The Qur’an An Abiding Wonder
The Qur’an: The Book of God
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their observations of living creatures. They saw that
the various forms of life found on earth outwardly
appeared different from one another. Yet,
biologically, they bore a considerable resemblance
to each other. The structure of a horse, for instance,
when standing up on its two hind legs, was not
unlike the human frame.
From these observations they came to the
conclusion that man was not a separate species, and
that along with other animals, he had originated
from a common gene. All creatures were involved
in a great evolutionary journey through successive
stages of biological development. While reptiles,
quadrupeds and monkeys were in an early stage of
evolution, man was in an advanced stage.
For a hundred years this theory held sway over
human thought. But then further investigations
revealed that it had loopholes. It did not fully fit in
with the framework of creation. In certain
fundamental ways, it clashed with the order of the
universe as a whole. For instance, there is the
question of the age of the earth. By scientific
calculation, it has been put at around two thousand
