Tag: islam

Surah Qaf: Allah’s First Creation Proves the Second Creation or Afterlife

Zia H Shah

In the name of God, the Lord of Mercy, the Giver of Mercy

Qaf

By the glorious Quran. But the disbelievers are amazed that a warner has come from among them and they say, ‘How strange! To come back [to life] after we have died and become dust? That is too far-fetched.’ We know very well what the earth takes away from them: We keep a comprehensive record. But the disbelievers deny the truth when it comes to them; they are in a state of confusion.

Do they not see the sky above them––how We have built and adorned it, with no rifts in it; how We spread out the earth and put solid mountains on it, and caused every kind of joyous plant to grow in it, as a lesson and reminder for every servant who turns to God; and how We send blessed water down from the sky and grow with it gardens, the harvest grain, and tall palm trees laden with clusters of dates, as a provision for everyone; how with water We give [new] life to a land that is dead? This is how the dead will emerge [from their graves]. The people of Noah disbelieved long before these disbelievers, as did the people of Rass, Thamud, Ad, Pharaoh, Lot, the Forest-Dwellers, Tubba: all of these people disbelieved their messengers, and so My warning was realized.

So were We incapable of the first creation? No indeed! Yet they doubt a second creation. We created man––We know what his soul whispers to him: We are closer to him than his jugular vein––with two receptors set to record, one on his right side and one on his left: he does not utter a single word without an ever-present watcher. The trance of death will bring the Truth with it: ‘This is what you tried to escape.’ (Al Quran 50:1-19)

The Muslim Times has a very extensive collection about the holy Quran, Afterlife and Religion and Science.

The Grand Show on Earth: From Embryology to Evolution to Afterlife

Zia H Shah
Epigraph:

People remember, if you doubt the Resurrection, that We created you from dust, then a drop of fluid, then a clinging form, then a lump of flesh, both shaped and unshaped: We mean to make Our power clear to you. Whatever We choose We cause to remain in the womb for an appointed time, then We bring you forth as infants and then you grow and reach maturity. Some die young and some are left to live on to such an age that they forget all they once knew. You sometimes see the earth lifeless, yet when We send down water it stirs and swells and produces every kind of joyous growth: this is because God is the Truth; He brings the dead back to life; He has power over everything. (Al Quran 22:5-6)

By Zia H Shah MD

Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution restructured comparative embryology and gave it a new focus. After reading Johannes Müller’s summary of von Baer’s laws in 1842, Darwin saw that embryonic resemblances would be a very strong argument in favor of the genetic connectedness of different animal groups. “Community of embryonic structure reveals community of descent,” he would conclude in On the Origin of Species in 1859.[1]

Embryology is important to understanding a species’ evolution, since some homologous structures can be seen only in embryo development. For example, all vertebrate embryos, from humans to chickens to fish, have a tail during early development, even if that tail does not appear in the fully developed organism.

Likewise, vestigial structures serve little or no present purpose for an organism. The human tail, which is reduced to the tailbone during development, is one example. Vestigial structures can provide insights into an organism’s ancestry. For instance, the tiny vestigial leg bones found in some snakes reflect that snakes had a four-legged ancestor.

Baleen whales, which include the blue whales, split from toothed whales (Odontoceti) around 34 million years ago.

A huge blue whale

Baleen whales range in size from the 6 m (20 ft) and 3,000 kg (6,600 lb) pygmy right whale to the 31 m (102 ft) and 190 t (210 short tons) blue whale, the largest known animal to have ever existed.[1][2] They are sexually dimorphic. Baleen whales can have streamlined or large bodies, depending on the feeding behavior, and two limbs that are modified into flippers. The fin whale is the fastest baleen whale, recorded swimming at 10 m/s (36 km/h; 22 mph). Baleen whales use their baleen plates to filter out food from the water by either lunge-feeding or skim-feeding. Baleen whales have fused neck vertebrae, and are unable to turn their heads at all. Baleen whales have two blowholes. Some species are well adapted for diving to great depths. They have a layer of fat, or blubber, under the skin to keep warm in the cold water.

Look at the feeding of the gigantic blue whales in the video below, they have no use for any teeth, as they consume millions upon millions of small fish:

Even though adult Baleen whales do not have teeth, in embryological life they do, perhaps a subtle proof of God’s grand plan of creation of all the nine million life forms on planet earth through a common ancestry, by means of guided evolution. Darwin noted in his epic making book on evolution that embryonic organisms sometimes make structures that are inappropriate for their adult form but that show their relatedness to other animals. He pointed out the existence of eyes in embryonic moles, pelvic rudiments in embryonic snakes, and teeth in embryonic baleen whales.[1]

The extant and the extinct life forms are all descending from a single organism, from whom Allah created its mate. There are at least four verses of the Quran referring to this great grand single cell progenitor.[2]

There are at least three places that the Quran describes embryology. The first reference is from Surah Hajj and is described as epigraph to this article and other two are quoted below. Firstly, from the chapter the Believers or Surah Moominoon:

We created man from an essence of clay, then We placed him as a drop of fluid in a safe place, then We made that drop into a clinging form, and We made that form into a lump of flesh, and We made that lump into bones, and We clothed those bones with flesh, and later We made him into other forms –– glory be to God, the best of creators! –– then you will die and then, on the Day of Resurrection, you will be raised up again.

We created seven levels above you: We are never unmindful of Our creation. We sent water down from the sky in due measure and lodged it in the earth––We have the power to take it all away if We so wish –– with it We produced for you gardens of date palms and vines, with many fruits there for you to eat. (Al Quran 23:12-19)

Secondly from Surah Zumar:

He created the heavens and earth for a true purpose; He wraps the night around the day and the day around the night; He has subjected the sun and moon to run their courses for an appointed time; He is truly the Mighty, the Forgiving. He created you all from a single being, from which He made its mate; He gave you four kinds of livestock in pairs; He creates you in your mothers’ wombs, in one stage after another, in threefold depths of darkness. Such is God, your Lord; He holds control, there is no god but Him. How can you turn away? (Al Quran 39:5-6)

In all these three references, Allah describes embryology in a broad context of not only the creation of the heavens and the earth but all the different life forms, both animals and plants. In Surah Hajj Allah says that He created mankind from Turab and in Surah Moominoon, He says He created from Teen. These have been translated as dust or clay. In the past centuries the Muslim commentators have read in these verses a creation story of Adam from a statue of mud. Such a narration is not only scientifically wrong, but can be shown to be theological wrong from the Quran itself as well, for at least two reasons. Firstly, the Quran says in the very first verse of Surah Nisa that the single soul that mankind came from was a female and not a male, hence not Adam. This is examined in a separate detailed article.[3] Secondly, because of all the other verses that are better interpreted in the light of evolution. These verses are described in a book: A New Book: The Quran and the Biological Evolution.

When we begin to dwell deeper into the choice of the Quranic words Turab and Teen in the context of evolution, new domains of knowledge and insights open up and we can truly begin to appreciate the expression فَتَبَارَكَ اللَّهُ أَحْسَنُ الْخَالِقِينَ, ‘glory be to God, the best of creators!’ which is part of the verses quoted above from Surah Moominoon. The grand unfolding of the creative drama spread over four billion years and creation of nine million extant species from a single being certainly qualifies for the expression of the best of creators. The magical conversion of a mud statue into Adam and then creating his wife from his rib does not rise to the compliment of فَتَبَارَكَ اللَّهُ أَحْسَنُ الْخَالِقِينَ ‘glory be to God, the best of creators!’ in my estimation and the Western philosophers or scientists. But, no one can refuse to stand in awe of the glorious achievement of the evolutionary process. In fact Richard Dawkins, the most well known spokesperson for atheism, has written a book about it titled: The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution.

In the past the Muslim writers have written articles about these verses describing the accuracy of embryological details highlighted in these that were an unknown and unsought subject in the 7th century Arabia, while the detractors of Islam argue with them.[4][5] I endorse such reading of these Quranic verses, by the Muslim scholars, but here I am suggesting two totally new ideas about these verses.

Firstly, in these verses Allah is not only talking about embryology but is linking the subject matter with the broader discussion of evolution and creation. There is perhaps a subtle hint that embryology provides evidence for evolution. The words Turab and Teen are then symbol of how amino acids came to be from inorganic materials in a slimy environment some four billion years ago and possibly different other stages of evolution later.

Secondly, in all these verses and in their context, Allah presents His creativity and beauty of all his creation including embryology and all the life forms as proof for Afterlife. How can the One who caused the First Creation be not able to recreate it or cause a Second Creation?

The link between embryology and evolution opens new arenas of scientific and philosophical discussions and the use of the words Turab and Teen does the same about origin of life. These discussions and details will extend over months and years to come. A short video for today:

The miracle of uterus and placenta is examined in a separate article and that is also very relevant to the Quranic verses examined in the present article: Our mammalian family and placenta: What a retrovirus did, humanity cannot.

References and Archives
  1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10049/#:~:text=Charles%20Darwin’s%20theory%20of%20evolution,connectedness%20of%20different%20animal%20groups.
  2. 2. Al Quran 4:1; 7:189 and 39:5. And: https://themuslimtimes.info/2022/04/19/the-single-quranic-verse-that-can-convince-you-about-evolution-2/
  3. https://themuslimtimes.info/2016/12/21/biology-of-our-human-family-who-are-we-related-to/
  4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3068791/
  5. https://www.cmf.org.uk/resources/publications/content/?context=article&id=585

The Quranic Verses about Math and How It Developed with Astronomy in the Islamic Civilization

Zia H Shah
Epigraph:

هُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَ الشَّمْسَ ضِيَاءً وَالْقَمَرَ نُورًا وَقَدَّرَهُ مَنَازِلَ لِتَعْلَمُوا عَدَدَ السِّنِينَ وَالْحِسَابَ ۚ مَا خَلَقَ اللَّهُ ذَٰلِكَ إِلَّا بِالْحَقِّ ۚ يُفَصِّلُ الْآيَاتِ لِقَوْمٍ يَعْلَمُونَ 

إِنَّ فِي اخْتِلَافِ اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ وَمَا خَلَقَ اللَّهُ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ لَآيَاتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَتَّقُونَ 

Allah it is Who made the sun radiate a brilliant light and the moon reflect a luster, and ordained for it stages, that you might know the number of years, reckoning of time and mathematics. Allah has not created this but in truth. He details the Signs for a people who have knowledge. Indeed, in the alternation of night and day, and in all that Allah has created in the heavens and the earth there are Signs for a God-fearing people. (Al Quran 10:5-6)

وَجَعَلْنَا اللَّيْلَ وَالنَّهَارَ آيَتَيْنِ ۖ فَمَحَوْنَا آيَةَ اللَّيْلِ وَجَعَلْنَا آيَةَ النَّهَارِ مُبْصِرَةً لِّتَبْتَغُوا فَضْلًا مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ وَلِتَعْلَمُوا عَدَدَ السِّنِينَ وَالْحِسَابَ ۚ وَكُلَّ شَيْءٍ فَصَّلْنَاهُ تَفْصِيلًا 

And We have made the night and the day two Signs, and the Sign of night We have made dark, and the Sign of day We have made sight giving, that you may seek bounty from your Lord, and that you may know the computation of years, reckoning of time and mathematics. And everything We have explained with a detailed explanation. (Al Quran 17:12)

Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD

The key Arabic word in the above verses is الْحِسَابَ, which means calculating, reckoning of time or mathematics. The above verses put this word in the context of day and night and solar and lunar calendars. No wonder, the field of mathematics developed in the context of astronomical developments in the Golden age of Islam, from 8th to 12th centuries.

There is another very short verse using a word based on the same root word:

الشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ بِحُسْبَانٍ

This is the fifth verse of Surah Rehman, chapter 55 of the Quran. Apparently, the verse has only three or four words. But, it is pregnant with meanings. For the Muslim civilization it was a magical wand to create the whole field of astronomy and mathematics. My translation of this verse is:

The sun and the moon move by precise calculation.

Let me now present different translations from the well known Muslim English translations:

[At His behest] the sun and the moon run their appointed courses. — Muhammad Asad

The sun and the moon are made punctual. — William Pickthal

The sun and the moon follow courses (exactly) computed. — Yusuf Ali

The sun and the moon run by a mathematical design. (Such are the changeless Laws given in this Book) — Shabbir Ahmed

The sun and the moon function (perfectly), as per their schedules. — Dr. Munir Munshey

The sun and the moon follow their calculated courses. — Abdel Haleem

The sun and the moon move according to a fixed reckoning. — Wahiduddin Khan

The sun and the moon move according to a fixed reckoning. — Sir Muhammad Zafrulla

Now a few non-Muslim translations:

The sun and the moon pursue their ordered course. — N.J. Dawood

The sun and the moon run their courses according to a certain rule. — George Sale

The sun and moon [move along] like clockwork. — T.B. Irving

The Sun and the Moon have each their times. John Medows Rodwell

The sun and the moon to a reckoning. — A.J. Arberry

The Quran was revealed during a 23 year period from 609 to 632 AD. The Muslims tried to understand these and other verses pregnant with study of nature, astronomy and mathematics and the divine text inspired many, over the decades and centuries. As the Muslim influence spread from Arabia to Iraq, Syria and Spain a new culture of learning developed. Let us fast forward two centuries:

The House of Wisdom was an academy established in Baghdad under Abbasid caliph Al-Ma’mun in the early 9th century. Astronomical research was greatly supported by al-Mamun through the House of Wisdom.

The first major Muslim work of astronomy was Zij al-Sindhind, produced by the mathematician Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi in 830. It contained tables for the movements of the Sun, the Moon, and the planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The work introduced Ptolemaic concepts and of Indian astronomers into Islamic science, and marked a turning point in Islamic astronomy, which had previously concentrated on translating works, but which now began to develop new ideas.[9]

It is a work consisting of approximately 37 chapters on calendrical and astronomical calculations and 116 tables with calendrical, astronomical and astrological data, as well as a table of sine values. This is the first of many Arabic Zijes based on the Indian astronomical methods known as the sindhind.[67] 

The work contains tables for the movements of the sun, the moon and the five planets known at the time. This work marked the turning point in Islamic astronomy. Hitherto, Muslim astronomers had adopted a primarily research approach to the field, translating works of others and learning already discovered knowledge.

The original Arabic version is lost, but a version by the Spanish astronomer Maslama al-Majriti (c. 1000) has survived in a Latin translation, presumably by Adelard of Bath (26 January 1126).[69] The four surviving manuscripts of the Latin translation are kept at the Bibliothèque publique (Chartres), the Bibliothèque Mazarine (Paris), the Biblioteca Nacional (Madrid) and the Bodleian Library (Oxford).

Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi did not just write about astronomy. He was a  Persian polymath who produced vastly influential Arabic-language works in mathematics and geography as well. Hailing from Khwarazm, he was appointed as the astronomer and head of the House of Wisdom in the city of Baghdad around 820 CE.

His popularizing treatise on algebra, compiled between 813–33 as Al-Jabr (The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing),[6]: 171  presented the first systematic solution of linear and quadratic equations. It is from his book that we have the word algebra.

Medieval Islamic astronomy comprises the astronomical developments made in the Islamic world, particularly during the Islamic Golden Age (9th–13th centuries), and mostly written in the Arabic language. These developments mostly took place in the Middle East, Central Asia, Al-Andalus, and North Africa, and later in the Far East and India. It closely parallels the genesis of other Islamic sciences in its assimilation of foreign material and the amalgamation of the disparate elements of that material to create a science with Islamic characteristics. These included Greek, Sassanid, and Indian works in particular, which were translated and built upon.

Islamic astronomy played a significant role in the revival of ancient astronomy following the loss of knowledge during the early medieval period, notably with the production of Latin translations of Arabic works during the 12th century. Islamic astronomy also had an influence on Chinese astronomy.

A significant number of stars in the sky, such as Aldebaran, Altair and Deneb, and astronomical terms such as alidade, azimuth, and nadir, are still referred to by their Arabic names. A large corpus of literature from Islamic astronomy remains today, numbering approximately 10,000 manuscripts scattered throughout the world, many of which have not been read or catalogued. Even so, a reasonably accurate picture of Islamic activity in the field of astronomy can be reconstructed.

According to the Library of Congress:

Between the 8th and 15th centuries Islamic astronomers produced a wealth of sophisticated astronomical work. Largely through the Ptolemaic framework, they improved and refined the Ptolemaic system, compiled better tables and devised instruments that improved their ability to make observations. The extensive contributions of Islamic astronomy also exposed some weaknesses in the Ptolemaic and Aristotelian systems.

al-Farghani (died after 861), known in the west as Alfraganus, wrote Elements of Astronomy on the Celestial Motions around 833. This textbook provided a largely non-mathematical presentation of Ptolomy’s Almagest, updated with revised values from previous Islamic astronomers. The work circulated widely throughout the Islamic world and was translated into Latin during the 12th century.  It became the primary resource that European scholars used to study Ptolemaic astronomy.

The conclusion is inescapable that the holy Quran triggered scientific inquisitiveness among the Muslims, they learnt from the Greeks and others and improved on astronomy, mathematics and other sciences and transmitted those to Europe from the 12th-15th centuries.

Additional reading

Allah created the universe or the multiverse through mathematics  بِالْحَقِّ

The Quran: Allah has bound the sun and the moon into service, each running its course for an appointed term

The Quranic Verses about Math and Is It Discovered or Invented?

Videos: Epistemology: How Do We Know?

Zia H Shah

…

Is Revelation also a Source of Knowledge?

Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times

Modern philosophers often do not mention revelation, intuitions and eureka moments as source of knowledge. I beg to differ. In the second video above meteorological knee is mentioned by Robert Audi as a source of knowledge.

I believe the holy Quran to be the literal word of God and find it a source for not only spiritual and moral truths but sometimes also scientific ones.

Astronomy, mathematics and science started with the study of the Quran during the Golden age of Islam from the 7th to the 12th century.

Let me go to the Quran, where devout, learned or even skeptical, all kinds of Muslims generally start:

If there had been in the heavens and the earth other gods besides Allah, then surely both would have gone to ruin. Glorified then be Allah, the Lord of the Throne, far above what they attribute to Him. (Al Quran 21:22)

One of the interpretations of the above verse:

If there had been in the heavens and the earth other gods besides Allah, then there would have been chaos in the Universe. An organized study of nature would not have been possible. I propose that scientific development occurred because of Judeo-Christian-Muslim paradigm of Monotheism. To demonstrate what monotheism had to do for the scientific progress, here, I quote from Paul Davies from his book ‘the Mind of God.’ He writes:

Much of this early thinking was based on the assumption that the properties of physical things were intrinsic qualities belonging to those things. The great diversity of forms and substances found in the physical world thus reflected the limitless variety of intrinsic properties. Set against this way of looking at the world were the monotheistic religions. The Jews conceived of God as the Lawgiver. This God, being independent of and separate from his creation, imposed laws upon the physical universe from without. Nature was supposed to be subject to laws by divine decree. One could still assign causes to phenomena, but the connection between cause and effect was now constrained by the laws. John Barrow has studied the historical origins of the concept of physical laws. He contrasts the Greek pantheon with the One monarchical God of Judaism: ‘When we look at the relatively sophisticated society of Greek gods, we do not find the notion of an all, powerful cosmic lawgiver very evident. Events are decided by negotiation, deception, or argument rather than by omnipotent decree. Creation proceeds by committee rather than fiat.’

The view that laws are imposed upon, rather than inherent in, nature was eventually adopted by Christianity and Islam too, though not without a struggle. Barrow relates how Saint Thomas Aquinas ‘viewed the innate Aristotelian tendencies as aspects of the natural world which were providentially employed by God. However, in this cooperative enterprise their basic character was inviolate. According to this view, God’s relationship with Nature is that of a partner rather than that of a sovereign.’ But such Aristotelian ideas were condemned by the Bishop of Paris in 1277, to be replaced in later doctrine by the notion of God the Lawmaker.

…

In Renaissance Europe, the justification for what we today call the scientific approach to inquiry was the belief in a rational God whose created order could be discerned from a careful study of nature. And, Newton notwithstanding, part of this belief came to be that God’s laws were immutable. ‘The scientific culture that arose in Western Europe,’ writes Barrow, ‘of which we are the inheritors, was dominated by adherence to the absolute invariance of laws of Nature, which thereby underwrote the meaningfulness of the scientific enterprise and assured its success.’

For the modern scientist, it is sufficient only that nature simply have the observed regularities we still call laws. The question of their origin does not usually arise. Yet it is interesting to ponder whether science would have flourished in medieval and Renaissance Europe were it not for Western theology. China, for example, had a complex and highly developed culture at that time, which produced some technological innovations that were in advance of Europe’s. The Japanese scholar Kowa Seki, who lived at the time of Newton, is credited with the independent invention of the differential calculus and a procedure for computing pi, but he chose to keep these formulations secret. In his study of early Chinese thought, Joseph Needham writes: ‘There was no confidence that the code of Nature’s laws could ever be unveiled and read, because there was no assurance that a divine being, even more rational than ourselves, had ever formulated such a code capable of being read.’ Barrow argues that, in the absence of “the concept of a divine being who acted to legislate what went on in the natural world, whose decrees formed inviolate ‘laws’ of Nature, and who underwrote scientific enterprise,” Chinese science was condemned to a ‘curious stillbirth.’[1]

The contributions of the Jews and the Christians are well known to the world but those of the Muslims are lost in history because of political reasons. Here is a collection of articles to brush up that information:

How Islam Taught Medieval Christian Europe Religious and Political Tolerance

How Europe Came to Forget its Arabic Heritage

Muhammad: The Light for the Dark Ages of Europe!

Al-Khwarizmi’s book Al-kitab al-mukhtasar fi hisab al-jabr wa’l-muqabala was translated into Latin in the 12th century, from which the term Algebra is derived. The tradition that had been started in Baghdad and Cordoba was picked up in Europe at the time of Renaissance. The verses of the Quran that are thought to have jump started his work in astronomy and mathematics are:

هُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَ الشَّمْسَ ضِيَاءً وَالْقَمَرَ نُورًا وَقَدَّرَهُ مَنَازِلَ لِتَعْلَمُوا عَدَدَ السِّنِينَ وَالْحِسَابَ ۚ مَا خَلَقَ اللَّهُ ذَٰلِكَ إِلَّا بِالْحَقِّ ۚ يُفَصِّلُ الْآيَاتِ لِقَوْمٍ يَعْلَمُونَ 

إِنَّ فِي اخْتِلَافِ اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ وَمَا خَلَقَ اللَّهُ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ لَآيَاتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَتَّقُونَ 

Allah it is Who made the sun radiate a brilliant light and the moon reflect a luster, and ordained for it stages, that you might know the number of years, reckoning of time and mathematics. Allah has not created this but in truth. He details the Signs for a people who have knowledge. Indeed, in the alternation of night and day, and in all that Allah has created in the heavens and the earth there are Signs for a God-fearing people. (Al Quran 10:5-6)

وَجَعَلْنَا اللَّيْلَ وَالنَّهَارَ آيَتَيْنِ ۖ فَمَحَوْنَا آيَةَ اللَّيْلِ وَجَعَلْنَا آيَةَ النَّهَارِ مُبْصِرَةً لِّتَبْتَغُوا فَضْلًا مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ وَلِتَعْلَمُوا عَدَدَ السِّنِينَ وَالْحِسَابَ ۚ وَكُلَّ شَيْءٍ فَصَّلْنَاهُ تَفْصِيلًا 

And We have made the night and the day two Signs, and the Sign of night We have made dark, and the Sign of day We have made sight giving, that you may seek bounty from your Lord, and that you may know the computation of years, reckoning of time and mathematics. And everything We have explained with a detailed explanation. (Al Quran 17:12)

Before the Arabs the Roman numbers were used in Europe.  There used to be experts like modern day accountants for simple additions and subtractions.  Now these are taught in the second grade.

Try adding Roman numbers:

XXIV + LXXVI = C.
See if you get the answer

Now add Arab numerals:

100,005
1003
205
_______
101,213

Precise and quick quantification was the first step in the development of nascent science.  No wonder, Carly Firoina, Ex CEO of Hewlett-Packard said, “Although we are often unaware of our indebtedness to Islamic civilization, its gifts are very much a part of our heritage. The technology industry would not exist without the contributions of Arab mathematicians.”

In contrast to a concise and clear paradigm of Monotheism, polytheism did not provide the clarity of thought, which could jump start a detailed scientific enterprise.  According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, as it defines polytheism:

The belief in many gods. Polytheism characterizes virtually all religions other than Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, which share a common tradition of monotheism, the belief in one God. Polytheism identified natural forces and objects as divinities:
Surya, the sun god.
Indra associated with storms, rain, and battles.
Agni the fire god.
Zeus use of lightning as his thunderbolt.

Science not only started with Monotheism and the Quran but now as a much bigger discipline after a few centuries keeps reaffirming the Quran:

Why is the Quran a Sign or a Miracle, According to Itself?

The Quran: Allah has bound the sun and the moon into service, each running its course for an appointed term

The Quran and the Breathtaking Universe: Is This God Speaking or Muhammad?

The Quran and the Expanding Universe: Is This God Speaking or Muhammad?

The Quran and Creation Ex Nihilo: Is This God Speaking or Muhammad?

Skeptics would like to deny much that I have written about corelating science and the Quran. But, the fact of the matter is that the burden of proof is much higher on them. Because, Even a Single Profound and True Revelation Defeats Materialism or Physicalism.

Sometimes, skeptics suggest that the Quran seems to be adding scientific knowledge only in retrospect and it is nothing more than Monday morning quarterbacking. But, let me here quote two passage from the Quran about extraterrestrial life. It is impressive that a text from the 7th century Arabia should even talk about multiple earths and life forms in them. It not only talks about earth like planets, life in them but also their meeting:

Allah is He Who created seven heavens, and of the earth the like there of. The divine command comes down in their midst, that you may know that Allah has power over all thing. (Al Quran 65:13)

And among His Signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and of whatever living creatures He has spread forth in both. And He has the power to gather them together whenever He pleases. (Al Quran 42:30)

Articles for broader understanding of revelation and their biology:

Video: Laughter is the best cure for psychics

Neurobiology of Dreams and Revelation

Al Aleem: The Bestower of true dreams

The Nature of Revelation

True Nature of Divine Revelations

We Dream, Therefore God Is!

References

1. Paul Davies. The Mind of God. A Touchstone Book, 1992. Pages 75-77.

A New Book: The Quran and the Biological Evolution

Zia H Shah

What is the matter with you? Why will you not fear God’s majesty, when He has created you stage by stage? Have you ever wondered how God created seven heavens, one above the other, placed the moon as a light in them and the sun as a lamp, how God made you spring forth from the earth like a plant, how He will return you into it and then bring you out again, and how He has spread the Earth out for you to walk along its spacious paths? (Al Quran 71:13-20)

I call to witness the post-sunset glow, and the night and all that it envelops, and the moon when it becomes full, that you shall assuredly ascend from stage to stage. (Al Quran 84:16-19)

Man, what has emboldened you against your Gracious Lord, who created you, then perfected you, then proportioned you right? He fashioned you in whatever form He pleased. (Al Quran 82:6-8)

Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times

Preface

Many biologists now believe that the field of biology does not make sense any more without the paradigm of evolution.  So, as Muslims if we want to believe in a spontaneous creationist story of Adam being created out of a statue of mud, we are going against a very large body of evidence.  Sometimes as devout believers we take shelter in the fundamental belief that the holy Quran is the literal word of All-Knowing God.  That is all well and good and I fully believe that.  Nevertheless, our understanding of the Quran, given our human limitations, can be flawed and is not guaranteed.

This book affirms that God is the Creator of our universe as clearly stated in the last verse of Surah Hashr: “He is Allah, the Creator, the Maker, the Fashioner. His are the most beautiful names. All that is in the heavens and the earth glorifies Him, and He is the Mighty, the Wise.” (Al Quran 59:24) The main focus will be through what natural mechanisms or laws of nature God created the universe and all the nine million species on our planet earth including humans.  After all, the God of the Quran is not only Manifest but is also Hidden.  What does the attribute the Hidden imply? Perhaps a profound verse from Surah Anaam answers the question:

Eyes cannot reach Him but He reaches the human consciousness. And He is the Incomprehensible, the All-Aware. (Al Quran 6:103)

In Surah Hadeed we read:

He is the First and the Last, and the Manifest and the Hidden, and He knows all things full well. (Al Quran 57:3)

In our busy lives we are not meditating on Allah’s attributes the way we should.

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by, and a middle-aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.  A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk. A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly, he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3-year-old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist.  Finally, the mother pushed hard, and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace.  He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it.  No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats averaged $100.

The details of the above legend may be off in minutiae, but the theme is true.

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

We definitely take all the master pieces of Allah’s creation for granted. The anesthesia of familiarity sets in, and we take the marvels of God’s creation for granted, until the best scientists, even if not believers present to us the intricacies and details of cosmology, physics and biology. it reminds us of a short expression from the 23rd chapter of the Quran, the Arabic words are: فَتَبَارَكَ اللَّهُ أَحْسَنُ الْخَالِقِينَ: Glory be to God who is the best of the creators. The whole verse is quoted with the context below:

We created man from an essence of clay, then We placed him as a drop of fluid in a safe place, then We made that drop into a clinging form, and We made that form into a lump of flesh, and We made that lump into bones, and We clothed those bones with flesh, and later We made him into other forms. Glory be to God, the best of creators! (Al Quran 23:12-14)

These verses talk about the development of the fetus, in an age, in the 7th century, when people hardly had any curiosity about the subject. The miracle of mammalian placenta is examined further in a separate chapter.

But, the miracle of the Quran does not only lie in accurate description of yet unknown natural phenomena, rather the whole claim of Allah being the best of Creators, when we look at the complete creation of humans through guided evolution.

As a physician, the more I see and read about different diseases, the more I marvel at the miracle of a healthy body with thousands if not millions of automated checks and balances to keep the human body functioning amazingly in a variety of situations and circumstances.

The complexity and organization that we come to see through the study of genetics and molecular biology in health and disease is really mind boggling. The conclusion is inescapable that Allah is the best of Creators.

But, like Joshua Bell was ignored, we ignore Allah’s creativity and providence in most moments of our unthinking lives.

This book explores the relationship between the Quran and the scientific theory of evolution, specifically addressing the verses concerning the meeting of Adam with God, angels, and Satan. It proposes a metaphorical interpretation of these verses, drawing inspiration from the evolving understanding of the Covenants in Islamic theology.

This book aims to foster a deeper understanding of the Quran in light of scientific knowledge while remaining respectful of traditional interpretations. It encourages open dialogue and exploration within the Muslim community.

As you familiarize yourself with the table of contents, you will see that there are two chapters about the Muslim theology of the two Covenants.  The two covenants are The Primordial Covenant of All of Humanity and The Covenant of the Prophets.  The mention of a Hadith about the prophet Muhammad, may peace be on him, existing before the prophet Adam, in the chapter of The Covenant of the Prophets, and much more suggest that these covenants were understood to be literal in the early Islamic history. But many learned contemporary theologians take these as metaphorical now.

Likewise, I am proposing that the meeting of Adam with God, angels, and Satan, in the Quran, need not be taken literally, given the discoveries of modern biology and evolution.

I am going to describe to the best of my ability relevant biology and evolution, especially molecular biology nailing common ancestry of all nine million life forms on planet earth, as a scientific fact, but I do not need to be the best teacher in these domains.  Readers could access better sources.  I am going to link two authors here: Richard Dawkins and Kenneth Miller.[i] [ii]

Likewise, I am going to describe theology of the above mentioned two Covenants, how during the last fourteen centuries, the understanding has gradually moved from literal to metaphorical, as theology, philosophy and science have progressed.  Again, the readers can find more eloquent theologians of their preference on the subject.

I have pooled more than 80 verses about the meeting of Adam with God, angels, and Satan in one chapter. The new idea in this book and my main thesis is that all these verses are best understood metaphorically and my precedent for this is the prior example of the Covenants. 

We can continue to embellish the best ways to show Divine Guidance in evolution but need to completely shy away from traditional creationism.

The discussion about evolution leads to a new window in the understanding of the Quran in a progressive manner, in correlation with biological and other sciences.

This book is primarily intended for the Western Muslims seeking to reconcile their faith with modern scientific knowledge. It may also be of interest to agnostics, atheists, and followers of other faiths seeking a deeper understanding of the Quran and its interpretation in the context of science.

I firmly believe in the Quran as the literal word of God. However, this book argues that seemingly literal interpretations of certain verses, particularly those concerning the creation narrative, can be re-examined in light of scientific advancements.

Feedback and new ideas are welcome.

Zia H. Shah MD. 

ziahshah@hotmail.com

Chapters

Chapters are being added and updated overtime:

Introduction of the Book: The Quran and the Biological Evolution

The best proof against atheism is to imagine what they profess: What if nothing exists, no God a total blank!

Videos and A Book: Why is There Anything At All?

Why do Christians leave their religion?

Bannu clerics in Pakistan force zoology teacher to denounce Darwin’s theory of evolution

Allah created the universe or the multiverse through mathematics  بِالْحَقِّ

The Miracle of Water and the Miracle of the Quran

Our mammalian family and placenta: What a retrovirus did, humanity cannot

The Holy Quran and the Camels of the Americas

A Slight Twist Makes David Attenborough a Great Teacher for God of the Abrahamic Faiths

Our closest ape relatives: Chimpanzees and bonobos

The Primordial Covenant of Humanity: Did it Literally Happen?

The Primordial Covenant of the Prophets: Did it Literally Happen?

Most American Christians Do Not Believe that Satan or the Holy Spirit Exist

The Story of Adam and A Progressive, Metaphorical Reading of the Quran

The Holy Quran Uses the Word Taqdeer تَقْدِيرً for Laws of Nature

Surah Al Shams – The Sun: Evolution of the Human Conscience

God was present at the Big Bang, the beginning of life, the formation of humans from apes and is alive today

How Beauty Is Making Scientists Rethink Evolution

How could God guide evolution?

Charles Darwin: An Epiphany for the Muslims, A Catastrophe for the Christians

Epilogue


بَدِيعُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۖ وَإِذَا قَضَىٰ أَمْرًا فَإِنَّمَا يَقُولُ لَهُ كُن فَيَكُونُ

He is the Originator of the heavens and the earth, and when He decrees something, He says only, ‘Be,’ and it is. (Al Quran 2:117)

Have they been created from nothing, or are they their own creators? Have they created the heavens and the earth? In truth they put no faith in anything. (Al Quran 52:35-36)

Video: Finding God by Imagining Absolute Nothingness

A British Convert to Islam: ‘I found Qur’an mother of all philosophies’

References of the Preface

[i] https://www.amazon.com/The-Ancestors-Tale-audiobook/dp/B00V501GYI/ref=sr_1_14?crid=2Z8X4WUIZ7BTD&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.f2F5DpdMSnIHoJEQzEZwH6JYbh29ku-N54N1Ykn7m0QHPFz2bYgRORC5A26Das-ZTizVLLDOQ2IQGOBbBI2_NCJyZw3FuyTmIy-bSp0dkH6C73g-3pUjhg0XXIuulS1hFZCJ9pSHpcRfj4pQeNDMks2OHXdIaUoax4UdP-nZVK7viDdUPsExSyN1xa_yON-hd1rA4iKpMmnM7TuN_X9wFAX1FhO7QLPq_E3nan5P5a5_gsi-RSOuWr8kov7ho1zWuembo3pSwwTo7P7L-UsIVloq5QO6MHJm18Ov0Z2tbYA.hJOhNpHqBHuR-DrHwVj7HevAYzQcOVTW6LtfYaf5vo4&dib_tag=se&keywords=richard+dawkins+books&qid=1709737158&sprefix=richard+dawkins+books%2Caps%2C105&sr=8-14

[ii] https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Darwins-God-Scientists-Evolution/dp/0061233501/ref=sr_1_1?crid=34SRWMNTW0JL0&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.5IcJ21Zg7C08-bkWgIvXYXaYTnSu5ZkCswvcbAFtir64a50e4Z5_N-ToxxK8iHORq7_pUCAg93XKr9U4dqlt7EUHt9ZXGZViYUgy4qSdQFKJClebNogNE2JraAbdB5kUlnuPioaqfnEVYK4jTk4Fy4VSuO9-dSEm7AFYtkG3Wmiqfh7ir5lIuleCi2GNjfeq_n3mayE70qznXHUtFtzrLGmoTFuAnmYdqUZxa5YLADE.U8U6TS2R1AjoxcP2j6ou0Ur1tipmFrpIK3VvGNeO0fY&dib_tag=se&keywords=kenneth+miller+God&qid=1709737262&s=audible&sprefix=kenneth+miller+god%2Caudible%2C75&sr=1-1

Introduction of the Book: The Quran and the Biological Evolution

Zia H Shah

Introduction

I begin in the name of Allah, the Gracious the Merciful.

Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times

What are the different meanings of evolution

Any word can be used in different meanings or with different connotations. For example, the word ‘course’ during a dinner means a part of a menu, in a university it means something to do with syllabus and during a golf game, it means the landscape.

Likewise, the word ‘evolution’ can mean at least three different things. It can mean, especially when atheists use it that humans came about blindly or spontaneously and that God does not exist.

By ‘evolution’ sometimes authors may mean natural mechanisms of evolution, for example, natural selection.

Thirdly, it means that the nine million different living species on our planet earth have a common ancestry and have come down from single cell organisms over the last four billion years. When I talk about evolution that it is a well established scientific fact, I am merely talking about evolution in this meaning.

Most of the book talks about this third meaning of evolution. Occasionally, it opines on the other meanings.

I believe God to be the Creator of all life forms on our planet through the process of evolution. How could He guide evolution is subject of a separate chapter: How could God guide evolution?

The Preface of this Book

The Preface of the book, has of course already been written: Preface of A Book: The Quran and the Biological Evolution.

The Muslims take religious and scientific pride in the expanding universe and rightly so

If we Google the subject of the expanding universe and the Quran, we find countless articles and videos on the theme of describing expanding universe mentioned in the holy Quran. This is a testament to the fact that whenever Muslims find any scientific fact supportive of the truth of the Quran or Islam they are not shy of highlighting that.

I personally have also written on this subject before: The Quran and the Expanding Universe: Is This God Speaking or Muhammad?

If we are going to allow good and established science for one or a few verses of the Quran then the conclusion is inescapable that we cannot and should not deny to understand other and all verses in the light of other scientific truths.

The Quran does not draw a distinction between astronomy and cosmology on the one hand and biological sciences on the other hand and describes them side by side as a miracle of God’s creation and as an argument for humanity to believe in Him. For example in Surah Anbiyya we read:

Do not the disbelievers see that the heavens and the earth were a closed-up mass, then We opened them out? And We made from water every living thing. Will they not then believe? And We have made in the earth firm mountains lest it should quake with them; and We have made therein wide pathways, that they may be rightly guided. And We have made the heaven a roof, well protected; yet they turn away from its Signs. (Al Quran 21:29-32)

In the following eleven verses of Surah Rome, Allah goes back and forth between the biological phenomena and astronomical or cosmological details and calls all of them a Sign or a miracle. Allah does not describe them as merely science, but draws theological and moral conclusions from such a study of nature:

So celebrate God’s glory in the evening, in the morning – praise is due to Him in the heavens and the earth – in the late afternoon, and at midday. He brings the living out of the dead and the dead out of the living. He gives life to the earth after death, and you will be brought out in the same way. One of His signs is that He created you from dust and – lo and behold! – you became human and scattered far and wide. Another of His signs is that He created spouses from among yourselves for you to live with in tranquility: He ordained love and kindness between you. There truly are signs in this for those who reflect. Another of His signs is the creation of the heavens and earth, and the diversity of your languages and colors. There truly are signs in this for those who know. Among His signs are your sleep, by night and by day, and your seeking His bounty. There truly are signs in this for those who can hear. Among His signs, too, are that He shows you the lightning that terrifies and inspires hope; that He sends water down from the sky to restore the earth to life after death. There truly are signs in this for those who use their reason. Among His signs, too, is the fact that the heavens and the earth stand firm by His command. In the end, you will all emerge when He calls you from the earth. Everyone in the heavens and earth belongs to Him, and all are obedient to Him. He is the One who originates creation and will do it again – this is even easier for Him. He is above all comparison in the heavens and earth; He is the Almighty, the All Wise. (Al Quran 30:17-27)

In the last of the above verses, Allah talks about how He is the Originator of all things and has created everything from nothing; to borrow a term from Latin to connect it to the Christian scholarship, it is called: creation ex nihilo. This is a miracle in its own right and a separate chapter is devoted to this topic: The best proof against atheism is to imagine what they profess: What if nothing exists, no God a total blank!

In Surah Baqarah we read:

Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and in the alternation of night and day, and in the ships which sail in the sea with that which profits men, and in the water which Allah sends down from the sky and quickens therewith the earth after its death and scatters therein all kinds of beasts, and in the change of the winds, and the clouds pressed into service between the heaven and the earth — are indeed Signs for the people who understand. (Al Quran 2:164)

The following verses from Surah Jathiyah give us formal invitation to study our own creation and of all life forms in scientific light:

This Scripture is sent down from God, the Mighty, the Wise. There are signs in the heavens and the earth for those who believe: in the creation of you, in the creatures God scattered on earth, there are signs for people of sure faith; in the alternation of night and day, in the rain God provides, sending it down from the sky and reviving the dead earth with it, and in His shifting of the winds there are signs for those who use their reason. These are God’s signs that We recount to you Prophet, to show the Truth. (Al Quran 45:2-6)

So, just the expanding universe is not a miracle, rather the whole of Allah’s creation and the holy Quran are miracles: Why is the Quran a Sign or a Miracle, According to Itself? and: Everything is a Miracle According to the Holy Quran and Albert Einstein.

Additionally, any discussion about religion in the West soon changes into a discussion about evolution as agnostics and atheists have a significant presence in books and videos talking about merely natural mechanisms to explain our universe and our species.

Generally the devout believers do not discuss science at length with agnostics and atheists and choose to walk away and live in their bubbles, but if their children are driven by science and biology, they will not be able to escape the subject.

Therefore, I suggest that it is high time for all the Muslims, at least those living in the West, to understand and master the subject of evolution and its relationship with the Quran.

Standing on the shoulders of Dr. Maurice Bucaille

I came to know of him in 1981 when I was in my medical school, King Edward Medical College in Lahore, Pakistan. It was the first medical school to be established in subcontinent India in 1860. It is now called King Edward Medical University. I have often gone back to his book over the years.

Sir Isaac Newton, the famous English scientist, once said, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Of course, Newton wasn’t literally standing on the shoulders of giants. Newton was explaining that his ideas didn’t come from him alone. He relied on the ideas of those who came before him.

If I succeed to any degree in explaining Islamic metaphysics, corelating modern science with some of the verses of the holy Quran, especially in the domain of biology, then lion’s share of the credit goes to those who have gone before, most notably Dr. Maurice Bucaille.

He was born in France and worked in Egypt. He became a Muslim and wrote a book, the Bible, the Quran and Science. The book was written in French and has been translated into numerous languages. In this book he has examined different passages of the Quran and the Bible in light of science.  His book has been very popular in almost every Muslim majority country. It is in a way a vote of confidence by the Muslim masses that the Quran should be interpreted in light of good science.

This general approval of this book is a testament that the Muslims want to understand the Quran in the light of modern science.

So, I propose a question to the readers.  Have you, your favorite teacher or commentator of the Quran ever interpreted any verse of the Quran in light of new science that was not available in the 7th century Arabia?  If yes then you agree with me in principle that the Quran can and should be interpreted in the light of the best science.  The leap of faith, I will take here, is the broader application that if one verse of the Quran can be interpreted in light of new and recent science, then any other verse can and should also be.

We may quibble about what is good science, but never about the domain that it can and should be used to understand the Quran.

The demographics of the Muslim masses and scholars about evolution

The book is intended for the 1.8 billion Muslims, especially those living in the West and their religious scholars.

Very few Muslim scholars have fully accepted the theory of evolution and the full implications of it on the understanding of the holy Quran, specifically the story of Adam. Ghulam Ahmad Parwez (1903–1985) is the exception to the rule. He was a well-known teacher of the Quran in India and Pakistan. He posed a challenge to the established Sunni doctrine by interpreting Quranic themes with a logical approach. He gained some popularity among educated populace, who held Parwez in high esteem, despite his encounter with numerous criticisms from conservative Islamic scholars throughout his tenure.  His ideas, based on modern science, helped people better understand Islam. He was introduced to Muhammad Ali Jinnah by Muhammad Iqbal. He was appointed to edit the magazine Tolu-e-Islam, which was established to counteract the propaganda emanating from certain religious circles that favor Congress. In his commentary of the Quran and some of his books he presented the story of Adam to be completely a metaphor.[i] [ii] [iii]

This and many of his ideas did not win him any applause from the traditional Muslim scholars.  This can be appreciated from Urdu audios of even the most moderate among the scholars from Pakistan, for example Javed Ahmed Ghamidi.[iv]

A more recent scholar in USA, Dr. Yasir Qadhi believes in evolution for all the species except for humans. He has a large following in Dallas, Texas and in his twitter account. He pleads a special case of creation for humans in a half hour video, available in YouTube that I have saved in the Muslim Times as well for the posterity: Dr. Yasir Qadhi’s partial acceptance of evolution.

I have respectfully singled out Yasir Qadhi to highlight that truth, religious or scientific, has a strange way of coming back to haunt us, if not us then our children or grand children. If our common ancestry with all life forms including the apes and monkeys is a reality then it is no use brushing the facts under the rug. We might as well face the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth and see how it changes or evolves our understanding of the holy Quran.

Many Muslims around the world believe in evolution. In 13 of the 22 countries where the question was asked, at least half say humans and other living things have evolved over time. By contrast, in just four countries do at least half say that humans have remained in their present form since the beginning of time.

In Southern and Eastern Europe, a majority of Muslims in Albania (62%) and Russia (58%) believe in evolution. But Muslims are divided in Bosnia-Herzegovina (50% believe humans have evolved, while 45% take the opposite view) and Kosovo (34% vs. 40%).

In four of the Central Asian countries surveyed, more than half of Muslims say they believe in evolution, including nearly eight-in-ten in Kazakhstan (79%). In Tajikistan and Turkey, by contrast, the predominant view is that humans have remained in their present form since the beginning of time (55% and 49%, respectively).

At least six-in-ten Muslims in Lebanon (78%), the Palestinian territories (67%) and Morocco (63%) think humans and other living things have evolved over time, but Jordanian and Tunisian Muslims are more divided on the issue. About half in Jordan (52%) believe in evolution, while 47% say humans have always existed in their present form. And in Tunisia, 45% say humans have evolved, 36% say they have always existed in their present form, and 19% are unsure. Iraq is the only country surveyed in the Middle East-North Africa region where a majority rejects the theory of evolution (67%).

Muslims’ views on evolution vary in South Asia and Southeast Asia. Muslims in Thailand (55%) and Bangladesh (54%) tend to accept that humans have evolved over time. But Muslims in Malaysia and Pakistan are divided: roughly four-in-ten Malaysian Muslims (37%) believe in evolution, while 45% say humans have always existed in their present form. In Pakistan, 30% think humans have evolved, while 38% disagree and 32% say that they do not know. In Afghanistan and Indonesia, the prevailing view is that humans and living things have remained in their present form since the beginning of time (62% and 55%, respectively).

In countries surveyed in Southern and Eastern Europe, more religiously observant Muslims are less likely to believe in evolution. In Russia, for example, 41% of Muslims who pray several times a day believe in evolution, compared with 66% of those who pray less frequently. Significant gaps also appear between more and less devout Muslims in Bosnia-Herzegovina (-19 percentage points) and Kosovo (-14). Views on evolution do not differ significantly by religious commitment in the other regions surveyed.

Here are some of the comments that Pew Research Center received:

“Nonsense. I believe that Nabi Adam is the first human in the world. Before Nabi Adam was created, other living things such as dinosaurs and so on were also created. The theory of human evolution from apes to human is very different from the teaching in Islam.”
– Muslim man, age 24, Malaysia

“That theory to me is absurd. People might be saying that during time of Mesopotamia, the people there hunch and bow, with appearance looking like an ape. Maybe that is why one says we come from apes. But, for me, I believe that we come from Adam and Adam came from heaven.”
– Muslim woman, age 36, Malaysia

“Our ancestors are not monkeys. Maybe there’s similarity in the DNA, but in Islam the first human is Adam. He’s not a monkey.”
– Muslim man, age 35, Singapore [v]

While a certain percentage of the Muslim public is open to evolution, very few Muslim scholars are open to the truth of evolution. There is a Wikipedia page that lists views of some of the well known Sunni Muslim scholars.[vi]

One of the main purposes of this book is to convey the new scientific reality to the well known Muslim scholars respectfully. To complete the picture, I have highlighted views of some of them to document the current state of affairs, as the Muslims intelligentsia and masses continue the journey of reading the Quran in light of modern scientific, philosophical and metaphysical scholarship:

Javed Ahmad Ghamidi, A Great Theologian, Yet Joins the Long List of Scholars, Who are Ignorant about Evolution

Dr. Yasir Qadhi’s partial acceptance of evolution

Hamza Yusuf a Great Teacher of Islam, But for Evolution and Jinns

Video: Omer Suleiman Denying Human Evolution from Apes

Exposing Creationism of Zakir Naik, Tahir ul Qadari, Yusuf Estes and Harun Yahya

How can God guide evolution?

This is a very important aspect of my book, as stated before I do not suggest blind evolution rather I promote guided or theistic evolution. There is a separate chapter devoted to this issue that has a 26 minute video also by Closer to Truth also: Preface of A Book: The Quran and the Biological Evolution.

Just like God can grant our prayers today and influence human history over the millennia, in similar manner and through similar means He has guided evolution.

To read the book:

Book: The Quran and the Biological Evolution

References

[i] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideas_of_Ghulam_Ahmed_Perwez

[ii] https://www.parwez.tv/audiolist.html

[iii] http://islamicdawn.com/urdu-books/

[iv] https://themuslimtimes.info/2024/04/02/javed-ahmed-ghamidi-about-ghulam-ahmed-pervez/

[v] https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2020/08/26/on-the-intersection-of-science-and-religion/#:~:text=In%20the%20U.S.%20context%2C%20a,since%20the%20beginning%20of%20time.

[vi] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_views_on_evolution

The Primordial Covenant of the Prophets: Did it Literally Happen?

Zia H Shah
Epigraph:

And [remember] when God made the covenant of the prophets: “By that which I have given you of a Book and Wisdom, should a messenger then come to you confirming that which is with you, you shall surely believe in him and you shall help him.” He said, “Do you agree and take on My burden on these conditions?” They said, “We agree.” He said, “Bear witness, for I am with you among those who bear witness.” Then whosoever turns away after that, they are the iniquitous. (Al Quran 3:81-82)

Do they seek other than God’s religion, while whosoever is in the heavens and on the earth submits to Him, willingly or unwillingly, and unto Him they will be returned? (Al Quran 3:83)

Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times

In a different article we have examined the nature of the covenant that happened with the whole of humanity: The Primordial Covenant of Humanity: Did it Literally Happen?

Today, we will discuss the other prominent covenant mentioned in the holy Quran.

The verses 81 and 82 quoted as epigraph above from Surah Ale Imran are regarded as Covenant of the Prophets. What is most important to note is that in the very next verse the subject matter begins to consider the submission of the whole universe to the will of God, a subject apt for our times as the study of cosmology came to be a science only in the last few decades.

Now, let us take the commentary of these verses from Seyyed Hossein Nasr before we go onto discuss the other verses from Surah Al Ahzab, where this covenant is again discussed:

3:81–82: The particle lamā, rendered here as by that which and as should (in should a messenger), gives rise to different possible translations that are nonetheless substantively similar. It can be interpreted to mean that the Book and Wisdom are invoked in a covenant that binds a prophet, and by extension his followers, to follow a later, true messenger, should he come confirming that which is with you. Here by that which I have given is understood to be an oath (Ṭ). Some commentators see this as a direct command to the various prophets to affirm Muhammad, should he appear during their own lifetime. The verse may actually be referring to the followers of the prophets, since prophets would never turn away or become iniquitous, though their followers might (Q, R); that is, since belief in the Prophet Muhammad or any true prophet is incumbent upon prophets themselves, it is also incumbent upon their followers (R).

Do you agree and take on My burden can be understood to be spoken by God to the prophets or to be spoken by the prophets to their followers (R), though the commentators seem to agree that Bear witness, for I am with you is spoken by God (Q, R, Ṭ).Commentators typically emphasize that it is the Prophet Muhammad to whom reference is made here, and they mention the foretelling of the coming of Muhammad, whom they find inscribed in the Torah and the Gospel that is with them (7:157), though al-Rāzī, for example, acknowledges that the covenant pertains to any prophet who fulfills the criteria in the verse.

3:83: For some, whosoever is in the heavens refers to the angels, while those on the earth refer to human beings (IK, R). Submits (aslama) is the verbal form of islām, or ‘submission.’ Willingly (ṭawʿan) can also be rendered “obediently,” while unwillingly (karhan) can mean ‘grudgingly.’ In an apparent paradox, this verse asserts that all beings submit to God, and some do so unwillingly. Some explain this by saying that all beings must in some sense succumb to God’s Will (IK), implying a passive rather than active submission. Others mention that believers submit in life willingly, while disbelievers submit in death unwillingly (R), but their submission at the moment of death does them no good (Q), as mentioned in 40:85: But their believing benefited them not when they saw Our Might.

The willingness and unwillingness of those in the heavens and on the earth are also mentioned in 41:11; 13:15: And unto God prostrates whosoever is in the heavens and on the earth, willingly or unwillingly, as do their shadows in the morning and the evening. This verse is related to many other verses that speak of all creatures prostrating before God (e.g., 22:18) or glorifying God, as in 17:44: The seven heavens, and the earth, and whatsoever is in them glorify Him. And there is no thing, save that it hymns His praise, though you do not understand their praise.

The Quranic words are chosen carefully to continue to make sense to the 7th century illiterate Arab and the 21st century scientific mind.  Hence, I think the verse 83 covering cosmology is brought into the discussion of theology and prophethood.

Now, let us move on to Surah Ahzab, where the covenant of the prophets is discussed again:

And [remember] when We made with the prophets their covenant, and with you, and with Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus the son of Mary; We made with them a solemn covenant, that the truthful may be questioned concerning their truthfulness.(Al Quran 33:7-8)

There is a frequently quoted hadith: “Truly I was [already], in the sight of Allah, the Seal of Prophets, when Adam was still kneaded in his clay. I shall inform you of the meaning (ta’wil) of this. It is the supplication of my father Ibrahim (Q 2:129) and the glad tidings of my brother `Isa to his people (Q 61:6); and the vision my mother saw the night I was delivered: she saw a light that lit the palaces of Syro-Palestine so that she could see them.”[1]

The mention of the Prophet Muhammad, may peace be on him, existing before prophet Adam, will suggest that the Primordial Covenant and the Covenant of the Prophets were literal. But, many learned contemporary scholars do not take these to be literal any more.

Likewise, I am proposing that the meeting of Adam with God, angels and satan be not taken literally, in light of modern biology and evolution.

Let us review a recent commentary by Seyyed Hossein Nasr of these verses:

33:7: Covenant (mīthāq) can be understood as a reference to the covenant made by all of humanity while they were still in Adam’s loins (Mw) or to the pacts (ʿuhūd) made by the messengers to convey the message and call to the upright religion (30:30; Bg, Mw, Q, Z). According to some commentators, this verse pertains to a covenant that is particular to the prophets in which they pledged to worship God, call others to worship God, and confirm one another (Mw, Sh). Some say that this was an additional covenant made after the covenant to which all of humanity bore witness on the Day of the Covenant (see 7:172; IK). These five prophets are said to be mentioned for their exalted status as the resolute among the messengers (46:35), who brought the known Divine laws (Bg, Q, Sh) and revealed books (Q). The mention of the five prophets can also be understood to stand for all prophets. With regard to the order in which the prophets are mentioned, the Prophet is reported to have said, “I was the first prophet to be created and the last of them to be sent; so He began with [the mention of] Me before them” (IK, Mw, Q). In this regard, a Companion of the Prophet said, “I asked, ‘O Messenger of God, when were you a prophet?’ and he replied, ‘While Adam was between spirit and body.’” Another ḥadīth states, ‘Truly I was with God, the Seal of Prophets, when Adam was still kneaded in his clay.’

The second mention of covenant in the verse can be seen as a repetition and reaffirmation of the first; or the first mention can be seen as a covenantal affirmation of God’s supreme Sovereignty and the second as pertaining to the particularities of prophethood; see 3:81. According to al-Zajjāj, “[God] made the covenant when they were brought forth from Adam’s loins as progeny, then He affirmed the covenant He had made with the prophets by repeating the mention of it and describing it as a solemn covenant, meaning ‘a pact firm in fulfillment’ of that which they had been made to carry and of that which God had enjoined upon them” (Sh).

The present verse could also be understood to mean that God made a covenant with them twice, the first time without “making it solemn” (taghlīẓ) and without firmness (tashdīd), then a second time making it solemn and firm, as in 3:81 (Sh). Its being solemn can also be understood as a reference to the sobering obligation of bearing God’s message and conveying Divine laws (Ṭs). Although the covenant is mentioned throughout the Quran (see the essay “The Quranic View of Sacred History and Other Religions”), a solemn covenant is only mentioned here, in 4:21, where it describes the marriage pact, and in 4:154, where it describes the covenant with Moses and the Israelites.

33:8: God made the covenant with the prophets so that He could ask ‘the believers who confirm their pact when He makes them testify about themselves regarding their truthfulness toward their pact’ (Bg); for had God not enjoined the prophets to deliver revelation, it would be unjust to hold human beings accountable for having failed to uphold the covenant, as they would have received no specific reminders. In this respect, al-Zamakhsharī relates the mention of the covenant in the previous verse to the pretemporal covenant alluded to in 7:172. When they are questioned, the response of the truthful will be, The messengers of our Lord certainly brought the truth (7:43; IK).

A 2017 Pew Research Center survey of U.S. Muslims, using slightly different questions than the 2014 survey, found a similar estimate (24%) of the share of those who were raised Muslim but have left Islam. Among this group, 55% no longer identify with any religion, according to the 2017 survey. Fewer identify as Christian (22%), and an additional one-in-five (21%) identify with a wide variety of smaller groups, including faiths such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, or as generally “spiritual.”[2]

The same 2017 survey asked converts from Islam to explain, in their own words, their reasons for leaving the faith. A quarter cited issues with religion and faith in general, saying that they dislike organized religion (12%), that they do not believe in God (8%), or that they are just not religious (5%). And roughly one-in-five cited a reason specific to their experience with Islam, such as being raised Muslim but never connecting with the faith (9%) or disagreeing with the teachings (7%) of Islam. Similar shares listed reasons related to a preference for other religions or philosophies (16%) and personal growth experiences (14%), such as becoming more educated or maturing.

One striking difference between former Muslims and those who have always been Muslim is in the share who hail from Iran. Those who have left Islam are more likely to be immigrants from Iran (22%) than those who have not switched faiths (8%). The large number of Iranian American former Muslims is the result of a spike in immigration from Iran following the Iranian Revolution of 1978 and 1979 – which included many secular Iranians seeking political refuge from the new theocratic regime.

In USA the number of people joining Islam is balanced by those who leave Islam. So, the importance of practicing, professing and presenting the best and the most rational understanding of Islam cannot be overstated.

In the past centuries many Muslims believed that all the human souls were created first and they are sent into fetus at some suitable time. However, here is a clear passage from the Quran to understand that souls get created as the human brains develop in the wombs of the mothers:

It is God who created the heavens and the earth and everything between them in six Days. Then He established Himself on the Throne. You [people] have no one but Him to protect you and no one to intercede for you, so why do you not take heed? He runs everything, from the heavens to the earth, and everything will ascend to Him in the end, on a Day that will measure a thousand years in your reckoning. Such is He who knows all that is unseen as well as what is seen, the Almighty, the Merciful, who gave everything its perfect form. He first created man from clay, then made his descendants from an extract of underrated fluid (semen). Then He molded him; He breathed from His Spirit into him; He gave you hearing, sight, and minds. How seldom you are grateful! (Al Quran 32:4-9)

The Quran is a dynamic book and as human understanding evolves so does our appreciation of the holy scripture. And as we see our understanding evolving in one area we can use it sometimes as an example or metaphor to understand other teachings in the modern light.

For instance the understanding of Primordial Covenants have application on human evolution and the meeting of Adam with God, angels and Satan.

  1. Narrated by Ahmad, Musnad al-Shamiyyin, from al-`Irbad b. Sariya (al-Zayn ed. 13:282 §17086, 13:285 §17098; al-Arna’ut ed. 28:382 §17151, 28:395 §17163), among others.
  2. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2018/01/26/the-share-of-americans-who-leave-islam-is-offset-by-those-who-become-muslim/

The Primordial Covenant of Humanity: Did it Literally Happen?

Zia H Shah
Epigraph

Oh Prophet, when your Lord took out the offspring from the loins of the Children of Adam and made them bear witness about themselves, He said, ‘Am I not your Lord?’ and they replied, ‘Yes, we bear witness.’ So you cannot say on the Day of Resurrection, ‘We were not aware of this.’ (Al Quran 7:172)

…

Collected by Zia H Shah, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times

Dr. Yasir Qadhi is no hero of mine. I strongly disagree with his scientific stance about evolution and Jinns and his religious tolerance stance about other faiths and sects of Islam. Having said that I completely agree with his presentation about the Primordial Covenant above.

This is how I understand the Quran teaches us about our academic and real life adversaries:

And let not the adversity of a people, that they hindered you from the Sacred Mosque, incite you to transgress. And help one another in righteousness and piety; but help not one another in sin and transgression. And fear Allah; surely, Allah is severe in punishment. (Al Quran 5:2)

Below is the commentary of the above verse by Seyyed Hossein Nasr et al.  This is a recently published multiauthor commentary, published in USA, which has incorporated more than 40 traditional Islamic commentaries and has chosen one or two alphabets to reference them. I am going to divide Nasr’s commentary into four parts.

The first part brings out those traditional commentators that interpret the verse literally and suggest a literal meeting:

This verse is in many ways the cornerstone of Islamic sacred history and anthropology and establishes that the fundamental relationship between God and all human beings is premised upon the simple, unmediated recognition of His Lordship at the moment of their pretemporal creation (see the essay “The Quranic View of Sacred History and Other Religions”). The event recounted in this verse is widely referred to as a pretemporal covenant (mīthāq) or pact (ʿahd)—although these terms do not appear in the verse itself—made by God with all of humanity prior to their earthly existence (Aj, R, Ṭ). It is connected by commentators with a pretemporal covenant between God and the prophets (3:81; 33:7) and considered by some to be subsequent to it (ST). The Quran mentions covenants or pacts between God and the believers generally (5:1, 7; 6:152; 13:20, 25; 16:91, 95; 57:8) as well as covenants with Abraham (2:124–25), the Israelites (2:40, 63, 83–84, 93; 4:154; 5:70), the Christians (5:14), and the People of the Book collectively (3:187). But the making of the covenant described in the present verse is unmediated and universal—contracted directly between God and all humanity—and can thus be interpreted as the basis of all later and specific covenants mediated by the prophets. This verse is also connected with the Quranic notion of the fiṭrah (IK, Ṭ), the primordial nature (30:30) with which all human beings were originally endowed, indicating that the innate recognition of God’s Oneness constitutes the essence of being human (see 30:30c). Even though human beings do not remember the pretemporal covenant, their testimony to God’s Lordship is understood to have left an indelible imprint upon their souls and to have established moral responsibility for them (Q). When these souls are engendered in earthly bodies and reach the age of moral understanding and accountability, the innate knowledge is reawakened in those who believe by their encounter with prophetic teachings, scriptures, and Divine laws, which serve as a reminder and renewal of their initial covenant with God (Aj). Therefore, if a child dies before reaching the age of moral and religious responsibility, he or she is considered to have died according to the first covenant (mīthāq) and the original fiṭrah, and so in a state of moral purity. However, for those who fail to affirm the original covenant by rejecting the later covenant—that is, by denying the messages brought to them by their prophets and scriptures—their initial covenant will not benefit them (IK, Q, Ṭ, Ṭs). Some describe this pretemporal event as one in which God brought forth all the progeny of Adam from his loins, specifically; some argue that this was done immediately after God had blown His Spirit into Adam (15:29; 32:9; 38:72; Ṭ), and others debate whether it occurred before or after his fall to earth (Mw, Q).

The second part brings out some difficulties or contradictions in a literal understanding and suggests a metaphorical interpretation:

Many observe, however, that God takes the progeny not from Adam, but from the Children of Adam and from their loins (plural; IK, R, Ṭ), indicating simply that He brought forth all future generations that have appeared and will appear until the end of time (Mw). Progeny translates dhurriyah (or in some readings, the plural dhurriyāt), which derives from a root that in its most literal sense denotes small particles, atoms, or seeds that are scattered, but also connotes ‘progeny’ or ‘offspring’ in over a dozen Quranic verses (e.g., 2:124; 3:34; 4:9). Some commentators indicate that the progeny were drawn forth in the form of ‘particles’ or ‘seeds’ (dharr; IK, R, Ṭ), suggesting the physically unformed state of the children of Adam during this encounter. But some questioned how it was possible for the progeny as ‘particles’ to hear and respond to God’s question; and because the intellect was not considered to manifest itself in human beings until years after birth, they also questioned how these ‘particles’ knew what they were saying or could be held accountable for it (R). Given these issues, some commentators consider this verse a symbolic description of an innate covenant (Z) or a symbolic description of the temporal process by which human beings realize Divine Oneness—arguing that as individuals grow in intellect and contemplate the world around them, the existence of a single God becomes innately clear to them, and they witness to this truth inwardly (Q, R, Ṭs, Ṭū), since they bear this knowledge already in their primordial nature.

The third part reasserts the literal interpretation, while bringing out other details suggested by Rumi and others:

Others, however, reject this interpretation as against the plain meaning of the text and argue that God temporarily bestowed faculties of intellect, hearing, and speech on the ‘particles,’ or human ‘seed,’ just as He did when He caused the heavens and the earth to respond to Him (41:11; R, Ṭ); see also 41:21, where God endows bodily organs and faculties with the ability to testify. God causes the Children of Adam to bear witness concerning themselves, or ‘against themselves.’ The Quran mentions human beings bearing witness against themselves, in both this world and the Hereafter, through their deeds and their very bodies (cf. 6:130; 7:37; 24:24; 36:65; 41:20–22). In the present verse, their witnessing takes the form of a response to God’s question Am I not your Lord? (A-lastu bi-rabbikum?), understood to be a declarative statement in the form of a question, requiring the hearers to bear witness to its truth. Poetically, some Muslim authors, such as Rūmī, have described the event in this verse as the ‘Day of Alast,’ referring to the first part of the question Am I not your Lord?; ‘Day of Alast’ therefore refers in Islamic thought to a day beyond all days reckoned in time. Their response is Yea (balā, a classical affirmative connoting certainty), we bear witness. Some reports consider we bear witness to have been spoken by other witnesses to their testimony—identified variously as the angels, Adam, the heavens and the earth, or God Himself (IJ, IK, Q, R, Ṭ)—although most consider this a less likely reading. The verse ends by explaining that the purpose of this questioning and witnessing was so that human beings could not come on the Day of Resurrection claiming to have been unaware of God’s Lordship or their duty to worship Him. One may question how one can be responsible, during earthly life, for a testimony one cannot remember having made prior to coming into this world (R). Some commentators have argued that it is precisely this human inability to remember the event described in this verse that points to its symbolic nature and thus reject the idea that a pretemporal covenant, of which most human beings are not conscious and that they cannot recall, could be the basis of a responsibility that is binding upon them (R). When this verse is read in the wider Quranic context and juxtaposed with Quranic prophetic history, however, this pretemporal recognition of God’s Lordship can be understood as creating an innate disposition in human beings toward recognizing and worshipping God during earthly life and toward accepting the prophets and the messages they bring as ‘reminders’ of what human beings already know inwardly, but have merely forgotten. Those who reject the prophets, therefore, are considered willfully ignorant, denying truths that should, in any sincere and morally uncorrupted soul, resonate with a deep but forgotten knowledge of God that nevertheless still exists within them. In this sense, those who deny and reject the prophetic messages sent to them are described as kuffār, a word most commonly translated ‘disbelievers,’ but whose etymological meaning signifies the ‘covering over’ of something, which in the religious sense refers to covering over the innate awareness of the truth of God’s Lordship and Oneness that they bear within themselves. The pretemporal covenant, then, in conjunction with God’s sending of messengers to all people serves as a ‘proof’ against the disbelievers who capriciously or cynically deny prophetic messages that they know deep within themselves to be true.

In the fourth part discussion incorporates predestination and status of leaders in Shiite and sufi tradition:

This verse is also the basis for more elaborate narrations, some of which are attributed to the Prophet, that connect the pretemporal covenant with predestinarian notions. Although the literal reading of this verse suggests that all human beings have made the same covenant recognizing God’s Lordship and therefore have the same possibility for realizing it in earthly life, several reports suggest that human moral destiny is linked to distinctions made among the covenanters on the occasion of this pretemporal covenant. Some reports assert that God removed some progeny from the right side of Adam or with His Right Hand, and these human beings were destined for the Garden, while others were removed from Adam’s left side or with God’s other Hand and were thus destined for Hell (Q, Ṭ). Still other reports indicate that some covenanters bore witness only reluctantly or deceptively (IJ, Qm, ST, Ṭ), although this interpretation is rejected by other authorities. Some early Twelver Shiite traditions indicate that the covenanters on this day were also asked to bear witness to the prophethood of Muhammad and the spiritual authority of the Shiite Imams, but that only some accepted the latter (ʿAy, Qm). Similarly, some early Sufi authors, including al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī (third/ninth century), referred to the pretemporal covenant as a moment in which the spiritual elect (khawāṣṣ) were distinguished from the common people (‘awāmm). Given the great importance in Islamic thought of this verse and the event it describes, it was natural for some thinkers to link it with various notions of a spiritual hierarchy among human beings and with the concept of predestination. Yet, although this pretemporal covenant may indeed be linked to human moral destiny in a foundational way, because it created in human beings an innate ability to recognize religious truth, the plain meaning of the verse more plausibly indicates the universal potential in all human beings for moral and spiritual attainment and the acceptance of revelation.

The complexities of these discussions, make it easier to consider the biological development of the fetus and realize that souls do not exist pretemporally and come to being during the fetal development as the brain develops. Therefore, the metaphorical interpretation of this verse and Covenant is not only simple, but scientifically and philosophically coherent.

In the past centuries many Muslims believed that all the human souls were created first and they are sent into fetus at some suitable time. However, here is a clear passage from the Quran to understand that souls get created as the human brains develop in the wombs of the mothers:

It is God who created the heavens and the earth and everything between them in six Days. Then He established Himself on the Throne. You [people] have no one but Him to protect you and no one to intercede for you, so why do you not take heed? He runs everything, from the heavens to the earth, and everything will ascend to Him in the end, on a Day that will measure a thousand years in your reckoning. Such is He who knows all that is unseen as well as what is seen, the Almighty, the Merciful, who gave everything its perfect form. He first created man from clay, then made his descendants from an extract of underrated fluid (semen). Then He molded him; He breathed from His Spirit into him; He gave you hearing, sight, and minds. How seldom you are grateful! (Al Quran 32:4-9)

The truth of this primordial covenant we can often see in our own psychology and of others. One example that I want to quote here is Robert Lawrence Kuhn, who seems to be an agnostic, yet cannot shed the thought of God and has made thousands of videos on the subject of God, theology, freewill, consciousness, cosmology, religion and science. His series is called Closer to Truth and most of them are available in YouTube.

The Quran is a dynamic book and as human understanding evolves so does our appreciation of the holy scripture. And as we see our understanding evolving in one area we can use it sometimes as an example or metaphor to understand other teachings in the modern light.

For instance the understanding of Primordial Covenants have application on human evolution and the meeting of Adam with God, angels and Satan.

We have saved one of the above videos in the Muslim Times as well:

Preface of A Book: The Quran and the Biological Evolution

Zia H Shah

What is the matter with you? Why will you not fear God’s majesty, when He has created you stage by stage? Have you ever wondered how God created seven heavens, one above the other, placed the moon as a light in them and the sun as a lamp, how God made you spring forth from the earth like a plant, how He will return you into it and then bring you out again, and how He has spread the Earth out for you to walk along its spacious paths? (Al Quran 71:13-20)

I call to witness the post-sunset glow, and the night and all that it envelops, and the moon when it becomes full, that you shall assuredly ascend from stage to stage. (Al Quran 84:16-19)

Man, what has emboldened you against your Gracious Lord, who created you, then perfected you, then proportioned you right? He fashioned you in whatever form He pleased. (Al Quran 82:6-8)

Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times

Preface

Many biologists now believe that the field of biology does not make sense any more without the paradigm of evolution.  So, as Muslims if we want to believe in a spontaneous creationist story of Adam being created out of a statue of mud, we are going against a very large body of evidence.  Sometimes as devout believers we take shelter in the fundamental belief that the holy Quran is the literal word of All-Knowing God.  That is all well and good and I fully believe that.  Nevertheless, our understanding of the Quran, given our human limitations, can be flawed and is not guaranteed.

This book affirms that God is the Creator of our universe as clearly stated in the last verse of Surah Hashr: “He is Allah, the Creator, the Maker, the Fashioner. His are the most beautiful names. All that is in the heavens and the earth glorifies Him, and He is the Mighty, the Wise.” (Al Quran 59:24) The main focus will be through what natural mechanisms or laws of nature God created the universe and all the nine million species on our planet earth including humans.  After all, the God of the Quran is not only Manifest but is also Hidden.  What does the attribute the Hidden imply? Perhaps a profound verse from Surah Anaam answers the question:

Eyes cannot reach Him but He reaches the human consciousness. And He is the Incomprehensible, the All-Aware. (Al Quran 6:103)

In Surah Hadeed we read:

He is the First and the Last, and the Manifest and the Hidden, and He knows all things full well. (Al Quran 57:3)

In our busy lives we are not meditating on Allah’s attributes the way we should.

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.  A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk. A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist.  Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people  stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace.  He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it.  No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats averaged $100.

The details of the above legend may be off in minutiae but the theme is true.

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

We definitely take all the master pieces of Allah’s creation for granted. The anesthesia of familiarity sets in and we take the marvels of God’s creation for granted, until the best scientists, even if not believers present to us the intricacies and details of cosmology, physics and biology. it reminds us of a short expression from the 23rd chapter of the Quran, the Arabic words are: فَتَبَارَكَ اللَّهُ أَحْسَنُ الْخَالِقِينَ: Glory be to God who is the best of the creators. The whole verse is quoted with the context below:

We created man from an essence of clay, then We placed him as a drop of fluid in a safe place, then We made that drop into a clinging form, and We made that form into a lump of flesh, and We made that lump into bones, and We clothed those bones with flesh, and later We made him into other forms. Glory be to God, the best of creators! (Al Quran 23:12-14)

These verses talk about the development of the fetus, in an age, in the 7th century, when people hardly had any curiosity about the subject. The miracle of mammalian placenta is examined further in a separate chapter.

But, the miracle of the Quran does not only lie in accurate description of yet unknown natural phenomena, rather the whole claim of of Allah being the best of Creators, when we look at the complete creation of humans through guided evolution.

As a physician, the more I see and read about different diseases, the more I marvel at the miracle of a healthy body with thousands if not millions of automated checks and balances to keep the human body functioning amazingly in a variety of situations and circumstances.

The complexity and organization that we come to see through the study of genetics and molecular biology in health and disease is really mind boggling. The conclusion is inescapable that Allah is the best of Creators.

But, like Joshua Bell was ignored, we ignore Allah’s creativity and providence in most moments of our unthinking lives.

This book explores the relationship between the Quran and the scientific theory of evolution, specifically addressing the verses concerning the meeting of Adam with God, angels, and Satan. It proposes a metaphorical interpretation of these verses, drawing inspiration from the evolving understanding of the Covenants in Islamic theology.

This book aims to foster a deeper understanding of the Quran in light of scientific knowledge while remaining respectful of traditional interpretations. It encourages open dialogue and exploration within the Muslim community.

As you familiarize yourself with the table of contents, you will see that there are two chapters about the Muslim theology of the two Covenants.  The two covenants are The Primordial Covenant of All of Humanity and The Covenant of the Prophets.  The mention of a Hadith about the prophet Muhammad, may peace be on him, existing before the prophet Adam, in the chapter of The Covenant of the Prophets, and much more suggest that these covenants were understood to be literal in the early Islamic history. But many learned contemporary theologians take these as metaphorical now.

Likewise, I am proposing that the meeting of Adam with God, angels, and Satan, in the Quran, need not be taken literally, given the discoveries of modern biology and evolution.

I am going to describe to the best of my ability relevant biology and evolution, especially molecular biology nailing common ancestry of all nine million life forms on planet earth, as a scientific fact, but I do not need to be the best teacher in these domains.  Readers could access better sources.  I am going to link two authors here: Richard Dawkins and Kenneth Miller.[i] [ii]

Likewise, I am going to describe theology of the above mentioned two Covenants, how during the last fourteen centuries, the understanding has gradually moved from literal to metaphorical, as theology, philosophy and science have progressed.  Again, the readers can find more eloquent theologians of their preference on the subject.

I have pooled more than 80 verses about the meeting of Adam with God, angels, and Satan in one chapter. The new idea in this book and my main thesis is that all these  verses are best understood metaphorically and my precedent for this is the prior example of the Covenants. 

We can continue to embellish the best ways to show Divine Guidance in evolution but need to completely shy away from traditional creationism.

The discussion about evolution leads to a new window in the understanding of the Quran in a progressive manner, in correlation with biological and other sciences.

This book is primarily intended for the Western Muslims seeking to reconcile their faith with modern scientific knowledge. It may also be of interest to agnostics, atheists, and followers of other faiths seeking a deeper understanding of the Quran and its interpretation in the context of science.

I firmly believe in the Quran as the literal word of God. However, this book argues that seemingly literal interpretations of certain verses, particularly those concerning the creation narrative, can be re-examined in light of scientific advancements.

Feedback and new ideas are welcome.

Zia H.  Shah MD. 

ziahshah@hotmail.com

[i] https://www.amazon.com/The-Ancestors-Tale-audiobook/dp/B00V501GYI/ref=sr_1_14?crid=2Z8X4WUIZ7BTD&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.f2F5DpdMSnIHoJEQzEZwH6JYbh29ku-N54N1Ykn7m0QHPFz2bYgRORC5A26Das-ZTizVLLDOQ2IQGOBbBI2_NCJyZw3FuyTmIy-bSp0dkH6C73g-3pUjhg0XXIuulS1hFZCJ9pSHpcRfj4pQeNDMks2OHXdIaUoax4UdP-nZVK7viDdUPsExSyN1xa_yON-hd1rA4iKpMmnM7TuN_X9wFAX1FhO7QLPq_E3nan5P5a5_gsi-RSOuWr8kov7ho1zWuembo3pSwwTo7P7L-UsIVloq5QO6MHJm18Ov0Z2tbYA.hJOhNpHqBHuR-DrHwVj7HevAYzQcOVTW6LtfYaf5vo4&dib_tag=se&keywords=richard+dawkins+books&qid=1709737158&sprefix=richard+dawkins+books%2Caps%2C105&sr=8-14

[ii] https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Darwins-God-Scientists-Evolution/dp/0061233501/ref=sr_1_1?crid=34SRWMNTW0JL0&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.5IcJ21Zg7C08-bkWgIvXYXaYTnSu5ZkCswvcbAFtir64a50e4Z5_N-ToxxK8iHORq7_pUCAg93XKr9U4dqlt7EUHt9ZXGZViYUgy4qSdQFKJClebNogNE2JraAbdB5kUlnuPioaqfnEVYK4jTk4Fy4VSuO9-dSEm7AFYtkG3Wmiqfh7ir5lIuleCi2GNjfeq_n3mayE70qznXHUtFtzrLGmoTFuAnmYdqUZxa5YLADE.U8U6TS2R1AjoxcP2j6ou0Ur1tipmFrpIK3VvGNeO0fY&dib_tag=se&keywords=kenneth+miller+God&qid=1709737262&s=audible&sprefix=kenneth+miller+god%2Caudible%2C75&sr=1-1

Video: Is God Necessary or Who Made God?

Zia H Shah
Epigraph

اللَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ ۚ لَا تَأْخُذُهُ سِنَةٌ وَلَا نَوْمٌ ۚ لَّهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ ۗ مَن ذَا الَّذِي يَشْفَعُ عِندَهُ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِهِ ۚ يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ ۖ وَلَا يُحِيطُونَ بِشَيْءٍ مِّنْ عِلْمِهِ إِلَّا بِمَا شَاءَ ۚ وَسِعَ كُرْسِيُّهُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ ۖ وَلَا يَئُودُهُ حِفْظُهُمَا ۚ وَهُوَ الْعَلِيُّ الْعَظِيمُ

God: there is no god but Him, the Ever Living, the Ever Watchful. Neither slumber nor sleep overtakes Him. All that is in the heavens and in the earth belongs to Him. Who is there that can intercede with Him except by His leave? He knows what is before them and what is behind them, but they do not comprehend any of His knowledge except what He wills. His throne extends over the heavens and the earth; it does not weary Him to preserve them both. He is the Most High, the Tremendous. (Al Quran 2:255)

Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD

When the Western civilization knew a little bit of science they grew atheist in philosophers like Hume and Kant. Now, that we know more science and biophilic universe and much more about consciousness, humanity has to come back to the worship of God of Abrahamic faiths. Shall we even take the liberty to say Islam is the Abrahamic faith?

Our material world is contingent and would need an explanation. Some beings or concepts are ‘necessary’ and exist as a brute fact and do not need explanation.

There are several people interviewed in the above video and then Robert Lawrence Kuhn sums it up in the last two minutes, starting at minute 25, he offers three choices for what may be necessary:

  1. Mathematical equations
  2. Some Consciousness
  3. God

To me the second and the third choice are the same. The creator of our universe would have the attributes of God and multiple Gods or creators of our universe are not possible as is stated in Surah Anbiyya:

If there had been in them (the heavens and the earth) other gods beside Allah, then surely both would have gone to ruin. Glorified then be Allah, the Lord of the Throne, above what they attribute. (Al Quran 21:22)

Mathematics or physics equations cannot be necessary or eternal, for a few reasons:

  1. They need to exist in the mind of a consciousness.
  2. 25% of the top mathematicians disagree with math being necessary.
  3. According to Stephen Hawking the equations do not have creative power, someone has to put fire in the equations for the universe or the mutliverse to roll out.

QED

Additional reading

Videos and A Book: Why is There Anything At All?

How Could Most Mathematicians Believe in Heaven, But Not in God?

Who Created God? John Lennox at The Veritas Forum at UCLA

Laws of Nature and Mathematics are not Eternal or Platonic

Are the Mathematicians Looking for God, When They Worship Mathematics?

Movie: Ramanujan: A Prophet of Mathematics Born in a Hindu Family

The Quran: Have the humans been created from nothing, or are they the creators?

Argument Used Most Often by Atheists: The Question of Suffering?

Our closest ape relatives: Chimpanzees and bonobos