Fazlur Rahman’s writings are indispensable even to those who oppose his views. I have read a couple of his books for my MA Islamic law but haven’t come across the book these pages are from. I wish your friend had sent you the rest of the essay. In any case, the issue at hand is how one can harmonise the language of relevant Hadith on the subject and the current evolutionary biology narrative. Fazlur Rahman made no secret of his suspicion towards Hadith literature and so his account probably wouldn’t engage with them. The biological narrative will itself ‘evolve’ and the traditional (man made) Islamic narrative probably contains some gaping assumptions. I’m not sure I’m willing to commit to either.
What I do not see from Fazlur Rahman and yourself is a clear and unequivocal statement whether the (stages) of “evolution” of man was ever at a stage when they were not humans, but apes or other species before becoming “human”.
UNITY 
January 14, 2011 at 12:57 am |
Fazlur Rahman’s writings are indispensable even to those who oppose his views. I have read a couple of his books for my MA Islamic law but haven’t come across the book these pages are from. I wish your friend had sent you the rest of the essay. In any case, the issue at hand is how one can harmonise the language of relevant Hadith on the subject and the current evolutionary biology narrative. Fazlur Rahman made no secret of his suspicion towards Hadith literature and so his account probably wouldn’t engage with them. The biological narrative will itself ‘evolve’ and the traditional (man made) Islamic narrative probably contains some gaping assumptions. I’m not sure I’m willing to commit to either.
January 14, 2011 at 2:03 pm |
What I do not see from Fazlur Rahman and yourself is a clear and unequivocal statement whether the (stages) of “evolution” of man was ever at a stage when they were not humans, but apes or other species before becoming “human”.
January 22, 2011 at 4:56 pm |
Salam,
He’s an extraordinarily scholar.
however the ‘quran said it before’ and ‘our scholars figured this and were under acknowledged by their later european colleagues’ isnt enough.
lets bust out Ibn Miskaweh sometime.
tc
F