Re: Biological Evolution – An Islamic Perspective
The Creation and Flood stories in the Quran come from the Bible.
Unsubstantiated claim. These lies were already refuted in the 'sources of the Qur'an' thread.
The god Marduk formed the first humans not only from Kingu's blood but from a mixture of clay and blood.
This is another one of your mistakes. Actually, the babylonian sources do not state such a thing but this is the conjecture of researches as Donal A. Mackenzie pointes out:
We have now reached the sixth tablet, which begins with a reference to words spoken to Merodach by the gods. Apparently Ea had conceived in his heart that mankind should be created. The lord of the gods read his thoughts and said: "I will shed my blood and fashion bone . . . I will create man to dwell on the earth so that the gods may be worshipped and shrines erected for them. I will change the pathways of the gods . . .".
The rest of the text is fragmentary, and many lines are missing. Berosus states, however, that Belus (Bel Merodach) severed his head from his shoulders. His blood flowed forth, and the gods mixed it with earth and formed the first man and various animals.
In another version of the creation of man, it is related that Merodach "laid a reed upon the face of the waters; he formed dust, and poured it out beside the reed. . . . That he might cause the gods to dwell in the habitation of their heart's desire, he formed mankind." The goddess Aruru, a deity of Sippar, and one of the forms of "the lady of the gods", is associated with Merodach as the creatrix of the seed of mankind. "The beasts of the field and living creatures in the field he formed." (Mackenzie, Myths of and Assyria, 1915, p.148)
Mackenzie points out that this is the conjecture of hsitorians who had missing fragments in the legends and this is what they
theorised may have been part of the Babylonian myths. As Leonard William King writes:
According to Berossus, man was formed from the blood of Bêl mixed with earth. The new fragment of the Sixth Tablet does not mention the mixing of the blood with earth, but it is quite possible that this detail was recounted in the subsequent narrative. On the other hand, in the Babylonian poem Marduk declares that, in addition to using his own blood, he will create bone for forming man (King, The Seven Tablets of Creation, 1902, p.59, emphasis added)
This is something historians have merely said to be 'quite possible', in their own words. But yet they find no evidence of this in the original narrations!
Here's another quote from Enuma Elisha:
When Marduk beard the word of the gods,
His heart prompted him and he devised a cunning plan.
He opened his mouth and unto Ea he spake
That which he had conceived in his heart he imparted unto him:
"My blood will I take and bone will I fashion
I will make man, that man may
I will create man who shall inhabit the earth,
That the service of the gods may be established, and that their shrines may be built.
But I will alter the ways of the gods, and I will change their paths;
Together shall they be oppressed and unto evil shall they....
Do you see the word clay mentioned there??
Here's another description which from Proffesor Theophilus Pinches:
The creation of man.
To all appearance the gods, after he had ordered the universe and the
things then existing, urged Merodach to further works of wonder.
Taking up their suggestion, he considered what he should do, and then
communicated to his father Ae his plan for the creation of man with
his own blood, in order that the service and worship of the gods might
be established. This portion is also unfortunately very imperfect, and
the details of the carrying out of the plan are entirely wanting. (Pinches, THE RELIGION OF BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA)
Pinches points out that the narrative does not give many details and he mentions later that some other details are found in the quotations of Abydenus, George the Syncellus, and Eusebius given from Berosus.
Thus historians merely attempted to fill in the narrative with this external information.
Its funny how you brough the claim that this was a pagan myth yet
I am the only one quoting from the pagan sources to show what they really believed!! The burden of proof is on YOU!
This is from "Creation Stories around the World" (University of Georgia):
"In many stories, humans and other beings are made from clay. That's hardly surprising in light of many cultures' use of clay as medium to make both vessels and figurines. Creation from clay has often been cited as evidence of a primitive culture, at least by people from cultures with stories of creation ex nihilo (from nothing)."
Does this prove that creation from clay mentioned in Islam is a pagan myth? Of course not! I have only proven that the vast majority of mythologies did not accept clay as an account for the creation of man. And even if they did, it still would not establish that the Qur'an had copied from them.
Regards
tRu tRu