DR. ABSAR AHMED*

In this article:

• INTRODUCTION

• THE FIRST STAGE IN THE PROCESS OF DESCENT AND THE RELEVANT QUR’ANIC TERMINOLOGY

• TILE SECOND STAGE OF DESCENT - THE STAGE OF KHALQ

• THE THIRD STAGE OF DESCENT THE EVOLUTION OF BASHAR TO ADAM

INTRODUCTION

Given the specific juncture in human intellectual history at which we stand, we are in a unique position today to revisit the vexed philosophical issues of yesterday. The tremendous progress in the physical and social sciences today has put tools at our disposal that can be used to critically evaluate the hypotheses offered by the great minds of yesterday and to confirm, reject, or otherwise modify these hypotheses. At the same time, this progressive stride of human knowledge has provided fresh insights into the Revealed Word itself, just as it has been illuminated by the very same Revealed Word. The end result of this reflexive process is a more sharpened intellect and more precise analytical tools that can be brought to bear in the study of most acute and intractable issues that have dogged the human imagination since times immemorial. It is with this background in mind that we begin our exploration of the issues related to the process by which “possibility” emerged out of “Necessity” and “Contingency” emerged out of “Eternity”.

According to Islamic theistic belief, only Allah is the “Necessary Being” and the “Eternal Being”. In stark contrast, the vast expanse of space and time and the sum total of creation and existence (including human beings) are only “potentialities”, “possibilities” and “contingencies”. While there can be no dispute regarding these two beliefs the process by which “probability” emerged from “Necessity” and “contingency” from “Eternity” remains a topic of debate and contestation among the theologians. What stages did this process pass through? Is there only descent and devolution from the Necessity/Eternity to the probability/contingency? Or has there been a process of ascent and evolution involved in all this too?

Classical philosophy and Neo-Platonism offer one possible set of answers to these exceedingly difficult issues. These answers are centred around the hypothesis that “ten intellects” (culminating in the active intellect) and “nine spheres” bridge the gap between the Necessity/Eternity and probability/contingency. In the final analysis, however, any set of answers centering around this hypothesis must be discarded because this hypothesis is neither supported by any evidence from the sources of acquired knowledge (the domain of empirical science and logic) nor by any evidence from the sources of revealed knowledge (the domain of revealed scriptures). In the same vein, some of the mystic sages have hypothesized that six stages of emanation separate the primordial state of Divine Inclusive-Oneness and Exclusive-Unity from the present observable reality of the ephemeral multiplicity of existence. But as is the case with the hypothesis of the philosophers, this position of the sages is neither supported by any evidence from the sources of acquired knowledge nor by any evidence from the sources of revealed and traditional knowledge.

This particular issue of great philosophical and academic import (being among the most important of such issues) does not receive any direct or detailed treatment in the Qur’an. As with other such questions that are pressing concern to only a specific (and tiny) portion of humanity, the Qur’an relies on subtle pointers in its treatment of this particular issue. The reason for the indirect treatment of this and other such issues is the fact that the primary function and intent of the Revealed Word is the detailed discussion of practical matters related to Guidance and the Straight Path. These matters are of immediate and common concern for every single human being so that he or she may attain salvation on the Day of Judgment. Consequently, the Qur’an keeps the needs of masses in focus and takes into account their intellectual capacities; as a result, the Qur’an relies upon only general pointers to address issues related to specialized philosophical or academic interest, higher gnosis, and subtle spiritual realities. For those with sharpened intellects and heightened spiritual sensibilities these “general pointers” should be more than enough to shed light on such matters – as the saying in Persian goes “ for the intelligent, pointers suffice.”

At the present stage in the human intellectual odyssey, however, human knowledge has reached a point where it has become capable of going beyond merely investigating matters related to the organization of the created order; it has now begun to investigate issues related to the event of creation itself. That knowledge which was given to Adam at the very beginning in the form of “Knowledge of the Names” symbolized a latent potentiality in the human being. After having passed through numerous stages of manifestation and exfoliation, the “Knowledge of the Names” now stands at the threshold of gaining mastery over the very forces of nature that once threatened the existence of this fragile creature.

It is not without reason that, in the words of the poet-philosopher Allama Iqbal, “even the stars are apprehensive at the ascent of man.” Having gained mastery over the earthly forces of nature, man’s gaze has turned towards the heavens and the stars – the “final frontier” – and the explanation of the event of creation.

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THE FIRST STAGE IN THE PROCESS OF DESCENT AND THE RELEVANT QUR’ANIC TERMINOLOGY

The Qur’an identifies the verbal imperative of Allah “Be!” – the kalimah of Allah – as being the basis and catalyst through which initiated the process of Genesis or the Event of Creation. In the Words of the Qur’an:

….and when He wills a thing [amr] to be, He but says unto it,

“Be” – and it is. (Al-Baqarah, 2:117).

….when He wills a thing [amr] to be, He but says unto it,

“Be” – and it is. (Aal- Imran, 3:47).

….Glory be to Him; when He will a thing [amr] to be, He but says unto it, “Be” – and it is. (Maryum, 19:35).

….and when He wills a thing [amr] to be, He but says unto it, “Be” – and it is. (Al-Mo’min, 40:68)

These four ayaat are practically synonymous, and the conclusion to be derived from them is that, whenever Allah decides on a matter, it is sufficient for Him to utter the verbal imperative “Be” and the matter is done – the “word of Allah” is all that is needed in order to bring a thing or event into being. But there are two more ayaat that discuss this matter in somewhat greater detail:

Whenever We Will anything to be, We but [have to] say unto it Our word “Be” – and it is. (Al-Nahl, 16:40)

The [nature] of His amr is such that when He Wills a thing to be, He but says unto it, “Be” – and it is. (Yasin, 36:82)

The relationship between the “kalimah of Allah” and bringing of a thing or event into being has a direct bearing on the issue of interpreting the meaning of “kalimah”. The Qur’an repeatedly refers to the legal injunctions, organizational decrees, adjudicating decisions, and ordained laws set by Allah as the kalimaat or “words” of Allah, as all of these matters are indeed the outcome of the “word of Allah”. However, it is entirely possible that the reference to the “Words of my Lord” and the Words of Allah” as being “limitless” in the following two ayaat refers to things and matters in the created order. Just as the Knowledge and Wisdom of Allah is limitless, it is entirely possible that this “inexhaustibility” is partially reflected in the domain of created order. If this interpretation is adopted then every single created being would represent the manifestation of a Divine Imperative “Be!” The two ayaat are as follows:

Say: “If all the sea were ink for my Lord’s words, the sea would indeed be exhausted before the words of my Lord are exhausted! And [thus it would be] if we were to add to it sea upon sea.” (Al-Kahf, 17:109)

And if all the trees on earth were pens, and the sea [were] ink, with seven [more] seas yet added to it, the word of Allah would not be exhausted, for verily Allah is Mighty, Wise. (Luqman, 31:27)

Departing from the general rule outlined in the above two ayaat, out of the innumerable and limitless creations that Allah has brought into being, the Qur’an explicitly refers to only Prophet Isa – Jesus Christ – as being the “Word of Allah “. In Surah Aal-i-Imran (3:39), the Qur’an describes Prophet Yahya – John – as being one who would “… confirm the truth of a Word from Allah.” And a little later in the same Surah (3:45), the Qur’an uses the following words to describe Prophet Isa in the context of the glad tidings that the angel came to give Maryum regarding the virgin birth of a noble child: “O Maryum! Allah sends you glad tiding of a Word from Him.” And Surah Al-Nisa (4:171) offers even greater details regarding the relation of the “Word” of Allah and Prophet Isa: “..Verily, the Messiah – Isa the son of Maryum – is the messenger of Allah and His word that He bestowed upon Mary…”

The reason for this appears to be the fact that along with the “creation” and “shaping” of everything, Allah also has an established procedure regarding the “apportioning” and “guiding” of everything.

Extol the limitless glory of the Lord’s name, the glory of the All-Highest, who creates [every thing], and thereupon forms it in accordance with what it is meant to be, and who determines [and apportions] the nature [of all that exists], and thereupon guides it [towards its fulfillment].(Al-A’la, 87: 1-3)

It is this very “apportioning” and “guiding” that manifest in the realm of inanimate matter in the form of the “laws of nature” or “physical laws”. Beyond the realm of inanimate matter, in the realm of plants “biological laws” are added to the “physical laws” to “determine” and “guide” this realm of Allah’s creation. Further still, in the animal world, the element of “natural instincts” is added to the aforementioned physical and biological laws to govern the growth and development of the animal kingdom. Further yet in the human realm, the dimension of the “rules of logic” are added to the aforementioned three elements to “determine” and “guide” the human being – and beyond the rules of logic there is nothing but “Divine Revelation”. The functioning of the entirety of creation depends on these laws and the specific realm to which a specific portion of creation belongs – this normal functioning of the created order does not require any additional Divine Word “Be!” But wherever there is a need to alter the normal functioning of the created order – to alter the normal chain of “cause and effect” in order that a special Divine Decree be enacted – then there is the need for a new Divine Word “Be”. In common parlance, the breakage of the normal chain of cause and effect by a new Divine Word “Be!” is inserted, so to say, at the point where one of the links in the normal chain of causation is missing. The virgin birth of Jesus is an illustration of this very process where the Divine Word replaced a missing link in the chain of causation by virtue of which a woman would get pregnant under normal circumstances. According to the normal physical and biological laws the birth of an individual requires both the male and female contribution towards a fertilized ovum which then develops into a human child. But in case of the birth of Jesus, the contribution of the “father” is completely missing — meaning that one of the links in the normal chain of causation of human birth is not there — and it is this missing link which is replaced by the Divine Word “Be!” Consequently, it is for this very reason that Jesus is referred to as “... a Word from Allah”, “... a Word from Him”, “a Word”.

It is a matter of consensus among the noted theologians that the “speech” is an attribute of the “speaker”. It is on this basis that Allama Iqbal has referred to the Qur’an as being “like God”. And regarding the attributes of Allah it is also a matter of consensus and an accepted axiomatic truth that like Being of Allah, His attributes also possess absolute qualities. As regards the relationship between the “Being” of Allah and His “attributes”, the only acceptable solution to this seemingly intractable problem is that the attributes are “neither identical nor apart from” the Divine Being. This is the only possible resolution of the issue that must be accepted, irrespective of how contradictory it may appear.

Consequently, the Divine Word “Be!” that was uttered by Allah and that became the starting point of the process of creation, was in the beginning also necessarily “absolute” and “infinite”. By extension, this Divine Imperative was also beyond the categories of quantity and quality. This word “Be!” began to devolve through various stages, as a result of which the passage from “Necessity” to “possibility” and from “Eternity” to “contingency” began.

It logically follows that the referent of the process of devolution and descent is not the Being of Allah but the Divine Word “Be!” It is for this reason that Shaikh Ahmad Sirhindi has identified the sum total of all the realms of existence and all temporal events and creatures as being the “shadows” of the Names and Attributes of Allah.

At this stage in the discussion, reference to the opening verses of the Gospel of John is a point of significant interest. Even though it is plainly clear that these verses are more the reflection of a sharpened theological intellect than the revealed words of Divine Speech.

In the beginning was the word and the word was God…… Just as the term kalimah is a significant and fundamental term of the Qur’an, the term amr is also a comprehensive and oft-used Qur’anic locution. The term amr is sometimes used in the sense of “concern” or “affair”, sometimes in the sense of “command” or “judgement”, sometimes in the sense of “control” or “authority”, and sometimes in the sense of “matter”. In addition to this variety of meanings, the word amr carries a specific and special meaning in the Qur’an where it is used in contrariety to the word khalq, or at least in contrast to it. In Surah Al-Araf (7:54), the conjunctive “and” is placed between khalq and amr and both are collectively identified as being under the dominion and control of Allah.

The conjunctive “and” highlights and establishes the relationship of contrariety between the two terms.

……behold! The khalq and amr [ belong to Him.

Hallowed is Allah, the Lord of all the worlds. (Al-Araf, 7:54)

Two points Of great significance need to be understood regarding the term amr:

a)      Without any exception, all the Qur’anic ayaat that refer to the process initiated by the Divine Kalimah “Be!” whereby “it becomes,” use the term amr — the term khalq is not used in any of these ayaat. In other words, nowhere in the Qur’an does it say something like “... and when He wills a thing [khalq] to be, He but says unto it, ‘Be’ — and it is.” It is beyond the resplendence of the Qur’an that this exclusive use of the term amr in conjunction with the Divine Word “Be” — to the exclusion of the term khalq is a mere coincidence.

b)      Along with the Divine Word “Be!”, the term amr is intimately related to the term rooh. In the words of the Qur’an:

And they ask you about the rooh. Tell them that the rooh is from the amr of my. Lord ... (Al-Isra, 17:85)

He causes the angels to descend with the rooh that is from His amr upon whomever He wills of His servants. (Al-NahI, 16:2)

He bestows the rooh that is from His amr upon whomever

He wills of His servants ... (Al-Mo’min, 40:15)

And thus We have revealed unto you [Muhammad] a rooh that is from Our amr. (Al-Shura, 42:5 2)

Concerning the first ayah quoted above (Al-Isra, 17:85), some interpreters are of the opinion that the term rooh refers to Divine Revelation, but the majority opinion is that it refers to the human spiritual soul. In the second (Al-Nahl, 16:2) and third (Al-Mo’min, 40:15) ayaat quoted above, the term rooh definitely refers to Divine Revelation that came to the prophets. In the fourth ayah (Al-Shura, 42:5 2), the term rooh refers specifically to the Divine Revelation (the Qur’an) that was sent to Prophet Muhammad, but according to the majority opinion it refers to the human spiritual soul. Whatever the case may be regarding the specific meaning of the term rooh, the point to note is that it has an intimate and intrinsic relationship with the term amr.

When we scrutinize the other uses of the term rooh in the Qur’an, the following picture emerges:

1. At four places the phrase rooh- al-qudus (the rooh of holiness) is used: Al-Baqarah (2:87), Al-Baqarah (2:253), A1-Mai’dah (5:110) and Al-NahI (16:102). And in one place the phrase al-rooh al-amin (the trustworthy rooh) is used: AI-Shu’ara (26:193). According to the overwhelming majority of scholars, the reference is to the Archangel Gabriel in all of these places.
2. At two places the phrase “the angels and the rooh” is used: Al-Ma’arij (70:4) and A1-Qadr (97:4). In one place the phrase “the rooh and the angles” is used: Al-Naba (78:3 8). While there are various other opinions too, the majority position is that this phrase is a conjunction between the general and the specific (in the first two references) and between the specific and the general (in the last reference) where the specific (al rooh) refers to Archangel Gabriel. An oft-cited minority opinion is that the reference here is to the human souls or to that most exalted angel who is responsible for the storehouse of human souls — this “storehouse” will be• described a little later.
3. In Surah Al-Mujadilah (58:22) the phrase “... He strengthened them with a rooh from Himself” is used to describe the succor that Allah bestows upon the believers during their temporal existence. This succor refers to the support that comes to believers from the unseen (spiritual) realm of reality and in light of other references in the Qur’an (Al-Anfal, 8:112 and Aal Imran, 3:124, 125), it appears that this most likely means the succor which comes to the believers through the agency of angels.
4. The term rooh has been used six times in the Qur’an by Allah as an additional referent in relation to His Exalted Being. Three times this term is used in the context of the process of the “creation” and “shaping” of the human being. After the physical body of the human being was “created” and “shaped” out of clay, Allah blows from “.,. My rooh (or “... His rooh”). The three places in the Qur’an where the word rooh is used in relation to this process are: Al-Hijr (15:29), Al-Sajdah (32:9) and Saad (38:72). And on three occasions this term is used in relation to the conception of Prophet Jesus. Twice (Al Anbia, 22:91 and Al-Tahrim, 66:12) it is mentioned that “... We breathed of Our rooh into that . .“ which was in the womb of Maryum. And at one place (Maryum, 9:17) the term “... Our rooh” explicitly refers to the angel that was sent to Maryum to give her the glad tidings of the noble child she was to give birth to.

5.      Lastly, and in the context of the present discussion most importantly, in Surah Al-Nisa (4:171) where the term kalimah is used to refer to Prophet Jesus, the phrase “... a rooh from Him” is also used.

            In light of the evidence that has been presented above, the following point is absolutely clear and beyond doubt: there is an intimate and intrinsic relationship between the kalimah (or word) “Be!” of Allah, His amr and the term rooh. And the angels, the spiritual souls of the human beings, and Divine Revelation are realities that belong more or less to the same genus.

The intimate and intrinsic relationship among the angels, human spiritual souls, and Divine Revelation — and the close relation of all three of them to the Being of Allah — is clearly demonstrated by one other often used Qur’anic term, noor, meaning light.

1. It is quite obvious that the Qur’an designates Divine Revelation as being noor. In Surah Mai’dah (5:44, 45) the Torah and the Gospel are both referred to as being “... guidance and light”, and in Surah Al-An’am (6:91) the words “... light and guidance for humanity” are used to describe the Torah. In the same manner Allah used the term noor to refer to the Qur’an itself. In Surah A1-Mai’dah (5:15), the Qur’an is called “... a light and a clear writ.” In Surah Al-Araf(7:157), the Qur’an is called the “... light that has been sent down with him [Muhammad] ...“ In Surah Taghabun (64:8), the words “ . . the light that We have sent down ...” are used to describe the Qur’an.
2. In an authentic hadith narrated by Ummul Mo’mineen Ayesha, it is explicitly said about the angels that “Allah created them from light.” This hadith has been reported by Imam Muslim.
3. In a famous hadith, that is not reliable according to the standards set by hadith scholars but which is nonetheless oft quoted by the mystical sages and by many commentators of the Qur’an, the term noor is used to describe the spiritual soul of Prophet Muhammad. In this hadith, the Prophet says: “The first thing that Allah created was my noor.” Similarly, there is another hadith in which the Prophet gave the following reply to his companion Jabir’s query as to what was the very first that was created in all of the created order: “The noor of your Prophet, 0 Jabir, the noor of your Prophet!”
4. As far as the Being of Allah is concerned, the word noor is the best similitude that can be used, keeping in mind the finitude and limitations of the human mind. In Surah Al-Noor (24:25) the following words appear: “Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth  ...“And in an authentic hadith narrated by Ayesha it has been stated that as Allah is noor, He cannot be seen.

            In light of the evidence that has been presented above, is it too much a stretch of the imagination to conclude the following? In relation to the process of bringing into being of the entirety of creation, the initial Divine Word “Be!” took the form of an expansive, simple and indivisible light during the first stage of its devolution. By means of this light, Allah bestowed the honor of existence to the angels and the human spiritual souls, whose essence is light and each of whom possess not only an individual personality and consciousness but is also endowed with the supreme blessing of self-consciousness.

And one cannot consider it a strange happening if, out of the angels and human spiritual souls that were created from light, the one who received the distinction of being the first to be blessed with the honor of existence was the “noor” or spiritual soul of Prophet Muhammad.

Here it must be emphasized that just as the Qur’an has identified the human spiritual souls and the angels (both of whom are not only conscious but also self-conscious) as being related to the domain of amr, in the exact same manner the Qur’an has also identified the speech and communication between the human spiritual souls and the angels as belonging to the domain of amar the technical term for such communication being wahi or revelation. The speech and communication of Allah with the human spiritual souls and angels is also related to, the domain of amr and referred to as wahi. The following two ayaat of Surah Shura offer the most comprehensive and outstanding Qur’anic account of this matter — so comprehensive and outstanding regarding the subject of wahi that there is no other parallel for them anywhere else in the Qur’an.

And it is not given to any mortal that Allah should speak unto him other than through revelation (wahi), or from behind a veil, or by sending an [ angel as an] apostle to reveal, by His leave, whatever He wills [to reveal]: for, verily, He is Exalted, Wise. And thus, too, [O, Muhammad] have We revealed unto thee a rooh from Our amr. [ this revelation came to you] you did not know what revelation is, nor what faith is; but we have caused this [ to be a noor, whereby We guide whom We will of Our servants, and, verily [on the strength thereof], you too shall guide [people] onto the straight way. (Al-Shura, 42:51-2)

In these two ayaat the resplendence with which the terms rooh, amr, wahi and noor have been mutually associated with each other is not only magnificent, it is also eye-opening. In the context of the present discussion these ayaat are of great importance because the argument that has been presented above regarding the process of descent from the original state of Eternity and Necessity to the observable state of probability and contingency, has revolved around the meaning and significance of these four terms.

In summary, the first stage in the long journey from genesis and “the event of creation” to the observable “process of creation” and “shaping” was the Divine Word “Be!” taking the form of a singularly subtle and simple “light”. This “light” did not emit any heat and was also free from any commotion or movement. The oft-used and extremely important Qur’anic terms kalimah and kálimaat, rooh and wahi, amr and noor are related to this first stage in the process of devolution. And at this stage the two categories of beings created from this expansive and simple light were not only conscious and independent individuals but also self-conscious beings. One of these categories consisted of all the honorable angels whose number cannot be encompassed, including the Archangel Gabriel — the rooh of holiness/the trustworthy rooh. The following ayah refers, to the           size of the “population” of the angels: “And no one knows the battalions of your Lord except Him ...” (Al-Muddathir, 74:31) It has already been noted that there is an authentic hadith narrated by Ayesha in which it is explicitly stated that the angels were created from light. The other category of self conscious beings that was created from the primal noor consisted of the spiritual souls of all the human beings who were to ever appear on the face of the earth, including those of Prophet Adam and Prophet Muhammad. It is from a collective assembly of these human spiritual souls who were in the form of “huge multitudes” according to a hadith narrated by Abu Hurairah and reported by Imam Muslim — that Allah took the Primordial Covenant of “Am I not your Lord?” The Qur’an notes that Allah asked the collective assembly of the human souls the question: “Am I not your Lord?” and “... they said, ‘Yea! Most certainly’.” (Al-Araf, 7:172) After the taking of this Primordial Covenant the repose of the “first death” was imposed on these souls and they were carefully placed in a “storehouse of souls”. It is from this resting place that they are removed when the time comes to “blow” them into the physical body of the human being who has been gestating in the mother’s womb. As already mentioned there is an opinion among some of the scholars that the “storehouse of souls” is that great dominion al-rooh that is mentioned three times in the Qur’an along with angels with the conjunctive “and” appearing between the two.

It must be emphasized that in this “domain of light” that came into existence at the first stage of descent, the dimension of serial time did not exist. Consequently, the beings that are blessed with the “honor of existence” at this stage are unbound by the limitations of time and space. In other words, it takes the angels and the human spiritual souls no “time” to travel between the heaven and the earth, to say nothing of traveling from the east to the west.

In the above pages I have explored the ethereal, spiritual and primeval ontological plane of existence — the very first realm in the process of descent from the Creator. The created beings of this realm are prior to the creation of space and time and thus belong to the sphere of transcendent, primordial and purely spiritual realm.

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TILE SECOND STAGE OF DESCENT - THE STAGE OF KHALQ

The modern science of nature expressly limits itself to the corporeal domain alone, which it isolates from the total cosmos while considering things in their purely spatial and temporal phenomenality, as if suprasensible reality with its differing levels were nothing at all and as if that reality were not knowable by means of the intellect. The second stage of descent of the creativity of Allah is the beginning of the domain of Khalq with which modern scientific and cosmological theories are concerned. Researchers have mapped out physical reality, ranging from the micro-realm of quarks and electrons to the macro realm of planets, stars and galaxies. Physicists have shown that all matter is ruled by a few basic forces of gravity, electromagnetism, and the strong and weak nuclear forces. The universe exploded into existence 15 billion years ago. Then 4.5 billion years ago, the disintegrating fragments of an exploding star, evolved into our solar system. Modern science seems unable to synthesize and summarize its body of knowledge into a comprehensive whole, possibly because it lacks elements of the sacred and the mysterious that are as real and truly experienced within man as they are manifested within the external world of Nature. Even in the realm of khalq, there is the creation (khalq) of jinn who are non-physical and therefore invisible. I therefore do not agree with Fayd Al-Kashani when he says, in his exegesis al-safi, that in part of the Qur’anic verse  “His, Verily is all creation and commandment” (Al-Araf, 7:54), the phrase (His is the creation) means the physical world and (... and the command) implies the world of spirits, i.e. the world of non-material beings. Jinns, though incorporeal and invisible, are creatures of alam-i-khalq and the material out of which they were shaped is fire. In the Qur’anic ontosophy the stage of the creation of jinns is temporally prior to the creati.on of humans and is of utmost importance as the jinn (Azazeel by name) who refused to prostrate before Adam was called by Allah the Satan — the archenemy of Adam and his progeny till the Doomsday.

            Among a few of the astronomical beliefs that lasted for long was the belief in static universe. With discovery of the general expansion of the universe, it seemed natural that if universe is expanding, then as much as we move backward in time, the universe should be more condensed until we arrive at an infinite dense and small point from which the universe began, which is substantially the same as the concept of Big Bang Theory. Although Hubble’s discoveries supported this picture, but they were not, in their own, sufficient to convince scientists to accept the Big Bang Theory. The steady state theory, for instance, while accepting the expansion of the universe, attempted to suggest an interpretation that nevertheless avoided ‘any “beginning” or “end” of the cosmos. Hermann Boñdi (1919-), Thomas gold (1920- ) and Fred Hoyle (1915- ) were’ the originators of this theory in 1948, and for about two decades it was considered the leading competitor to the Big Bang Theory. According to the steady state theory, if the universe is expanding forever, there is no need for the initial Big Bang. To justify this picture, it was postulated that the density of matter remains constant through continuous creation of “new matter”. The universe would therefore look more or less the same at times and one could say that it is not static but is in a steady ‘state. Today, however, in view of.the available evidence in support of the Big Bang theory, especially from the COBE satellite, almost all cosmologists have no interest in the steady theory. The Big Bang Theory provides a mathematical description for the evolution of the cosmos, according to which the universe started from an infinite density and very high temperature and then expanded, thinned out, and cooled. As stated above in this stage of nar (fire) the self-conscious and freedom-enjoying beings created by Allah were jinns. As the Qur’an says:

“Whereas the jinns We had Created, (long) before that, out of the fire of scorching winds.” (Al-Hijr, 15:25)

The cosmogony of the Qur’an is a specifically creation theory. The Qur’anic account of creation is distinctive in its thoroughness (creation ex nihilo) and in its impact upon both philosophy and science. A Muslim believer sees the cosmos as a contingent, derivative world, a world with creaturely status. The Qur’an affirms that Allah created out of nothing whatever through the Divine word of “kun”. The core of this belief is indeed the world’s ontological dependence upon God. Since Allah created the world and time together, his creative and sustaining act must be said to fall outside the temporal dimension, and likewise his “purposing” and “willing”. Even the most alluring analogues to eternal existence — the “timeless moment” of aesthetico-mystical experience, or extrapolation from experiences of a “specious present’.’ — shed little or no light upon the concept of a timeless willing or purposing to create. Nor do they illuminate the conception of God as sustaining the world from moment to moment — the eternal and non-temporal supporting a world existing in time. The recession of the galaxies, the “expanding” of the universe, has seemed to some cosmologists also to imply a “beginning”, a primordial state of immense density, the centre from which expansion and dispersion subsequently took place.

            The old paradigm and its classical materialism within the fields of both physics and astronomy have become increasingly outdated. A whole range of phenomena in sub-atomic/astro physics and astronomy are being considered. Scientists are working in areas that force them to revise their observational methods, to invent new and more flexible models and to develop more subtle mathematical procedures for interpreting their experimental data. Particle physicists cannot see directly into the sub- nuclear world they wish to explore and must therefore work indirectly and inferentially. Modern cosmologists have no hope of ever seeing for themselves the creation of the universe, and infer from that they now see what must have taken place at the beginning of time. In cosmology, as in particle physics, experimental or observational evidence is being replaced with theory and speculation, which is increasingly removed from what can be measured; cosmology may come to be ruled more by aesthetic preference or prejudice than by the traditional principles of science. In fact, some scientists claim that the new physics has freed itself from the old mechanistic world-view found within Newtonian physics and moved much closer to the world-view of Eastern mysticism. The two basic theories of modern physics — quantum theory and the theory of relativity — seem to contain certain features of the Eastern world-view, in particular the incredible interconnectedness of things and the fundamental unity that underlies the entire universe from the microcosm to the macrocosm.

The above paragraphs go a long way to vindicate that in a part of the realm of light (noor) — through the Divine word of Kun — an explosion of dense matter took place which according to current cosmological theories marked the origin of the cosmos. Heat and fire are the main characteristics of this phase of creation. In the beginning a fireball of radiation at extremely high temperature and density, but occupying a tiny volume, is believed to have formed. This expanded and cooled, extremely fast at first, but more slowly as subatomic particles condensed into matter which later accumulated to form galaxies and stars. The galaxies are currently still retreating from one another. What was left of the original radiation continued to cool and has been detected as a uniform background of weak microwave radiation. The important point to note is that at this stage jinns were created by Allah. Both the Qur’an and the Hadith describe the jinn as a definite species of living and personalized, beings who enjoy a certain amount of free will and will thus be called to account. On account of the finer stuff of which they are made, i.e. fire, they can move with tremendous speed in the four corners of the cosmos and similarly, like angels, can assume various forms.

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THE THIRD STAGE OF DESCENT THE EVOLUTION OF BASHAR TO ADAM

A purely scientific and agnostic man finds himself in the uncharted territory of an exploratory and descriptive science rather than the revealed and illuminating knowledge of the traditions, a knowledge that was the embodiment of a sacred science and a repository of meaning for the enigmatic mysteries of life. There is a need for a perceptive approach to man’s origins and ends that can contextualize man’s perception of self within a framework of comprehensibility and meaning. The scientific evolutionary narrative provides modern man with a terrestrial lineage of development that commences with a single replicating cell and ends with the spectacular transition from animal primate to conscious human. As a result, Godless Darwinian evolutionary theory has completely recast the mindset and mentality of people everywhere with its hypothetical explanation of man’s origin and by implication his spiritual and ultimate destiny.

The third stage of descent in Divine creative activity manifests itself in the origin and progression of organic life on earth in all of its diversity and uniqueness through multiple, innumerable species. By any stretch of imagination and fancy it cannot be the result of blind mutations and mindless transformations. The development of such things as organs and limbs and shells and skins of animals and humans can only be the result of a fundamental intelligence being manifested at every level of existence. Indeed, what is intelligence if not the very manifestation of pattern, order, design, uniqueness, function, meaning, and fullness and fulfilment of intention. In this sense, the cells, molecules and atoms that represent our flesh make our flesh virtually intelligent in the manner in which they create and maintain a living organism. An exquisite reality of organic forms belies the blind, spontaneous and random (essentially mindless and without design) mandate at the very heart of the evolutionary theory. Darwin himself had a problem with the myriad creations that reflected, if nothing else, stunning design. He, for example, well understood the development of the eye as a serious problem for his theory. He wrote:

“To suppose that the eye with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic observation, could have been formed by natural relation, seems, I confess, absurd in the highest degree.” (quoted in Stephen Jay Gould, Ever Since Darwin, New York, 1977, p. 103).

Let us at this point look at the guidance and knowledge provided by the Holy Qur’an. Verse 30 of Surah Al-Anbiya asserts:

We made from water every living thing. Will they then not believe?

That all life began in water (as a result of chemical reaction between water and crust of the earth) is a conclusion to which our latest knowledge in biological science points. Apart from the fact that protoplasm, the original basis of living matter, is liquid or semi-liquid and in a state of constant flux and instability, there is the fact that land animals, like the higher vertebrates, including man, show in their embryological history, organs like those of fishes, indicating the watery origin of their original habitat. The constitution of protoplasm, as a matter of fact, is about 80 to 85 percent water.

Classical Darwinism assumed that all changes in living things take place gradually. “Natural selection”, Darwin wrote in the Origin of Species, “will banish the belief in the continued creation of new organic beings, or in any great and sudden modifications of their structure.” This assumption of the continuity of organic changes made it difficult to understand and explain how any single modification or group of co- adapted modifications could first arise. An improved and metaphysically loaded theory of emergent evolution put forward by C. Llyod Morgan and others maintains that such events must be discontinuous with what went before. Whatever comes to be for the first time must do so suddenly or abruptly. One function of the concept of emergence is to express this contention. In opposition to purely mechanistic or reductionist contention the concept of emergence implies that the variety, diversity and complexity are novel, irreducible and high level of features of the creative advance of nature.

            Scientists working in palaeontology and its related fields have accumulated a number of early and pre-human fragments of skulls, teeth and bones, and yet the palaentological gaps in our knowledge of human origins are indisputable, even among palaeontologists themselves, as is the interpretation of their findings. In other words, the links are still missing between the main waves of successive hominids and the appearance on earth of homo sapiens. Because the “missing link” has yet to be found — a link to be found only in the light of revealed datum of knowledge — it is not possible to definitely state that there is a common lineage between the prehistoric primate and man — the primordial Adamic man.

            The Qur’anic theistic assertion of Allah as being the Creator, the Originator and the Fashioner render all mysterious and enigmatic questions regarding the origin of this world and the appearance of man in it intelligible and satisfactorily resolved. God is not immanent in the cosmos in the Neo-platonic sense; He is a transcendent and a personal God to which man can turn directly for guidance. Although Allah is transcendent, the creation is not detached from Him, rather it is an expression, effect or concretization of the Divine performative word of kun. The myriad forms of the created universe are differentiated in time and space, and are not part of the process of emanation. The following two verses of the Holy Qur’an clearly and unambiguously state that before the appearance of Adam his prefigured primate in the form of “bashar” were created by Allah through a long evolutionary process:

        i)            Behold! thy Lord said to the angels: ‘I am about to create man (bashar) from clay’ (Sad, 38:71)

      ii)            Behold! thy Lord said to the angels: ‘I am to create man (bashar), from sounding clay, from mud moulded into shape (Al-Hijr, 15: 28)

            The word bashar used in these verses can refer to Homo, the genus of primates of which (according to evolutionary theory) modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) are the present-day representative. The genus Homo is believed to have existed for at least two million years and modern humans first appeared in the Upper Palaeolithic. In this sense bashar can denote hominid (or hominoid) — a primate of a group that includes humans (only in the sense of living physical body prior to the breathing of divine spirit into it), their fossil ancestors, and the bipeds. There is very strong insinuation in the Qur’an that Adam was one chosen bashar and he became Adam after Allah blew into him out of His spirit — a primordial truth to which atheistic evolutionists turn a blind eye. The Qur’anic verses which speak of selection of Adam from amongst a species of humans are the following:

        i)            Allah did choose Adam and Noah, the family of Abraham, and the family of Imran above all people.(Ale Imran, 3:33)

      ii)            It is We who created you (in the plural), and gave you shape; then We bade the angels ‘Bow down to Adam.’ And they bowed except Iblis; he refused to be of those who bow down. (Al-Araf, 7:11)