# Does evolution contradict the Quran's account of Adam?

*Adam and evolution: reading Surat al-Mu'minun 23:12-14*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/hiu1gjszg1e/s/7/
- Date: 2020-10-13 · Kind: discussion · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Discussion on Miracles: A fallacy against God | Mufti Abu Layth (21:39–31:16)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIU1GJSzg1E&t=1299s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/hiu1gjszg1e/

**Topics:** Quran and evolution; Human origins; Adam and the creation of humans

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** No: he says evolution does not clash with Islam, reading 23:12-14 as Adam passing through a womb and Adam as the first human with full consciousness.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says evolution does not clash with Islam at all.

**Evidence, his words at 21:39:** “i've said that look there's nothing evolution does not clash with islam at all” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIU1GJSzg1E&t=1299s)

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth says things on earth do not come into existence from nothing, and that evolution does not clash with Islam at all. He reads Surat al-Mu'minun 23:12-14: the insan created from an extract of clay, which some take as DNA, then placed as a drop in a firm lodging, the womb, then the stages of the embryo. He says the mufassirun agree the insan of the first verse is Adam but split over the pronoun, some saying the topic changes to humans generally, departing from the literal reading, others proposing an artificial womb, and asks why one would be needed when Homo sapiens existed. He says Adam would be the father of the human cognitive revolution, the first with consciousness, and cites the verse that every living thing was made from water as pointing to a common source of life. The caller objects that this would limit God to the rules of His creation.

## Sources and names cited

- Adam
- Quran 23:12-14 (insan from an extract of clay, then a drop in a firm lodging, then the stages of the embryo): https://quran.com/23/12-14
- Quran 21:30 (every living thing from water): https://quran.com/21/30
- insan (human being)
- evolution

## Transcript (machine tier, 21:39–31:16)

[21:39] because allah created everything i had nothing oh right but everything is not created out of nothing everything is you mean like in its origin sense it was a point where there was like like let's say some explosion and then energy turned into mata after the but we're not talking about like so on this earth now that matter is in existence on this earth things don't just come into existence from nowhere correct so then uh how was atom malaysia created based on what you're saying i've said that look there's nothing evolution does not clash with islam at all

[22:18] that the fact that if adam was created of womb this is not in fact this is in light with several verses of the quran and i go through this and i explain um i've got a whole video on evolution in islam had a mother there was a womb involved would have been yes so so if we like if we look at the verse so for example right rather than let me just bring it right up here right so if we take a look at rather because if if i just say then people will just say

[22:56] that you know mufti is saying these things but if i'm bringing it from the actual quran um right then here right right no okay here it is it's just coming up um okay is it this one

[23:31] okay right okay now uh right sorry my bad it's not that one is the other one all right all right okay now let's take a look right so you have sort of okay now first uh 12 to 14 allah says

[24:13] that we created in sun in san means now what's interesting is this kind of like murky uh extract and which by the way some people have said was dna but uh the point anyway let's go with the very uber uh you know literally kind of like texturalist meaning of saying no this was from mud so it's adam alaihi salam was created from you know here's some mud some clay some clay and he's shaped up and he's created yeah this is uh you'd agree with me it's a very kind

[24:51] of a traditional kind of view judeo-christian held and many muslims have held that view as well the verse then says we created in sun from this clay of uh from this you know portion of clay and and the mufasirin will say insane here is adam okay then he says

[25:22] we placed him who's the hymn going back to in we made him a drop of sperm in a settled place settled kind of like uh settlement okay stable settlement now which is the room

[26:06] then we gave the bones you know meat and so on now it's interesting here as well then we created it into something different and they say that uh that okay what what's going on here because when allah says he created insane they say that's adam and then he doesn't say insan again he says who because

[26:45] the mere the pronoun goes back to that in sun it says and then we place that in sun as a drop of sperm in a womb so here the mufasirin then split because when the verse begins they all agree this is adam they then split and say well oh wait a minute who's this now because if this is still adam then adam is a drop of sperm in a womb so here some said potentialization is fertilization right the blasphemy fertilization exactly so this is fertilization but but it's talking about adam being fertilized does it say adam because it says

[27:23] insane but they say it says we began we created in san and then we made the insane fertilized so the question is is this insane here they disagree then the mufasirin some of them said you know this who even though it's going back to that same the pronouns going back to that same incen but we're gonna take from here that allah has changed the topic and he's talking now about humans generally he's not talking about the human adam anymore some of us serene said that now that is actually departing from the literal

[28:02] reading of the quran which is saying who the other mufasirin went with okay maybe allah created adam in a kind of artificial womb in these little stages like it was clay but then he made it kind of fertilize and there was this artificial womb and there was now here the question is this why would you need artificial wounds when there are wounds in existence we know as a fact that you know homo sapiens were in existence adam is not going to be other in my understanding would be the father of the

[28:42] human cognitive revolution the one to have consciousness so you believe sorry to cut you so you believe that you know uh is a descendant from early homo sapiens and then homo sapiens you know they were unicellular in the beginning allah created everything as unicellular and then when you're saying unicellular meaning from uh from one cell everything was like living things you're going back to the eukaryotes and right yeah but i mean as in you're going back like uh what what if you're the beginning of life yes of course of course and look and this is exactly my point

[29:20] allah says you know every living thing alive today was created from a single source it was from you know from this water this this source of life we created kulashi every single form of life came from this common this this initial source of life but that also means that even nowadays you know nasa when we're looking for life we're looking for water because if there's a source of water we know that there could be you know bacteria or life so it doesn't

[29:59] wouldn't that mean that the importance of in order to have life you need to have water that doesn't necessarily mean that everything started as as a unicellular and through millions of years it evolved and it became you know uh uh a moving amiibo or something like that and then it evolved into something else you see the question is what is i look i'm not saying i'm asking what is wrong with that belief like let's say the fact that life has a common ancestor life altogether it begins with this you know the last common uh denomination between the

[30:38] source of all life this this pond or whatever it is the quran also mentions that you know every single living thing came from this source of water now i'm saying what's wrong with that with that belief why is that belief problematic that all living things are created are from one source the problem with that would be the limitation of allah azzawajal saying in order for allah to do what he's doing he has to abide by his creation this universe how we see things now how things make logically sense to us

[31:15] now uh that's how it seems like what what you're saying like rules yes is that what we're saying yes but then does allah so you're saying allah himself has to abide by the rules is that what you're saying you're saying that you know what it means is that allah cannot do something outside the rules of this world this creation this universe why is this is saying okay let me reframe that could that not equally be that allah has set rules which he does things by

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment HIU1GJSzg1E/s/7. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/hiu1gjszg1e/s/7/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.