Allama Iqbal's Explanation of the Qur’anic View of Evolution
By Navid Zaidi
Joplin, MO
Darwin 's theory of evolution explains how life progressed through stages leading to the development of humans.
But what about the future?
Has life reached its climax in the humans or are we going to evolve further into some other kind of species?
If the present is the climax, then it is a very hopeless situation for the humans. It makes us wonder if this is the end of our individuality.
If it is the end, why would life take so much time to develop something and then discard it like a waste product?
Moreover, if life is going to evolve further in the future, how does that help me. My personality will be gone when I die and just become dust? A total waste?
What is the view of Islam and the Qur’an regarding the theory of evolution? Dr Allama Iqbal, the great Eastern poet-philosopher, gives us an insight into the Qur’anic view of evolution.
The Qur’an's view of evolution is dynamic. It moves from the past into the future. It presents a very individual view of personality that has a definite beginning but a continuous career in the future.
The recurrent theme in the Qur’an is that every individual self is unique and will move forward in the future through various stages of development in various environments.
'By the sunset redness and by the night and its gatherings and by the moon when at her full, that from state to state shall ye be surely carried onward' (84: 16-19)
This career of man is perhaps destined to become a permanent element in the constitution of being.
The Qur’an puts forth the view that man's personality should not go waste after going through such a lengthy and complicated process of evolution.
Thinks man that he shall be thrown away as an object of no use?" (75:36-40)
The final fate of man does not mean the loss of individuality. The 'unceasing reward ( ajrun ghair e mamnun) of man means his gradual growth in self-possession, in uniqueness and intensity of his activity as a unique self.
Allama's following verses summarize this concept:
Maut ko samjhe hai ghafil ikhtitam e zindagi
The ignorant thinks of death as the end of life
Hai yeh shaam e zindagi subhe dawam e zindagi
This dusk of life is the dawn of an eternal life
As explained by Allama Iqbal, the condition of existence described as Heaven in the Qur’an is not a holiday. Life is one and continuous. Man marches alway onward to receive ever fresh illuminations from God and continues to shape his personality, better or worse, in the future.
Allama has expressed this concept beautifully in his following verses:
Sitaron se aage jahan aur bhi hain
There are other worlds beyond the stars,
Abhi ishq ke imtihan aur bhi hain
There are more tests of love yet to come!
Similarly, Hell, as conceived by the Qur’an, is not a pit of everlasting torture inflicted by a revengeful God; it is a corrective experience which may make a hardened self once more sensitive to make improvements in his personality.
So the Qur’anic theory of evolution tells us that it is highly improbable that a being whose evolution has taken millions of years should be thrown away as trash.
But it is only as an ever-growing self that man can belong to the meaning of the Universe.
Consider the soul and He who has balanced it and has shown to it ways of wickedness and piety, blessed is he who has made it grow and undone is he who has corrupted it (91: 7-10).
And how do you make the soul grow and save it from corruption? Qur’an's answer is, by action ( amal) Blessed be He in Whose Hand is the Kingdom! And over all things is He potent, who has created death and life to test which of you is the best in point of deed ; and He is the Mighty and Forgiving. (67:1-2)
The deed is the built-in mechanism in each self that disciplines it for a future career. Good deeds ( amal us saalihat) grow the self towards perfection whereas the bad deeds drag it towards dissolution.
This built-in mechanism in each self is the conscience which, like a software, continuously records the deeds.
'Nay O men, but you are lured away from God whenever you are tempted to give the lie to
God's judgment. And yet, verily, there are ever-watchful forces over you, noble, recording, aware of what you do.' (82:9-10)
The watchful force (hafiz) set over every human being is his own conscience, which 'records' all his motives and actions in his subconscious mind. Since this is the most precious element in man's psyche it is described as 'noble'.
Now, the big question? Can we make scientific sense of the Qur’anic view of evolution? I think this theory emphasizes that the essential ingredient of mind is information. It is the pattern inside the brain, not the brain itself. When the brain dies, the mind may endure by transfer of information elsewhere.
If the mind is basically 'organized information', then the medium of expression of that information could be anything; it need not be a particular brain or any brain at all.
At the present state of our knowledge we do not know how this 'software program' is run in the next phase of life. According to the Qur’an the existence of this program, once created, is timeless. The following verses throw some light on the point:
'What! when dead and turned to dust, shall we rise again?
Remote is such a return. Now know We what the earth consumes of them and with Us is abook in which account is kept' (50:3-4)
These verses clearly suggest that the nature of the universe is such that it is open to it to maintain in some other way the kind of individuality necessary for the final working out of human action, even after death of the body in its present environment. What that other way is we do not know. Nor do we gain any further insight from the Qur’an into the nature of this 'second creation (29:20). The analogies of the Qur’an only suggest it as a fact; they are not meant to reveal its nature and character.
Philosophically speaking, therefore, we cannot go farther than this - that in view of the past history of man it is highly improbable that his career should come to an end with the dissolution of his body.
