Science and Qur’an on Creation of Life - 2
By Dr Ghayur Ayub
London, UK
So far, we have looked at the Qur’anic knowledge about the evolutionary path of life on earth which led to the creation of plants, animals and humans. Keeping that knowledge in mind, from here on, we will concentrate on a human being and talk about his embryological growth in the uterus and anthropological development on earth.
On embryological growth the Qur’an says, “We placed it as a Nutfah (fertilized egg) in a safe (deep) lodging; Then, We created the Nutfah into an Alaqa. Then, We created the Alaqa into Muzgha. Then, We created the Muzghah into bones. Then, We clothed the bones with flesh. Then, We produced it (the human being) as another creation. So blessed be Allah, the Best of creators! (23:12-14)
'Nutfah' is an Arabic word used for fertilized egg or zygote which is referred to as 'Alaqa' meaning by a leech that sticks to the womb wall and sucks nutrients like a leech. While, Muzgha means a tiny chewed lump imitating the earliest form of embryological development known only to the embryologists. This type of medical knowledge about the developmental stages of a foetus in the uterus has only come to light in recent decades while it was written in the Qur’an about 1500 years ago. Does it mean the Qur’an is a book of science? No, it’s not, it is a book of signs for those who want to know and understand it.
Now, let’s see what the Qur’an says about the complex phases of human anthropological development. For example, it says: “It is He Who created (Khalaqa) you, then fashioned (Sawwaka) you perfectly, and then made you with the right proportions (Adalaka) in whatever form (such as straightened you up, to walk in an upright position) He willed, He put you together (Rakkaba) (assembled you)”(82:7-8)
The Qur’an has used four terms in relation to the anthropological stages of human development. They are: 1) ‘Khalaqa’ pointing at the stage of initial creation; 2) 'Sawwaka' pointing at the stage of fashioning from one form to another such as from unicellular to multi-cellular; 3) 'Adalaka' pointing at the right proportioning and balancing from one stage to another, such as hominid walking upright and straight; 4) Rakkaba pointing at the stage of putting together or assembling as human anthropological development is carried on.
These were the evolutionary stages a human went through. The question is whether these changes occurred all at once, or at lengths of time? Qur’an answers this question by saying, “Allah is He Who perfected everything which He created and began (Bada’a) the creation of man from clay (32:7). Qur’an uses the word ‘began’ or 'Bada'a' which means that the human creation happened as part of a process in time that had a beginning and not just at once. To make this point clearer, the Qur’an prefixes the anthropological stages mentioned in verses 82:7-8 with ‘Then’ (Fa), thus separating each stage in time scale.
Talking further about human creation in terms of time, Qur’an tells us; “He is, Who has created you (human) from clay, then he spent a term of time (away from you), and (it is) a specific term he determined. Yet, you doubt (his ability)!” (6:2) Thus, the word ‘Then’(Fa) prefixed to each stage represents a period of time between the stages. The question is, what were the durations of time-periods between those stages? Being a divine book, the Qur’an talks in cosmic time which is different from how we perceive time. That is why, in places, it uses the term Kun Fia Kun which in scientific terminology is a time-space Warf, where time and space and the physical laws which govern them lose their existence. While at other places, it says, “Every day with your Lord is as 1,000 years of what you reckon," (22:47) or, "Every day with your Lord is 50,000 human years” (70:4). So, the time varies from position to position and place to place. Sometimes Qur’an talks about time in the context of quantum physics and at other times in the context of convention physics and that too in relation to space and earth. Thus, in the cosmic scale, the time could extend to millennial years or a blink of an eye depending on whether it is talking in the language of convention physics or in quantum physics.
It is in this context that the term ‘Then’ in between the anthological stages should be taken. In other words, we can say that millennial years passed for human to pass through the stages of fashioning, right proportioning, balancing, putting together and assembling at the end of which he stood upright, used his mental acumen and became a thinking man.
Ibn Kathir explained this verse by saying that God created humans in the best image and right proportion and made them walk in a balanced way in an upright position, between the two cold places such as North and South Poles. He further explained the Arabic word 'Rakkaba' by saying that the fertilized egg carries all the genetic characteristics of humans all the way from the first creation. He was obviously referring to the Qur’anic verse which says:..“Were We then fatigued with the first creation? Yet are they in doubt with regard to a new creation” (50:15).
Other Muslim scholars see a link between hominid such as Homo Erectus and modern man which is Homo Sapiens. They compare the 'assembling' by God, to the scientists using genetic engineering and introducing changes in existing organisms. Thinking on identical lines, some Muslim scholars argue that the Arabic verb, 'Rakkaba', may refer to ‘assembling’ human beings by using genetic materials from other organisms, in order for humans to be better from their closest primates. Talking about the subject, scholars such as, Ekremah, Abu Saleh, and Quotaida added that some people may even have features of primates as their faces may look like monkeys pointing to the fact that a human being is the product of a long line of genetic traits.
To strengthen their argument, these scholars argue that the Qur’an gives a clear message about evolutionary diversity in the human creation by giving examples of Qu’ranic verses which say;
"I have indeed created you before, when you were nothing". Or when it says, “Has there not been a long period of time, when man was nothing, (not even) mentioned?” (19:67). Or when it says, "Say: travel in the earth and see how He originated the first creation, then God creates the latter creation; surely God has power over all things". Or when it says, "What is the matter with you that you attribute not the greatness of God, when you see that it is He that has created you in diverse stages?" (71:13-14) Or when it says, “He is Allah, the Creator, the Inventor, The Evolver (Al bari)” (59:24). ‘Bâri' signifies the way one works with substances, creating from existing matter or making and evolving that which is free and clear of imperfections. Bari also means the one who shapes and fashions creation and who perfects his creation. According to the Qur’an, God does it in cosmic time leaving the field open for the thinking man to look at it through the laws of convention physics or quantum physics.
All we know for sure, that the Qur’an tells us that God created a human being in anthropologically diverse stages in cosmic time scale. It was in this context that Maulana Rumi explained his existence when he said:
“I died from minerality and became vegetable;
And from vegetativeness I died and became animal.
I died from animality and became man.
Then why fear disappearance through death?
Next time I shall die
Bringing forth wings and feathers like angels;
Still later After that, soaring higher than angels –
What you cannot imagine, I shall be that”
Rumi’s literature is filled with knowledge taken from the Qur’an and the Qur’an is the foundation of Islam.
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