Recordings › The Role Of Reason In Religion - Mufti Abu Layth · 9 Apr 2018 › Segment 8 of 19
Was Zakir Naik right to dismiss evolution as 'just a theory'?
muftis kufr kuffar kafir kaafir kufar kaafirun iman imaan eemaan eeman koran quraan al-quran ayah aya ayaat aayah aayat ulama ulema ulamaa deen al-din ad-deen ad-dinZakir Naik's reply to an ex-Muslim on evolution, and what 'theory' means
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This segment41:47 to 45:39 · 3 min 52 sGeneral teaching
What this part covers
machinesummary, machine-writtenNo: Mufti Abu Layth says Naik's mocking reply to an ex-Muslim did Islam a disservice, and that in science a theory can be an established fact, as with gravity, not merely a hypothesis.
In more detail
Mufti Abu Layth says people are leaving the faith in droves because scientists and atheists tell them their religion is a joke, and Muslim scholars make it worse. He describes a clip sent to him of Zakir Naik being asked, respectfully, by a young ex-Muslim studying a biomedical subject what Islam says about evolution, since he could not reconcile it with Islam. In his account Naik first asked whether the man would become Muslim if answered, then mocked the question rather than answering it, calling evolution 'only a theory' and saying that as a medical doctor he knew these things; when the questioner replied that gravity is also called a theory, Naik said a theory is a hypothesis and went on to joke about coming from monkeys, cementing the man's disbelief. Mufti explains that 'theory' has a common usage, meaning a guess, and a technical usage in science, where it can denote an established fact such as the theory of gravity, and that people are naive about the difference. He says he was upset by the clip: not knowing an answer is fine, but one should not do Islam such a disservice. He then turns to what the Quran says, noting that it is not a journal of facts, though it contains signs from which lessons can be taken.
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Kind: general teachingTranscript
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take back what Allah gave us and told us this reason we need to take it back and show that Islam is the voice of reason why is it not the voice of reason what is there in Islam that clashes with reason and if there is something categorical okay let's face it let's see what it is why are we you know why are we shying away because that's not how because otherwise people are gonna people are going to leave the faith in droves they're gonna be you know there's so many people that today scientists atheists are telling them that look your religion is a joke it's like this it's like that and Muslims ain't helping Muslims are kind of going along saying
yeah you know like Muslim scholars or that way people are just going along and they're making it worse there is a firming wood yes so yes so and they're doing all these kind of things like they're coming up with things like yeah what we believe what last heady we believe it oh this didn't never happen somebody sent me this clip of Zarqa zakir naik being asked a question on evolution oh my god honestly I'm trying to think of what if you know what kind of like suffering would I rather enjoy than having to watch that like I'm just trying to think of like
how about like needles in the eyes or how about look like Hellraiser for a moment or something I really I watch this clip he's giving this lecture to God knows thousands of people and some guy gets up very respectful to him and the guy says look I'm an ex-muslim I used to be Muslim young lad as in a university and you know very presentable and he says look I used to be a Muslim I no longer believed in Islam and I can't fire them evil ooh evolution like you know I study I forgot what he said he study some biomedics or something at university and he says well you know what what does Islam say about it because I can't seem to come to terms
with it as I can I first of all asked him ok if I answer your question will you become Muslim ok guys well perhaps and then he goes on to forget the question he goes on to cement that guy's cool or he's disbelief in Islam because he just makes a mockery in his response of Islam you know the theory the theory this is the cold theory of evolution and did not I'm a medical doctor you know I know these things you think well and the guy says to me abut gravity is called a theory because it got not a theory is hypothesis and and the guy says no because theory you see theory has multiple meanings
this is one of the things that people are so naive about you see there's technical terms and there's common usage of of words so people might use words in in everyday speak but then they have a technical term so theory when we use it in everyday we might say oh I've got a theory on this technically theory can refer to hypothesis or it can refer to established facts by science they've like gravity is established like why do the planets why don't they kind of spin
off why don't they do these things it's the theory of gravity it's not like he goes over we call that law of gravity right that is a theory in science but then he just went on to mock him say all so you believe we just came from monkey ha ha ha ha and then he kind of has this abrupt ending to this but I just thought I was so upset by watching that I don't know why are you doing this like I understand you don't want to answer something fine but don't do it this service to Islam don't kind of malign Islam you could say look I don't understand something so people say oh but we're going to what
does Allah say in the Quran also what's what's going on I need a solution to a fact what does Allah say little Allah mentioned this in the Quran Allah this isn't a kind of journal like that Allah sent you yes it's got certain things in there that you can take a bow from Allah says that these are ayat fibra little absurd you can take heed you can take lessons you can do this you can but Allah is not trying to say oh by the way this is an in fact here is a verse you want to know these kind of things what does Allah say in the Quran evolution is a brilliant example Allah
Paragraphs overlapping 41:47 to 45:39. Full text on the recording page.
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 2018-04-09-S08, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/uuldzklvxvo/s/8/ (accessed 1 November 2026)
- APA 7
Mufti Abu Layth. (2018, April 9). Was Zakir Naik right to dismiss evolution as 'just a theory'? [Video, segment 2018-04-09-S08, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/uuldzklvxvo/s/8/
- Chicago author-date
Mufti Abu Layth. 2018. "Was Zakir Naik right to dismiss evolution as 'just a theory'?" Video, segment 2018-04-09-S08, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded April 9, 2018. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/uuldzklvxvo/s/8/
- BibTeX
@misc{abulayth-2018-04-09-S08, author = {Mufti Abu Layth}, title = {{Was Zakir Naik right to dismiss evolution as 'just a theory'?}}, year = {2018}, month = {4}, date = {2018-04-09}, howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/uuldzklvxvo/s/8/}}, url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/uuldzklvxvo/s/8/}, organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive}, urldate = {2026-11-01}, note = {Segment 2018-04-09-S08, auto-transcribed, may contain errors} }
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