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Another example of how Judeo-Christian beliefs were mixed into Islamic ones, is that many Muslim children are taught that Eve was made from Adam's rib. This, though stated in the Bible, is never in the Qur'an. Firstly, the Qur'an never even states whether Adam or Eve was created first. The Qur'an says that humankind 'was created from one soul and its mate.' The word for soul, 'nafs,' is feminine. So there is no implication that Adam was created first. Yusuf Ali, under the influence of the Bible, mistranslates those verses into, 'mankind was created from one soul and his mate.' Though the Qur'an does say that the 'mate was created from the it (the first soul),' it does not say by which process. The most logical way to interpret this, is that God means to say that the mate was from the same essence, or scientifically, the same species as the first soul. Muhammad Asad, a German Jew who converted to Islam, agrees with this in his famous translation and commentary of the Quran.

The names Adam and Eve even imply the allegorical nature of their story. Adam comes from a Hebrew word meaning, 'the dark-colored one' or 'humankind' and Eve means, 'the mother of the people.' Therefore, the names are very much like descriptions of the first people who could differentiate between right and wrong. They may have never even had direct communication with God. They originally followed their preprogrammed instincts, but they did something which let them reason for themselves. This something is symbolized by the tree. Even the way the tree is described as the Tree of Eternal Life or the Tree of the Knowledge between Good and Evil, displays its metaphorical nature.

The creationists try to disprove evolution in many different ways. They almost always use negative arguments. For example, because of this and this, the present evolutionary theory is false, therefore creation is true. Look in any book on how to argue, take any debate class or look at the p implies q logic used in math. Creationist have committed the converse error argument. One of the most common things they say is the the Second Law of Thermodynamics does not allow evolution to happen. Scientists, therefore, for scores of years, completely forgot one of the most basic laws of science when arriving at the conclusion of evolution, according to them. This law states that everything tends to change from order to disorder (entropy), or that all usable energy tends to be lost as unusable energy, namely heat. For example, one's hair begins the day nice and combed, but ends messy. A teenager's room starts out being clean, and in a few days becomes a mess. When a ball drops, it may only bounce back up on e-third of the way, because energy was lost in the form of sound and heat, and some energy was absorbed into the ground. Therefore, the originally chaotic world could not have gone the reverse of the law and have attained more orderliness. The problem with this argument is that the law only applies to a closed system. This means that no matter or energy is added or subtracted from it. Hair can be fixed nicely all day if it is brushed again now and then. The earth is not a closed system. The earth has matter added to it every time a meteor comes in the atmosphere and has energy added to it from the sun. Therefore, the argument is useless. The creationists cannot even get their basics in chemistry correct, it seems. Another argument is that the earth is only 6,500 to 10,000 years old. These numbers are calculated from the genealogies contained in the Bible. The earth can be dated through a variety of methods. This includes dating by the ratio of uranium to lead, rubidium to strontium and strontium-8 7 to strontium-86. Every single method of dating the earth leads to approximately the same conclusion. The earth is around 4.5 billion years old. The suns size, color, heat and other things can used to be calculate the age of it. The same number is reached by all methods. By the laws of chemistry, these methods are completely reliable. All of the creationists' arguments against these methods have been completely futile. The methods are not even explained correctly in the books written by the ICR, which use the art of distortion to try to convince readers of their viewpoint. Some creationists state that though the original proportions of atoms can be known, the time period in which they were in that proportion is merely conjecture.

This is completely against the commonly known algebraic rule which says that if the formula of the decay is known, which even the ICR agrees on, the graph can show the time of equilibrium from the interceptions of the graph. The only thing that creationists can still say, which some do say, is that God purposely made the earth appear old, therefore not letting humans find the origins of the earth. Muslims cannot accept this view, because according to both the Qur'an and the authentic hadith, God provides humans with all the evidence of how the earth was created. This evidence serves as proof of His existence, according to Muslims. If God told humans one thing and gave the evidence for another, this would do the opposite of proving His existence. Some Muslims even try to say that one cannot question the origins of the earth, but must blindly accept the common view of the Muslim world. This is completely a western idea, not supported by the Qur'an. Some Qur'anic passages which exemplify the previous statements are:

'Say: Go all over Earth and observe how He has created (man) in the first instance.' (29:20)

'When they are told, 'Follow what God has revealed herein,' they say, 'We follow what we found our parents doing.' What if their parents did not understand, and were not guided?' (2:170)

'They found their parents astray. And they blindly followed in their footsteps.' (37:69-70)

'He is the one who continuously show you proofs and sends down provisions from the sky. Only those who truly submit will be able to take heed.' (40:13)

'We shall show then Our signs on the horizons and within themselves until it becomes clear to them that it is the Truth.' (41:53)

'...We have distinguished the signs for a people who understand.' (6:97)

'...Say, 'Show us your proof, if you are right.' (2:111)

'Most of them follow nothing but conjecture, and conjecture is no substitute for the truth. God is fully aware of everything they do.' (10:36)

'And they (who will go to Hell) will say: 'Oh, our Sustainer! Behold, we followed our leaders and our great men, and it is they who led us astray from the right path.' (33:67)

'Verily, the vilest creatures in the sight of God are those deaf and dumb and do not use any of their reason.' (8:22)

Whole books have been written on the subject of creationism vs. evolution, this essay introduces some of the basic arguments for evolution in light of Qur'an. A soon to be published book, written by Dr. T.O. Shanavaz extensively covers the Qur'anic and Muslim scientist view on the creation of the universe and of man. This essay touches on the major points of evolution in the Qur'an, including some points not advanced by Dr. Shanavaz's book. Muhammad Asad's and Muhammad Ali's translations of the Qur'an also support evolution. There are also many other books written on this subject, including the available original works of the Muslim evolutionist of the past.

Muslims must understand that religious ideas can be interpreted in different ways in order to match the changing times. There is only one absolute truth, but as long as it does not contradict whatever truth exists in a certain point in time, the latter is acceptable. If Muslims were to go to the original source of Islam, the Qur'an, without biases from their teachings of their parents and teachers, the Muslim world will once again prosper. When people stopped questioning, the Muslim empire fell. One must remember the famous saying of the Prophet (PBUH), 'God's greatest gift to humans is reason.'