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Human evolution

Q:

I’m a Shia-Muslim raised in America I always had a few question because Science clashes with islam. We learn that Humans were evolved, they looked like apes and then later evolved to actual present day humans. In quran it says Prophet Adam is the 1st human so what’s the actual truth about how humans were evolved?

A:

As-salamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah

thanks for your question

there are few point that requires attention in this matter:

First, the evolution is not the only theory about the origin of mankind, but it is a theory that is accepted and promoted in most education systems (like other ideas like racism or Islamophobia in America); there are other theories on this subject like fixism or creationism (and each theory has its own argument and evidences), besides it is a theory and not a concrete fact.

Second, Quran explicitly doesn’t say that Prophet Adam is the first human (according to Rashid Rida).

Third, even if we consider evolution theory correct, Quran is not in direct conflict with evolution (In many ways, for example those verses that talks about creation from clay {like 15:26, 23:12 etc.} could refer to origin of creation of mankind i.e the creation began from dust and clay in the from of Unicellular organisms and continued to humans)

Islamic Scholars have different opinion regarding this subject, some of them strongly reject the idea of evolution (like Allama Tabatabai, Sayyid Hossein Nasr), some doesn’t consider Quran and the theory of evolution contradictory (like Ayatollah Sobhani, Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi) for reasons  and some are mentioned above.

regards

Sheikh Mahdi Mosayyebi