The Error That Creation Out Of Water Indicates Evolutionary Creation

by Harun Yahya

We created man from a mingled drop to test him, and We gave him (the gifts) of hearing and sight. (Surat al-Insan, 2)

Those who defend the evolutionary creation deceit, try to show that the statements in many verses that man was created out of water are evidence that all living things emerged from water.

When we examine another verse where the stages of human creation are discussed, the fundamental error in these comments is clearly revealed:

Mankind! If you are in any doubt about the Resurrection, know that We created you from dust, then from a drop of sperm, then from a clot of blood, then from a lump of flesh, formed yet unformed, so We may make things clear to you. We make whatever We will to stay in the womb until a specified time, and then We bring you out as children so that you can reach your full maturity. Some of you die and some of you revert to the lowest form of life so that, after having knowledge, they then know nothing at all. And you see the ground dead and barren; then when We send down water onto it it quivers and swells and sprouts with luxuriant plants of every kind. (Surat al-Hajj, 5)

In this verse, the stages of the creation of a human being are described.

Dust, i.e., substances both organic and inorganic, which are found in their elementary forms on and in the Earth, is the raw material that includes the basic minerals and elements in the human body.

The second stage is the coming together of these materials in the seminal fluid, which is described in the Qur’an as a mingled drop. This drop contains the sperm that possesses the genetic information and structure necessary to fertilize the egg inside the mother’s womb. In short, the raw material for a human being is (dust of) the Earth, the essence of which is collected in a drop of seminal fluid in a manner that will bring about a human being. Following the water stage, a human being’s developmental stages inside the mother’s womb are described in the Qur’an. The theory of evolution, on the other hand, assumes the existence of millions of hypothetical stages (the first cell, single-celled creatures, multi-celled creatures, invertebrates, vertebrates, reptiles, mammals, primates, and countless similar stages) between the so-called spontaneous origination of life in water to a human being’s formation. In the sequence presented by the verse, however, it is clear that there is no such logic or description, for a human being takes on the form of an ‘alaq after he or she is in the form of a drop of water.

For this reason, it is clear that the verse is not describing the different evolutionary stages undergone by a human being, but rather the stages of creation from before and inside the mother’s womb right up to old age.

Some Qur’anic commentators think that “the creation of living things from water” contains a meaning that parallels the theory of evolution. However, this view is seriously flawed. The verses reveal that water is the raw material for living things by saying that all living things were created from it. In fact, modern biology has revealed that water is the most fundamental component of all living bodies, for the human body is approximately 70 percent water. Water permits movement inside the cell, between cells, and between tissues. Without it, there would be no life. Other verses stating that human beings and other living things were created from water also contain no meaning that could be used to support evolution. The following verses are among those that contain such statements:

Do those who disbelieve not see that the heavens and Earth were sewn together and then We unstitched them, and that We made from water every living thing? So will they not believe? (Surat al-Anbiya’, 30)

The verses below clearly state that the “drop of water” is semen:

He created the two sexes – male and female – out of a sperm-drop when it spurted forth (min nutfatin idha tumna); that He is responsible for the second existence. (Surat an-Najm, 45-47)

Was he not a drop of ejaculated sperm? (nutfatan min maniyin yumna) (Surat al-Qiyama, 37)

Man has only to look at that from which he was created. He was created from a spurting fluid (Khuliqa min ma’in dafiqin), emerging from between the backbone and the breastbone. (Surat aTariq, 5-7)

The Error That Creation First From Dust and Then From Water Indicates Evolutionary Creation

… Do you then disbelieve in Him Who created you from dust, then from a drop of sperm, and then formed you as a man? (Surat al-Kahf, 37)

Omer Nasuhi Bilmen’s commentary on the same verse states:

Do you deny the Almighty God Who created the Prophet Adam, the origin of your race and the cause of your creation, (from dust), Who then created you and (formed you as a man after creating you) from a nutfah and a drop of sperm, Who brought you into being as a complete human being as a result of different stages of life? Because denying the afterlife means denying the Almighty God, Who gives you the news that it will happen and Who has the power to make it happen.

The expression creation from dust describes the creation of Prophet Adam, and creation from water refers to the development of a human being, starting with the sperm. It is indicated in the verse below that God created a human being directly from dried clay. This verse, which describes the Prophet Adam’s (pbuh) creation, does not speak of a stage:

When your Lord said to the angels: “I am creating a human being out of dried clay formed from fetid black mud. When I have formed him and breathed My Spirit into him, fall down in prostration in front of him!” (Surat al-Hijr, 28-29)

If the Qur’anic account of creation’s stages is read carefully, bearing in mind the consecutive processes, it will be realized immediately that such an evolutionary view is incorrect.

The Qur’an contains many verses indicating that Prophet Adam, peace be upon him, was not created through an evolutionary stage. One of them reads:

The likeness of Jesus in God’s Sight is the same as Adam. He created him from earth and then He said to him, “Be!” and he was. (Surah Al ‘Imran, 59)

The above verse states that God created the Prophet Adam (pbuh) and the Prophet Jesus (pbuh) in the same way. As we stressed earlier, the Prophet Adam (pbuh) was created with no parents, from the Earth, at God’s command “Be!” the Prophet Jesus (pbuh) also was created without father, by God’s Will expressed through the command “Be!”

In the other verses that refer to creation from water and earth, it is not man’s evolutionary stages that are being described, but the stages of human creation before the womb, during it, and after birth.

Mankind! If you are in any doubt about the Rising, know that We created you from dust, then from a drop of sperm, then from a clot of blood, then from a lump of flesh, formed yet unformed, so We may make things clear to you. We make whatever We will to stay in the womb until a specified time and then We bring you out as children so that you can reach your full maturity. Some of you die and some of you revert to the lowest form of life so that, after having knowledge, they then know nothing at all. And you see the ground dead and barren; then when We send down water onto it it quivers and swells and sprouts with luxuriant plants of every kind. (Surat al-Hajj, 5)

The Error That The Qur’an Contains Signs Of The Evolutionary Process

There surely came over man a period of time when he was a thing not worth mentioning. (Surat al-Insan, 1)

The same people also use this verse as evidence for evolution. In translations based on personal interpretation, the expression “when he was a thing not worth mentioning” is expressed as a statement of “previous states before man became man.” However, this claim is just as far the truth as the first one.

The Arabic part of the underlined section runs as follows:

lam yakun shay’an madhkuran

Trying to use this expression as evidence for evolution is really forcing the words. In fact, Qur’anic scholars do not interpret this verse as indicating an evolutionary process. For example, Hamdi Yazir of Elmali makes the following comments:

In the beginning were elements and minerals, then vegetable and animal nutrients–”a kind of clay” (Surat al-Muminun, 12) were created out of them in stages. Then, something emerged very slowly and by stages from the sperm that was filtered from them. But that was not something called a human being. Just as mankind is not eternal, nor is his substance; that emerged later. Man came into being long after the beginning of time and the creation of the universe.

Omer Nasuhi Bilmen explains the verse in this way:

These verses announce that God created man to see and hear out of a drop of water when he was not, and that He has set a test for him.… Mankind did not exist in the beginning, but was created later as a figured body out of a drop of water, soil, and clay. That person was not known at that time, his name and why he had been created were a mystery to the inhabitants of Earth and sky. He then began to be reminded that he has a soul.

As clearly stated by Islamic scholars, there is no reference in the Qur’an to “creation through evolution”. The creation that is told in the Qur’an is “creation out of nothing” by God’s command “Be!”.

The Error That The Prophet Adam (Pbuh) Was Not The First Man

Another claim put forward regarding the error of evolutionary creation is that the Prophet Adam (pbuh) may not have been the first man and may not even have been a human being. (We absolve the Prophet Adam (pbuh)). The following verse is presented as evidence for this:

When your Lord said to the angels, “I will create a vicegerent on Earth,” they said, “Why put on it one who will cause corruption on it and shed blood when we glorify You with praise and proclaim Your purity?” He said, “I know what you do not know.” (Surat al-Baqara, 30)

Those who support this claim say that the Arabic verb ja’ala in the expression “I will create a vicegerent” means “to appoint.” In other words, they wrongly suggest that the Prophet Adam (pbuh) was not the first man, but that that he was “appointed” as a vicegerent among many people. However, in the Qur’an, this verb has the following meanings:

To create, invent, translate, make, place and render

Some examples of Qur’anic verses where ja’ala is used are:

He created you from a single self, then produced (ja’ala) its mate from it, and sent down livestock to you – eight kinds in pairs… (Surat az-Zumar, 6)

Say: “He brought you into being and gave (ja’ala) you hearing, sight and hearts. What little thanks you show! (Surat al-Mulk, 23)

As can be seen from the above verses, ja’ala means “creation” in this verse. Furthermore, several verses state that the Prophet Adam (pbuh) was created from dust. These verses make it clear that the Prophet Adam (pbuh) was not just one man among many, but that he possessed a special and different creation.

The Error That The Prophet Adam (Pbuh) Was Created On Earth

In the Qur’an God reveals another important fact about the Prophet Adam (pbuh): his removal from the Garden of Eden. It says in the verses:

Children of Adam! Do not let satan tempt you into trouble, as He expelled your parents from the Garden, stripping them of their covering, and disclosing to them their private parts. He and his tribe see you from where you do not see them. We have made the demons friends of those who do not believe. (Surat al-Mursalat, 27)

We said: “Adam, live in the Garden, you and your wife, and eat freely from it wherever you will. But do not approach this tree and so become wrongdoers.” But satan made them slip up by means of it, expelling them from where they were. We said: “Go down from here as enemies to each other! You will have residence on Earth and enjoyment for a time.” (Surat al-Baqara, 35-36)

The verses’ statements are perfectly clear. God created the Prophet Adam (pbuh) from dust. The Prophet Adam (pbuh) is a special creation that emerged first from his existence in the Heaven and then from his removal from it. Yet Muslims who have been deceived by evolution ignore this evident truth and maintain that “Heaven” here refers not to the Heaven in the Hereafter but to a beautiful area on Earth, despite the fact that the Qur’an specifies many features of the Heaven in which the Prophet Adam (pbuh) was created. For example, that Heaven contains both angels and the devil, and the angels speak with God. It is a mistake to produce forced interpretations and seek evidence of evolution when the verses are so clear on this matter.

Many verses state that all people are descended from the Prophet Adam (pbuh). As it is revealed in the Qur’an:

When your Lord took out all their descendants from the loins of the children of Adam and made them testify against themselves “Am I not your Lord?” they said: “We testify that indeed You are!” Lest you say on the Day of Rising: “We knew nothing of this.” Or lest you say: “Our forefathers associated others with God before our time, and we are merely descendants coming after them. So are You going to destroy us for what those purveyors of falsehood did?” (Surat al-Mursalat, 172-173)

The writer has authored more than 300 books translated in 73 languages on politics, religion and science. He may be followed at @Harun_Yahya and www.harunyahya.com