One verse that is often wrongly interpreted during debates on evolution, and which is interpreted by some individuals as indicating that theory, is the verse regarding Allah's turning a group of Jews into monkeys:
You are well aware of those of you who broke the Sabbath. We said to them, "Be apes, despised, cast out." We made it an exemplary punishment for those there then, and those coming afterwards, and a warning to the heedful. (Surat al-Baqara, :65-66)
This cannot be construed in a manner parallel to the theory of evolution, for:
1) The punishment mentioned might be in a spiritual sense. In other words, it is possible that the Jews in question were compared to monkeys in the sense of character and not in their actual physical appearance. (Allah knows the truth.)
2) If the punishment in question did happen physically, that would be a miracle outside the laws of nature. We are talking about a sudden, supernatural miracle by the will of Allah here, a conscious creation. Evolution proposes the illogical thesis that different species turned into each other over millions of years, by chance and in stages. For this reason, this Qur'anic account has nothing to do with the scenario put forward by those who support evolution.
In fact, the following verse reads: "We made it an exemplary punishment for those who were living at that time and those who will come later, and a warning to the heedful." This verse indicates that the people in question were turned into apes as a warning to those who will come later. (Allah knows the truth.)
3) This punishment happened only once and to a limited number of people, whereas the theory of evolution puts forward the illogical and unscientific scenario that apes are related to all people.
4) The verse says that human beings were turned into apes; evolution says that it happened the other way around.
5) Surat al-Ma'ida, 60 relates that a deviant community incurred Allah's wrath and was turned into apes and pigs. It reads:
Say: "Shall I tell you of something with Allah far worse than that: that of those whom Allah has cursed and with whom He is angry – turning some of them into monkeys and into pigs – and who worshipped false deities? Such people are in a worse situation and further from the right way." (Surat al-Ma'ida, 60)
In this situation, the web of flawed logic that we have been considering throughout this book produces the unrealistic conclusion that the verse contains not only an evolutionary link between human beings and apes, but also between human beings and pigs! Not even the evolutionists claim that there is such a link between humans and pigs.
As we have seen so far, the claim that some verses point toward evolution is an error that contradicts not only the Qur'an but also the theses of the theory of evolution itself.
44. Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man, 2nd ed., New York: A.L. Burt Co., 1874, p. 178
45. Ebus Suud was an Ottoman sheikhulislam and scholar who lived between 1492 or 3-1574 or 5.
46. Imam at-Tabari, Tabari Commentary, vol. 6, p. 2631
47. Omar Nasuhi Bilmen, Turkish Edition of and Commentary on the Qur'an, vol. 8, p. 3851
48. Hamdi Yazir of Elmali, http://www.kuranikerim.com/telmalili/insandehr.htm
49. Omer Nasuhi Bilmen, Turkish Edition of and Commentary on the Qur'an, vol. 8, p. 3851
50. Imam at-Tabari, Tabari Commentary, vol. 6, p. 2684
51. Hamdi Yazir of Elmali, http://www.kuranikerim.com/telmalili/insandehr.htm
52. Imam at-Tabari, Tabari Commentary, vol. 6, p. 2684
53. Omer Nasuhi Bilmen, Turkish Edition of and Commentary on the Qur'an, vol. 8, p. 3915
54. Imam at-Tabari, Tabari Commentary, vol. 3, p. 1268
55. Omer Nasuhi Bilmen, Turkish Edition of and Commentary on the Qur'an, vol. 4, p. 1958
56. Imam at-Tabari, Tabari Commentary, vol. 4, p. 1991
57. Omer Nasuhi Bilmen, Turkish Edition of and Commentary on the Qur'an, vol. 6, p. 2763
58. Imam at-Tabari, Tabari Commentary, vol. 4, p. 1991
59. Hamdi Yazir of Elmali, http://www.kuranikerim.com/telmalili/infitar.htm
60. Hamdi Yazir of Elmali, http://www.kuranikerim.com/telmalili/infitar.htm
61. Omer Nasuhi Bilmen, Turkish Edition of and Commentary on the Qur'an, vol. 8, p. 3983
62. Imam at-Tabari, Tabari Commentary, vol. 6, p. 2748
63. Imam at-Tabari, Tabari Commentary, vol. 4, p. 1796
64. Omer Nasuhi Bilmen, Turkish Edition of and Commentary on the Qur'an, p. 2764
65. Hamdi Yazir of Elmali, http://www.kuranikerim.com/telmalili/nuh.htm
66. Omer Nasuhi Bilmen, Turkish Edition of and Commentary on the Qur'an, vol. 8, p. 3851
67. Imam at-Tabari, Tabari Commentary, vol. 6, p. 2632 68. Imam at-Tabari, Tabari Commentary, vol. 4, p. 1707
69. Omer Nasuhi Bilmen, Turkish Edition of and Commentary on the Qur'an, vol. 5, p. 2622
70. Hamdi Yazir of Elmali, http://www.kuranikerim.com/telmalili/kasas.htm
71. Imam at-Tabari, Tabari Commentary, vol. 4, p. 1877
72. Omer Nasuhi Bilmen, Turkish Edition of and Commentary on the Qur'an, vol. 6, p. 2882
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