A Response to Sheikh Salih al-Sadlan and the So-Called “Save Masjid Tawhid” Petition

Bismillah.  I hope I do not have to waste too much with this, but here is an initial response.  There will be more later, God-willing.

1. Sh. Salih al-Sadlan of Riyadh gave a fatwa on not praying behind anyone who accepts Darwinism.  This fatwa was given at the Green Lane Mosque in Birmingham, HQ of Markazi Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith, during their annual conference 24-28 Dec 2010.  Sh. Sadlan is a respected Professor of Law, especially Hanbali Law, and I read and benefited from some of his books when I was much younger.  The last time I saw him was c. 1998 at the opening of the new Edinburgh Mosque followed by a conference on the issues facing Muslims in the West, discussed mostly by Saudis plus a few Azharis, all of whom were, not surprisingly, pretty clueless about the reality of trying to live as Muslims here.  I still remember the gravity with which Sh. Sadlan said the word haymanah when talking about a Muslim man’s duty towards his children, especially if he was contemplating marrying a Jewish or Christian woman! 🙂

2. I rang Sh. Sadlan on Tuesday 29 Dec 2010 and spoke to him for about 20 min whilst he was in a car on the way to the airport.  There is at least one witness (the car driver) to some of that conversation. Apart from mentioning “hasty young men” who had briefed him against me, he said that Darwinism was a denial of the Qur’an.  I asked him whether to believe that the earth is round is also a rejection of the Qur’an, for some commentators such as the authors of Tafsir al-Jalalayn said that the earth is flat, based on Surah al-Ghashiyah 88:20.

I further told him that for at least a thousand years, Muslim philosophers and scientists developed evolutionary ideas, e.g. Ibn Miskawayh, al-Jahiz in his Kitab al-Hayawan (“Book of Animals”), Ibn Tufayl in his evolutionary novel Hayy b. Yaqzan (“The Living, Son of the Awake”) and Ibn Khaldun.  I summarised Ibn Khaldun’s words on the subject (given in full below), and told him that there is some evidence that Darwin was aware of, and influenced by these evolutionary ideas developed by Muslims.  He seemed entirely unaware of any of this, and responded to Ibn Khaldun by saying that “there is no development or evolution in nature” (a statement which is patently false, but unfortunately many of our traditional scholars know nothing about modern science that has progressed exponentially in the centuries since the decline of Muslim science).  He further said the most I could do was to quote Ibn Khaldun but clarify that he was wrong and absolve myself absolutely of his statement.

(As a scientist with ijazahs from some of the world’s leading universities, by the Grace of Allah, and as a seeker of knowledge, I clearly cannot accept this based on blind following of “authority,” especially when there is no authority here, for the Muslim world has not really discussed Darwin properly.  I repeat my reply on BBC Radio 4’s Beyond Belief when asked about why the Muslim world has not come to terms with Darwin: forget Darwin, it has not come to terms with Newton yet, given the popularity of the Ash’ari theology and its absolute rejection of causality and extreme affirmation of atomism.)

I also said that I believe that it is possible to reconcile the Book of Allah with established scientific theories such as those of Darwin.  I think I also mentioned that many ayat of the Qur’an could be understood to support evolutionary theory, such as “Allah made you grow like plants out of the ground.” (Nuh 71:17) He said I mustn’t do that, and absolve myself of Darwin.  Of course, I didn’t want to argue too much with a sheikh almost twice my age, and so wished him salams and a safe return to Saudi.  He gave me salams at the beginning and end of the conversation, alhamdulillah.

3. Around 1st January, my father faxed Sh. Sadlan a five-page letter informing him about some of the work I’ve done in the past and continue to do, and requested him to reconsider his fatwa.  I am humbled and upset that my father went to such great lengths on my behalf.  Although my father is not persuaded yet about my view on Darwin ;-), he described it briefly to Sh. Sadlan in the letter and defended my right to arrive at independent conclusions.  All three of us agreed during these conclusions that these discussions must be handled carefully, especially where the public are concerned.  It may be that I publish my father’s letter on this blog later.

I plan to write a detailed paper later insha’Allah on how I believe Darwinism is compatible with the Qur’an.  I would be happy to send that to Muslim scholars around the world for their opinions.  But in the meantime, here are some quotes from scholars of the past, below.  My main ideas have already been summarised and available in this section of my blog including a slide presentation that many people have benefited from, but the others appear not to have bothered to make an effort to even try to listen, learn, understand or discuss.  People are free to disagree and make up their own minds, and I am open to discuss the matter with anyone.  Several honest souls have come to me over the last few years to ask and learn rather than backbite, gossip and slander, which is unfortunately what some others do.

Let those who wish to harmonise, discuss and learn sincerely and worship, do so.  Those who wish to gossip, slander, backbite and spread rumours, only damage themselves.

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QUOTES FROM MUSLIM SCHOLARS OF THE PAST

1. Ibn Miskawayh (932-1030 or 4th century AH)

The following entry used to be at Wikipedia for several years, but has now been removed.  I found it here.

Ibn Miskawayh was one of the first to clearly describe the idea of evolution. Muhammad Hamidullah describes the evolutionary ideas found in Ibn Miskawayh’s al-Fawz al-Asghar as follows:

“[These books] state that God first created matter and invested it with energy for development. Matter, therefore, adopted the form of vapour which assumed the shape of water in due time. The next stage of development was mineral life. Different kinds of stones developed in course of time. Their highest form being mirjan (coral). It is a stone which has in it branches like those of a tree. After mineral life evolves vegetation. The evolution of vegetation culminates with a tree which bears the qualities of an animal. This is the date-palm. It has male and female genders. It does not wither if all its branches are chopped but it dies when the head is cut off. The date-palm is therefore considered the highest among the trees and resembles the lowest among animals. Then is born the lowest of animals. It evolves into an ape. This is not the statement of Darwin. This is what Ibn Maskawayh states and this is precisely what is written in the Epistles of Ikhwan al-Safa. The Muslim thinkers state that ape then evolved into a lower kind of a barbarian man. He then became a superior human being. Man becomes a saint, a prophet. He evolves into a higher stage and becomes an angel. The one higher to angels is indeed none but God. Everything begins from Him and everything returns to Him.”^[1]

Arabic manuscripts of the al-Fawz al-Asghar were available in European universities by the 19th century. This work is believed to have been studied by Charles Darwin, who was a student of Arabic, and it is thought to have had an influence on his inception of Darwinism.^[1]

1. ^ ^{a b} Muhammad Hamidullah and Afzal Iqbal (1993), The Emergence of Islam: Lectures on the Development of Islamic World-view, Intellectual Tradition and Polity, p. 143-144. Islamic Research Institute, Islamabad.

2. IBN KHALDUN (d. 1408 or 8th century AH)

The 14^th-century philosopher Ibn Khaldun (http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ik/klf.htm) wrote in his famous Muqaddimah,

“One should then look at the world of creation.  It started out from the minerals and progressed, in an ingenious, gradual manner, to plants and animals.  The last stage of minerals is connected with the first stage of plants, such as herbs and seedless plants.  The last stage of plants, such as palms and vines, is connected with the first stage of animals, such as snails and shellfish which have only the power of touch.  The word ‘connection’ with regard to these created things means that the last stage of each group is fully prepared to become the first stage of the next group.”

Ibn Khaldun continues, “The animal world then widens, its species become numerous, and, in a gradual process of creation, it finally leads to man, who is able to think and to reflect.  The higher stage of man is reached from the world of the monkeys, in which both sagacity and perception are found, but which has not reached the stage of actual reflection and thinking.  At this point we come to the first stage of man.  This is as far as our (physical) observation extends.” (This is found in NJ Dawood’s abridgment of Rosenthal’s translation, p. 75)

3. RUMI

Low in the earth

I lived in realms of ore and stone;

And then I smiled in many-tinted flowers;

Then roving with the wild and wandering hours,

O’er earth and air and ocean’s zone,

In a new birth,

I dived and flew,

And crept and ran,

And all the secret of my essence drew

Within a form that brought them all to view –

And lo, a Man!

And then my goal,

Beyond the clouds, beyond the sky,

In realms where none may change or die –

In angel form; and then away

Beyond the bounds of night and day,

And Life and Death, unseen or seen,

Where all that is hath ever been,

As One and Whole.

4. Allama Muhammad Iqbal, the great 20th-century philosopher-poet-thinker and intellectual founder of Pakistan, had no problems with Darwinism, as is clear for example in his Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, where he quotes the above lines by Rumi.

5. Prof. Nidhal Guessoum, a practising Muslim and leading astronomer, has published a book recently, reconciling Islam & Evolution.  It is called Islam’s Quantum Question.  I have not seen it yet.

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About the so-called “Save Masjid Tawhid” petition

1. The petitioners call themselves, “the Community of Masjid Tawhid” although they appear to be hiding behind internet anonymity so that we don’t know the real names and addresses of the petition-signers.  This is a lie because alhamdulillah, my father and I and our supporters are regulars at MT and do not support this despicable petition.

2. They say, “Now Usama Hasan calls on Muslims to believe that Prophet Adam (alayhi as-salam) evolved from apes, rather than being the Creation of Allah with His Own Two Hands, as the Qur’an informs us.”  This is a lie and a slander.  I have repeatedly said that both creation and evolution are true, since evolution is clearly involved in creation.  What do they say about Allah creating cattle with His Own Hands (Ya Sin 36:71) or building the heavens with Hands, meaning power and skill (Dhariyat 51:47) ?  Will they reject all of science due to their ignorance and misunderstanding of both the Qur’an and science?  Yet they will happily use the fruits of science, i.e. technology such as the internet and mobile phones, to continue their ridiculous campaign!

3. They refer at least twice to “our own Sheikh Suhaib Hasan.”  How is he their Sheikh, and not mine? My father is my main teacher and I do not know anyone who has studied with him more than me.  If there is such a person, I would like to meet him.  I’m fed up of people trying to drive a wedge between father and son, a heinous moral crime.  Have they not realised that my father has endorsed my imamate at the mosque throughout these years and regularly prays behind me at the mosque and at our homes?  Have they not witnessed this hundreds of times during Ramadans and Fridays?  (By the grace of Allah, I led most of the nightly Tarawih prayers at MT over a period of about 20 years.)

3. According to the petition website, it is created by Abu Abdullah (savemasjidtawhid@gmail.com).  He might as well call himself Joe Bloggs (Abu Abdullah means “Father of a Servant of God”).  Why does he not reveal his full name?

4. The petition signatures are private, not public. Enough said.

I advise the petition authors to remove the petition and engage in a civilised discussion.  But regrettably, we’ve seen this situation many times before, e.g. the fitnah-mongers who obtained fatwas against my father in the past from Ali al-Halabi, Salim al-Hilali and Muqbil bin Hadi.  All their efforts came to no avail.  Goats butting mountains.

All Praise be to Allah, in every eventuality.