5. The Idea of Biological Evolution on Earth

The Process of Creation
A Qur'anic Perspective

by Dr Israr Ahmad

5. The Idea of Biological Evolution on Earth

The widely held belief that Charles Darwin (1809-1882) is the first initiator of evolutionary theory is quite wrong. Somehow this idea has become so popular that for ordinary folk evolution and Darwinism have almost become synonymous. However, the historical fact is that as far as the essential idea of evolutionary development is concerned, one can find it as far back as ancient Greek Thought. Quite a few Greek Sophos including Aristotle have referred to it obliquely. Several centuries later, Muslim thinkers --- Brethren of Purity, Allama Jahiz (d. 225 A.H.) and Ibn Maskawayh (d. 421 A.H.), among others, have maintained it quite explicitly. However, Maulana Rumi (d.1273 A.D.)--- about six hundred years earlier than Darwin --- has exquisitely described the various stages of evolution in his well-known and universally acclaimed Mathnawi. At two places in the long Persian epic, he describes the stages of evolution in clear, unambiguous words and in great detail. In Book III of the Mathnawi, Maulana Rumi says: 

I died as a mineral and became a plant,

I died as a plant and rose an animal,

I died as an animal and I was Man.

Why should I fear Death?

When was I lessened by dying?

Yet once more I shall die as Man, to soar with angels blest;

But even from angelhood I must pass on,

All except Allah doeth perish.

When I have sacrificed my angel-soul,

I shall become what no mind ever conceived.

Oh, let me not exist! For non-existence proclaims in organ tones,

“To Him we shall return” 

(Translated by A. J. Arberry)

The ideal of evolution is very clearly present in these lines. Speaking on behalf of mankind, the Maulana says that he was first present in the geological world of minerals and hard rocks and then after ‘dying’ in that realm he appeared in the botanical world of plants and trees. And then after experiencing ‘death’ from that stage, he arose in the realm of living animals. Continuing the evolutionary thrust, from the animal kingdom he appeared in the human realm. He says that he remains undaunted by physical human death as this cannot take away or lessen his essential being which is likely to move on to two higher stages (which are not relevant to our discussion here but Arberry’s translation of those verses has been given for the pensive reader). 

Further, in Book IV of the Mathnawi, the Maulana presents verses formally under the title “The method and stages of the Creation of Adam (pbuh) from the beginning of creation”. Indeed, the evolutionary idea of the multifarious created  beings has been expressed in very bold and categorical words. His inimitable lines may be quoted here:

The evolution of man.

First he appeared in the class of inorganic things,

Next he passed into that of plants.

For years he lived as one of the plants,

Remembering naught of his inorganic state so different;

And when he passed from the vegetative to the animal state

He had no remembrance of his state as a plant

Again, the great Creator, as you know,

Drew man out of the animal into the human state

Thus man passed from one order of nature to another,

Till “he” became wise and knowing and strong as he is now.

One of the learned Urdu translators of the Mathnawi, Qazi Sajjad Husain, has translated these verses in a way as if the word “he” used in the poetic verses above refers to the soul of man. That is quite erroneous from the point of view of our analysis given above in this treatise. That is simply because the soul is an entity belonging to the sphere of “amr” and as such it has not undergone any descent or evolutionary ascent. In fact, the entire evolutionary process described above in detail pertains to the physical/material part of existence only and had nothing to do with the spiritual component or soul of human beings. Also noteworthy is Rumi’s mention of forgetting the conditions of earlier stages through which a being passes while progressing to the higher realm.

The most profound appreciator of the deep meaning and significance of the Qur`anic themes and the Rumi of our age --- Allama Muhammad Iqbal --- has also expressed the idea of evolution in his poetry. He not only mentions the idea, he also opines about its causes, starting-point and ultimate reaches and the objectives of the evolutionary process. He discusses and expounds these ideas at such a lofty level of sophistication and intellectual vision that people of ordinary mental capacity can hardly comprehend the real import of those verses. It is, however, reassuring to note that an able expounder of the wisdom of Iqbal --- Dr. Muhammad Rafi-ud-Din --- has made his ideas understandable and easy to grasp in an article published in the April 1960 issue of “Iqbal Review”.

Source:  The Process of Creation

 to be continued  . . . .