If Muslims want to demonstrate that Islam is not antagonistic towards scientific research, a more open minded attitude towards evolution is called for.
It is true that evolution has not gained overwhelming support among the public, but you cannot test a scientific theory by conducting a poll among ordinary people, most of whom never really thought about it seriously.
Science sometimes comes up with discoveries that society find hard to adjust to.
Evolution is one of those theories which has strong scientific basis and is accepted by an overwhelming majority of biologists. Yet it has not been totally accepted by societies, not only because of its apparent contradiction with the story of Adam and Eve, but because of its implications to man's view of himself.
Will Muslims begin approaching the issue with an open mind or will they continue to stubbornly reject it without consideration, thereby looking just as closed minded as fundamentalist Christians.
There has been a great deal of flexibility in Christian circles in accommodating evolution.
The Catholic Church teaches "theistic evolution," a stand that accepts evolution as a scientific theory and sees no reason why God could not have used a natural evolutionary process in the forming of the human species.
The Vatican said last year that the theory of evolution was compatible with the Bible. Pope Pius XII described evolution as a valid scientific approach to the development of humans in 1950 and Pope John Paul reiterated that in 1996.
Why is Islam lagging behind in this regard?
Does evolutionary theory downgrade us?
One of the reasons why Darwin's theory faces fierce opposition is because humans have the need to feel special. They have to need to feel as if they are the center of the universe.
There are similarities between the resistance to human evolution and that of heliocentrism (Earth revolves around the Sun). It was comfortable for humanity to feel that everything else in the universe revolves around them. Heliocentrism was a major paradigm shift that made people feel that they were demoted.
But evolutionary theory actually portrays humans in the same way religion does. From so simple a beginning to the jewel of the universe. Evolutionary theory admits that humans are far more advanced than even their closest relatives.
On the hand, the Quran although honoring humans reminded them that "they were nothing". Man was mud, he was dust. He was just a petty sperm.
"وَقَدْ خَلَقْتُكَ مِنْ قَبْلُ وَلَمْ تَكُ شَيْئًا" (مريم: 9)
"I have indeed created you before, when you were nothing." (19:9)
"خَلَقَ الإِنْسَانَ مِنْ نُطْفَةٍ فَإِذَا هُوَ خَصِيمٌ مُبِينٌ" (النحل: 4)
"He has created man from a sperm-drop; and behold this same (man) becomes an open disputer!" (16:4)
My grandfather was a monkey?
Another factor that holds people off from accepting evolutionary theory is the fact that monkeys are considered funny animals in most cultures of the world because they resemble caricatures of humans.
It is an insult in most cultures to call someone a monkey, whereas being called a lion, eagle, or deer is actually a complement, even though these animals are evolutionarily inferior to monkeys.
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