Evolution and Islam

This article analyses the claim by apologists that the qur'an and Darwin's theory of evolution are compatible.

Verse 21:30 - All Living Things Made From Water

It is widely believed that life originated in water. But there is no standard model of the origin of life. Some of the models without water are listed below.

The "deep-hot biosphere" model says that life first developed not on the surface of the Earth, but several kilometers below the surface. The discovery in the late 1990s of nanobes in deep rock might be seen as evidence. It is now well established that microbial life is plentiful up to 5km below the surface f Earth.^[1]

The "Zn-World" model postulates that zinc salts have the unique ability to store radiation energy, e.g. provided by UV light which was 10 to 100 times more intense than now and provided the ideal energy conditions for the synthesis of informational and metabolic molecules. The primordial atmosphere was rich in carbon dioxide and the chemistry of water condensates and exhalations near geothermal fields would resemble that of modern cells. Ionic composition conducive to the origin of cells is shown to be more compatible with emissions of zones that have today become inland geothermal systems than with marine settings. The precellular stages of evolution may have taken place in shallow "Darwin-ponds" lined with porous silicates, metal sulfides, zinc, potassium, and phosphorus compounds.^[2][3]

There is a "Primitive extraterrestrial organisms" model, which finds support in the studies of Martian meteorites found in Antarctica and in studies of some microbes' survival in outer space.^{[4][5][6][7][8][9][10]} Studies which apply the equivalent of Moore's Law to evolution have proposed that life began 9.7 billion years ago, billions of years before the Earth was formed. Life may have started "from systems with single heritable elements."^[11][12]

Different forms of life with variable origin processes may have appeared simultaneously in the early history of Earth.^[13]

Further, there is no proof that the verse is about the role of water in evolution. Tafsir Ibn Abbas says that this verse refers only to the dependence of all living things on water.^[14] There is nothing miraculous about the claim that water is a constituent of living things. In fact, the Greek philosopher Empedocles had already proposed that all living things are made from water among other substances, hundreds of years before the Qur'an was revealed.^[15]

Creation from a Single Entity

Major traanslators write "single being", "soul" or "person". Other translations use "self" or "cell". Any claim of this verse referring to earliest unicellular lifeforms is contradictory to Ibn Kathir's explanations which strongly advocate the story of Adam and Eve:

If this verse is about the 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. Also we must ask why an all-Knowing deity says that men and women emerged from this "being" but does not mention that millions of plants and animals (most of them now extinct) also did, and in fact, existed on earth for much longer timespans than humans.

Creation from Clay

Apologists stress on the word "began" in order to reject clay as a constituent of man, instead claiming that it refers to the earliest pools of water and soil where life began (and eventually humans evolved). But there is no major model of abiogenesis which considers soil essential for life.

Verse 71:13-14 - Creation in Stages

After this verse, the topic abruptly changes to seven heavens. There is no evidence given anywhere to indicate that these stages refer to evolution. The intended topic may have been embryology as those are also referred to as stages of man.

Growth from the Earth

There is only an inkling of evolution from the simplest lifeforms to humans in this verse. It is rather consistent with the story of creation of Adam from dust.

Verse 29:19-20 and 10:4 - Repeating Creation

In Middle Eastern antiquity, the Great Flood (not evolution) was accepted as the reversal of creation, and the survival of Noah was the new creation. Since the Qur'an supports this story, it is the more likely meaning of repeating creation. Then Allah dispensing justice, humans returning to him and punishments with boiling fluids are phrases incongruous to evolution.

Verse 6:133 Destruction of Humans

This verse has been claimed to have described the hominid ancestors of man. It also sounds as if evolution is ongoing and humans can be replaced by a better species. This is an ad hoc hypothesis; the verse is rather in keeping with several desciptions of destroyed cities in the rest of the Qur'an, all of which are attributed to Allah.

The phrase "Raised you up from the posterity of other people" cannot be taken as a reference to apes. It may havve simply referred to other tribes from who the audience of the Qur'an descended.

Verse 56:60-62 - Transformation of Humans

This verse is a vague resemblance to evolution. It is an ad hoc hypothesis to claim that death being inevitable and humans getting transfigured means evolution. It also contradicts Tafsir Ibn Kathir which says that death and transformation pertain to the Day of Judgement.^[17]

Continued

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Conclusion

There is no verse which clearly proves that the Qur'an predicted the theory of evolution or is compatible with it.

References