فصلنامه قبسات
پیاپی 59 (بهار 1390)

The brief proposal of the hypothesis of the biological evolution of the living creatures is historically seen in the writings of some of the ancient Greece philosophers; but its documented and extensive presentation and promotion, as a scientific theory, has been done by the famous English scientist, Charles Robert Darwin, about two centuries ago. This has created a great challenge between the new biology and the Christian theology. This challenge has been rapidly transferred to the Islamic theology and has entailed the scientific reaction of Islamic thinkers. Since the presentation of the theory of evolution naturally brings into mind a kind of contradiction between this theory and the creation verses of Quran, thus the Quran researchers have put a great effort in solving this superficial contradiction. I have first briefly explained the mentioned theory in this article, using an Isnadi-analytic method; then categorizing Quran’s verses about creation, I have shown the exact point of contradiction; and in the third step I have explained the ideas of Quran researchers in solving this contradiction. Among the four theories, which are the main ideas in this regard, the first three theories are systematic and are based on the bases and principles of interpretation and they have been successful in solving the contradiction; but the fourth theory has a serious problem and thus not only it is not well acclaimed rather it has arose the negative attitude of many Quran researchers as well.

I will first distinguish between the Darwinian evolution and Darwinism in this article, and will explain the main points of the Darwinian evolution; then I will investigate the natural selection and its relation with Darwin’s view. In the second part of this article, I will talk about the method of deduction of atheism and atheistic views from Darwinian evolution and Darwinism with an emphasis on Richard Dawkins’ perspectives, and will reform his main reasoning. In the final part of this article, the main problems mentioned about deducing atheism from the Darwinian evolution and Darwinism are investigated.

Our task in this essay is to explain some of the Neo-Darwinist's foundations and assumptions. Neo-Darwinists, on the one hand, never give any argument for those foundations and assumptions, and on the other hand, always attempt to put these assumptions and their inevitable consequences in their audience's minds. In this case, we speak of confusions and prejudicial conclusions that Neo-Darwinists make. Holding these assumptions and being neglected of the distinctions that are prerequisites for any scientific activity, Neo-Darwinists inevitably make fallacies and mistakes that can be clearly seen throughout their works.

Creation of human has been considered by intellectuals from the very past. As the hypothesis of Darwin about the evolution of creation was posed, the fore and against scholars talked about their views in the two recent centuries, not only in the world of Islam but also in the West. Scientism and surfeit of science had an effective role in the promotion and expansion of this theory. There are many verses in the Quran about the creation of human; and the materialists and the ones who had a surfeit of science posed some questions regarding the contradiction between religion and science using the theory of evolution. As a result Islamic interpreters and scholars were compelled to explain and interpret the verses and answer the posed questions and ambiguities; thus they investigated this subject in detail, either independently or in the midst of interpreting the related verses. Generally their views may be categorized in three positions: acceptance, rejection and giving no opinion. Approving the second view in this article, the bases of the first view in interpreting the verses are criticized. This discussion is based on the book “Creation of Human Being” by Dr. Yadollah Sahabi.

One of the most important bases of the theory of evolution is the idea of natural selection. Now the question is: are the hidden presuppositions of the idea of natural selection consistent with the religious conception of nature and our surrounding world? The author of this article will try to show, using Quran’s verses, how the theory of ‘lack of biological resources’ – which is one of basic presuppositions of the idea of natural selection - is in contradiction with Quran’s interpretation of nature; rather [according to Quran] our surrounding world not only corresponds with human’s biological needs, it also corresponds with the needs of other creatures as well. An important step in falsifying the mentioned theory is to prove the invalidity and incorrectness of the theory of ‘lack of biological resources and non-correspondence of biological resources with the need of creatures’ – which is one of the hidden presuppositions of the theory of evolution. The Noble Quran, on the one hand, warns people to have attributes such as arrogance which is the base of intensive demands and ends up with poverty and shortage, and promises the dominance of the righteous [worshipers] on the earth, and on the other hand, definitely guarantees the provision and sustenance of the creatures. This point effectively challenges the idea of natural selection.

I will try to explain and investigate the theories of Johannes Duns Scotus (1266-1308 A.D.), a Scottish classic philosopher and theologian, regarding the process of creation of the universe and human and its philosophy in this article. I will also criticize these theories emphasizing on the theories of Ibn-Sina. One of the important Divine attributes, for Scotus, is creation and being the Creator. Two other Divine attributes which are completely related with the discussion of creation, as Scotus believes, i.e. absolute power and freedom of will, are first discussed in this article, and then the creation and being the Creator of the world and human are explained according to his view. In the next section Ibn-Sina’s view in the discussion of creation is first briefly explained, and then it is investigated either Scotus and Gilson have understood Ibn-Sina’s view correctly or not. Finally the theories of Scotus and Ibn-Sina regarding the creation of the universe and human being are compared and their similarities and difference are mentioned. Scotus has studied the English translation of Ibn-Sina’s book, “Al-Shefa”, and is completely influenced by his theories in the discussions of epistemology and metaphysics. Although Scotus’ views in theological discussions and especially the discussion of the process of creation is different from Ibn-Sina’s view, but he completely follows his view in the discussion of the goal and philosophy of creation of the universe and human being.

The center of all mystical discussions is the personal unity of being; it means that the real being is exclusively the Divine essence and the visible multiplicity are the manifestations of God’s unique being. Therefore there is no incongruity between arranging the degrees of being, mentioned by the mystics, and the unity of being; rather these various degrees are different aspects of God. Among these degrees, the perfect human, who is the manifestation of the complete name of Allah and includes all the Divine realities in itself and has individual characteristics, has a special position compared with the other degrees; it has an outstanding role in the relation of all the particles of universe with God. The relation between God and the different degrees of multiplicity [i.e. creatures] is through two ways: the chain of order and a particular manner [which is not in the chain of order]. The chain of order means the intermediates of God’s blessings and the particular manner means a direct relation with God; the perfect human is related to God through both ways because on the one hand he is, in fact, the only intermediate of God’s blessings in the chain of order and the other intermediates are his aids, and on the other hand, paying attention to the particular manner, which is the relation of the reality of anything with God, clarifies the mystery of the relation of the perfect human with God. This is because the reality of the perfect human, which is comprehensive as well, is the reality of being and if we get close to it we will experience getting close to God and will understand its direct relation with any other object. The present article tries to analytically investigate the mystical position of the complete human in the relation between God and the creatures.