Biological Evolution – An Islamic Perspective (OP)
http://islamtoday.com/showme2.cfm?ca...sub_cat_id=792
Biological Evolution – An Islamic Perspective| Prepared by the Research Committee of IslamToday.net under the supervision of Sheikh `Abd al-Wahhâb al-Turayrî|
Many Muslims wonder about the theory of biological evolution – the theory that living species on Earth today are descended from others in the past, and that the present diversity of living species we see is a result of descent with modification over the course of numerous generations.
Muslims also wonder about one of the main processes that evolutionary theory proposes to explain how evolution takes place – the process of natural selection. This is the idea that the individuals within a populations of living organism vary in their individual traits – they are not exactly alike – and that the organisms which are most successful at leaving descendants will pass on their unique traits to the next generation at the expense of the traits possessed by less successful organisms in the population, thereby contributing to a long-term gradual change in the suite of traits found within the population.
We as Muslims must ask:
Does the theory of evolution – and likewise the theory of natural selection as a mechanism of evolution – conform to Islamic teachings or conflict with them?
Is a Muslim allowed to believe in evolution as a scientific theory as long as he or she accepts that Allah is behind it?
Can a Muslim believe in human evolution? If not, how can we explain the fossils of upright, bipedal, tool-using apes with large brains that have been discovered?
To start with, we wish to emphasize that our concern here is not with examining the scientific merits of the theory of evolution. What we want to know is what Islamic teachings have to say about the idea. Whether evolution is true or false scientifically is another matter altogether.
When we look at the sources of Islam – the Qur’ân and Sunnah – we see that, with respect to human beings living on the Earth today, they are all descendants of Adam and Eve.
Allah also says: “O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Verily, the most honorable of you with Allah is the one who is the most God-fearing.” [Sûrah al-Hujûrât:13]
The Prophet (peace be upon him) identified the "male" mentioned in this verse as being Adam. He said: “Human beings are the children of Adam and Adam was created from Earth. Allah says: ‘O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Verily, the most honorable of you with Allah is the one who is the most God-fearing’.” [Sunan al-Tirmidhî (3270)]
We also see that Allah created Adam directly without the agency of parents.
Allah says: “The similitude of Jesus before Allah is as that of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him: ‘Be’ and he was.” [Sûrah Âl `Imrân: 59]
We also know that Eve was created from Adam without the agency of parents.
In the Qur’ân, Allah states clearly: “O mankind! Be careful of your duty to your Lord Who created you from a single soul and from it created its mate and from them twain hath spread abroad a multitude of men and women.” [Sûrah al-Nisâ’: 1]
Therefore, the Qur’ân tells us that Adam and his wife were the father and mother of all human beings living on the Earth today. We know about this by way of direct revelation from Allah.
The direct creation of Adam (peace be upon him) can neither be confirmed nor denied by science in any way. This is because the creation of Adam (peace be upon him) was a unique and singular historical event. It is a matter of the Unseen and something that science does not have the power to confirm or deny. As a matter of the Unseen, we believe it because Allah informs us about it. We say the same for the miracles mentioned in the Qur’ân. Miraculous events, by their very nature, do not conform to scientific laws and their occurrence can neither be confirmed nor denied by science.
What about other living things, besides the human beings living on the Earth today? What about plants, animals, fungi, and the like?
When we turn our attention to this question, we find that the Qur’ân and Sunnah do not tell us much about the flora and fauna that was present on the Earth before or at the time of Adam and Eve’s arrived upon it. The sacred texts also do not tell us how long ago Adam and Eve arrived upon the Earth. Therefore, these are things we cannot ascertain from the sacred texts.
The only thing that the Qur’ân and Sunnah require us to believe about the living things on Earth today is that Allah created them in whatever manner He decided to do create them.
Allah says: “Allah is the Creator of all things and over all things He has authority.” [Sûrah al-Zumar: 62]
Indeed, Allah states specifically that He created all life forms: “And We made from water all living things.” [Sûrah al-Anbiyâ’: 30]
We know that “Allah does what He pleases.” Allah can create His creatures in any manner that He chooses.
Therefore, with respect to other living things, the Qur’ân and Sunnah neither confirm nor deny the theory of biological evolution or the process referred to as natural selection. The question of evolution remains purely a matter of scientific enquiry. The theory of evolution must stand or fall on its own scientific merits – and that means the physical evidence that either confirms the theory or conflicts with it.
The role of science is only to observe and describe the patterns that Allah places in His creation. If scientific observation shows a pattern in the evolution of species over time that can be described as natural selection, this is not in itself unbelief. It is only unbelief for a person to think that this evolution took place on its own, and not as a creation of Allah. A Muslim who accepts evolution or natural selection as a valid scientific theory must know that the theory is merely an explanation of one of the many observed patterns in Allah’s creation.
As for the fossil remains of bipedal apes and the tools and artifacts associated with those remains, their existence poses no problem for Islamic teachings. There is nothing in the Qur’ân and Sunnah that either affirms or denies that upright, brainy, tool using apes ever existed or evolved from other apelike ancestors. Such animals may very well have existed on Earth before Adam’s arrival upon it. All we can draw from the Qur’ân and Sunnah is that even if those animals once existed, they were not the forefathers of Adam (peace be upon him).
Interesting, yet misleading when quoted out of context. Read the whole paragraph that Darwin wrote:
Peace
it was just a quote from the BBC, in their "quote of the day"
i thought it was interesting! [and i read the whole quote! ]
is that a crime now?
:blind:
Had the non-believer known of all the Mercy which is in the Hands of Allah, he would not lose hope of entering Paradise, and had the believer known of all the punishment which is present with Allah, he would not consider himself safe from the Hell-Fire http://www.muftimenk.co.za/Downloads.html
In Lab, Clues To How Life Began
by Nell Greenfieldboyce
All Things Considered, January 8, 2009 · Scientists long to understand how a bunch of chemicals on the early Earth transformed themselves into the first living creatures. Now one lab has made a self-replicating set of RNA molecules that the scientists say may mimic what might have happened during the early evolution of life.
In the link below is the replay of the radio broadcast, for more information.
In Lab, Clues To How Life Began
by Nell Greenfieldboyce
All Things Considered, January 8, 2009 · Scientists long to understand how a bunch of chemicals on the early Earth transformed themselves into the first living creatures. Now one lab has made a self-replicating set of RNA molecules that the scientists say may mimic what might have happened during the early evolution of life.
In the link below is the replay of the radio broadcast, for more information.
thanks.. I like the 'lab has made' portion of that post.. and especially this comment by one of the commentators
The assemblage of the current RNA pre-cursor molecules was the result of intelligent human activity and design. Since no human was around to do this with the original molecules (or to create the molecules themselves!) it seems clear that another intelligent agent must have been involved. I wonder how interested we are in determining who that agent is.
on the very page.. nonetheless, and even with direct human manipulation I'll be interested in the outcome of that experiment..
Thanks for that..
cheers
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For years, researchers have wondered whether there might be some simpler way to copy RNA, brought about by the RNA itself. Some tentative steps along this road had previously been taken by the Joyce lab and others, but no one could demonstrate that RNA replication could be self-propagating, that is, result in new copies of RNA that also could copy themselves.
and In Vitro Evolution
A few years after Tracey Lincoln arrived at Scripps Research from Jamaica to pursue her Ph.D., she began exploring the RNA-only replication concept along with her advisor, Professor Gerald Joyce, M.D., Ph.D., who is also Dean of the Faculty at Scripps Research. Their work began with a method of forced adaptation known as in vitro evolution. The goal was to take one of the RNA enzymes already developed in the lab that could perform the basic chemistry of replication, and improve it to the point that it could drive efficient, perpetual self-replication.
nonetheless.. I will still be very interested of the outcome after much manipulation ..
cheers
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With the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin this week, people around the world are celebrating his role as the father of evolutionary theory. Events and press releases are geared, in part, to combat false claims made by some who would discredit the theory...
...Here is a short list of transitional fossils documented by Prothero and that add to the mountain of evidence for Charles Darwin's theory. A lot of us relate most to fossils of life closely related to humans, so the list focuses on mammals and other vertebrates, including dinosaurs.
Mammals, including us
It is now clear that the evolutionary tree for early and modern humans looks more like a bush than the line represented in cartoons. All the hominid fossils found to date form a complex nexus of specimens, Prothero says, but Sahelanthropus tchadensis, found in 2001 and 2002, threw everyone for a loop because it walked upright 7 million years ago on two feet but is quite chimp-like in its skull size, teeth, brow ridges and face. It could be a common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees, but many paleoanthropologists will remain unsure until more fossils are found. Previously, the earliest ancestor of our Homo genus found in the fossil record dated back 6 million years.
-Most fossil giraffes have short necks and today's have long necks, but anatomist Nikos Solounias of the New York Institute of Technology's New York College of Osteopathic Medicine is preparing a description of a giraffe fossil, Bohlinia, with a neck that is intermediate in length.
Manatees, also called sea cows, are marine mammals that have flippers and a down-turned snout for grazing in warm shallow waters. In 2001, scientists discovered the fossil of a "walking manatee," Pezosiren portelli, which had feet rather than flippers and walked on land during the Eocene epoch (54.8 million years ago to 33.7 million years ago) in what is now Jamaica. Along with skull features like manatees (such as horizontal tooth replacement, like a conveyor belt), it also had heavy ribs for ballast, showing that it also had an aquatic lifestyle, like hippos.
Scientists know that mastodons, mammoths and elephants all share a common ancestor, but it gets hard to tell apart some of the earliest members of this group, called proboscideans, going back to fossils from the Oligocene epoch (33.7 million years ago to 23.8 million years ago). The primitive members of this group can be traced back to what Prothero calls "the ultimate transitional fossil," Moeritherium, from the late Eocene of Egypt. It looked more like a small hippo than an elephant and probably lacked a long trunk, but it had short upper and lower tusks, the teeth of a primitive mastodon and ear features found only in other proboscideans.
The Dimetrodon was a big predatory reptile with a tail and a large sail or fin-back. It is often mistaken for a dinosaur, but it's actually part of our mammalian lineage and more closely related to mammals than reptiles, which is seen in its specialized teeth for stabbing meat and skull features that only mammals and their ancestors had. It probably moved around like a lizard and had a jawbone made of multiple bones, like a reptile.
Dinosaurs and birds
The classic fossil of Archaeopteryx, sometimes called the first bird, has a wishbone (fully fused clavicle) which is only found in modern birds and some dinosaurs. But it also shows impressions from feathers on its body, as seen on many of the theropod dinosaurs from which it evolved. Its body, capable of flight or gliding, also had many of dinosaur features - teeth (no birds alive today have teeth), a long bony tail (tails on modern birds are entirely feathers, not bony), long hind legs and toes, and a specialized hand with long bony fingers (unlike modern bird wings in which the fingers are fused into a single element), Prothero said.
Sinornis was a bird that also has long bony fingers and teeth, like those seen in dinosaurs and not seen in modern birds.
Yinlong is a small bipedal dinosaur which shares features with two groups of dinosaurs known to many kids - ceratopsians, the beaked dinosaurs like Triceratops, and pachycephalosaurs, known for having a thick dome of bone in their skulls protecting their brains. Yinlong has the thick rostral bone that is otherwise unique to ceratopsians dinosaurs, and the thick skull roof found in the pachycephalosaurs.
Anchisaurus is a primitive sauropod dinosaur that has a lot of lizard-like features. It was only 8 feet long (the classic sauropods later on could be more than 100-feet long), had a short neck (sauropods are known for their long necks, while lizards are not), and delicate limbs and feet, unlike dinosaurs. Its spine was like that of a sauropod. The early sauropods were bipedal, while the latter were stood on all fours. Anchisaurus was probably capable of both stances, Prothero wrote.
Fish, frogs, turtles
Tiktaalik, aka the fishibian or the fishapod, is a large scaled fish that shows a perfect transition between fins and feet, aquatic and land animals. It had fish-like scales, as well as fish-like fin rays and jaw and mouth elements, but it had a shortened skull roof and mobile neck to catch prey, an ear that could hear in both land and water, and a wrist joint that is like those seen in land animals.
Last year, scientists announced the discovery of Gerobatrachus hottorni, aka the frogamander. Technically, it's a toothed amphibian, but it shows the common origins of frogs and salamanders, scientists say, with a wide skull and large ear drum (like frogs) and two fused ankle bones as seen in salamanders.
A creature on the way to becoming a turtle, Odontochelys semistestacea, swam around in China's coastal waters 200 million years ago. It had a belly shell but its back was basically bare of armor. Odontochelys had an elongated, pointed snout. Most modern turtles have short snouts. In addition, the roof of its mouth, along with the upper and lower jaws, was equipped with teeth, which the researchers said is a primitive feature for turtles whose mugs are now tipped with beaks but contain no teeth.
Speaking of fossils, we haven't yet seen findings of any human-like fossils with an incredible stature or height. According to Muslim hadiths, Adam was 30 cubits (apr. 50 feet) tall, after which mankind had been decreasing in stature. If the prophetic time line - Adam to Muhammad - is correct then Adam was created some 4 or 5 thousand years ago, whereas the earliest and most human like fossil discovered is dated to be about 160,000 years old.
what prophetic timeline???
There is no timeline that i was aware of?
peace.
Peace Zafran,
Is there not a timeline of prophets in Islam? The genealogy and ancestry of prophets must surely be recognized in the religion; Ibn Kathir's Stories of the Prophets acknowledges the Biblical prophets from the era of Adam up to the coming of Christ.
Speaking of fossils, we haven't yet seen findings of any human-like fossils with an incredible stature or height. According to Muslim hadiths, Adam was 30 cubits (apr. 50 feet) tall, after which mankind had been decreasing in stature. If the prophetic time line - Adam to Muhammad - is correct then Adam was created some 4 or 5 thousand years ago, whereas the earliest and most human like fossil discovered is dated to be about 160,000 years old.
Greetings.
We don't know how far back Adam was created, furthermore, do you reckon that everything that is buried is fossilized?
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Dear Gator, you keep quoting scientific articles, I sometimes wonder if you bother read them at all, given your former posts.
What is the bottom line of what you have just posted?
There are such sciences as physiology, biochemistry, and molecular biology especially.
Until you can demonstrate what you quote by the same scientific means you enforce it will remain what it is, names to species gone extinct, You can't establish the manner of their transition by the proposed methods of science.
It isn't difficult for God to 'transition' a specie into another as evidenced in the Quran
[Pickthal 56:61] That We may transfigure you and make you what ye know not.
You see, the problem is never really from a religious perspective, though I know the majority of atheists use 'evolution' as to contradict creation, and God somehow. My problem has always been substituting one belief system for another. I have no problems with evolution of proven not theorized, to me it is all the handiwork of God. But how do atheists account for everything in existence, whether or not evolution is the means to account for over a billion species and counting? And how does the time factor figure into all of this? From earth's 'being' until now, we should be morphing at a rate of five per hour?
What is the end result of evolution? Why are we still dying?
cheers
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Published: February 26, 2009
Footprints uncovered in Kenya show that as early as 1.5 million years ago an ancestral species, almost certainly Homo erectus, had already evolved the feet and walking gait of modern humans.
An international team of scientists, in a report Friday in the journal Science, said the well-defined prints in an eroding bluff east of Lake Turkana “provided the oldest evidence of an essentially modern humanlike foot anatomy” and added to the picture of Homo erectus as the prehumans who took long evolutionary strides — figuratively and, now it seems, also literally.
We don't know how far back Adam was created, furthermore, do you reckon that everything that is buried is fossilized?
Account disabling still not working?
What I reckon is that among the thousands of fossils, not one, not a single chunk, was shown super sized. Did you deduce that all remnants dating back thousands, hundreds of thousands and millions of years are all irrelevant because the true and gigantic human fossils are supernaturally hidden from biologists?
Adam, if he existed, is more likely to have been created not too long ago if many of the early commentaries on prophets are taken into account. If a Muslim can believe that Adam was 100 feet tall notwithstanding the lack of evidence, he can equally believe that humans emerged a few thousand years in the past, because I simply see no difference between the two absurdities.
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Biological Evolution – An Islamic Perspective (OP)
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thanks.. I like the 'lab has made' portion of that post.. and especially this comment by one of the commentators 
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