Toward an Islamicized Understanding of the Scientific Findings on Human Evolution

41:14

2 Jul 2013

Evolution

Fatimah L.C. Jackson, PhD

Fatimah Jackson in this lecture from 2013 discusses human evolution within an Islamic frame.  She separates the discussion of biological evolution from a discussion of the soul, while affirming the role of God as the Creator.

Topics addressed:  speciation, human’s place in nature, genetics and fossils, microevolution, macroevolution, epigenetics, Creationists, mitochondrial DNA, genetic Adam and genetic Hawah (Eve), human migrations from Africa, craniometrics, the Frontal Lobe.

Dr. Fatimah Jackson is a professor of biology whose distinguished career has taken her to major universities in the US and Africa.  She currently teaches courses on evolution and human diversity and is the Director of the W. Montague Cobb Research Laboratory at Howard University in Washington DC. 

This lecture was a part of the conference, “Have Muslims Misunderstood Evolution?” sponsored by the Deen Institute, London, 5 January 2013.

Evaluation:

The material on Islam is within the bounds of what Muslims have historically understood as acceptable.

The scientific discussion here is accepted by contemporary scholars.

There is insufficient historical material on which to base an evaluation.