Evolution in the Light of the Qurʾān and Tradition

Abstract

In this conversation, Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Muzaffar Iqbal discuss various aspects of Evolution in light of the Qurʾānic teachings and traditional Muslim understanding of the origin of life. Beginning with a reference to certain methods being used by some modern Muslim evolutionists to insert the Hand of God in the evolutionary narrative, the conversation broadens to the historical context of the arrival of evolution in the Muslim world, especially in the Indian Subcontinent. Other topics discussed include Theistic Evo- lution and the so-called Ādamic exceptionalism. They also discuss reasons for the paucity of scholarly works in the con- temporary Islamic discourse and point to a way forward.