Evolution and Islam: Difference between revisions

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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.
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.


==Verse 4:1 - Creation from a Single Entity==
==Verse 4:1 - Creation from a Single Soul==
{{Quote|{{Quran|4|1}}|O people! be careful of (your duty to) your Lord, Who created you from a single being and created its mate of the same (kind) and spread from these two, many men and women; and be careful of (your duty to) Allah, by Whom you demand one of another (your rights), and (to) the ties of relationship; surely Allah ever watches over you.}}
{{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 "single being", "soul" or "person". Other translators 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:
Major translators write the Arabic phrase nafsin wāḥidatin as "single being", "soul" or "person". Other translators use "self" or "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|<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=721&Itemid=59 |title=
 
The Command to have Taqwa, a Reminder about Creation, and Being Kind to Relatives |publisher= |author=Ibn Kathir |date= |archiveurl= |deadurl=no}}</ref>|He also reminds to them of His ability, in that He created them all from a single person, Adam, peace be unto him.
{{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."}}
(And from him He created his wife) Hawwa' (Eve), who was created from Adam's left rib, from his back while he was sleeping. When Adam woke up and saw Hawwa', he liked her and had affection for her, and she felt the same toward him.  
(And from them both He created many men and women;) means, Allah created from Adam and Hawwa' many men and women and distributed them throughout the world in various shapes, characteristics, colors and languages. In the end, their gathering and return will be to Allah. }}


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; they do not have any mates. Also this verse seems ignorant of the fact that millions of plants and animals (most of them now extinct) also did, and in fact, exist on earth for much longer timespans than humans.
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; they do not have any mates. Also this verse seems ignorant of the fact that millions of plants and animals (most of them now extinct) also did, and in fact, exist on earth for much longer timespans than humans.


The word-by-word translation says that Allah created us from a single being and created '''from it its mate'''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://islamawakened.com/quran/4/1/default.htm |title=Qur'an 4:1 |publisher= |author= |date= |archiveurl= |deadurl=no}}</ref> Again, this is in keeping with the story of creation of Eve after Adam, from his rib.
Regarding 7:189, all the classical exegetes state that this “single being” (نَّفْسٍ وَٰحِدَةٍ ) refers to Adam. Both classical Sunni and Shia Tafsirs confirm this.
 
{{Quote|[https://quranx.com/Tafsir/Kathir/7.189&#124; 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.
}}
 
<br />
 
{{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)
 
Additionally, there are even Mutawatir hadith narrations (mass transmitted reports) direct from Muhammad which alludes to the fact prophet Adam is theologically the first human in existence. One such narration can be found here:
{{Quote|[https://dorar.net/h/ab95e2e0848993041f5993a94df7583a&#124&#124; Al-Bidayah wan Nihayah by ibn Kathir]|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.
 
Another verse describes the literal descent of humanity from one man with reference to the sexual means by which it was achieved ("despised fluid" i.e. semen) after Allah had created that first man out of clay.
 
{{Quote|{{Quran-range|32|7|8}}|Who made all things good which He created, and He began the creation of man from clay; Then He made his seed from a draught of despised fluid;}}
The word translated “seed” in the Pickthall translation is nasl نسل, which means progeny (i.e. descendants).<ref>[http://www.studyquran.org/LaneLexicon/Volume8/00000286.pdf Lane's Lexicon p. 3032 نسل]</ref>


==Verse 32:7 - Creation from Clay==
==Verse 32:7 - Creation from Clay==
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