Why this question at the first place? But before an attempt is made to answer this, first some dictionary definitions
Science is the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.
Faith is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or concept. In the context of religion, one can define faith as “belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion” (complete trust or confidence in someone or something.)
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. (the study of the nature of God and religious belief.)
So how come something that is related to study of physical world i.e Theory of Evolution of Science came to be perceived as being at loggerhead with study of God (religion/faith). The answer lies in bigotry of wolves in sheep’s clothing. A true Scientist will stick to his field of expertise i.e. Science and will not comment on something not related to his/her field. But some atheists working as Scientists to justify their beliefs falsely use the Theory of “Science” (i.e. Theory in Study of Physical World) in “Theology” (i.e. Study of God). In other worlds these atheist Scientists wrongly misuse their position of being in the field of Science. And once they overstepped their boundary then the people of Theology in the reaction (misguided reaction) too overstepped their boundary and commented on Theory of Science which again was not their domain of knowledge. Instead of criticizing the use and misuse of Theory of “Science” in “Theology” and criticizing and exposing the bigotry of some atheists they out rightly rejected the Theory of Science.
Scientist is a person who studies the natural world without any prejudices and come to scientific conclusions using hypothesis, theories, etc not affected by his belief system.
An atheist scientist is a person who misuses science to justify his belief system just like some fake theologian misuses religion to his personal benefits like Allah says in Holy Quran.
Holy Quran Surah At-Tawbah (9:34) O you who have believed, indeed many of the scholars and the monks devour the wealth of people unjustly and avert [them] from the way of Allah. And those who hoard gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allah – give them tidings of a painful punishment.
So again, are Faith & Theory of Evolution at loggerheads? This question will not arise if Hypothesis & Theories of Science are kept to be used in Scientific manner only. Hypothesis & Theories will come and will pave way to new Hypothesis & Theories in the process discarding or conforming old hypothesis & theories and thus increasing the overall knowledge base. Like earlier we had Newton’s Laws which were made obsolete by Einstein’s Theory of Relativity which now has to face up to new knowledge discovered by likes of Stephen Hawking.
When Science is taken as Study of Nature, which it is, it will never be at loggerhead with Faith because the relation between Faith & Science is like of Creator & Created. Creator created the creation so there is no question of them being at loggerheads. Science will never reach to Creator because Science is study of Nature, study of Created and not of Creator and Creator is not like anything Created.
Holy Quran Surah Ikhlas (112:4) And there is none comparable to Him. وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ
But Science does help the Faith in the way that it proves false all the quackery that is done in the name of religion/faith. For example when some religions quackery declares something from material world as being divine, since Science is study of physical material world it immediately puts that thing to Scientific test and proves the quackery wrong. Thus Scientific wisdom proves invalid all the false & illogical religious beliefs like man or stone being God or earth being flat as claimed by some religious books or a Social Cast being superior than other, etc. More on this at end of article ۩.
Holy Quran Surah Yunus (10:100) And no soul can believe except by the permission of Allah. And He makes His wrath descend on those who will not use their reason.
Holy Quran Surah At-Tur (52:32) Do their intellect and reason enjoin this upon them or are they a rebellious people?
So is Theory of Evolution correct and is it in confirmation or in conflict with Faith? What actually the Theory of Evolution is in Science of Biology, can be comprehended and is concern of real Scientists but the point here in discussion is how this theory is being presented to a school student or to general public as an explanation & meaning of life. In summary how it is presented to common masses is that a single cell came into existence in sea and that cell evolved over very long time into different species like ape and man evolved from ape.
Regardless of if, this theory is right or wrong, how does it conflict with Faith? It does not until some atheist stands up and misuses this and says all this happened by chance and since all creation has evolved from single cell so there is no act of Creation i.e. no Creator/God (nouzbillah). For an atheist the condition for existence of God is hilarious; if everything is illogical and magical without any reason then God exists and if there is scheme, law, reason and logic behind a thing then it is not from God but by “chance” ! what an absurdity.
One of the attributes/names of Allah in Islam is Al-Hakim – The Wise
Holy Quran Surah At-Taghabun (64:18) The Knower of the unseen and the seen, the Mighty, the Wise. (الۡحَکِیۡمُ)
When there is reason, law, scheme, logic behind everything in this world then who is behind that reason, law, scheme, logic? Well, atheists prejudice fails to acknowledge the obvious. Atheist say “it is by chance” people of faith say “it is by design from God”
Holy Quran Surah Al-Baqarah (2:164) Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth; the alternation of the day and the night; the ships that sail the sea for the benefit of humanity; the rain sent down by Allah from the skies, reviving the earth after its death; the scattering of all kinds of creatures throughout; the shifting of the winds; and the clouds drifting between the heavens and the earth—˹in all of this˺ are surely signs for people of understanding.
For the sake of argument, even if a Theory of Science is to be used in Theology or in Social Science, then the prudence says the Theory should have been completely understood with nothing left to imagination. But this is not the case with Theory of Evolution, this theory itself is in evolution phase far from being near completeness. Yet, to satisfy their lust atheist misuses the theory by using it in Theology & Social Science. To comment and work on incompleteness of Theory of Evolution is for real Scientists to do and not for general public but since this theory is presented to common public and school students as the explanation of origin of man, then we as students & common public also has a right to ask questions. The fact is that this theory is so incomplete and infantile that it is not able to answer even questions put by school Student. Questions like ….
Theory of Evolution only speaks about Evolution of man and is dead silent about Evolution of Women. At what stage of Evolution, did Female gender came into being? Were there two simultaneous threads of Evolution happening? Did a single cell at start divide into two cells one male and female and then these two cells formed Male & Female gender? If so, seeing that Man & Woman bodies are complementary who guided that perfect complementation? At what stage did the dialog happen between Man & Women where they decided to distribute 23 chromosomes among each other and man was able to “mansplain” & take the gender deciding chromosome (Y) for himself?
In a way, we can say that those people who in the name of women empowerment snatched her clothes have been propagating a Scientific theory in a way that made it misogynist by maintaining deafening silence on role on female gender in the evolution of human race as if she does not exist.
Also, what about DNA? who wrote the code? What about the notion expressed by astronomer Fred Hoyle that “to consider the possibility of DNA arising by chance would be like a tornado going through a junk yard and assembling an aircraft”.
Why are humans considered to be evolved from ape, is it because they have similar body structure? If similarity is the basis, then why not say humans have evolved from pig whose DNA almost matches that of Human? Seeing the overall state of Humans these days it seems more likely that we are descendants of pig (pun intended). So why ape why not pig?
Also what about the phrase ‘Genetic Adam’ pointed out by Human Genome Project, which fits the term ‘Adam’ known to religious people long – long – long before this scientific ‘Project’ was started.
Why man had to invent an aircraft to fulfill his desire to fly, why wings did not develop for humans in evolution especially when wings were already available in “evolution inventory”?? (flying dinosaurs had passed before humans appeared).
What about plant life? If all life evolved from a single cell what made plant life to be distinct from animal life. At what stage did they separate. Do we have Theory of Evolution in plant life too, if so, which plant did Chinar tree evolve from?
Atheist Scientist are unable to talk about even basic thing like role of female gender in theory of evolution, explaining the complexity of DNA and application of Theory of Evolution in plant life yet in their prejudice they feel the theory is complete enough to use it against Faith. No wonder atheists are among the most prejudicial persons on earth.
I am distinguishing between atheist “scientist” and normal Scientist because a real scientist is only concerned about the real theory how to prove or disprove it, in contrast to atheist who uses tit bit of findings to wrongly prove his case.
Why is an atheist so interested in Theory of Evolution? With this theory atheist wants to prove we humans are here because of evolution and there is no act of Creation and when there is no act of Creation there is no Creator (nouzbillah). Can you see their cheapness, first they declare a statement on behalf of the people of Faith which is “act of creation is instant and does not involve time and method” and then claim to own the theory of evolution which says “that man came into existence by way of evolution” and then they self-conclude that “Faith is wrong”, while as the statement attributed to Faith (act of creation being instant) is false attribution. More on this in below section.
So again, are Faith & Theory of Evolution at loggerheads? It has been an attempt of atheist scientists to put this theory against Faith. But why? Why the enmity? Why this hostility? The answer lies in Dark Age period of Europe where the Catholic Church was the law. They followed bible and by then bible was no more word of God but word of men. It contains many illogical, un-mathematical & unscientific statements. And when Scientists of that society discovered something which contradicted Church & Bible they were treated as criminals many times jailed and killed too. So as a reaction Scientist of that society developed revulsion against Religion on the whole because of both Church, which was oppressing them and also Church’s religious scripture i.e. Bible which contained many untruths. So rather than taking “revenge” from Church only, “Scientists” of that society got to extremes and took revenge from Religion / God itself. They wrongly started interpreting every law of nature & every discovery as being proof against God rather than seeing them the work of God. This retribution ensured that Europe remain in Dark Age but of different character -soul dead Europe.
Holy Quran Surah Al-Baqarah (2:79) “So woe to those who write the “scripture” with their own hands, then say, “This is from Allah,” in order to exchange it for a small price. Woe to them for what their hands have written and woe to them for what they earn.”
Holy Quran Surah Ali ‘Imran (3:78) There are some among them who distort the Book with their tongues to make you think this ˹distortion˺ is from the Book—but it is not what the Book says. They say, “It is from Allah”—but it is not from Allah. And ˹so˺ they attribute lies to Allah knowingly.
Contrast the Dark Age of Europe with Golden Age of Muslims in places like Baghdad, Andalusia, Pharis, etc. In golden age of Muslims Faith & Science were not contradictory or at loggerheads but were complimentary. It was often the case that a person was Scholar of both Religion and Science and would write books on both the subjects. The reason of this was that Muslims follow Quran which is the Book from Creator; And Creator’s Book & Creator’s Creation can never be in contradiction.
Holy Quran Surah Al-Isra (17:88) “Say, “If mankind and the jinn gathered in order to produce the like of this Quran, they could not produce the like of it, even if they were to each other assistants.”
Holy Quran Surah Al-Ḥijr (15:9) “Indeed, it is We who sent down the Quran and indeed, We will be its guardian.”
If that is the case then why is a Theory of Science viewed as being anti-Faith. As already said it is because of atheist scientist who put it against Faith and that act makes some people of Faith to out rightly reject the Theory rather than rejecting its misuse.
There is no need to reject the Theory of Evolution on the whole by people of Faith, even if the theory is not fully understood yet and still has lot to answer, like to the questions put earlier in this article, because the Theory is not challenging the act of Creation. It is only the over extrapolation and over reading of the Theory by atheists which try to deny act of Creation using this theory.
Creation does not need to be instant. It can span over time. If creation and the end is instant then whole of this universe including us would have already been created and destroyed and there would have been no controversy to discuss. But it is the time that is giving meaning to life of everything be it universe’s or our’s. And the Hadith says about time.
Sahih al-Bukhari 6181 Book 78, Hadith 205 Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said, “Allah said, “The offspring of Adam abuse the Dahr (Time), and I am the Dahr; in My Hands are the night and the day.” !
“Creation does not need to be instant”. Let’s take an example of Creation of Heavens & Earth. Science explains existence of universe with a big bang theory. On the topic of Holy Quran & modern Science many scholars of Islam try to explain the Big Bang Theory from verses of Holy Quran which means they accept this theory as the explanation of creation of Universe.
Holy Quran Surah Al-Baqarah (2:118) He is the Originator of the heavens and the earth. When He decrees a thing, He does only say to it, ‘Be!’ and it is.
Holy Quran Surah Al-Anbiya (21:30) Do not those who disbelieve see that the heavens and the Earth were meshed together then We ripped them apart? And then We made of water everything living? Would they still not believe?
Holy Quran Surah Adh-Dhariyat (51:47) And We have built the heaven with Our own hands, and verily We go on expanding it.
Holy Quran Surah An-Nur (24:45) “Allah has created every animal from water. Of them are some that creep on their bellies, some that walk on two legs, and some that walk on four. Allah creates what He wills, for truly Allah has power over all things”
So we have no problem in believing that the Universe started with a Big Bang and then cooled & passed through various states i.e. it “evolved” into its current state in billions of years where now we have Sun, Earth, Moon, etc. In other words from the time of big bang explosion to billions of years sun, earth and moon did not exist and then since about 4.5 billion years ago these began to form and over these 4.5 billion years earth evolved to its current state which is conducive for life. No people of faith have problem believing this.
In the above paragraph if we replace “earth” with “homo sapiens” and replace “billions of years” with “hundreds of thousands of years” we have “Theory of Evolution” then how can it be considered against faith, unless some atheist tries to misuse it and reads something which is not there.
To further explain the above let’s see what some verses of Holy Quran says about Creation of Universe and Creation of Human
Holy Quran Surah Al-`Ankabut (29:44) Allah created the heavens and the earth in accordance with the requirements of wisdom. In that surely is a Sign for the believers.
Holy Quran Surah Al-A’raf (7:54) Surely your Lord is Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth in six periods of time, and He is firm in power; He throws the veil of night over the day, which it pursues incessantly; and (He created) the sun and the moon and the stars, made subservient by His command; surely His is the creation and the command; blessed is Allah, the Lord of the worlds.
Holy Quran Surah Fussilat (41:9) Say: ‘Do you really disbelieve in Him Who created the earth in two days? And do you set up equals to Him?’ That is the Lord of the worlds.
Holy Quran Surah At-Tin (95:4) Surely, We have created man in the best make;
Holy Quran Surah Ar-Rahman (55:3) He has created man
Holy Quran Al-‘Alaq (96:2) Created man from a clot of blood.
Holy Quran Surah Al-Hijr (15:27) And, surely, We created man from dry ringing clay, from black mud wrought into shape
Holy Quran Surah Nuh (71:17) And Allah has caused you to grow from the earth a [progressive] growth
Words used for Creation of both heaven/universe and humans are same i.e. Khalaqa. So if we have no problem with Theory of Big Bang explaining Khalaqa of Universe then why have problem with Theory of Evolution for explaining Khalaqa of Homo sapiens. Neither of theory can deny the act of Creation in both Creation of Universe and Homo sapiens because being scientific theories it’s not their domain nor have Science that reach & concern. Its concern is only with later part of the Kun fa ya kuun.
Holy Quran compares the creation of Universe with creation of Human and says Creation of Universe is even bigger thing than Creation of Human. (For Almighty there is no such conception of huge and trivial the statement is merely as per the standard of human measurements.)
Holy Quran Surah An-Nazi’at (79:27-28) Which is harder to create: you or the sky? He built it, raising it high and forming it flawlessly.
So, if creation of Universe can follow an evolution pattern rather than being an instant one then why not the creation of Homo sapien. Why it has to be an instant one?
Also, humans since time of Adam (a.s) come into this world from their mother’s womb created from sperm of father. Still we say WE are the creation of Creator, that again means act of creation need not be instant one.
Holy Quran Surah Al-Insan (76:1-2) Has there not been over Man a long period of Time, when he was nothing – (not even) mentioned? Verily We created Man from a drop of mingled sperm, in order to try him: So We gave him (the gifts), of Hearing and Sight.
Holy Quran Surah An-Nahl (16:4) He has created man from a drop of fluid, but lo! he is an open disputer.
Theory of Evolution seems to be the logical continuation of Big Bang Theory. To think that Universe & Earth took billions of years to evolve into current form; and then one fine morning on Earth when it was all empty whole of plant and animal life came into existence at once does not seem to fit the scene.
one day before!
the next day???
If Universe can take billions of years to form so life both plant & animal can also take millions of years to form. But all of these were formed as per the already set creation plan by God which explains the perfect creation and also explains the complexities like DNA, etc of life form.
Holy Quran Surah Al-Mulk (67:3-4) ˹He is the One˺ Who created seven heavens, one above the other. You will never see any imperfection in the creation of the Most Compassionate. So look again: do you see any flaws? Then look again and again—your sight will return frustrated and weary.
Also, we are all offspring of Adam (a.s) who was a single person, but we can see that now there are people of different races like White/Caucasian, Mongoloid/Asian, Negroid/Black, Australoid. How did these changes come about were Chinese person look completely different from a Arfican person though both are descendant of same Adam (a.s.) or in Scientific terms descendant of ‘Genetic Adam’.
The basic thing to understand is everything in the Universe and the Universe itself is a created thing and has been created by Creator. The subject of Science is the Creation and not the Creator because Creator is not a part of this creation. Science can do any research on the Creation and come to logical conclusions including that the Universe’s starting point was with a big bang and laws of nature came into being at that very moment. But what Science can never prove is that it was an act of magic / randomness / accidental / arbitrary rather than being an act of Creation.
As already said the only usage of Science in religion is to prove incorrect all the false religious beliefs like stone or grave or some person being divine etc. But it can never prove true religion to be false. Still if one wants to try do that, rather than beating around the bush like misusing theory of Science, all one has to do is prove the Holy Quran wrong. Because apart from the whole Universe and what is in it, which are actually the Signs of God, the only thing that is living divine is Holy Quran. If you prove it wrong (nouzbillah) you prove the only true religion from the time of Adam (a.s) rather from the time of creation of this Universe wrong. And if you are not able to prove it wrong and you will never be able to do so then only thing left is not to be arrogant and bow to the Creator of this Universe. But the question is will your ego allow you to do so? The Quran psychoanalyze your ego very well.
Holy Quran (3:190) Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day are signs for those of understanding.
The challenge-
Holy Quran is from Allah; if you think it is not from Allah then that means what you imply is that it is from Muhammad (peace be upon him) i.e. from a human; you are a human too and you can take help from all humans and modern technology too then accept the challenge and produce a similar thing.
Holy Quran is from Allah and Creation (universe and all that is in it) is also from Allah they will never be in contradiction to each other, find a contradiction between two and prove Holy Quran wrong.
A book from humans has many errors & contradictions and over time become obsolete on whole or part of it and needs to be updated that’s why a book has many editions. Now find an error in Holy Quran or contradictions within it.
Holy Quran Surah Al-Isra (17:88) Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “If ˹all˺ humans and jinn were to come together to produce the equivalent of this Quran, they could not produce its equal, no matter how they supported each other.”
Holy Quran Surah Hud (11:13) Or do they say, “He has fabricated this ˹Quran˺!”? Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “Produce ten fabricated sûrahs like it and seek help from whoever you can—other than Allah—if what you say is true!”
Holy Quran Surah Al-Baqarah (2:23) And if you are in doubt about what We have revealed to Our servant, then produce a sûrah like it and call your helpers other than Allah, if what you say is true.
Holy Quran Surah Yunus (10:38) Or do they claim, “He made it up!”? Tell them ˹O Prophet˺, “Produce one sûrah like it then, and seek help from whoever you can—other than Allah—if what you say is true!”
Holy Quran Surah An-Nisa (4:82) Do they not then reflect on the Quran? Had it been from anyone other than Allah, they would have certainly found in it many inconsistencies.
Holy Quran Surah Fussilat (41:53) “We shall show them Our signs on the horizons and within themselves until it will become clear to them that it is the Truth. Does it not suffice that your Lord is Witness over all things?”
Holy Quran Surah At-Tur (52:33-34) “Or do they say: “He (Prophet Muhammad) has forged it (this Quran)?” Nay! They believe not! Let them then produce a recitation like it if they are truthful.”
Holy Quran Surah Al-Baqarah (2:2) This is the Book about which there is no doubt, a guidance for those conscious of Allah
So rather than hiding behind the misinterpretation of ‘Theory of Evolution’ atheist “Scientists” should accept the challenge of Holy Quran. If they can’t succeed in the challenge and they will never be able to do that, then they should stop being atheist while they are Scientist and stop misuse of Science.
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Holy Quran Surah Al-Baqarah (38:71-72) And (remember) when your Lord said to the angels: ‘I am going to create a human (Adam) from sounding clay of altered black smooth mud. So when I have fashioned him and breathed into him (his) soul created by Me, then you fall down prostrate to him.”
Sahih Al-Bukhari: 3326 Narrated by Abu Huraira: The Prophet (S.A.W.) said, “Allah created Adam, making him 60 cubits tall”
[It is stated in the hadith above that Prophet Adam was 60 ziras (about 40 meters) tall when he was created by Allah. However, some scholars like Ibn-e-Khaldun (1332-1406) accepts that this is his height in Paradise and upon being sent to the Earth with Eve, he was given a height appropriate to the standards of Planet Earth.]
Holy Quran Surah Al-Nour (24:45) And it is God who has created all animals out of water; and [He has willed that] among them are such as crawl on their bellies, and such as walk on two legs, and such as walk on four. God creates what He will: for, verily, God has the power to will anything
Holy Quran Surah Al-A’raf (7:189) It is He – Allah -Who created you from a single being, and out of it He made its mate, that he may find comfort in her. And when he covers her, she bears a light burden and goes about with it. Then, when she grows heavy, they pray to their Lord: ‘If You bestow upon us a healthy child, we will surely give thanks.’
Sahih al-Bukhari: 3331 Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah ‘s Apostle said, “Treat women nicely, for a women is created from a rib, and the most curved portion of the rib is its upper portion, so, if you should try to straighten it, it will break, but if you leave it as it is, it will remain crooked. So treat women nicely.”
Sahih Muslim: Book 19, Hadith 47 Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) took hold of my hand and said, “Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, created the earth on Saturday, the mountains on Sunday, the trees on Monday, the things entailing labour on Tuesday, light on Wednesday, He spread out animals of all kinds on Thursday, and created Adam in the afternoon on Friday, and it was the last hour of Friday between the afternoon and the night.”
As-Sirat 