Evolution and Islam

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Traditional and modern academic scholars understand the Quranic accounts of the creation of man, and of his sustenance growing from the earth, as special acts of creation, in line with the Judeo-Christian worldview prevalent in its late antique milieu (such as the very ancient belief that the first man was created from clay). In modern times, such interpretations of the Quran are widely regarded to be in conflict with the scientific theory of evolution. A common trend among modern Islamic scholars is to deny evolution as a scientific fact, at least with regard to the origins of mankind, even if evolution may be accepted as an explanation for the diversity of plants and other animals on Earth. A further, modernist approach, is to not only partially or fully embrace the theory of evolution as compatible with the Quran, but even to interpret its verses as alluding to the process. This article describes the verses and arguments that are sometimes employed for such purposes, as well as those cited by critics to challenge these interpretations.

Evolution of modern humans

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.[1]

To give just a couple of examples, powerful DNA evidence that humans have common ancestry with other primates includes 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).[2][3] Another powerful genetic line of evidence is the fusion of two primate chromosomes to become chromosome 2 in humans.[4]

Quranic verses purported to mention the origin of life

Quran 21:30 and 24:45 - All living things made from water

Do not the Unbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were joined together (as one unit of creation), before we clove them asunder? We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?
Allah has created every [living] creature from water. And of them are those that move on their bellies, and of them are those that walk on two legs, and of them are those that walk on four. Allah creates what He wills. Indeed, Allah is over all things competent.

Modern academic scholarship has shed light on the meaning of these verses. It seems that there is a connection with late antique Syriac-Christian literature, as is very common elsewhere in the Quran. The Syriac church father Ephrem (d. 373 CE) taught a similar concept in his commentary on the Genesis creation story, including a particularly close parallel with the second Quranic verse shown above (for details, see the Every living thing from water section in the article Parallels Between the Qur'an and Late Antique Judeo-Christian Literature).

Scientifically, it is widely believed that life originated in water. However, there is no standard model of the origin of life that is accepted among scientists. Some of the models without water (or having important substances other than 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 of the Earth.[5]

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 in the distant past 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.[6][7]

There is also 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.[8][9][10][11][12][13][14] 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."[15][16]

Different forms of life with variable origin processes may have appeared simultaneously in the early history of Earth.[17]

Scientists have discovered petroleum-degrading bacteria that can live without water.[18]

Furthermore, there is no proof or clear indication that this Qur'anic verse is about the role of water in evolution. Probably, it is only about water as a constituent compound of all living things. Tafsir Ibn Abbas says that this verse refers only to the dependence of all living things on water.[19] 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 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.[20]

Lastly, even though water is a necessity for land animals and plants to thrive, it would be a stretch of imagination to say that it played an important role in their evolution.

Quran 4:1 - Creation from a single soul

O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate and dispersed from both of them many men and women. And fear Allah, through whom you ask one another, and the wombs. Indeed Allah is ever, over you, an Observer.

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:

It is He who created you from one soul and created from it its mate that he might dwell in security with her. And when he covers her, she carries a light burden and continues therein. And when it becomes heavy, they both invoke Allah, their Lord, "If You should give us a good [child], we will surely be among the grateful."

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.

Regarding 7:189, all the classical exegetes state that this “single soul” (نَّفْسٍ وَٰحِدَةٍ ) refers to Adam. Both classical Sunni and Shia Tafsirs confirm this.

All Mankind are the Offspring of Adam

Allah states that He has created all mankind from Adam, peace be upon him, and from Adam, He created his wife, Hawwa' and from them, people started to spread.

قال أبو جعفر: يقول تعالى ذكره: ﴿هو الذي خلقكم من نفس واحدة﴾ ، يعني بالنفس الواحدة: آدم


Abu Ja'afar said: "Allah the Most High mentioned it: "He who created you from one soul" meaning by means of one soul: Adam.
Tafsir of Tabari on Quran 7:189

المَسْألَةُ الأُولى: المَرْوِيُّ عَنِ ابْنِ عَبّاسٍ ﴿هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَكم مِن نَفْسٍ واحِدَةٍ﴾ وهي نَفْسُ آدَمَ


The first issue: Almarwi from ibn 'Abaas: "He who created you from one soul" and this soul is the soul of Adam.
Tafsir of Razi on Quran 7:189
قَوْلِهِ تَعَالَى: (هُوَ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ مِنْ نَفْسٍ واحِدَةٍ) قَالَ جُمْهُورُ الْمُفَسِّرِينَ: الْمُرَادُ بِالنَّفْسِ الْوَاحِدَةِ آدَمُ.


The saying of Allah the Most High: "he who created you from one soule"--the community of mufassirun has said: the intended meaning is by means of one soul, Adam.


Tafsir of Al-Qurtubi on Quran 7:189


He, that is, God, it is Who created you from a single soul, namely, Adam, and made, created, from him his spouse, Eve, that he might take rest in her, and become intimate with her.

See also: The Tafsirs of Qurtubi, Uthaymeen, Qummi (Shia), Tusi (Shia), Tabrisi (Shia)

Quranic verses about the creation of Adam and mankind's descent from him

Quran 32:7 et. al. - Creation of the first man from clay

Who made all things good which He created, and He began the creation of man from clay;

Some apologists focus on the word "began" in this verse in order to reject clay as a constituent of man, instead claiming that it refers to the earliest pools of water and clay where life began according to one theory (and eventually humans evolved). But there is no major model of 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 descendents are created from conventional sexual reproduction:

Then He made his seed from a draught of despised fluid;

The word translated “seed” in Pickthall's translation quoted here is nasl نسل, which means progeny (i.e. descendants).[21]

Even more explicitly, a few verses state that Adam was made from clay:

[So mention] when your Lord said to the angels, "Indeed, I am going to create a human being from clay.
And [mention] when We said to the angels, "Prostrate to Adam," and they prostrated, except for Iblees. He said, "Should I prostrate to one You created from clay?"

Other verses are quite specific that man was moulded from clay:

We created man from sounding clay, from mud molded into shape;
He created man from clay like [that of] pottery.

Quran 7:27 et. al. - All people are descended from Adam and Eve

The Quran is explicit that every person alive is descended from Adam and his spouse.

O children of Adam, let not Satan tempt you as he removed your parents from Paradise, stripping them of their clothing to show them their private parts. Indeed, he sees you, he and his tribe, from where you do not see them. Indeed, We have made the devils allies to those who do not believe
O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate and dispersed from both of them many men and women. And fear Allah, through whom you ask one another, and the wombs. Indeed Allah is ever, over you, an Observer.
And We have certainly honored the children of Adam and carried them on the land and sea and provided for them of the good things and preferred them over much of what We have created, with [definite] preference.

Some modern Muslim scholars argue that the notion of two ancestral “parents” is consistent with recent scientific findings that show a common female and male ancestor of all modern humans. This results, however, from a confusion with the nicknames (Mitochondrial Eve and Y-chromosomal Adam) by which scientists have referred to human's earliest genetic ancestors. These two individuals, however, are distinct from the Quranic characters as they are simply the last common male and female ancestors of everyone alive today and not of all humans in history. More importantly, whereas the Qur'an describes Eve as Adam's wife (who, notably, was created after him), Mitochondrial Eve lived some 50,000 to 80,000 years earlier than Y-chromosomal Adam.[22] Genetic evidence also overwhelmingly indicates that humans diverged from earlier species as a population rather than as a single couple.[23]

Quranic verses purported to mention evolution

Quran 71:17-18 - Growth from the Earth

And Allah hath caused you to grow as a growth from the earth, And afterward He maketh you return thereto, and He will bring you forth again, a (new) forthbringing.

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 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 above explicitly trace all human descent to a single couple, and state that Adam was specially created from clay. Indeed, these verses poetically mirror the original creation of man from mud or clay with the burial of the dead back into the ground, and finally their future resurrection.

Quran 29:19-20 et. al. - Repeated creation

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.

In all of the verses quoted in this section, the verb "repeat" has the Arabic form IV imperfect tense. The form I imperfect tense is used for "begins" creation in each verse (except for Q. 21:104, which uses the perfect tense). The Form IV imperfect is also used for "will produce" in Q. 29:20. This grammatical information can be verified by following the links for each verse and viewing the "Roots" metadata. In Quranic Arabic, tense (or aspect) is a complicated topic still debated by academic scholars, giving rise to different English translations. Nevetheless, the imperfect tense can certainly serve a number of purposes including to indicate future events.[24]

To Him is your return all together. [It is] the promise of Allah [which is] truth. Indeed, He begins the [process of] creation and then repeats it that He may reward those who have believed and done righteous deeds, in justice. But those who disbelieved will have a drink of scalding water and a painful punishment for what they used to deny.
The Day when We will fold the heaven like the folding of a [written] sheet for the records. As We began the first creation, We will repeat it. [That is] a promise binding upon Us. Indeed, We will do it.

At least one commonly cited verse points to existing creation as an analogy to the repeated creation which will come on the day of resurrection. Certainly, the listener is asked to observe the original creation, though it is unclear whether they are also able to observe repeated creation already:

Have they not considered how Allah begins creation and then repeats it? Indeed that, for Allah, is easy. Say, [O Muhammad], "Travel through the land and observe how He began creation. Then Allah will produce the final creation. Indeed Allah, over all things, is competent."

Two other even weaker examples are:

Is He [not best] who begins creation and then repeats it and who provides for you from the heaven and earth? Is there a deity with Allah? Say, "Produce your proof, if you should be truthful."
Say, "Are there of your 'partners' any who begins creation and then repeats it?" Say, "Allah begins creation and then repeats it, so how are you deluded?"

Another verse sheds some light on the possible referent for this analogy (if indeed any of these verses at all mention repeated creation that has already occurred).

And of His signs is [that] He shows you the lightning [causing] fear and aspiration, and He sends down rain from the sky by which He brings to life the earth after its lifelessness. Indeed in that are signs for a people who use reason

[...]

And it is He who begins creation; then He repeats it, and that is [even] easier for Him. To Him belongs the highest attribute in the heavens and earth. And He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise.

Another possibility occurs elsewhere (again, if existing repeated creation is meant at all). The first two verses are similar to others which detail the destruction and replacement of former faithless and disobedient peoples:

Have they not traveled through the earth and observed how was the end of those before them? They were greater than them in power, and they plowed the earth and built it up more than they have built it up, and their messengers came to them with clear evidences. And Allah would not ever have wronged them, but they were wronging themselves.

Then the end of those who did evil was the worst [consequence] because they denied the signs of Allah and used to ridicule them.

Allah begins creation; then He will repeat it; then to Him you will be returned.

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, this may also have been considered an existing example of repeated creation.

Quran 71:13-14 - Creation in stages

"What is the matter with you, that ye place not your hope for kindness and long-suffering in Allah,- Seeing that it is He that has created you in diverse 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. Indeed, in responding to their lack of hope, 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 described elsewhere in the Quran.[25] 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. In keeping with the repeated creation theme of many other verses (discussed in the previous section above), it could even refer to the new creation of each person on the day of resurrection.

Quran 6:2 - Allah decreed a term for us

He is Who has created you from clay, then he spent a term of time (away from you), and (it is) a specific term he determined. Yet, you doubt (his ability)!

This is an outright mistranslation and Muslim apologists even insert some words of their own liking in parentheses. You can see the valid translations here. A more typical and accurate translation is as follows (Sahih international):

It is He who created you from clay and then decreed a term and a specified time [known] to Him; then [still] you are in dispute.

Such language in typical of the Quran when it speaks of the time given to each person before his death or the time mankind has on Earth more generally before the last day. These are also the interpretations of this verse found in tafsirs.

Quran 6:133 - Raised from the posterity of earlier people

Thy Lord is self-sufficient, full of Mercy: if it were His will, He could destroy you, and in your place appoint whom He will as your successors, even as He raised you up from the posterity of other people.

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.

Quran 56:60-62 - Transformation of humans

We have decreed death among you, and We are not to be outdone In that We will change your likenesses and produce you in that [form] which you do not know. And you have already known the first creation, so will you not remember?

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.[26]

Hadiths

Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, "Allah created Adam, making him 60 cubits tall. When He created him, He said to him, "Go and greet that group of angels, and listen to their reply, for it will be your greeting (salutation) and the greeting (salutations of your offspring." So, Adam said (to the angels), As-Salamu Alaikum (i.e. Peace be upon you). The angels said, "As-salamu Alaika wa Rahmatu-l-lahi" (i.e. Peace and Allah's Mercy be upon you). Thus the angels added to Adam's salutation the expression, 'Wa Rahmatu-l-lahi,' Any person who will enter Paradise will resemble Adam (in appearance and figure). People have been decreasing in stature since Adam's creation.
Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah 's Apostle said, "Treat women nicely, for a women is created from a rib, and the most curved portion of the rib is its upper portion, so, if you should try to straighten it, it will break, but if you leave it as it is, it will remain crooked. So treat women nicely."

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:

أنا سيدُ ولدِ آدمَ يومَ القيامةِ ولا فخرَ “I will be the master (Sayyid) of the children of Adam on the Day of Resurrection”

Ibn Kathir classified this Hadith as Mutawatir in his book Al Bidayaah wan Niyaah.

See Also

References

  1. What does it mean to be human? - Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History website
  2. DNA Evidence That Humans & Chimps Share A Common Ancestor: Endogenous Retroviruses - Youtube.com
  3. For a detailed and balanced discussion of the evidence relating ERVs to human evolution, see Jorritsma RN. (2022) How Well Does Evolution Explain Endogenous Retroviruses?-A Lakatosian Assessment. Viruses. 14(1):14. doi: 10.3390/v14010014. PMID: 35062218; PMCID: PMC8781664.
  4. Professor Ken Miller on DNA fusion events - Youtube.com
  5. "Nanobes–Intro", microscopy-uk.org, http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/index.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/nanobes/nanobes.html. 
  6. "Origin of first cells at terrestrial, anoxic geothermal fields" (2012). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 109 (14): E821–30. doi:10.1073/pnas.1117774109. PMID 22331915. Bibcode2012PNAS..109E.821M. 
  7. For a deeper integrative version of this hypothesis see Egel, R.. Lankenau, D.-H.; Mulkidjanian,, A. Y.. eds,. Origins of Life: The Primal Self-Organization. Springer. ISBN 978-3-642-21625-1, 2011. , in particular Lankenau, D.-H.. "Two RNA Worlds: Toward the Origin of Replication, Genes, Recombination and Repair". Origins of Life: The Primal Self-Organization. Springer. pp. 225–286. ISBN 978-3-642-21625-1, 2011. , interconnecting the "Two RNA worlds" concept and other detailed aspects; and "The evolving ribosome: from non-coded peptide bond formation to sophisticated translation machinery" (2009). Res Microbiol 160 (7): 487–492. doi:10.1016/j.resmic.2009.07.004. 
  8. "Tough Earth bug may be from Mars", New Scientist, 25 September 2002, http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/evolution/dn2844. 
  9. "Exobiology and Radiation Assembly (ERA)", ESA, NASA, 1992, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/experimentDisplay.do?id=1992-049B-03. 
  10. "Space Microbiology" (2010). Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews 74 (1): 121–56. doi:10.1128/MMBR.00016-09. PMID 20197502. 
  11. Paul Clancy. Looking for Life, Searching the Solar System. Cambridge University Press, 23 June 2005. Template:Page needed
  12. Rabbow, Elke (9 July 2009). "EXPOSE, an Astrobiological Exposure Facility on the International Space Station – from Proposal to Flight". Orig Life Evol Biosph 39 (6): 581–98. doi:10.1007/s11084-009-9173-6. PMID 19629743. Bibcode2009OLEB...39..581R. 
  13. Onofri, Silvano (May 2012). "Survival of Rock-Colonizing Organisms After 1.5 Years in Outer Space". Astrobiology 12 (5): 508–516. doi:10.1089/ast.2011.0736. PMID 22680696. Bibcode2012AsBio..12..508O. 
  14. Amos, Jonathan. "Beer microbes live 553 days outside ISS", Science and Technology, BBC News, 23 August 2010. 
  15. "Life Before Earth" (PDF) (28 March 2013). arXiv. 
  16. Sharov, Alexei A. (12 June 2006). "Genome increase as a clock for the origin and evolution of life". Biology Direct 1: 1–17. doi:10.1186/1745-6150-1-17. 
  17. Davies, P (19 November 2007). "Are Aliens Among Us?". Scientific American. 
  18. http://www.astrobio.net/topic/origins/extreme-life/life-in-asphalt/
  19. Tanwir al-Miqbas min Tafsir Ibn Abbas p.361-362
  20. Frag. B17, (Simplicius, Physics, 157-159)
  21. Lane's Lexicon p. 3032 نسل
  22. Adam, Eve, and Human Population Genetics: Responses to Popular Arguments - Biologos website
  23. How big was the human population bottleneck? Another staple of theology refuted. - Why Evolution is True website by Professor Jerry Coyne
  24. Alasmari, J, Watson, J.C.E & Atwell, E. (2018). A Contrastive Study of the Arabic and English Verb Tense and Aspect A Corpus-Based Approach. PEOPLE: International Journal of Social Sciences, 3(3), 1604-1615
  25. Tafsir of Ibn Kathir for Q. 71:13-14
  26. Tafsir Ibn Kathir for Q. 56:47