Darwin's Shadow--Evolution in an Islamic Mirror-- Part 3

Abstract

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 pub- lication of books. There was hardly any enthusiasm in the Muslim world; no one seemed to be interested in celebrat- ing the bicentennial of Darwin’s birth or the sesquicen- tennial 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 intel- lectual landscape of the Muslim world, the article situ- ates 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 theo- ries in cosmology and biology overlap with religious be- liefs 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, be- cause all other versions are obviously outside the pale of the Islamic worldview and therefore need no further at- tention. Fundamentals of theistic evolution are compared with the Qurʾānic creation narrative and it is shown that the two are not compatible.