The blog My Side posed “My Top Three Questions on Islam“, of which I answered very briefly as follows:
1. Concerning the truth of the Qur’an
One way to determine its truth is through its accuracy and consistency. The prime example of that is the detailed description of embriology contained in the Qur’an. You might say I’m using a postdiction fallacy, which is true. But this is not Nostradamus-style postdiction. The verses are explicit, and its description is neither vague, nor catch-all. [1]
2. On the paradox of human freewill
Indeed, Allah is the ultimate sustainer and prime cause of all phenomena. This led you to imply that all of creation and action occur through His Will. But what if Allah willed for humans to have freewill? In this case, when a human does an act, it is through his own will. At the same time, it is ALlah’s Will that humans are able to have freewill. Also, the mechanisms by which the world operates is determined by Allah. Therefore, it is internally consistent for a human being to have freewill, yet having Allah as the prime cause of the will - meaning that it is indirectly Allah’s Will that humans do a certain act of freewill. [2]
3. Evolution Theory
In Islam, there is no difficulty to accept the gradual development of creation from the simplest of sub-atomic particles to the most complex of human beings. In fact, this gradual and evolving nature of creation demonstrates the beauty and lawfulness of Allah’s creation. It is of such marvel that when we trace back this process of creation we see that everything follows in a lawful manner all the way to the inception of space and time itself (ie. “Big Bang”). The only aspect that contradicts interpretation of Darwinian evolution and Islam’s view of creation is the spontaneous nature of evolution and its materialist epistemology. This naturalistic view is easily nullifed through the grand design and intricate equilibrium of nature.
So you might say that the Qur’an does not use terms such as DNA but instead uses “mud” and “water”. This is not a sound counter-argument because terms such as “DNA” are invented by scientists. You have to also keep in mind that the Qur’an is not sent as a “science manual” but is instead a guidance and reminder for human beings. If the Qur’an used the word deoxyribonucleic acid, that would mean the Qur’an is conjured by scientists. But instead, the Qur’an in all its didactic wonder uses terms such as “mud” to remind human beings that it is through the grace of Allah that the evolutionary process from the simplest fabric of existence (figuratively referred to as “mud”) develops into the most complete of creatures.
[1]http://www.islam101.com/science/embryo.html
[2]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dplR_E4QbBg
9 responses so far ↓
ihsan_huhu // Oct 19, 2006 at 5:11 pm
bende camnih xperlu susa2 research… byk je org2 disekitar anda..buleh tanye diorg… kan lg menarik dr bace artikel2
kaki bangku // Oct 19, 2006 at 5:14 pm
ko ni tak abis2 nak menyampuk tak tentu pasal.. ko blom baca sampai habis lagi tros nak komen.
Khairul Amar Razali // Oct 19, 2006 at 8:16 pm
Assalamualaikum Warahmatullah,
I would like to share some opinions about this topic;
1)I guess for this question, the best way to convince your friend is to give him a copy of Quran translation. Let him decide himself. Quran contains Allah’s word. Just read the first couple of pages from Baqarah. It’s amazing how Quran engage the reader into dialogue proving that indeed it’s the word of God. Keep in mind that Quran is NOT for Muslim only. It’s the final revelation for ALL the mankind. Don’t feel hesitant to give a copy of Quran to your friend. In fact it’s our duty to pass to them. Quran is the most Powerful tool for our dakwah. Quran is a blessing from Allah to Rasulullah’s (pbuh) ummah. Just imagine if we live during other prophet’s time where there’s no well documented revelation. Now you can just give the Quran and it will do the talking for us. Allah word’s in the Quran is already sufficient and convincing enough. It’s just our duty to present the Quran. So don’t hide the Quran, let all the people know about it.
Another way to know who wrote a book for example, the author must posses the capacity to master the topic. A doctor doesn’t have the capacity to author a book about economics. As for the Quran, if you look at the themes, they surround on the topics which ONLY can be described by God, the one that master the knowledge of the heavens and the earth and everything in it. So logically, based on the content in the Quran, only God has the capacity to have the full grasp of knowledge in it. Again, it’s better to let your friend read the Quran so he might understand.
2) For this question, it wouldn’t make sense to everyone as long as they think that God the Creator of time is bounded by His creation, time. In one of hadith Qudsi, i dont remember the exact narration, it says that the pen has already been lifted, and the ink has become dry. This hadith carries a meaning that the course of this life was already written and determined by Allah. Everyone of us has been determined whether we will end up in Jannah or Jahannam. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have a free will. Everything we do is on our will, we are not forced to do good or bad, but Allah already knows what we are going to do because He is the creator of Time. He knows the past, the present and the future and it is not impossible for Allah.
Wallahu’alam.
kaki bangku // Oct 19, 2006 at 8:20 pm
Thanks for the additions. Fully agreed upon. But what is your take on the third question, may I ask? I’m really curious to know because I have a feeling not many muslims would accept my comment on evolution theory.
Khairul Amar Razali // Oct 19, 2006 at 8:27 pm
Assalamualaikum,
I’m still not really sure how to answer the third question. I don’t have enough knowledge about evolution story. But, let me try to make it simple.
The Quran accepts the evolution theory to a certain degree – e.g Allah says in the Quran that “every living thing was created from water†– this the scientists believe in as well.
The Quran also has details about the creation of specific beings – e.g Adam is created as being that already walks on two, speaks, habitats, uses language, knows the ‘nature of things’, etc. So the human being is not an evolutionary derivation from the nonhuman primates.
There is a lot of unexplained missing links in the Darwinian theory. Also Islam makes a mention of the initial creation as being taller, bigger, etc – Adam was around 90 ft tall. Some sort of changes must have taken place between the prototype to us now. This is seen in modern scientific understandings that it is a form of evolution.
Also the diversity of the human race is a form of evolution that the Quran agrees with as well. This is a long topic. This is enough evidence also in reputable journal in the Y chromosome molecular biology studies that this humanity may not have existed beyond 140,000 yr ago. Certainly there were other creatures before that lived on earth – as part of Allah master plan.
But, yet, I’m still hoping to find some other facts that can strengthened my answers.
Good discussion here.
Wallahu’alam.
Khairul Amar Razali // Oct 19, 2006 at 8:29 pm
You should also post the questions. So that, people know what’s going on.
kaki bangku // Oct 19, 2006 at 8:50 pm
One has to make a distinction between “evolution” and its “mechanism”. Evolution per se is nothing but the progressive development of species. The difficulty is with the mechanism since darwinists put forth a theory of natural selection and genetic mutation whereas a monotheist would call it Intelligent Design.
The issue of “human evolution” might bring difficulties for some. But lets put it this way: The inception of Adam and Eve on earth can be considered as a point on the continuum of evolution where the ability for symbolic language is reached. This is a possible explanation of surah al-baqarah verse 30 & 31 (creation of vicegerent on earth and teaching Adam “the nature of all things”). But this is all mere conjecture and I may be completely wrong, mind you. I don’t want to be a salafi-like super instant cyber-scholar (hihihi).
The point here is that there is no contradiction on evolution itself and Islam. I dont want to go on and on on this debate as it can take up a whole book to explain. I’m merely attempting to put forward somewhat fresher arguments that are not usually included in the works of creationists and IDists. You can refer Harun Yahya’s (science) and Dr. Osman Bakar’s (theology) works for the more common arguments.
Joe // Oct 23, 2006 at 6:56 am
“I’m really curious to know because I have a feeling not many muslims would accept my comment on evolution theory.”
by kaki bangku.
“my comment”? I thought…it was ‘his’.
Hey, how about a deal. Forward your article to atu-spirit in the approriate section. I’ll try to work on the RSS feed if I got the chance. This is pure spam. Heck I don’t care.
Kurt // Nov 1, 2007 at 4:06 am
Aduh santri ndeso g nyambung padahal menarik sekali isi postingan ini…
Leave a Comment