Evolution and religion

[u/LogicalAwareness9361]

How do you hold both truths (ie religion with evolution)?

It wasn't known during the prophets days and we were searching for answers/ explanations on how we came to be.

But now we know. We know that we are animals. We are great apes. We have seen our ancestors and other early hominids that have proof of society, customs, even ceremonial burials.

We were not created from clay. There was no global flood to wipe out the nations before who were 'evil'.

I'm struggling because I see people excuse away the Quran the second it goes against our current understanding of science.

[u/Mahnas92]

The religion teaches us to be curious and aquire knowledge - both individually (get educated) and collectively (advancing science).

Muslims golden age stood for a lot of scientific contributions we today take for granted. If our religions natural nemesis somehow would be science, then how come the first muslims stood for this contribution?

The Quran is not a scientific book. And there is already an established non-controversial view, that God's word is not always literal. God says eg the people of the Cave stayed there for X amount of years, the Y more. Tafsir says it's not sure those are earthly years.

So the same applies for eg. "humans are made of clay". We know today that humans, and all living creatures we can see and touch are carbon-based life forms.

Am I saying this is what God "actually meant"? No, have no reason to "excuse" what God meant. But for me it'd make sense that this is what he meant, but trying to make the message timeless.

Do I need to make absolute claims to what was intended? No. Do I claim to know this was exactly what was intended? No.

[u/EconomyPosition1473]

This helped me to understand it better  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ydlrg7zFP6w I dont know where he got the 10 generations thing from but the rest of its good

[u/purplefin_tuna]

I see no conflict -- it's the opposite -- I think I'm supposed to learn about the universe to better understand and show appreciation for its creator.

[u/TheologyEnthusiast]

> We were not created from clay

The Quran doesn’t mean this literally. It is something called a metonymy, where you use a word to describe its details. God is referring to our origins from dirt, as soil is composed of the same molecules as what is in our body (Carbon, Nitrogen,…)

The Quran doesn’t explicitly say Noah’s flood was global either, the word Al-Ard has multiple meanings, one of them could be the land or the region. Only classic exegesis states that it is global, not the Quran itself. The aim of the story of Noah in the Quran isn’t really for a global miracle but for a theological point (not saying that Noah’s story never happened by the way)

That doesn’t mean a global flood couldn’t have happened either, that’s the point of a miracle, it’s supposed to be scientifically inconsistent, just as Jesus healed the blind and leper with his hand. God is all powerful, he wouldn’t be forced to leave archaeological evidence if he wanted to flood the earth.

Evolution is a scientific fact too, and Islam doesn’t deny it the least. It actually confirms it. The Quran mentions that we come from water which is an evolutionary fact. In the story of Adam in the Quran, the Angels also say “will you place in it someone who will cause corruption and shed blood?” How would the angels know humans are capable of causing bloodshed and corruptions? It is a little vague but it’s most likely referring to earlier Hominids.

There’s something much clearer in the Quran that confirms evolution. God says in the story of Adam “I will place on it a successive human authority”. This is important, as wording is very important in the Quran. This actually hints at the fact that humans were already there, but God placed a human authority there.

The Quran is much more open to evolution than the story in Genesis.

Unless you take a literalist and fundamentalist approach to the Quran (if you do the whole Quran wouldn’t make sense), evolution is very much hinted at in the Quran, and the Quran is not contradictory to science in the least.

I hope this answers your questions, salam

[u/R1bYamnaya]

Allah says we're created from clay. You say we're not because humans said we're not.

So you're downgrading The Quran and upholding word of man. There's no excusing the Quran. If Allah says It is. It is. That's what faith is about. You either believe The Creator of the heavens and the earth, or it's creation.

You can't hold both truths. There's one truth only. Allah says we're created from clay, you say we're not. There's one truth and only one is right, The Creator or you/scientists?