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This article scrutinizes the conceptualization of science advanced by the Muslim public speaker and author Hamza Andreas Tzortzis in his book The Divine Reality. The Islamic theistic outlook advanced by Tzortzis is based on extensive discussion of science, including a rebuttal of science-based atheism and the prescription for Muslims to practically accept the theory of evolution as a best-working model without in fact including it in their belief system. It is argued that Tzortzis’s discussion suffers from six major and intertwined problems related to the consistency and accuracy of the epistemological framework within which he defends (Islamic) theism.

This introduction provides an overview of the significance of the Symposium on Islam and evolution that results from a conference hosted by the Leiden University Shīʿī Studies Initiative (LUSSI) in July 2021. The objective of this conference was to stimulate further research in the area. Scientists, theologians, and philosophers participated in the conference to discuss the topic from various angles. The selected articles that were accepted for this thematic section are summarized.

While the science–religion debate on human creation has been widely explored in the Muslim world, Iranian Muslim opinions have been missed in the mainstream literature. To see whether they follow the lead of the majority of Muslim thinkers or not, here is an overview of the Qur’anic Perspective of Iranian Muslim Scholars. After reviewing the previously categorized approaches of Muslims encountering evolution mentioned in the literature, this paper will survey the Qur’anic verses related to the biological creation of man with the “scientific-lexical” method of all possible states. Afterward, the views of the most-cited Iranian scholars, such as Saḥābī, Ṭabāṭabā’ī, Muṭahharī, and Jawādī, will be located within this classification by citing reasons and textual pieces of evidence from their accounts that determine the differences provided by the majority of Muslims.

Islamic anthropology is relatively seldom treated as a particular concern even though much of the contemporary debate on the modernisation of Islam, its acceptance of human rights and democracy, makes implicit assumptions about the way Muslims conceive of the human being. This book explores how the spread of evolutionary theory has affected the beliefs of contemporary Muslims regarding human identity, capacity and destiny. In his systematic treatment of the impact of evolutionary ideas on modern Islam, Damian Howard surveys several branches of Muslim thought. Muslim responses to the crisis of the religious imagination presented by the evolutionary worldview fall into four different forms, incorporating traditional and modern notions. The book evaluates the content, influence and success of these four forms, asking how Muslims might now proceed to address the profound challenges which evolutionary theory poses to the effective reconstruction of their religious thought. Drawing fascinating parallels with developments in the world of Christian theology which will help understanding between people of the two religions, the author reflects on the question of how Muslims can come to terms with the modern world. A valuable addition to the literature on contemporary Islamic thought, this book will also interest students and scholars of religion and modernity, the history and philosophy of science, and evolutionary theory. \"Being Human in Islam is a solid and rich piece of scholarship, a critical guide that will be profitably read by specialist scholars and (perhaps with some effort) students or laypeople alike. Howard’s work not only does justice to the richness and nuances of the debate over religion and evolution per se but, more importantly, to the richness of Muslim positions in this arena. In so doing, it sets the stage for the further exploration of common ground between Christianity and Islam.\" Stefano Bigliardi, Centre for Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University, Sweden Introduction 1. Evolution, the Humanum and Islamic Thought 2. Bergson and the Muslims 3. Defying the Immanent Frame 4. Islamizing the Sciences 5. General Conclusion Damian Howard is an English Jesuit priest who lectures in theology at Heythrop College in the University of London. He combines work in pastoral and spiritual ministries with teaching and research in theology, contemporary spirituality and interreligious dialogue, especially between Christians and Muslims.

This article responds to Stefano Bigliardi’s critique of my book The Divine Reality. I address his concern regarding “scientific miracles” (al-i’jāz al-‘ilmī) and his argument that my book undermines science, clarifying the distinction between critiquing science and critiquing scientism. I elaborate on how science can support theism and counter his assessment of my epistemological position on scientific conclusions by demonstrating consistency with established academic discourse. I also address his claim that I misinterpret David Hume’s work and highlight his failure to engage with my discussion on the tension between rationality and evolutionary theory. Furthermore, I defend my view of instrumentalism in science, particularly in biology, responding to Bigliardi’s concerns about accepting scientific theories as best working models without epistemic commitment. This article concludes that, while Bigliardi’s critique is appreciated, he misrepresents The Divine Reality, misinterprets established views in the philosophy of science, displays a lack of analytical rigor, and inadvertently introduces confusion into the field of Islam and science.

Within the context of Islamic discourse about evolution, this is the first study that focuses exclusively on the views of Kamāl al‐Ḥaydarī (b. 1957), a prominent Shīʿī thinker of the contemporary period. Ḥaydarī develops his views from Muḥammad Ḥusayn al‐Ṭabāṭabāʾī (1904–1981), the author of the seminal exegesis The Balance in Interpreting the Qurʾān (Al‐Mīzān fī Tafsīr al‐Qurʾān). Ṭabāṭabāʾī is very hesitant about accepting whether the Qurʾān can be read to indicate evolution and ultimately refuses it because of a lack of scientific evidence in his eyes. However, Ḥaydarī challenges the hesitation in Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s hermeneutics while nonetheless agreeing with him on the lack of hard scientific proof for macroevolution. Instead, Ḥaydarī proposes a novel, theological reading of evolution understood in a nonscientific sense. The article examines Ḥaydarī’s views on evolution, his creationist conclusions, his suggestion of multiple “Adams” in human and Prophetic origins, and his attempt to link evolution of consciousness with the Shīʿī belief in the Parousia of the Mahdī. His unique reading of scripture marks him as being radically different to any of the currently available opinions in the discourse of Islam and evolution.

Abstract The publication of Islam's Quantum Question coincided with a burst of interest in the subject of Islam and science. This article first places the book in context (academic and cultural); in particular, an update is given on the two strong current trends of I'jaz, the “miraculous scientific content in the Qur’an” and Muslim creationism, and a note is made of the “Arab Spring” and its potential effect on science in the Arab‐Muslim world. The second part is devoted to a discussion of the views presented by the four reviewers (Brooke, Hameed, Dajani, and Bagir): my “theistic science” approach, the similarities and contrasts between Christian and Islamic approaches to the scientific exploration of the world, the importance of relating religion and science in practice, not just in theory, the need for a theology of nature versus natural theology in Islam, and so on. The article concludes with an outlook on the issues that still need to be addressed in the field of Islam and Science.

Background This study seeks to explore the intersections among religion, science and education in Muslim teachers’ science classrooms in diverse contexts. Specifically, it examines the ways in which the scientific theory of evolution is understood by Muslim high school science teachers in light of their theological beliefs about creation. Methods Data were collected from 25 high school science teachers from various schools in Canada and Pakistan. Qualitative interviews and focus group discussions were conducted to probe participants' perceptions of evolution in relation to their religious beliefs and how they address the evolution/creation controversy in teaching. Results Canadian and Pakistani Muslim science teachers mostly accepted evolution of living beings except human beings because human evolution contradicts their Islamic beliefs. Canadian and Pakistani science teachers mostly lacked a clear understanding of biological evolution and most were in favor of teaching both the religious and scientific perspectives in their science courses. Conclusion This study has implications for teacher development and science education. Better training opportunities are needed for Muslim science teachers to support them to develop sophisticated content and pedagogical knowledge about evolution.

Large-scale societies in which strangers regularly engage in mutually beneficial transactions are puzzling. The evolutionary mechanisms associated with kinship and reciprocity, which underpin much of primate sociality, do not readily extend to large unrelated groups. Theory suggests that the evolution of such societies may have required norms and institutions that sustain fairness in ephemeral exchanges. If that is true, then engagement in larger-scale institutions, such as markets and world religions, should be associated with greater fairness, and larger communities should punish unfairness more. Using three behavioral experiments administered across 15 diverse populations, we show that market integration (measured as the percentage of purchased calories) positively covaries with fairness while community size positively covaries with punishment. Participation in a world religion is associated with fairness, although not across all measures. These results suggest that modern prosociality is not solely the product of an innate psychology, but also reflects norms and institutions that have emerged over the course of human history.

Support for an extremist entity such as Islamic State (ISIS) somehow manages to survive globally online despite considerable external pressure and may ultimately inspire acts by individuals having no history of extremism, membership in a terrorist faction, or direct links to leadership. Examining longitudinal records of online activity, we uncovered an ecology evolving on a daily time scale that drives online support, and we provide a mathematical theory that describes it. The ecology features self-organized aggregates (ad hoc groups formed via linkage to a Facebook page or analog) that proliferate preceding the onset of recent real-world campaigns and adopt novel adaptive mechanisms to enhance their survival. One of the predictions is that development of large, potentially potent pro-ISIS aggregates can be thwarted by targeting smaller ones.