Islamic Views on Evolution

Islamic views on evolution are diverse, ranging from theistic evolution to creationism. Muslims believe in a God as the Creator, as explained in the Qur'an. Throughout history some Muslim thinkers have proposed and accepted elements of the theory of evolution, while believing in the supremacy of God in the process. In modern times, some Muslims have rejected evolution, and teaching it is banned in some countries. The main problem with evolution for this particular group is that the Adamic descent of human beings is considered to be false by modern biological anthropology unsupported by empirical evidence. One modern scholar, Usaama al-Azami, has however suggested that both narratives of creation and of evolution, as understood by modern science, may be believed by modern Muslims as addressing two different kinds of truth, the revealed and the empirical. The Qur'an does not contain a complete chronology of creation, and Muslims scholars do not believe in Young Earth creationism, a doctrine held to by a plurality of Americans since 1982 to the present. Islamic views of the Bible vary. In recent years, a movement has begun to emerge in some Muslim countries promoting themes that have been characteristic of Christian creationists. This stance has received some criticism, due to claims that the Qur'an and Bible are incompatible. Khalid Anees, of the Islamic Society of Britain, has discussed the relationship between Islam and evolution. In the 19th century the prominent scholar of Islamic revival, Jamal-al-Din al-Afghānī agreed with Darwin that life will compete with other life in order to succeed. He also believed that there was competition in the realm of ideas similar to that of nature. However, he was unwavering in his belief that God had to be the one controlling this process as a Creator. The Islamic scholar, Ghulam Ahmed Pervez, holds and defends the view that there is no contradiction between the scientific theory of evolution and Quran's numerous references to