My question regards the creation of man. There has been a lot of physical evidence to show that there were other types of human forms before the creation of Adam (sws) & Eve? Are we then supposed to believe in the theory of evolution proposed by Darwin? How does Islam explain this physical evidence?
I think if the Qur’ānic view on creation is understood, your question will be answered. Following are the three fundamental verses which discuss this view:
The similitude of Jesus before Allah is that of Adam. He created him from clay. (3:59)
O mankind fear your Lord who created you from one person and created his mate from his kind and from these two scattered countless men and women. (4:1)
He began the creation of man with clay; then made his progeny from the essence of an ordinary fluid; then he perfected him and breathed into him something of his spirit and gave you the faculties of hearing and sight and the heart. (32:7-8)
A reflection on the first two verses reveals that Adam (sws) and Eve were directly created by the Almighty from clay. They did not descend from any other species as proposed by Darwin. The rest of mankind is the seed of Adam and Eve.
A deliberation on the third verse shows that it can imply either of the following two:
a. The three stages of creation mentioned in the verse all pertain to Adam and Eve, the progenitors of mankind. In other words, after being created from clay (the 1st phase)1, they subsequently developed the ability to reproduce at a later age (the 2nd phase)2. Finally, after some more time elapsed, they entered the third phase3 whence they were perfected both physically and spiritually and received the divine spirit from the Almighty. At this stage, they were also blessed with certain faculties which elevated them from other life forms on earth.
b. It would also not be wrong to conclude from the verse that all these three phases did not pass on the first humans created; rather each of the phases lasted for many years during which many life forms were created having the characteristic of their respective periods together with that of the previous one(s)4. In other words, this would imply that human forms were initially directly created from clay5 because they did not have the ability to reproduce. In this phase, which may have lasted for millions of years their physical form after passing through various stages culminated in the homo sapiens of today. Millions of species may have been created like this. Among them, many went extinct and the others lived to enter the second phase. In the second phase, the human forms now had the ability to reproduce6 and direct creation was no longer required. Adam and Eve were the first directly created pair from clay which had this ability to reproduce. It was this very pair which entered the third phase and was perfected physically so that it could receive the divine spirit from the Almighty and be blessed with the faculties of sense and reason as is specified by the last part of the verse7 . In the second phase, except Adam (sws) and Eve all other pairs who had the ability to reproduce pairs were not perfected and later died away.
Consequently, if this explanation of the verse is accepted, it would mean that in the first phase several human forms were directly created from clay but did not have the ability to reproduce and were not perfected to become human beings and later died. Similarly, as mentioned before, in the second phase, except Adam (sws) and Eve all other pairs who had the ability to reproduce pairs were not perfected and later died away.
The fossils we find today are those of these forms of the first and second phases.
1. ‘He began the creation of man with clay;’
2. ‘ …then made his progeny from the essence of an ordinary fluid;’
3. ‘… then he perfected it and breathed into him something of his spirit and gave you the faculties of hearing and sight and the heart.’
4. However, the second and third phase could not have occurred on separate individuals for this would entail that Adam and Eve had ancestors which is against (4:1). Consequently, the second and third phase necessarily occurred on Adam and Eve.
5. See 1
6. See 2
7. See 3