THE QURAN AND EVOLUTION
QURAN ON THE CREATION OF MAN
The law of evolution working in the universe which Europe claims to have discovered was clearly defined in the Holy Quran more than fourteen hundred years ago that man was not created in an instant in the form in which he is today. God did not make a model of clay and breathed life into it to become the first man. No! Man has reached his present stage after passing through many intermediary stages. Man originated from and on this earth---Allah caused you to grow out of the earth as a good growth.
It is particularly distressing to note, however, that the present day popular Muslim belief has lost sight of the two crucial points that man's creation and emergence did not take place in an instant. He was created from the earth and on the earth. Popular Muslim belief has come to have it that man was created in paradise from where he was put down on earth. It is also believed by a large section of Muslims that God has a bag of souls which, from time to time, He releases singly to become human beings. In view of the prevalence of such foolish fancies that the popular Muslim mind, through some irony, is peculiarly bent upon holding views contrary to the clear teachings of the Holy Quran.
The Quran tells us that the creation of man took place in gradual stages, the underlying wisdom being that through this slow development defects should be eliminated from his constitution and nature. The ignorance of some religious leaders have given rise to fallacies that hide the beautiful truth that the Quran mentions.
What the Quran actually says:
FIRST STAGE
The next point revealed by the Quran in connection with the creation of man is that the first stage was a condition of non-existence. A controversial subject. The view of the Arya Samajists is that matter from which the universe has been shaped, is eternal. God did no more than to bring the soul to matter together into a close relationship and so man was created. This belief is repudiated by the Quran which teaches that matter is not eternal but it is a creation of God and that man was created. God says in the Holy Quran:
Does not man remember that We created him before, when he was naught? (19:68)Human birth now takes place from the seed of the male. This verse refers to the first original creation of the species, or the first man. it should be carefully noted that the Quran does not say that existence was created from non-existence. It says that prior to the stage when matter and other things came into being, there was a stage when nothing existed. We say that a chair can be made from a piece of wood; or we say that a chain can be made from a piece of iron. Here we have matter in one form which can be utilized to make another article. Atheists often raise the objection that it is not possible to shape out anything from nothing. This, however, is not what is meant by the Quran. What is meant is that prior to the creation of the universe there was a stage when nothing existed. Then came creation and the creation of man. God has not given knowledge to man as to how this came about, possibly because it is beyond the comprehension of man to grasp. If man could visualize how creation took place then he would be in a position to create man himself.
SECOND STAGE
It appears from the Holy Quran that the second stage in the creation of man was a state of existence when the human body was there but the brain or its active faculties which distinguish a human being from the lower animals were not operative and active as they came to be later. There was, so to say, a human body which was not yet a human being or, in other words, there was the physical human body minus the evolved and perfected human brain or mind. We are not in a position to say whether in this state he was a kind of rock formation or a kind of plant. We can say, however, that he was not yet an animal. The Quran says: There has certainly come upon man a period of time when he was not a thing spoken of. In other words, there has been a stage in the history of man when it was not madhkur, i.e., it was not aware of itself, lacked consciousness at the time and was not capable of recognition. He was a form of being without consciousness and intelligence, not aware of himself or of other things.
THIRD STAGE
The third stage in the evolution of man was reached when he attained to a state of being where the production of the species began to take place through the seed of the male planted in the body of the female through sexual intercourse. From this point onwards occurs the almost infinite variety of individual human temperaments. Among animals there are varieties not characterized by sex. God says in the Quran that a stage came in the course of the evolution of man when he developed into an animal characterized by sex, divided into males and females, when his procreation began to take place through the seed of the male which is a characteristic of the higher forms of animal life. His procreation began to occur from a nutratin amshajin, from the male sperm drop embracing a combination of a number of elements. God says in the Holy Quran:
Indeed: We have created man from a mingled sperm-drop, that We might try him, so We made him hearing, seeing. From this stage his procreation began to be compounded from many elements because his role in the universe was to be many sided which necessitated that he should possess a wide range of qualities.FOURTH STAGE
The fourth stage came when the human brain reached perfection and characterized by a highly developed form of awareness and intelligence. From having the capacity of hearing and seeing which are qualities also to be found in the lower animals, he became capable of exercising his intelligence to a point where, through a sustained spirit of inquiry and search, inference and invention came within the range of his faculties. Here he rose one very distinct step higher than the other forms of animal life, an animal capable of sustained thought and speech. These links in the chain of the evolution of man are the initial links of the various stages, The intervening periods between the emergence of these links have not been clearly brought out by the Quran for it is not a scientific treatise on the subject. The Quran refers to these matters which were necessary for bringing out a point of moral spiritual truth, leaving the filling in of the gaps to the human mind. We glean from other passages in the Quran that there are also other links in the chain of human evolution:
And Allah created you from dust, then from a sperm-drop, then he made you pairs.Elsewhere the Quran says: 'And Allah caused you to grow from the earth, a good growth ', while here it is said: 'Allah created you from dust, then from a sperm-drop'. The remaining links have been omitted, till He made you pairs. i.e., a being capable of living in social units the point from which emerges what we call civilization and culture, with a system and order of life.
The meaning of Azwaj used in the Arabic text of the verse which I have just quoted does not mean division into male and female because that point has already been covered in the mention of creation by a sperm-drop. Then he made you pairs, coming after sperm-drop has to be interpreted to mean something beyond the emergence of sex. In Arabic the word zauj also means kind, variety or complimentary groups; and this is the meaning implied here. When the human mind fully developed and a variety of temperaments emerged, individuals began to evince leanings towards or away from certain other individuals. This gave rise to the emergence of social units on this or that basis such as family groups or combination of certain individuals well disposed towards each other.
The evolution of man may be summed up by saying that at first man was only a clod of earth or some kind of rock formation. After some intermediary stages which the Quran has not mentioned, man reached a stage where he became a kind of animal growth divided into male and female and procreating through sexual intercourse. Again the Quran leaves out some intermediary stages until man emerges as a social being divided into several groups as a result of which there sprung up a variety of mental, physical or economic affiliations. This is the point where the story of human civilization begins.
Among the stages of the evolution of man is when water mingled with the particular dust, clod of earth or rocky substance. This mingling of the dry clod with water which resulted in a kind of life being born in it is mentioned in the Quran:
And We made from water every living thing... (21:31)
He Who has made perfect everything He has created. and He began the creation of man from clay. (32:8)
