be interpreted in an evolutionary context given that in [[w:Kingdom_(biology)#Seven_kingdoms|the tree of life]], the animal kingdom has a common ancestor with the kingdoms of plants and fungi, but does not descend from them. These verses are, however, consistent with the story of the creation of Adam from dust or clay, which is the interpretation found in classical commentaries for these verses. Even supposing it is possible to interpret them in isolation as a reference to evolution, the fact remains that some of the other verses discussed in this article explicitly trace all human descent to a single couple, and state that Adam was specially created from clay. Indeed, Q. 71:17-18 quoted here poetically mirrors the original creation of man from mud or clay with the burial of the dead back into the ground, and finally their future resurrection.  

Major translators write the Arabic phrase nafsin wāḥidatin as "single being", "one soul" or "one person". Other translators use "self" or even "cell". Any claim of this verse referring to earliest unicellular lifeforms is contradictory both to the rest of the verse ("many men and women") as well as another verse, 7:189, in which this soul and its mate have sex, a pregnancy and invoke Allah about their child:

If this verse is about the first unicellular organism, then the claim of it having a mate must also be true. But the earliest organisms were prokaryotes whose reproduction is overwhelmingly asexual; they do not have any mates.

Additionally, there are even Mutawatir hadith narrations (mass transmitted reports) attributed to Muhammad which allude to the belief that Adam is theologically the first human in existence. One such narration can be found here: