Evolution and Islam: Difference between revisions

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

{{main|Creation of Humans from Clay}}

{{Quote|{{Quran|32|7}}|Who made all things good which He created, and He began the creation of man from clay;}}

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).

{{Quote|{{Quran|32|8}}|Then He made his seed from a draught of despised fluid;}}

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]].

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

{{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.}}

====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>  

==Special creation of sustenance==

{{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==

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.  

===Quran 71:13-14 - Creation in stages===

===Quran 6:2 - Allah decreed a term for us===

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]].

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.

===Quran 71:17-18 - Growth from the Earth===

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.