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”.
to be continued . . . .
