By Ahmad Qadri
Religion and evolutionary scientists are forever at each other’s throats, fighting a war that may very well be decided by the survival of the fittest. For some religious folk, the scientific theory will and should die out, just like any other weak theory of the past, for the evolutionists, the outdated religious creationist ideas cannot survive in the face of a bigger game – modern science and what seems to be, in their view, common sense.
One such advocate of the anti-creationist camp and perhaps one of the world’s most famous new atheists, Richard Dawkins, once visited an Islamic religious school in the United Kingdom during the filming of a documentary. While investigating how religion and secondary education combine, Dawkins was told by students that while teachers could outline and elucidate theories within different subjects, it was up to the students themselves whether they accepted the conclusions of any given scientific theory. Dawkins then promptly (perhaps strategically) asked the Muslim students (who very clearly disagreed with the theory of evolution) whether they believed ‘the fact that humans are related to chimpanzees’, to which the students, as expected, shook their heads in unison. Yet, Dawkins’ most gloating moment occurred when he interrogated a biology teacher (who also, just like her students, happened to be an evolution denier) on a question that one of the students asked – that if evolution were true, why would there still be apes around today? The biology teacher was dumbfounded, seemingly unable to answer the question, smiling to avoid her embarrassment. Dawkins seized the opportunity, demonstrating to his viewers that religious schools and teachers should be a thing of the past, especially when they supposedly infect scientific facts with religious subjectivity and myth.
Plenty of religious communities continue to dismiss evolution as ‘just a theory’. A study by Barnes et al. (2021) demonstrates that Muslim students within the United States and across the globe show a low acceptance rate of the theory of evolution (especially macro-evolution). Undoubtedly, atheists on the anti-religion side of the spectrum continue to use this denial to harbor doubts within young religious people, not just in relation to the theory of evolution, but with respect to the epistemic virtues of religion itself. In this article however, I shall demonstrate, with reference to the scientist cum philosopher Shoaib Ahmed Malik and his 2021 work Islam and Evolution: Al-Ghazali and the Modern Evolutionary Paradigm, that there need not be such a conflict between evolution and Islamic thought, and that a middle ground can indeed be struck between the extreme atheistic camps that weaponize evolution and the religious groups that seek to disengage with the scientific evidence at hand.
The aforementioned study by Barnes et al. demonstrably shows that denial of evolution persists, yet one of the reasons for this denial may not be scriptural or theological at all, but rather philosophical. Many evolution deniers appear to hold an epistemic misunderstanding, believing that evolution is simply a theory — or more precisely, a ‘guess’ — in science that cannot be conclusively proven. This stems from a mindset that there is insufficient evidence for evolution, as it is an unobservable process, despite the overwhelming consensus among biologists regarding the validity of species evolution and the mistaken idea that the theory might eventually be discarded. Frankly, such a view is naive. It would be beyond the scope of this article to examine and discuss each piece of evidence in favour of the theory of evolution being true, thus, I will refer the reader to Malik’s (2021) book chapter on ‘what evolution is and isn’t’ (pp. 21-65). Malik provides a substantive outline of the definition of evolution and a broad range of scientific evidence that supports the conclusions of the macro-evolutionary theory. The chapter also usefully covers and addresses common objections and misunderstandings.
Suffice it to say here though, that this article will (obviously) not seek to disprove evolution in light of the insurmountable evidence which is sourced from the disparate fields of genetics, homology, palaeontology and more. I will investigate whether Islam can theologically accommodate the theory of evolution and address the question of whether it would be blasphemous or contradictory to scripture for the average Muslim to accept this theory. Interestingly, in my own experience, fellow young Muslims hardly ever consider the actual theology and philosophy behind Islam vis a vis evolution, the focus (and this is perhaps ironically rooted in a culture of scientism) is almost always on disproving it as ‘bad’ science or science to be discarded. Of course, it is important to state that while scientific theories undergo change and paradigm shifts, certain ‘macro’ theories remain static and they do so the more evidence is given in favour of them, which can increase over time. The notion of the earth being spherical, for example, has been a scientific theory (and is now an empirical fact) since antiquity, yet this idea is not plainly dismissed due to it merely having been a theory of sophisticated physicists and mathematicians. The same might be said of the existence of gravity which has remained a fact of scientific understanding since the 17th century. Evolution roughly falls into this category of scientific theories where change would require a mountain of evidence of errors. Indeed, when there exists an abundance of evidence and consensus, denying a theory becomes a much more radical venture and, therefore, not always a desirable course of action.
So, if we accept that evolution is true as the evidence demands, where does this leave us in relation to Islamic scripture and theology? Simply put, Malik (2021) argues that, at least the Sunni Muslim, may fall into one of three camps with respect to the theory of evolution and Islamic belief. These viewpoints are named: creationism; human exceptionalism, and Adamic exceptionalism. There is an additional fourth framework which posits ‘no exceptions’ to the evolutionary process, but that school of thought is considered to be beyond the confines of the agreed upon orthodox Sunni theological schools, therefore this article will not consider the fourth position. All three aforementioned frameworks, however, seek to reconcile evolution with scripture (or deny it altogether). One can be confident of the fact that all three positions would be consistent with basic Islamic Sunni creed which is widely accepted across the majority of the Muslim world and through most of Islamic history. That is, the frameworks of the Athari, Ashari or Maturidi schools respectively. Of course, exactly why and how these schools can accept evolution will become clearer as I outline the positions in greater depth.
The creationist position on evolution and Islam is straightforward – a complete denial of common ancestry either on scientific, philosophical or religious grounds (Malik, 2021, p.114). Not only do some in this camp deny the epistemic virtue of the theory of evolution within the scientific paradigm (they consider evolution an unproven assumption) as I mentioned above, but they also hold scriptural reasons for their position (Malik, 2021, pp.118-119). This involves the scriptural affirmations in the Quran which do not hint at any type of gradual evolution or creation of humans, animals, plants and so on (Mabud, 1991, p.74). Another reason related to theology lies in the fact that there is a perceived state of dishonour that the theory of evolution, in the view of the creationists, seems to imply. If this were true, any reader of the Quran would sense a conflict or contradiction, since the Quran very explicitly elevates the status of the human being which is made evident by verses such as Q17:70 and Q95:4 (Buti, 2017, p.314). Furthermore, humans are also noted as the species for whom the universe was created and as possessing advanced intellects and unique souls (Buti, 2017, p.314). Of course, while these arguments would be perfectly acceptable to hold in an Islamic theological system, they seem to miss the mark and add assumptions to the evolutionary theory that simply aren’t there. There is no value system within evolution, not because the theory denies it altogether, but rather because the scientific method refrains from assigning values to any observable or studied entity. It is simply beyond the scope and study of empirical science. Therefore, in terms of value, honour, beauty and so forth, science adopts a strictly neutral philosophical viewpoint. Thus, most of the arguments from scripture which depend on the value of human beings that are used to deny evolution lose their teeth when one acknowledges that the aesthetic and/or moral status of the human being is beyond the scope of science and more specifically, the theory of evolution.
This brings us to another, slightly more lenient position that one may adopt with respect to Islam and evolution – human exceptionalism. As the label suggests, human exceptionalism refers to the notion that evolution is a real phenomenon, but the human species, from Adam AS has not been included in the process. Scholars such as Yasir Qadhi (who could be described as being closer to the Athari school of thought) and Nuh Ha Mim Keller (an Ashari theologian) subscribe to human exceptionalism. This view seeks a middle path between the complete denial of evolution by the creationists and those who may force evolution onto Islamic scripture. For the human exceptionalists, their concerns with the creationist camp are based on the notion that there seems to be some type of conspiratorial attitude within the creationist camp that not only is unwarranted by Islamic scripture, but also forces the community to distrust hordes of scientific evidence and the wide-reaching consensus of scientists – an idea that leads to internal inconsistencies within theological thought. This criticism of the pure creationist viewpoint however, does not mean that human exceptionalists are totally open to any type of scientific belief or theory. They maintain, as theologians no less, that the scripture of Islam seems to specifically emphasize that the human creation was exceptional and that attempting to interpret the verses of creation as metaphorical or allegorical would lead to serious theological ramifications and more severe internal incoherence within the Sunni framework that scholars utilize to read and interpret scripture. Thus, human exceptionalists assert that while it is theologically unproblematic to believe that all species on earth were a product of evolution and shared common ancestry, they draw the line at the human species which was miraculously created with Adam AS to whom all humans today trace back their lineage. The image below provides a clearer conceptual image of how Adam is disconnected from the evolutionary tree (Malik, 2021, p.131).
There is, however, another viewpoint which utilizes the Sunni theological framework (mainly the Ashari framework) and a theological-epistemic tool known as tawaqquf (usually defined as theological suspension of opinion) to go a step further in accepting human evolution as a theory that does not contradict scripture. How is this? The Muslim theologian and philosopher David Solomon Jalajel, as well as Shoaib Ahmed Malik himself both deduce that in relation to Adam and his creation, according to Sunni methods of interpretation of scripture, only three main facts must be affirmed by the Sunni Muslim in order to remain sincere to the Ashari school of thought’s methods and findings. That is, that all humans today are descendants of Adam; that Adam had no parents; and that Adam was created from dust. Interestingly, contrary to popular belief, there is no requirement to believe that Adam was the first human or that the human species itself began with Adam. Taking this fact into consideration, proponents of the Adamic exceptionalist view argue that the full evolutionary process can be accepted, including that humans evolved from a common ancestor. The only miraculous creation (and one of the only facts which the Quran requires one to believe) is that of Adam being created directly by God as an individual – perhaps in a manner similar to the virgin birth of Jesus which the Quran alludes to in 3:59. Since the Quran is silent on whether there were any humans before the creation of Adam, it is perfectly valid for one to exercise tawaqquf and suspend opinion on this topic, at least as far as the theology is concerned. That, of course, also gives room for the Sunni Muslim to accept the evidence for evolution as it includes human evolution in a manner that does not contradict clear scriptural description. Again, the image below provides a visual representation of the possible places where Adam might have been miraculously created. There exists also a parsimonious advantage for the Adamic exceptionalist framework which is the avoidance of having to posit an additional miracle by God to avoid a ‘genetic bottleneck’ problem which would, according to our scientific data, occur under the other models. That is, if Adam were indeed the first human, his offspring would have to interbreed with each other which would, under normal circumstances, cause genetic defects due to the close similarities in the gene pool. The Adamic exceptionalist camp avoids such an issue as Adam’s offspring would be able to interbreed with the already existing humans whose genetic makeup would be disparate enough to avoid a genetic bottleneck issue, and thus perhaps the need to posit another divide miracle which requires the suspension or alteration of genetic laws as we understand them today.
Overall, the three aforementioned schools fit well into the hermeneutics and interpretive system for most Sunni Muslims around the world. It is hoped that works such as Malik’s which systematically investigate issues regarding science and religion will continue to trickle down from the ivory towers of academia and into the mainstream thought of religious communities, as well as atheistic camps that seek to disprove religion. Whether such a popularization project will occur and how long it will take is a question that requires an essay in itself. For now however, it is a bonus to the religious intelligentsia as well as the common man, that there exists answers to evolution and its supposed conflict with religion that doesn’t necessitate one to dismiss serious scientific evidence as well as stretch interpretation of scripture to unreasonable depths.
References:
- Barnes, M.E., Roberts, J.A., Maas, S.A., & Brownell, S.E., 2021. Muslim undergraduate biology students’ evolution acceptance in the United States. PLoS ONE, 16(8), p.e0255588. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255588
- Malik, S.A., 2021. Islam and evolution: Al-Ghazālī and the modern evolutionary paradigm. 1st ed. Routledge. Available at: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429345753
- Al-Būṭī, Muhammad Saʿīd Ramaḍān. 2017. The Greatest Universal Sureties: The Creator’s Existence and The Creature’s Function. trans. by Nicholas Walter Mogiliansky Lock. Damascus: Dār al-Fikr
- Mabud, Shaikh Abdul. 1991. Theory of Evolution: Assessment from the Islamic Point of View. Cambridge: Islamic Academy.
