Ahmadi Muslim Youth Present the Qur'anic Perspective on Evolution on the BBC's The Big Questions8/10/2013 On the 13th of January 2013, Ahmadi Muslim students presented the Qur'anic views regarding evolution. As the debate raged and so-called Muslim 'scholars' bumbled about as they tried to disprove evolution, it was refreshing to hear the Ahmadi Muslim viewpoint. Indeed it is a matter of great regret that in this day and age even with the Qur'an in their laps, the Muslims of today despite reading it, fail to see the messages contained in it and therefore deny a clear proof of Islam and fact of nature. It was with great clarity and conciseness that the Ahmadi Muslim youth from 33.33 minutes presented the following passage from chapter 2 verse 31 of the Holy Qur'an: And when thy Lord said to the angels: ‘I am about to place a vicegerent in the earth,’ they said: ‘Wilt Thou place therein such as will cause disorder in it, and shed blood? — and we glorify Thee with Thy praise and extol Thy holiness.’ He answered: ‘I know what you know not.’ The Ahmadi Muslim student explains that right from the get-go, the Qur'an describes Adam, the first Prophet as coming from the earth and not spontaneously created as some Muslims believe. Furthermore, according to the Ahmadiyya view - that Adam was not the first man, only the first Prophet, this verse suggests that there were humans living before Adam otherwise how else would the Angels have known and protested, 'wilt thou place therein such as will cause disorder in it, and shed blood?'. This suggest that perhaps the angels had witnessed conflicts and disorder caused by man before Adam. Allah's fitting reply was that in His complete knowledge, he was about to raise the first Prophet who would go and establish a community of righteous people who will believe in and praise Allah and do good in the land. The Qur'an uses such language and assumed dialogue to put forth certain points. The actual dialogue isn't one which we deem to have necessarily taken place literally as Angels are not ones to question Allah's decisions. This type of language is used elsewhere in the Qur'an to explain the true nature of things such as in 41:12: "Then He turned to the heaven while it was something like smoke, and said to it and to the earth: ‘Come ye both of you, willingly or unwillingly.’ They said, ‘We come willingly." Of course this dialogue is simply there to explain the fact of complete universal submission to the divine laws rather than an actual dialogue taken place between Allah and the Heaven and Earth. Since when does the Heaven and Earth speak anyway? The other proof that Adam wasn't the first man is the fact that all Muslims believe that he was the first Prophet. A Prophet comes to preach to people, to reform and teach them and be an example for them to follow. If there was no human being before Adam, then for whom did he come to reach, teach and preach? This is an undeniable argument which shows that Adam was only the first Prophet rather than the first man - he was the first man developed enough and capable of receiving the Divine message. In that respect, yes he was the first man to bear the Divine message. The Ahmadi youth then went on to present the fact that the Qur'an in various places speaks about Allah having created the Heavens and the Earth in stages and has created us in different forms and stages (71:15). He then quoted the verse 71:18: ‘And Allah has caused you to grow as a good growth from the earth' Thus proving therefore that the Qur'an fully supports the concept of evolution but not in the sense the Darwinians of today present it. Rather than natural selection, blind evolution and accidental processes, the Qur'an presents a picture of guided evolution whereby Allah has from the beginning been controlling everything and making intentional decisions and guided man through stages. Indeed we see that the speed and success of evolution from the beginning to this day can not have been due to blind chance. Rather, the system, the working and perfection of the world evidently points to an all-aware, omnipotent and intelligent designer who has caused the evolutionary process to begin and then guided it towards its completion. As the second Ahmadi youth explained from 53.27 minutes that Allah creates and selects (28:69): "And thy Lord creates whatever He pleases and chooses. It is not for them to choose. Glorified be Allah, and far is He above all that they associate with Him." This categorically proves that the Qur'an's stance on evolution is one which supports both the creationism and evolution theories albeit with some variation. The Qur'an says that Allah created and then chose and guided species towards evolution and therefore is the sole cause of the existence, evolution, progress and completion of the world and man, as well as the sole regulator and controller of the workings of the universe which we live in today.
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AuthorAtif Rashid writes about faith, extremism & mental health. Categories
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