Ketab-E-Qayyem

Ketab-E-Qayyem

A Comparative Study of the Interpretive Approaches of Taleghani and Mesbah Yazdi to the Evolution Theory in the Verses on Human Creation

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
mohammad hoseinkhani 1
amirreza ashrafi 2
1 PhD student, Department of Quranic Sciences and Hadith, Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute, Qom, Iran. E-mail: mhk25mhk@yahoo.com
2 Associate professor, Department of Quranic Sciences and Hadith, Imam Khomeini Educational and Research Institute, Qom, Iran. E-mail: ashrafi@iki.ac.ir
10.30512/kq.2025.21643.3883
Abstract
The theory of evolution, which has attracted considerable attention among scientists worldwide, has raised challenges among Muslim thinkers. Most Muslim scholars have regarded this theory as incompatible with the Qur’anic verses concerning the creation of man, while some have accepted the theory with an attempt to demonstrate its compatibility with the Qur’anic account of human creation. Ayatollah Muhammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi and Ayatollah Sayyid Mahmoud Taleghani are among the contemporary thinkers who respectively represent these two approaches. This article seeks to compare the approaches adopted by Mesbah-Yazdi and Taleghani to the theory of evolution in their interpretation of the Qur’anic verses concerning the creation of man. The research employed a descriptive-analytical method, and the data were collected through library research. The findings indicate that, from Mesbah-Yazdi’s perspective, the surface meanings of the Qur’an clearly indicate the independent creation of the first human being. Since the theory of evolution lacks the necessary scientific foundations and is based on induction and conjecture, it cannot lay a sufficiently strong basis for departing from the surface meanings of the Qur’anic verses. By contrast, after accepting the theory of evolution, Taleghani sought to reconcile it with religious views by reconsidering some aspects of the theory and to interpret the Qur’anic verses within a framework consistent with it. However, the formulation of the theory that he presented has not been endorsed even by the proponents of the evolution theory. Furthermore, applying this interpretation to the Qur’anic verses concerning human creation has not been accepted by the majority of Muslim scholars because of its failure to observe the precise methodological principles of Qur’anic interpretation.
Keywords
Creation of man, Mesbah Yazdi, Taleqhani, A ray of light from the Qur&rsquo
an, Theory of evolution
Subjects
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  • Receive Date 16 May 2024
  • Revise Date 14 June 2024
  • Accept Date 13 August 2024