Darwin's Shadow: Evolution in an Islamic Mirror

The year 2009 was declared the “International Darwin Year” by the International Union of Biological Sciences. It generated a lot of intellectual activity in the Western world through conferences, seminars, websites, and publication of books. There was hardly any enthusiasm in the Muslim world; no one seemed to be interested in celebrating the bicentennial of Darwin’s birth or the sesquicentennial of the publication of On the Origin of Species.

This third installment of the series “Darwin’s Shadow” explores Darwinian and post-Darwinian evolutionary theories from an Islamic perspective. Surveying the intellectual landscape of the Muslim world, the article situates Darwin’s arrival and post-Darwinian responses in a broad historical and social context and then suggests why Muslims should not ignore evolutionary perspectives, even though these have little to do with their worldview.

The article also indicates areas where evolutionary theories in cosmology and biology overlap with religious beliefs and how this overlap produces conflict between the metaphysical structures of religious and evolutionary worldviews. The only version of evolution which requires serious examination is the so-called theistic evolution, because all other versions are obviously outside the pale of the Islamic worldview and therefore need no further attention. Fundamentals of theistic evolution are compared with the Qurʾānic creation narrative and it is shown that the two are not compatible.

Keywords: International Darwin Year; intellectual and historical context of Darwin’s reception in the Muslim world; metaphysical content of theory of evolution; evolutionary cosmology; theistic evolution; the Qurʾān and theistic evolution.

Journal of Islam & Science, Vol. 8 (Summer 2010) No. 1​

Muzaffar Iqbal

Muzaffar Iqbal is the President of the Center for Islamic Sciences and the General Editor of the Integrated Encyclopedia of the Qurʾān.