Surah Al-A'raaf (7) — Ayah 11

(Ayah 11) ➊ The original meaning of {وَ لَقَدْ خَلَقْنٰكُمْ ثُمَّ صَوَّرْنٰكُمْ : ’’ خَلَقَ ‘‘} is to create the correct form of something that does not exist and to bring it into existence. In this sense, only Allah Almighty is the Creator. However, making a form out of something is also sometimes called {’’ خَلَقَ ‘‘}, and this can be done by the creation as well. In Surah Al-Ma'idah (110), it is mentioned about Isa (Jesus) عليه السلام: «وَ اِذْ تَخْلُقُ مِنَ الطِّيْنِ» (Raghib) {’’خلق، برأ ‘‘} and tasweer (shaping), these are three stages of creation. In Surah Al-Hashr (24), it is said: «هُوَ اللّٰهُ الْخَالِقُ الْبَارِئُ الْمُصَوِّرُ» If any of these three words comes alone, it means "to create." If they come together, there is some difference, that is, "We made your form, then We gave you shape."
➋ { ثُمَّ قُلْنَا لِلْمَلٰٓىِٕكَةِ۠ اسْجُدُوْا لِاٰدَمَ:} This prostration refers to absolute respect or actual prostration. For details, see Surah Al-Baqarah (34).

11. 1. In خَلَقْنَاکُمْ, although the pronoun is in the plural, the intended meaning is Abu’l-Bashar, Hazrat Adam (peace be upon him).

11. We created you, then shaped you [9], then We said to the angels: "Prostrate to Adam." So they all prostrated except Iblis [10]; he did not prostrate.

[9]
The Creation of Adam and the Theory of Evolution:

From this verse, it appears that the creation of human beings and their forms had already taken place before the command for the angels to prostrate to Sayyiduna Adamؑ. What is meant by this is that at that time, the souls of all the offspring to be born from the loins of Sayyiduna Adamؑ until the Day of Judgment were created, and those souls were given the same forms that their bodies would have after coming into this world. It was from these very souls that Allah Almighty took the covenant mentioned in verse ﴿اَلَسْتُ بِرَبِّكُمْ﴾ [الاعراف: 172]. The example of the soul in the body or the body containing the soul is given as follows: like olive oil in an olive tree, or fire in coal, or burning gas. Some other scholars say that, as Sayyiduna Adamؑ was the representative of all his progeny, here the pronoun "kum" is used as a plural masculine address, meaning that at that time only Sayyiduna Adamؑ was created, then he was given form, and then the angels were commanded to prostrate to him. At this point, it is necessary to clarify that there are some among Muslims who believe in Darwin's theory of evolution and consider man to be the last link in this evolutionary chain. They use this very verse as evidence for their view and try to prove that the use of the plural form in the mentioned verse is proof that mankind existed before Adam, because the mention of the angels prostrating to Adamؑ comes later. They also draw attention to the following verses of this Surah (from 11 to 25), where sometimes the dual form is used for Adamؑ and his wife, but in most places the plural form is used. One answer to this has already been given above: that before the prostration to Adamؑ, the souls were created, given forms, and from them the covenant of Alast was taken, and this is established from the Noble Quran. For these gentlemen, another answer is that if they review verses 30 to 36 of Surah Al-Baqarah along with these verses of Surah Al-A'raf, the reality of the dual form will become clear by itself. Also, at this point, in the beginning, all the people present in the time of the Prophetﷺ were addressed: "Follow the revelation sent down from your Lord." Then, as the narrative continues, the story of Adamؑ, his wife, and Iblis, etc., is mentioned. Thus, the Quran uses grammatical forms according to the context and occasion. The addressees of these verses are Adamؑ and his progeny, not the ancestors or siblings of Adamؑ and his wife. Furthermore, it is worth considering that after creating Adamؑ, Allah commanded the angels to prostrate to him, then created Hawwa (Eve) from him, then settled them in Paradise. If Adam had been created as a result of an evolutionary process, then where were his ancestors or siblings at that time? Now, since the debate about the theory of evolution has arisen, it seems appropriate to examine their other Quranic arguments as well, so that the truth may become clear.

The Second Argument and Its Answer:

Their second argument is the first verse of Surah An-Nisa, the translation of which is: "O people! Fear your Lord, who created you from a single soul, and from it created its mate, and from them both spread many men and women (across the earth)." [النساء: 1] This verse is clear in its meaning that the "single soul" refers to Adamؑ and "its mate" refers to his wife Hawwaؑ. But our friends take "single soul" to mean the first germ of life that was created from algae on the seashore. The theory about this germ of life is that it split into two pieces, then each piece grew and split into two again, and in this way, life expanded, progressing from minerals to plants, from plants to animals, and from animals to humans. This argument is incorrect in that the words of verse ﴿خَلَقَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا﴾ [النسآء: 1] are proof that the subsequent generations from this pair continued through procreation, whereas the germ of life does not function in this way. Even today, the birth and growth of germs occur in such a way that one germ splits into two parts, and so on, but there is no process of procreation among them. Therefore, two parts of one germ can be called "parts," but not "mates."

The Third Argument and Its Answer:

Their third argument is the second verse of Surah Al-‘Alaq: "Allah created man from ‘alaq (a clinging clot)." [العلق: 4] The literal meaning of ‘alaq is congealed blood or a blood clot, and also leech. Our friends take the latter meaning and do not consider it a description of the state in the mother's womb, but rather interpret it as referring to that stage in the evolutionary journey of life when leech-like creatures came into existence, and say that man is also an evolutionary form of living beings. This confusion—whether this is a story of the womb or a tale of evolutionary life—is resolved by verse 14 of Surah Al-Mu’minun, which says: "Then We made the sperm-drop into a clot (‘alaqah), then We made the clot into a lump, then We made the lump into bones, then We clothed the bones with flesh, then We produced it as another creation. So blessed is Allah, the best of creators." [المؤمنون: 14] These gradual stages of human creation clearly show that these are changes occurring in the mother's womb, because the stages of evolutionary life do not fit them. Also, the Noble Quran has taken ‘alaq to mean congealed blood, not the evolutionary leech. Now, we will present some arguments from our side for the refutation of the theory of evolution:

The First Argument: Stages of Creation

The seven stages of the creation of Adamؑ mentioned by the Quran are as follows:
(1) Turab, meaning dry soil [40: 17]
(2) Ard, meaning ordinary soil or earth [71: 17]
(3) Teen, meaning wet clay or mud [6: 2]
(4) ﴿طِيْنٍ لَّازِب﴾ [37: 11]
(5) ﴿حَمَاٍ مَّسْنُوْنٍ﴾ [الحجر: 26], meaning foul-smelling mud [15: 16]
(6) Salsal, meaning pottery, clay baked by heat [15: 16]
(7) ﴿صَلْصَالٍ كَالْفَخَّارِ﴾ [55 : 14], meaning a pot that rings when struck [55: 14]—all these seven stages are completed within the mineral kingdom alone.
There was indeed a mixture of water in the soil, but later it was completely dried. Consider: the seven stages of human creation described by Allah Almighty all pertain to a single category (minerals); is there any mention of plants or animals among them? If the creation of man had occurred through plants and animals, there should have been some mention of them. There are two special aspects in the creation of Sayyiduna Adamؑ: first, that Allah Almighty made the figure of Adamؑ with His own hand, and the words of the Quran in verse ﴿لِمَا خَلَقْتُ بِيَدَيَّ﴾ [ص: 75] are proof of this; and second, after the figure was prepared, Allah Almighty breathed into it from His own spirit, due to which man was endowed with the power of will and choice, and the power of discernment and intellect, which no other living being possesses. Our friends usually interpret "Allah's hand" as "power" or "might," but the point to ponder is that Allah Almighty created everything in the universe with His power and might, so what was the need for a special mention regarding the creation of Adamؑ that "I created him with My own hand"? Secondly, the power of will and choice in man—when and how did it arise in the process of evolution? In 9 AH, the Christians of Najran came to Madinah to debate with the Prophetﷺ. The subject was the divinity of Jesus. Their line of reasoning was that since you Muslims admit that Sayyiduna Isaؑ had no father, and also admit that he used to raise the dead, then tell us: if he was not the son of Allah, who was his father? During this, the following verse was revealed: "Indeed, the example of Isaؑ with Allah is like that of Adamؑ; He created him from dust, then said to him, 'Be,' and he was." [3: 59] That is, the Christians were told that if the absence of a father can be proof of divinity, then Adam is more deserving of divinity, because he had neither a father nor a mother, yet you do not call him Allah or the son of Allah, so how can Isaؑ be Allah or His son? This argument was given by Allah Almighty to refute the divinity of Isaؑ because both Christians and Muslims agreed on the fatherless birth of Sayyiduna Isaؑ. But today, there is a group among Muslims who deny miracles; they accept the parentless birth of Adamؑ but do not accept the fatherless birth of Isaؑ. The second group is that of Quranic thinkers who, due to their belief in the theory of evolution, do not accept even the parentless birth of Adamؑ. The above verse refutes these groups, in that Allah Almighty has likened the birth of Isaؑ to that of Adamؑ, and the possible scenarios are as follows:
1. Both were created from dust—this interpretation is incorrect because all mankind was created from dust; there is nothing special about Adamؑ and Isaؑ in this.
2. Both were born through parents—this interpretation is also incorrect because this is the general rule for human birth; there is nothing special about Adamؑ and Isaؑ that Allah would liken their births to each other. Inevitably, both were born in an unnatural way.
3. The only remaining scenario is that both were born without a father, and this is the aspect of similarity between them, which does not apply to other humans. Thus, this verse also refutes the theory of evolution. (For further details on the theory of evolution, see the commentary on verse 39 of Surah Al-Hijr, footnote 19, and also my book "Rationalism and the Denial of Miracles.")
[10] To understand the reality of Iblis, see the commentary on verse 34 of Surah Al-Baqarah, footnote 47.