The Theory of Evolution and Islam

     One of the topics that enemies of religion have relied on most, especially in the last hundred years, is Evolution. Led by a few amateurs and individuals far removed from scientific approaches, the Industrial Revolution, the withdrawal of Christianity from Western life (leading to the rise of Atheism), the emergence of various Materialist philosophies finding suitable ground, and these movements largely following the same path, all contributed to the flourishing of the theory of evolution.

     Evolution, as explained in the modern online encyclopedia Wikipedia, is "the process by which living species undergo hereditary changes from generation to generation, acquiring characteristics different from their original state." It continues, "According to this theory, the origin of animals, plants, and all other living things on Earth lies in species that lived before them, and distinguishable differences are the result of genetic changes that occurred in successful generations." Let's delve into the background of this seemingly innocent explanation:

A Brief History of Evolutionary Thought

     At the beginning of the 19th century, the French doctor Lamarck wrote that living organisms might have originated from a single species and that they change from simple to perfect. Later, in 1859, the amateur biologist Charles Darwin, in his book "On the Origin of Species," wrote that living things struggle to adapt to their environment, and in this struggle, the strong survive while the weak perish (natural selection). He stated that all living things, including humans, might have originated from one or a few common ancestors. Claims emerged that humans and monkeys came from the same ancestor (primate). Following these, the Dutch botanist and biologist Hugo de Vries introduced the "mutation theory" at the beginning of the 20th century. This was a perfect "pass" for bigoted individuals, disguised as "scientists," who disliked Abrahamic religions, were particularly fed up with Christianity, and sought revenge! They eagerly embraced this "pass" to "score a goal"... but not for science, rather for their fantasy worlds!

     Funds, institutes, and laboratories were established with large sums of money. Methodologies, procedures, and rules were determined. Highly esteemed individuals with many titles began loudly proclaiming that humans descended from monkeys or, more innocently, "from the same ancestor as monkeys." The bones of pigs, monkeys, horses, etc., found in excavations, were widely published as "missing links in the evolutionary chain" in newspapers and magazines they had acquired. With the 20th century, Marxist and Atheist foundations, which emerged from the theoretical platform and took practical form as "Socialist" and "Communist" states, desperately embraced this Theory of Evolution. Darwinism, Atheism, and the Theory of Evolution went hand in hand, crafting a great taboo. Over time, it reached a point where those disguised as "scientists" elevated the issue to "no evolution, no modern science!"

The Underlying Motive

     So, what was the purpose? Why did so many seemingly rational and modern people embrace this theory and the "monkeys" who were unaware of what was happening? Let's try to answer that:

     If a complex-ridden individual, posing as a "scientist," claims that "the cell, the building block of living things, spontaneously came into existence in the seas millions or billions of years ago, and over time transformed into marine plants and animals, then land animals, and finally humans. Early humans were ignorant, lived in caves, wrapped themselves in undressed animal skins, humanity developed from scratch... Stone Age, Bronze Age...", this is a clear denial that the first human was Prophet Adam and an assertion that the Al-Quran Al-Kareem and other sacred books are nonsense, and that there was no Creator who created that first cell. Islam and other Abrahamic religions repeatedly and definitively state that the first human was created from clay. Believing this is a "necessity of religion." In short, the red lines of Islam (and therefore, all Abrahamic religions in their uncorrupted form) on this matter are:

1. Saying, "The first living thing originated accidentally in the sea or elsewhere." Neither science nor religion accepts such a "perfect coincidence"!

2. Saying, "There are transitions between species," and even more irrelevantly, "humans evolved and developed from animals."

     So, if a "scientist" says things like, "humans evolved and developed from monkeys or another animal, the ancestor of humans is the monkey...", this person is not a "scientist," but an ignorant individual hidden behind the curtain of science, and all rational scientists would laugh at such an ignorant person. If another scientist says, "matters, cells, and beings came into existence later when they did not exist," this statement is accepted in both science and religion. Islamic scholars have mentioned the existence of a "development" in the structure of living things, from simple to perfect, and have recorded these in their books, but this does not mean that there is evolution or development "from one species to another"!

     Our religion does not state how plants and animals were created. After the initial creation, whether they came into existence accidentally in the seas or in another way, these do not harm Islam; on the contrary, they strengthen it.

A short animation about the Theory of Evolution and Islam is also available: