By: Allama Mohammed Shihabuddin Nadvi

Sheikh Muhammad Abduhu’s Views
Among those who were influenced by Sir Syed’s views, Sheikh Muhammad Abduhu of Egypt (1849-1905) is yet another illustrious writer.  He was not only aware of Sir Syed’s view but even towed his line of argument.  But being a scholar of Arabic, he was thorough in his interpretation of the Qur’an.  He first attempted to categorise the verses pertaining to the creation of Prophet Adam as ambiguous and deemed the story of Adam as allegorical and made far-fetched interpretation.19

It seems the compilers of Encyclopaedia of Islam referred to the work of these two scholars while writing on “Adam”.  The entry has made wide reference to their observations.20

Interestingly even Sheikh Muhammad Abduhu had dubbed Sir Syed as “atheist” and “naturalist”.  He criticised Sir  Syed in his journal Urwatul Wusqa (which began publication from Paris in 1301 A.H.).  The criticism is contained in an article entitled “Ad Dahriyun fil Hind”.21  But he himself cannot be spared of this charge.  In fact he appears to be a bigger “naturalist” than Sir Syed as his commentary carries four pages of notes on the story of Adam wherein he dubs it to be a metaphorical narration.22   To the contrary, Sir Syed was very brief on this account.  We quote here a few passages from Urdu Daira-e-Ma’arif-e-Islamiah:

“Jannat or Heaven could be more appropriately interpreted as pleasure, ease and happiness as gardens surely are a source of happiness.  It is also correct to say that Adam denotes the whole mankind as a clan is known by the name of its father.”

“Prohibited tree means evils and intransigence …. The living in Jannat and expulsion may be divinely ordained acts which are destined to happen.  The living and expulsion  from Jannat (heaven) denotes various stages such as childhood, an age when happiness is the sole pre-occupation of man;  so the childhood represents heavenly happiness.  Thus  the child lives in an eternally genial atmosphere as if in a garden where canals flow, birds chirp, dense trees spread their shades, and remain laden with fruits.  The description of mate encompasses all human beings irrespective of being male or female …. Satanic temptations mean the evil spirit behind man.  It is to show that the man is by virtue of his sublime nature inclined towards virtues and only temptations lead him to vices.  Expulsion from Heaven means that man gets into difficulties by transgressing the laws of nature.  Repentance by Adam indicated that man, by virtue of his sublime nature alone, expects disastrous consequences from bad deeds and seeks Allah’s protection from the repercussions ….

In the final analysis, man passes through three different stages:

1. The age of bliss, the childhood.
2. The age when the man develops a sense of virtue and vice when he is susceptible to evils.
3. Age of maturity when he avoids vices anticipating their repercussions. And when he finds himself helpless, he repents and turns towards Almighty Allah. These are the stages through which one has to inevitably pass.23

Thus both are identical in their approach to the Qur’an and make far-fetched interpretations.

He termed the angels as “natural forces”.

One wonders as to what “naturalism” meant for Sheikh Abduhu?  But as he himself claimed, he wanted to produce a commentary that conformed to the tastes of his predecessors and successors and please them both.

These two commentaries however flung open the doors for everyone to make whimsical interpretations of the Qur’an.  Sheikh Muhammad Abduhu’s view greatly impressed the Egyptian scholars of Islam, particularly his stance that the apparent meaning of the Qur’anic verses pertaining to Adam’s creation will prevail on humanity only till the human knowledge reaches the perfection.

Therefore Sheikh Farid Wajdi and Sheikh Abdul Wahab Najjar have taken this stand in their books Dairatul Ma’rifil Qarnil Ishreen and Qasasul Anbia respectively.  They aver that in the event of scientific verification of evolution, it will be possible to interpret the story of Adam in accordance with it. 24 They took this stand notwithstanding their repeated assertion of faith in the principal tenets derived from the Qur’an.  This swing between faith and doubt has characterised the attitude of Ulama from Egypt.

This should sum up the riddlesome situation gripping the scholastic community within Islam.  While Sir Syed’s naturalism was resisted, opposed and countered by the Indian Ulama, Sheikh Abduhu’s view gained easy percolation or popularity, merely because Abduhu was an Arabic scholar.

Echo of such thoughts and observations still reverberates the corridors of Islamic intellectual world.  Several of Islamic scholars of the sub-continent have been influenced by these two scholars.

Iqbal and Theory of Evolution
Noted Urdu and Persian poet Dr. Iqbal too dealt with the story of Adam as if it is a metaphorical narration.  In his third lecture in Madras on Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam he followed the pattern of his two naturalist predecessors.  However he dealt the matter on philosophical plane and considered “Adam” to be symbolic of the entire mankind.25

Khalifa Abdul Hakeem, an interpreter of Dr. Iqbal’s work, writes in Fikre Iqbal:

The Adam, whose portrayal has been made in Islam, is representative of the whole mankind.  It is rather symbolic of the whole mankind. 26

However great might be Iqbal, but as far as Islamic tenets are concerned, none can be spared of criticism as Islam and Qur’an are far more dear to us than Iqbal or Abduhu.  One instance of this analogy from Iqbal’s writing is the interpretation of the following verse:

It is We who created you and gave shape, then We made the angels bow down to Adam and they bowed down:  not so Iblees, he refused to be of those who bow down.         (Qur’an, 7:11)

Referring to this verse an example, Iqbal writes:

… Although the text mentions Adam, but it does not denote one single individual.  It is in the nature of a concept.27

He has  arrived at this meaning as all pronouns in the verse are plural, thus indicating that a group of people or a species is meant.  The doubt that it denotes Adam stems from poor comprehension of the holy Qur’an.  In fact, the Qur’an strives at elevating the status of the entire mankind and sets the whole story of Adam in its backdrop.  It was not an isolated instance of Adam’s biography, but something  that happened with the humanity or was meant for the humanity.  A similar tone is discernible in verses addressed to the Children of Israel.  Even the verses 40-47 from Chapter Baqara which address the Jews of Madinah in the holy Prophet’s presence, refer to incidents of the Children of Israel’s history in style as if they were related to them.

And We gave you shade of clouds and sent down to you manna and quails.    (Qur’an, 2:57)

And remember ye said:  O Moses! We cannot endure one kind of food (always).    (Qur’an, 2:61)

And remember We took your covenant and We raised above you (the towering height) of mount Sinai.   (Qur’an, 2:63)

Henceforth your hearts hardened.  (Qur’an, 2:74)

These and many other verses of the holy Qur’an narrate the past events as if the address is to a contemporary audience.  This is Qur’an’s known style.  Imam Razi interprets it in the same style.28

Dr. Rafiuddin and Theory of Evolution

Dr. Rafiuddin, a philosopher and a follower of Dr. Iqbal expressed self-conflicting opinion about the theory of evolution.  Though Dr. Rafiuddin had a profound insight, his book Qur’an aur Ilme Jadeed is full of contradictions.  On one hand he considers the theory of evolution to be a concoction, invalid and tantamount to disbelief in God as could be seen from the following excerpts:

The logical consequences of belief in Darwin’s theory of evolution will be that it will be impossible for us to even think of this universe being created by some omnipotent God or with some purpose. 29

He writes at another place:

Darwin’s theory of evolution is more important than all other Western ideologies or philosophies … in fact all the atheistic material emanating from the West is an outcome of Darwin’s theory.  It encompasses views of Karl Marx, Mc. Dougill, Freud, Edler, Machiavelli, who were greatly influenced by his views.  The basis of their intellectual exercises is that they believed that man is a developed animal.30

But he exerts a lot in reinforcing evolution from Qur’anic verses and uses the ambiguous verses, to bring out far-reached meanings from the principle verses.  While the practice should be vice versa.  But since Dr. Rafiuddin had already prejudiced his views with evolution, he interprets it from the Qur’an. In my view it is the worst case of foisting one’s own views on the Qur’an and a gross violation of the principles of Qur’an’s comprehension.

The gist of Dr. Rafiuddin’s views about evolution is that he held it logical and considered it a conscious process in contrast to Darwin’s insistence on its being an unconscious process.  This was the only difference between him and Darwin.  However he did not Islamise Darwin’s views.  He should have first attempted an intellectual verification of the concept.  There is no point in deriving remote interpretation of the Qur’an in absence of such an exercise.  It seems even more absurd now when the biologists themselves have taken up cudgel against the Darwin’s concept. (to be cont.)

References:

19. Raza, Shaikh Rasheed, ed. Tafseerul Manar, Beirut, IInd Edition, Vol. 1, Pp. 251 & 255.
20. Urdu Daira-e-Ma’arif-e-Islamiah, Danishgahe Punjab, Lahore, 1964, Vol. 1, Pp. 24-25.
21. Urwatul Wusqa, Egypt, 1928, Pp. 471-77.
22. Tafseerul Manar, Vol. 1, Pp. 281-85.
23. Urdu Daira-e-Ma’arif-e-Islamiah, Lahore, 1964, Vol. 1, Pp. 24-25.
24. Dairatul Ma’arifil Qarnil Ishreen, Vol. 1, P. 127; Qasasul Anbia, P. 14.
25. Niazi, Syed Nazeer, Tashkeele Jadeed Ilahiyate Islamiah, Delhi, 1986, P. 126.
26. Abdul Hakeem, Dr. Khalifa, Fikre Iqbal, Aligarh, 1977, P. 495.
27. Niazi, Syed Nazeer, Tashkeel Jadeed Ilahiyate Islamiah, Delhi, 1986, P. 126.
28. Razi, Imam, Tafseer Kabeer (New Edn.), Vol. 14, Pp. 29-30.
29. Qur’an aur Ilme Jadeed, Lahore, IV Edition, 1981, P. 37.
30. Ibid., Pp. 137-38.