Evolution in Islam
11:54
11 Sep 2013
Evolution, Physics
Hassanain Rajabali
This video clip shows a segment from the question and answer session of an undated lecture in an the Saba Islamic Center (San Jose, CA, a Shīʿa mosque) with Hassanain Rajabali. The question is about evolution in Islam. Rajabali says that “Islam does not reject evolution”, (0:40), but that it’s a created system. He then discusses hydrogen atoms and the potential power they contain, and says that quantum mechanics (which has nothing to do with evolution) shows links between widely separated objects, which points to the existence of a creator.
Generally he suggests seeing the beauty and diversity of the world as acts of God in the world.
Evaluation:
Islam: The material on Islam is within the bounds of what Muslims have historically understood as acceptable.
Science: The presentation of the ideas of evolution do not represent the ideas of evolution known to scientists today. The repeated suggestion that things happen by coincidence has nothing to do with the processes of natural selection as evolutionary biologists define them.
History: There is insufficient historical material on which to base an evaluation.
About Hassanain Rajabali
Hassanain Rajabali emmigrated to the United States in 1975 from Tanzania and is now a popular Muslim lecturer. He holds an undergraduate degree in molecular biology and psychology from the University of Colorado and is President of the Tawheed Institute (New York). While in New York, Rajabali also ran Netsite Corporation, a successful Internet business that specializes in online business and commerce, though it is unclear whether he still runs the corporation as of 2015. In addition to being President of the Tawheed Institute, and he is also director of Camp Taha, a children’s camp that claims to be the first Muslim owned camp in America.
There are Facebook and Tumblr accounts for Rajabali that have been updated as of 2015; however, he runs neither of them personally. Instead, both are run by fans. In addition, a crowd-sourced selection of his work may be found on ShiaSource, a website devoted to collecting work of Shīʿa theologians and lecturers.
Selected Bibliography:
“Biography.” Hajj Hassanain Rajabali:. Tumblr, n.d. Accessed 26 May 2015.
“Br. Hassanain Rajabali.” Shia Source. Shia Source, n.d. Accessed 26 May 2015.
“Hajj Hassanain Rajabali.” Facebook. Facebook, n.d. Accessed 26 May 2015.
Tawheed Institute. Tawheed Institute, n.d. Accessed 26 May 2015.