Does the theory of evolution conflict with Islam on the creation of humans?

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At a glance

Contested: This record includes matters on which scholars differ. The speaker's views are labelled as his, and other views are marked where no cited source yet exists.

Evolution Creed Science in Muslim societies today

Summary

The question concerns the relation between the theory of evolution and what the Qur'an relates about the creation of humans, and people hold different views on it. So far this entry presents the view of the writer Mostafa Mahmoud in his book Hiwar ma'a Sadiqi al-Mulhid; other views are not yet documented with a defined source. ¹

The objection as he frames it

Mostafa Mahmoud has his atheist friend say that the sciences of evolution contradict Adam's being made at once from clay, and see humans as the last of a chain of animal stages, with apes as their "cousins", on the evidence of anatomical resemblance. ¹

For young visitors

Some people ask: does the Qur'an agree with what scientists say about evolution? The writer Mostafa Mahmoud had a view on this, and scholars have other views that will be added to this page.

Notes for researchers

This entry so far presents a single view and gives no verdict.
In the Dar al-Awda edition, printed page = scan page + 8.

Opinions on the question

The question: Does the Qur'an admit human creation through long stages, and does anatomical resemblance require a single common origin for all species?

First opinion · Sunni tradition (the museum's frame)Main reference

Creation in stages; evolution is a fact and its stages a riddle; the purely materialist explanation and one origin for all species are rejected (a modern writer's view)

He cites the verses of creation from clay, then an extract, then fashioning and the breathing of the spirit, says that 'then' in divine time may mean millions of years, that anatomical resemblance shows one Creator but not necessarily one ancestor, and answers the struggle for survival with beauty and random mutation with design.

Held by: Mostafa Mahmoud

Basis: Mostafa Mahmoud, Hiwar ma'a Sadiqi al-Mulhid (Dar al-Awda, Beirut 1986) pp. 124-132, the chapter 'Religion's position on evolution'

People and things also explored

In the Courts of the Hadith Qudsi (television programme)· The questioning and punishment of the grave· The people of the qibla and not declaring takfir for sin· The hereafter: the grave, resurrection and reckoning· Islamic eschatology· Reason and heart· The Throne (al-Arsh)· Al-din al-qayyim (the upright religion)

Sources

Mostafa Mahmoud, Hiwar ma'a Sadiqi al-Mulhid (Dar al-Awda, Beirut 1986) , p. 124
Mostafa Mahmoud, Hiwar ma'a Sadiqi al-Mulhid (Dar al-Awda, Beirut 1986) , p. 132

Mostafa Mahmoud, Lughz al-Hayat (Dar al-Awda, Beirut, 1986)

Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Does the theory of evolution conflict with Islam on the creation of humans?”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/questions/is-human-evolution-compatible-with-islam/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-06.

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In the Courts of the Hadith Qudsi (television programme)

A television programme of which the Assabile archive keeps thirty video episodes. Each opens with a hadith qudsi or a prophetic hadith that the presenter explains with verses, the views of the commentators and science films, after which Muhammad Mutawalli al-Sha'rawi speaks on it: the definition of the hadith qudsi, the witness of the limbs, rain and the stars, Adam's creation, the embryo and divine decree, illness, pardon, Yunus, Musa and the righteous servant, al-Kawthar, the Fire, the slaughter of death, the covenant, 'Arafat, the miswak, fasting, love for God, kinship, patience, seeking forgiveness and the vision of God.