How Can Evolutionism and Creationism co-exist in Islam?

Question

I'm a 19 years old Muslim. I've always wondered how these two theories can coexist. In Islam pov Adam and Eve were the first two humans created and from them then humanity was formed. But it's clearly proven that evolution was the way humans formed. Cave-men were found all over the world, and we are really look alike to monkeys (DNA, Aspect, etc...). How can the theory of Adam and Eve still hold? Do Muslims acknowledge evolutionism, and if I do, do that makes me less Muslim?

Answer 1

There is Hadith which mentions that Adam and Even were much larger in size than us, this means that when they were sent to earth, they were not sent in the same body, but given the homosapien body (this is of course an assumption from my part).

It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Allaah created Adam in his form, sixty cubits tall… and everyone who enters Paradise will be in the form of Adam, sixty cubits tall…”

(Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 5873; Muslim, 7092)

According to the above Hadith, they weren't sent to earth in the same body, nor will we enter paradise in the same body.

The evolution of biological entities is no different than the evolution of universe, Allah (swt) mentions about the expanding universe in the Quran:

“And the heaven We created with might, and indeed We are (its) expander.” (Quran 51:47)

Expansion is a form of evolution/change, Allah (swt) testifies to be the creator and controller of evolution, whether that be small biological beings like us, or the bigger entities within the universe, such as galaxies etc..

To reiterate, Islam doesn't clash with the theory of evolution, but that does not mean the theory of biological evolution is correct.

Important Note: You mentioned cavemen looking like monkeys, we have people today who look like Monkeys, some people would say the rapper "50 cent" looks like a Monkey, that doesn't prove anything. We have people today who have hair all over their body, including their face (just like Monkeys), yet again, that doesn't prove anything. We have 20 year old human beings the size of a 6 year old baby, yet again, it doesn't prove anything, they're still human beings. We have human beings with no eyes, human beings with extra fingers, we have conjoined human beings.... the list goes on, yet again, it doesn't prove anything because they're still human beings.

Let's say we were to find this skeleton:

Would this be consider as a different specie?

Answer 2

In Islam, we don't believe in evolution, and the answer lies in the fact that Allah says nothing is missing in this book. A big claim like evolution would not be omitted.

The common points between humans and other living creatures is the inner design 1) DNA that is composed of only 4 types nucleotides and the outer design 2) for example, a cat also has a mouth and ears and a stomach.

But it's clearly proven that evolution was the way humans formed

No, on the opposite, what the one who contemplates 3/191, whose meanining is that every created being points to Allah (some through strength, some through deficiency), finds out is Tawheed.

Think about it, can a billion different creatures be created from just 4 building blocks except through Allah's power?

Just like how no one says "iPhone 5 evolved from iPhone 4 through random chance" but it's evident that the similarity of them is the proof of the same creator of them, the patterns among the created are the proof of Allah.

It had also been possible that all created beings had been containing different nucleotides and had completely different forms, and contemplating this case helps us understand the meaning of the current way of our creation: That Allah chose to create everything with common patterns is a visible proof of Tawhid for us, just like how iPhones are similar and they come from the same creator, and no one claims that an iPhone turned into a newer one through random chance.

Hence, the common features among the created beings are designed by Allah so that the one who sees the similarities can remember that they all were created by the same God.

So in our beliefs, many things in life are to be understood through religion. Because non-religious people reject this, they felt the need to develop contradicting alternative theories. For us Muslims, Allah certainly exists, and He certainly has the power to create whichever creatures He wills. But for non-religious people, the story involves many extremely improbable steps: they claimed that the successive evolution of dirt into a cell first then into organelles then into cell with organelles then into multicellular cell etc. and all this through random mutations. Obviously, if one accepts even some probability of the existence of God, there remains no possibility but that Allah created everything.

As for the theory that the creation of humans involved a simpler organism, this is wrong because humans have free will so their spirits are different than animals' and bacteria's.

Lastly, the important point is that it's guaranteed that non-religious people will produce some theories, but what matters to us is that we don't leave what the Qur'an tells us and is certain for non-religious people's theories, because they use only improbable paths and seek to justify certain things about the creation without reference to religion. For us, the Qur'an is complete and it gives lots of details about creation. There's no reason to blend competing beliefs which were formulated by people who wanted alternatives to religion.

So as a summary, the similarity among the created beings is a sign to us from Allah so that we see how every one of us was created by Him. But for materialists, this is implausible, and the common belief among them is an improbable chain of mutations rather than the existence of Allah. And this shouldn't be a surprise for us, because Allah tells us, as per his decree, that some of his servants will have curtains on their eyes and will not see signs of Him. Allah is all-powerful and all-knowing but evolution assumes that somehow many extremely improbable steps took place. What matters for us is that the entire creation story is found in the Qur'an and that the Qur'an is complete leaves us no need to seek further theories.

Answer 3

Evolution. Islam accepts evolution within species but not that one species evolves into another. The Darwinian Theory of Evolution, and it was only a theory, has been repeatedly totally disproved. It requires very little research from reliable sources to find the prove of these statements. And Allah Subhanallah ta'ala knows best.

Answer 4

In Islam pov Adam and Eve were the first two humans created and from them then humanity was formed.

i have checked this in quran, at these ayats: http://corpus.quran.com/qurandictionary.jsp?q=A%5Edam .

i have thought how can i interpret them all compatible with evolution? i have come to this: adam and eve were not concrete persons like us, but they were concepts, prototypes, models, each including some variations.

at some point in time when human ancestors were evolutioning, god might send these prototypes to earth, so resulting in that human ancestors set a course of evolution to form first humans in form of adam and eve.

or, maybe, god set course of evolution of some monkeys so that they become almost humans, then he put to brains of a concrete pair of the humans a feeling that they have come from paradise, not born on earth.