Evolution, Quraan, Freedom and Muslims

I am saddened to read BBC report that Dr. Usama Hasan withdrew his statements on evolution due to social pressures from a few Muslims.  I hope no one jumps to conclusion that Muslims are a monolithic lot, they are not.

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had predicted that his community will eventually split into 72 or 73 tribes, indeed he was paving the way for Muslims to accept diversity and compete with each other in serving humanity.  He said; only God will decide who will be righteous, not now, but on the Day of Judgment. He took judgment and prejudgment out of people’s hands. Thank God, at least six schools of thought and about six main denominations in Islam exist today with several divisions within. Prophet’s prophecy will come true and hope no Muslim will be belligerent towards the other.    

Had Darwin presented his theory of evolution six centuries earlier, when Muslims were free and contributed tremendously to science, medicine, mathematics, astronomy and religion, the Muslim Scholars at that time would have seen God’s glory and infinite wisdom in his words, rather than limiting God’s word to narrow definitions within the confines of our comprehension.

Quraan 31:20 (Asad) ARE YOU NOT aware that God has made subservient to you all (has enabled you to derive benefit from all)  that is in the heavens and all that is on earth, and has lavished upon you His blessings, both outward and inward? (Both visible and invisible benefits, as well as both physical and intellectural endowments) And yet, among men there is many a one that argues about God without having any knowledge [of Him], without any guidance, and without any light-giving revelation;

The Muslims of the Golden age believed in scientific inquiry as God had repeatedly said in Quraan to reflect on his bounties of nature and encouraged humans to truly become the honored creatures by managing the affairs of the universe and earn the title of superior species; the survival of the fittest. They would have embraced the idea faster than the Christian Europe given their proclivities.

For the first time in nearly 500 years Muslims are becoming free again, they are extricating themselves from all bondages and forced limitations on Islamic thinking. The people in Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere are freeing themselves from all clutches, thanks to Google, twitter and facebook.

A decade from now, Muslims will see reason and logic in God’s words and will develop an understanding that Adam was the first in the series of species who achieved the status of “Ashraful Mukhlookhat” the honored one among the species by observing God’s signs and learning to deal with them.   He was the first one who managed to survive, managed his environments, used intelligence and spoke cohesively; he was released from the dream world of heaven, and took his species to become a permanent fixture on the earth and God called him Adam, the first one.   

The new generation will see the plausibility of evolution, and two generations down will do more research in understanding Quraan and perhaps find the link; creation out of evolution.

Mike Ghouse is committed to nurturing the pluralistic and intellectual values embedded in Islam through the World Muslim Congress – his work is indexed at www.MikeGhouse.net

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Reference: The Imam who retracted the statements on evolution due to social pressures. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12661477