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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> | 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> | ||
==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|32|7}}|Who made all things good which He created, and He began the creation of man from clay;}} | {{Quote|{{Quran|32|7}}|Who made all things good which He created, and He began the creation of man from clay;}} | ||
Since this verse says Allah "began" the creation of man from clay, it does not seem to leave a role for earlier ancestors in the beginnings of humanity prior to Adam. | |||
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 descendents are created from conventional sexual reproduction: | More importantly, the very next verse clarifies that this refers to the first man, since his descendents are created from conventional sexual reproduction: | ||
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Even more explicitly, a few verses state that Adam was made from clay: | Even more explicitly, a few verses state that Adam was made from clay: | ||
{{Quote|{{Quran| | {{Quote|{{Quran-range|15|26|29}}|'''And We did certainly create man out of clay from an altered black mud.''' And the jinn We created before from scorching fire. And [mention, O Muhammad], when your Lord said to the angels, "I will create a human being out of clay from an altered black mud. '''And when I have proportioned him and breathed into him of My [created] soul, then fall down to him in prostration.'''"}} | ||
{{Quote|{{Quran|17|71}}|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?"}} | {{Quote|{{Quran|17|71}}|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?"}} | ||
{{Quote|{{Quran|3|59}}|Indeed, the example of Jesus to Allah is like that of Adam. He created Him from dust; then He said to him, "Be," and he was.}} | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran| | |||
Other verses are quite specific that Allah created man with his "hands" from clay or mud as a material: | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|55|14}}|He created man from clay like [that of] pottery.}} | {{Quote|{{Quran|55|14}}|He created man from clay like [that of] pottery.}} | ||
{{Quote|{{Quran-range|38|71|75}}|[So mention] when your Lord said to the angels, "'''Indeed, I am going to create a human being from clay. So when I have proportioned him and breathed into him of My [created] soul, then fall down to him in prostration.'''" So the angels prostrated - all of them entirely. Except Iblees; he was arrogant and became among the disbelievers. [Allah] said, "O Iblees, what prevented you from prostrating to '''that which I created with My hands?''' Were you arrogant [then], or were you [already] among the haughty?" He said, "I am better than him. '''You created me from fire and created him from clay.'''"}} | |||
Academic scholars have noticed another parallel between the Quranic stories of Adam and Jesus. In {{Quran|3|49}} and {{Quran|5|110}} Jesus is said to have miraculously created birds with Allah's permission by forming them out of dust or clay, then breathing into them. See the section on Jesus and the Clay Birds in the article [[Parallels_Between_the_Qur'an_and_Late_Antique_Judeo-Christian_Literature#Jesus_and_the_Clay_Birds|Parallels Between the Qur'an and Late Antique Judeo-Christian Literature]]. | |||
===Quran 7:27 et. al. - All people are descended from Adam and Eve=== | ===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. | The Quran is explicit that every person alive is ultimately descended from Adam and his spouse alone. | ||
{{Quote|{{Quran|7|27}}|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}} | {{Quote|{{Quran|7|27}}|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}} | ||
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{{Quote|{{Quran|17|70}}|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.}} | {{Quote|{{Quran|17|70}}|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 | ====Y-chromosomal Adam, Mitochondrial Eve, and the minimum population bottleneck==== | ||
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 Adam and his mate (who, notably, was created ''after'' him and from him), Mitochondrial Eve lived some 50,000 to 80,000 years earlier than Y-chromosomal Adam.<ref>[http://biologos.org/blog/does-genetics-point-to-a-single-primal-couple Adam, Eve, and Human Population Genetics: Responses to Popular Arguments] - Biologos website</ref> | |||
Genetic evidence also overwhelmingly indicates that humans diverged from earlier species as a population rather than as a single couple.<ref>[http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2011/09/18/how-big-was-the-human-population-bottleneck-not-anything-close-to-2/ How big was the human population bottleneck? Another staple of theology refuted.] - Why Evolution is True website by Professor Jerry Coyne</ref> | |||
==Special creation of sustenance== | |||
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|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. | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran-range|41|9|10}}|Say, "Do you indeed disbelieve in He who created the earth in two days and attribute to Him equals? That is the Lord of the worlds." And He placed on the earth firmly set mountains over its surface, and He blessed it and determined therein its [creatures'] sustenance in four days without distinction - for [the information] of those who ask.}} | |||
==Quranic verses purported to mention evolution== | ==Quranic verses purported to mention evolution== | ||
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{{Quote|{{Quran|21|104}}|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.}} | {{Quote|{{Quran|21|104}}|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: | 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 on Earth: | ||
{{Quote|{{Quran-range|29|19|20}}| 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."}} | {{Quote|{{Quran-range|29|19|20}}| 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 | Two similar examples are: | ||
{{Quote|{{Quran|27|64}}| 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."}} | {{Quote|{{Quran|27|64}}| 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."}} | ||
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{{Quote|{{Quran|10|34}}|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?"}} | {{Quote|{{Quran|10|34}}|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). | 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 on Earth). | ||
{{Quote|{{Quran-range|30|24|27}}| 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<br /> | {{Quote|{{Quran-range|30|24|27}}| 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<br /> | ||
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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> | 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> | ||
==Quranic verses purported to mention the origin of life== | |||
===Quran 21:30 and 24:45 - All living things made from water=== | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|21|30}}|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? }} | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|24|45}}|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.}} | |||
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> | |||
Ephrem's comment is in the context of the Genesis creation story, much like the first Quranic verse quoted above, 21:30. Ephrem says that when heaven and earth were created there were no trees or vegetation as it had not yet rained, so a fountain irrigated the earth. Tafsirs say that when the heaven and earth were separated rain fell so that plants could grow. There is also a similarity with Ephrem in the other verse (24:45), which mentions creatures that move on two, four or no legs. Ephrem explains that as well as the "trees, vegetation and plants", the "Scripture wishes to indicate that all animals, reptiles, cattle and birds came into being as a result of the combining of earth and water".<ref>[https://faberinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Ephrem-the-Syrian-Commentary-on-Genesis-2-3-Brock.pdf Ephrem's commentary on Genesis] - Faber Institute.com</ref> For many more parallels between the Quran and Syriac Christian literature see [[Parallelism_Between_the_Qur%27an_and_Judeo-Christian_Scriptures|this article]]. | |||
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 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 the ancient Greek philosopher Anaximander proposed that the first living creatures were made from evapourated water.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Anaximander Anaximander] - Britannica.com</ref> | |||
Scientifically, it is widely believed that life originated in water, most prominently in theories involving the heat and chemistry environment at submarine [[w:Abiogenesis#Hot_springs|hydrothermal vents]], or alternatively [[w:Abiogenesis#Hot_springs|hot springs]] on the surface of the early Earth. 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.<ref name="nanobe">{{cite web | url=http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/index.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/nanobes/nanobes.html | title=Nanobes–Intro | last= | first= | work= | publisher=microscopy-uk.org | accessdate=2008-01-14 }}</ref> | |||
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.<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Mulkidjanian | first1=A. Y. | last2=Bychkov | first2=A. Y. | last3=Dibrova | first3=D. V. | last4=Galperin | first4=M. Y. | last5=Koonin | first5=E. V. | year=2012 | title=Origin of first cells at terrestrial, anoxic geothermal fields | journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | volume=109 | pages=E821–30 | doi=10.1073/pnas.1117774109 | issue=14 | pmid=22331915 | pmc=3325685 |bibcode=2012PNAS..109E.821M }}</ref><ref>For a deeper integrative version of this hypothesis see {{cite book | last=Egel | first=R. | editor-last=Lankenau | editor-first=D.-H. | editor2-last=Mulkidjanian, | editor2-first=A. Y. | year=2011 | title=Origins of Life: The Primal Self-Organization | publisher=Springer | isbn=978-3-642-21625-1}}, in particular {{cite book| last=Lankenau | first=D.-H. | chapter=Two RNA Worlds: Toward the Origin of Replication, Genes, Recombination and Repair | title=Origins of Life: The Primal Self-Organization| publisher=Springer | publication-date=2011 | isbn=978-3-642-21625-1 | pages=225–286 }}, interconnecting the "Two RNA worlds" concept and other detailed aspects; and {{cite journal | last1=Davidovich | first1=C. | last2=Belousoff | first2=M. | last3=Bashan | first3=A. | last4=Yonath | first4=A. | year=2009 | title=The evolving ribosome: from non-coded peptide bond formation to sophisticated translation machinery | journal=Res Microbiol | volume=160 | pages=487–492 | doi=10.1016/j.resmic.2009.07.004 | issue=7 }}</ref> | |||
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.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.newscientist.com/channel/life/evolution/dn2844 | title=Tough Earth bug may be from Mars | publisher=New Scientist |date=25 September 2002 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/experimentDisplay.do?id=1992-049B-03 | title=Exobiology and Radiation Assembly (ERA) | year=1992 | work=[[ESA]] | publisher=NASA }}</ref><ref name="Gerda Horneck">{{cite journal | doi=10.1128/MMBR.00016-09 | title=Space Microbiology | year=2010 | last1=Horneck | first1=G. | last2=Klaus | first2=D. M. | last3=Mancinelli | first3=R. L. | journal=Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews | volume=74 | pages=121–56 | pmid=20197502 | issue=1 | pmc=2832349 }}</ref><ref name="Clancy">{{cite book | last1=Paul Clancy | title=Looking for Life, Searching the Solar System | publisher=Cambridge University Press | date=23 June 2005 }}{{page needed|date=November 2013 }}</ref><ref name="Rabbow">{{cite journal | title=EXPOSE, an Astrobiological Exposure Facility on the International Space Station – from Proposal to Flight | journal=Orig Life Evol Biosph | date=9 July 2009 | first=Elke | last=Rabbow | first2=Gerda | last2=Horneck | first3=Petra | last3=Rettberg | first4=Jobst-Ulrich | last4=Schott | first5=Corinna | last5=Panitz | first6=Andrea | last6=L'Afflitto | first7=Ralf | last7=von Heise-Rotenburg, | first8=Reiner| last8= Willnecker | first9=Pietro | last9=Baglioni | first10=Jason | last10=Hatton, | first11=Jan | last11=Dettmann | first12=René | last12=Demets | first13=Günther | last13=Reitz | doi=10.1007/s11084-009-9173-6 | volume=39 | issue=6 | pages=581–98 | pmid=19629743 | bibcode=2009OLEB...39..581R }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | title=Survival of Rock-Colonizing Organisms After 1.5 Years in Outer Space | journal=Astrobiology | date=May 2012 | first=Silvano | last=Onofri | first2=Rosa | last2=de la Torre | first3=Jean-Pierre | last3=de Vera | first4=Sieglinde | last4=Ott | first5=Laura | last5=Zucconi | first6=Laura | last6=Selbmann | first7=Giuliano | last7=Scalzi | first8=Kasthuri J. | last8=Venkateswaran | first9=Elke | last9=Rabbow, | first10=Francisco J. | last10=Sánchez Iñigo | first11=Gerda | last11=Horneck | volume=12 | issue=5 | pages=508–516 | doi=10.1089/ast.2011.0736 | pmid=22680696 | bibcode=2012AsBio..12..508O }}</ref><ref name="Beer">{{cite news | last=Amos | first=Jonathan | title=Beer microbes live 553 days outside ISS | url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11039206 | publisher=BBC News | work=Science and Technology | date=23 August 2010 }}</ref> 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."<ref name="arXiv-20130328">{{cite journal |last1=Sharov |first1=Alexei A. |last2=Gordon|first2=Richard |title=Life Before Earth |url=http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1304/1304.3381.pdf | format=PDF |date=28 March 2013 |journal=[[arXiv]] |arxiv=1304.3381v1 }}</ref><ref name="NIH-20060612">{{cite journal |last=Sharov |first=Alexei A. |title=Genome increase as a clock for the origin and evolution of life |journal=[[Biology Direct]] |volume=1 |pages=1–17 |date=12 June 2006 |issue= |doi=10.1186/1745-6150-1-17 |pmc=1526419 }}</ref> | |||
Different forms of life with variable origin processes may have appeared simultaneously in the early history of Earth.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=are-aliens-among-us&sc=SA_20071119 |title=Are Aliens Among Us?|publisher=Scientific American |last=Davies |first=P |date=19 November 2007 }}</ref> | |||
Scientists have discovered petroleum-degrading bacteria that can live without water.<ref>http://www.astrobio.net/topic/origins/extreme-life/life-in-asphalt/</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. | |||
===Quran 71:17-18 - Growth from the Earth=== | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran-range|71|17|18}}|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 [[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. | |||
===Quran 4:1 - Creation from a single soul=== | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|4|1}}|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: | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran|7|189}}|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. | |||
{{Quote|[https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Kathir/7.189| Tafsir of ibn Kathir on Qur'an 7:189]| | |||
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.}} | |||
{{Quote|Tafsir of Tabari on Quran 7:189| | |||
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.}} | |||
{{Quote|Tafsir of Razi 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. }} | |||
{{Quote|Tafsir of Al-Qurtubi 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. | |||
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{{Quote|[https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Jalal/7.189; Tafsir of Al-Jalayn on Qur'an 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) | |||
==Hadiths== | ==Hadiths== | ||