Recordings › A Reply to Sheikh Yasir Qadhi - Mufti Abu Layth · 20 Oct 2018 › Segment 11 of 15
Is evolution compatible with the Quran?
hadeeth ahadith ahaadeeth hadis hadees ahaadith combining prayers jam' al-salah jam bayn al-salatayn jam' al-salatayn malik ibn anas malik bin anas imam maalik imam malik ibn anas imaam imams prayer leader muftis sunna sunnat sunan prophetic practice shirq mushrik mushrikin polytheism iman imaan eemaan eeman koran quraan al-quran sura soorah suwar soora chapter ayah aya ayat ayaat aayah aayat khalifah caliph khulafa khilafah khilafat caliphate khilafa madinah madina al-madinah madeenah yathrib salafi salafis salafism wahabi wahhabism salam as-salamu alaykum assalamu alaikum assalamualaikum salaams salam alaykum wa alaykum as-salam peace greetingEvolution and the Quran: creation in stages, the single self, and the couple of Surah al-A'raf
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This segment1:02:49 to 1:13:18 · 10 min 29 sGeneral teaching
What this part covers
machinesummary, machine-writtenThe Quran's verses on creation in stages, growth from the earth, the single self and the couple of 7:189 are reconcilable with evolution, which Mufti Abu Layth calls a scientific fact established through genetics. Hawwa is not named in the Quran, and those who accept evolution should not be called deviants.
In more detail
Mufti Abu Layth turns to evolution, saying the Quran states that Allah created humans in stages (71:14), grew them from the earth like plants (71:17), and made all life from water after the heavens and earth were one and were split (21:30), verses he says clearly argue for it, though he leaves people free to believe what they want. He examines 3:59, that the likeness of Jesus is that of Adam, and argues that it does not fit a literal reading either way: Jesus had a mother and was not created from dust, and the verse says Adam was created and then told 'be', not created by the sudden command. He reads 23:12-13, that insan was created from an extract of clay, which many today take as DNA, and then placed as a drop in a stable place, noting that commentators were confused because the first man could not have been in a womb, some positing an artificial womb, to which those who argue for evolution such as Abd al-Sabur Shahin [?] reply that wombs already existed. He says Hawwa is not mentioned anywhere in the Quran, only in hadith, and that the verses on humanity's origin always speak of a single self, grammatically feminine, never naming Adam. He reads 7:189-190, where the single self and its partner conceive and, given a sound child, commit shirk, and says the commentators' claim that this is Adam committing shirk only in name is stupid, so the verse must speak of someone before Adam. He reads khalifa in 2:30 as one who comes at the end and succeeds the other hominins. He says evolution is pretty much a scientific fact established through genetics, and asks that those who accept what Allah told people to explore not be told they devalue the Quran.
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Position stated
Mufti Abu Layth says the Quran's verses on creation in stages, growth from the earth and the single self are reconcilable with evolution, which he calls a scientific fact established through genetics, that Hawwa is not named in the Quran, and that those who accept evolution should not be called deviants.
“if you don't want to accept evolution you don't have to although it is pretty much a scientific fact now through genetics that we are connected all of life on Earth is connected”
Category: teaching
Kind: general teachingTranscript
machine1:02:49 to 1:13:18 · click a time to seek · dotted terms open the glossary
verse why otherwise this reasoning is to say the Lord you say well that's easy God doesn't need to God could just make a child without having a female so then that's an argument like that's an argument against God for using that as an argument the only way that verse can make sense is if all births follow a natural law of order or natural order of law sorry so now the so these are the arguments used by these people who argued for a natural birth and like I said look it's
entirely up to people I'm not saying you need to believe this I'm not saying you need to believe that but to declare deviant and to declare people like oh they've lost the plot they they no longer main Stream Muslims they no longer this they no longer that because they have this reading of the Quran when the Quran itself doesn't actually say that that's a huge stretch so I mean these are some words then he whoa at the time right then he spoke about evolution even though the verses of the Quran say work on halakha come at whare in surah Noor that Allah created you in stages Allah
mentions in surah new verse 17 wallah whoo I'm better communal or dinner Berta Allah grew you like plants out of the earth now what is that talking about and then Allah says in surah al-anbiya verse 30 I want a mirror ladina Catherine s-samawati wa lob can I tell what do they not see how everything was like as one and then we cleft in asunder and that was all nominal man equal lashing hey FLI you mean I'm from water from a common water we created all
sources of life do they not see this yet they do not bring faith that's verse 30 of surah al-anbiya how is this aunty once again look you can believe what you want an eeveelution I'm not saying it's up to you but these verses clearly argue for that I'm just saying why are these people deviants or heretics or new prophets how it makes no sense whatsoever and as the verse in surah al-e-imran in the math Eliza in the Leica Maithili Adam a holic almond throbbing from a hollow cone fiyaquun' the example of Jesus is like that of Adam he created him that's in our on
verse 59 he created him from dust and said be and he was well we know that's not true for first of all for Jesus because if Jesus is like Adam then Jesus had a mum then that means Adam must have had a mother and then you're gonna say well no well that's not the case Adam didn't have a mother so when how is he like Jesus and then you're saying well he created him from dust well you know Jesus wasn't created from dust and then you say oh no but it was the command be and it is and he said yeah but let's just go to that verse Holika whom Interop he first
of all created him then said be so look Hanukkah whom Interop he created him from dust some all after a time had elapsed said to him allah llahu khun chayakorn but he created him first he wasn't created with the sudden be because then why would why would Mary be pregnant why didn't it why wasn't he just created what was the whole purpose allotted Hanukkah whom he created him then said
be and he was right so right so that's some of these things which I think are important to really truly was just seeing here there was another important verse I want you to pay attention to this this is sort of taught me known on evolution right Allah speaks right verse
12 and 13 this is incredibly important right on surah told me known Allah says walaqad jalapeno in sanam insularity main thing we created in son from a gooey kind of substance of clay and many people said that this extract this kind of Salalah sorry a gooey extract many people today say that is DNA that is being referred to maintain most of them of a serene say that this by the way in son you can check bobbery and all these are the books they say in Sanya is Adam
walaqad jalapeno in sanam insularity maintained created Adam they say so much Allah who then we placed him him not fatten the kirari McKean we made him a drop a droplet and not fight is usually a droplet of sperm the ferrari machine in a stable which is the room for our in a stable place now some of them here the more serene get confused because if the first one was Adam then
how was Adam in a room so here some of them say maybe this is talking now the second who is talking about people in general other people said no maybe Adam was created and then placed in an artificial womb like a love created a womb like structure and put him in it and then those people who argued for evolution like the tore up the reversible Shaheen and other people they said well why if if wounds were already available why would Allah create an artificial womb like structure so look these are verses of the Quran that are
being used they're not like somebody's not bringing this out of thin air so I think that's really important the second key factor that shelf Yasir Qadhi went to was about the Quran UHN and I agree with him here that look and by the way on the evolution point yes oh god he said a lot clearly mentioned in the Quran about Adam and Hawwa and anybody who disagrees with this first of all how ah is not mentioned in any verse of the Quran okay there is no mention of Eve in the Quran just to clarify that for sure he has a Adi Sahib damnit vodka - come on alia there is no mention of even the
Quran Eve is mentioned in some hadith in the Quran Allah mentioned there about five or six places well Allah kanakam me enough same way he that we created you from a single soul in none of those verses does he ever mention that to be Adam so any verse in which Allah mentions the origin of mankind that we created you from a single soul and from it we made many Alfre and you know from it or its partner we set for many Adam is never mentioned in those verses the word Adam although the name Adam is used on countless occasions in
the Quran but never used we're allies speaking about we created you all from Adam and so on like that in these verses where well I gotta lock now come enough sim Wahid and so on that is just it always just says from a self another interesting verse is one of them I don't let me see if I've highlighted here somewhere with bringing up if it is here
right see oh this is an interesting verse in surat al-a'raf and you can all share yourself copy this that you see who only the halacha come in not saying why he they created you from a single self and by the way this is always feminine whenever it is used it is never masculine created you from a single self a feminine self Raja al-amin has Oh jam from it created it's the feminine its partner so he may find compassion or sorry may find tranquility in her fellow Mottola shahe when he covered her intimately sexually she became pregnant for hama let me Hamlin for Hamlet Hamlin
- she carried she was off child for Margaret to be out as time went by when it became when she became heavily pregnant fell in my ask Allah that Allah Obama they cried out today Lord line are tight and I saw Lee Hamlin a cool and I'm gonna share Kenan if you give us a pious child we will be grateful fell in my art our masala Han when he gave them either a pious or a fully beta body in able-bodied a sound child when he gave them a sound child jalalahu Shalaka they committed with allah most mother
serene say that's Adam how is that Adam why is Adam committing shook and then they say oh he only committed shirk in name like he decided to name his child offer another God but he didn't believe he he just named it what a stupid thing to say why would Adam ali salaam be committing it doesn't make any sense unless this person that is being spoken of is from before Adam right another interesting thing is inni ja'ilun fill all the Khalifa I will play something halifa means something that comes at the
end of on earth the end of you the end of the other hominins that will succeed the other hominins so this that's that's those who are arguing in favor of evolution and look if you don't want to accept evolution you don't have to although it is pretty much a scientific fact now through genetics that we are connected all of life on Earth is connected so but don't call people who do believe that the world around us is you know it's something Allah has told
us to explore when it is reconcilable with the quran don't tell us that that is somehow devaluing the program right now the second thing on the Quran I own I pretty much I agree with the chef Yasir Qadhi although when he said about the Quran in rejecting hadith and so on the hadith first of all he kept using the words hadith and so 90 changeably which according to the school of Medina Imam Malik Inaba Hanif is wrong so we believe in the Sunnah the hadith is not the Sunnah okay so we draw a distinction obviously share here so called the being from the seller fees from the Wahhabi kind of background doesn't draw that
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Cite this segment
Stable id, transcript version and tier are part of the citation. Every change to a transcript is logged.Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 2018-10-20-S11, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/7cylt19gx5k/s/11/ (accessed 1 November 2026)
- APA 7
Mufti Abu Layth. (2018, October 20). Is evolution compatible with the Quran? [Video, segment 2018-10-20-S11, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/7cylt19gx5k/s/11/
- Chicago author-date
Mufti Abu Layth. 2018. "Is evolution compatible with the Quran?" Video, segment 2018-10-20-S11, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded October 20, 2018. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/7cylt19gx5k/s/11/
- BibTeX
@misc{abulayth-2018-10-20-S11, author = {Mufti Abu Layth}, title = {{Is evolution compatible with the Quran?}}, year = {2018}, month = {10}, date = {2018-10-20}, howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/7cylt19gx5k/s/11/}}, url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/7cylt19gx5k/s/11/}, organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive}, urldate = {2026-11-01}, note = {Segment 2018-10-20-S11, auto-transcribed, may contain errors} }
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