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Evolution and Islam: Difference between revisions
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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. In brief terms, 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> | 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. In brief terms, 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> | ||
As 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 | As 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 a common ancestor we share 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> | ||
==Quranic verses about the creation of Adam and mankind's descent from him== | ==Quranic verses about the creation of Adam and mankind's descent from him== | ||
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{{Quote|{{Quran-range|71|17|18}}|And Allah has caused you to grow from the earth a [progressive] growth. Then He will return you into it and extract you [another] extraction.}} | {{Quote|{{Quran-range|71|17|18}}|And Allah has caused you to grow from the earth a [progressive] growth. Then He will return you into it and extract you [another] extraction.}} | ||
This verse is sometimes interpreted to contain an inkling of evolution from the simplest lifeforms to humans | This verse is sometimes interpreted to contain an inkling of evolution from the simplest lifeforms to humans. For critics though it remains hard to see how humans as "a growth from the Earth" could be interpreted in an evolutionary context. 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. Interpreted that way, Q. 71:17-18 in the above quote poetically mirrors the original creation of humans from mud or clay with the burial of the dead back into the ground, and finally their future resurrection. Critics contend that 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. | ||
===Quran 4:1 - Creation from a single soul=== | ===Quran 4:1 - Creation from a single soul=== | ||