Allah Created the Universe from Nothing

Allah creates everything, in the form and at the time that He chooses, without the use of any model and out of nothing. Since He is exalted above any defect and is rich beyond any need. He has no need of any cause, vehicle, or stages for His creation. Nobody should be deceived by the fact that everything is linked to given causes and natural laws. But Allah is beyond all these causes and laws, since He created them.

Allah, the Lord of the Earth and the heavens, can also do away with these causes if He so wills. For instance, He can create people who do not need oxygen to survive, and therefore do not need any lungs. Given this, why would He "need" to perfect the lung by making it evolve over time or through any other mechanism? It is therefore completely wrong for people to think of Allah's greatness and might as being limited to their own feelings and reason. We can have knowledge only to the extent that He permits.

Allah can use particular stages in His creation if He so wills. For example, He produces a plant from a seed or a human being from the coming together of a sperm and an egg cell. Yet these stages, as we shall see later, have nothing to do with evolution and have no room for chance or coincidence. Every stage in the emergence of a plant, or the turning of a single cell into a human being "in the best of forms," happens thanks to the perfect systems created by His infinite might.

There are signs of Allah's infinite power and intelligence at every stage of a flower's development. It is Allah, the Lord of all the worlds, Who turns a seed into a beautifully colored flower.

Allah willed and created the Earth and the heavens, all that lies between, and all living and non-living things. This is very easy for Him, as indicated in the Qur'an:

He created the heavens and Earth with truth. The day He says "Be!" it is. His speech is Truth... (Qur'an, 6:73)

Our Word to a thing when We will it is just to say to it "Be!" and it is. (Qur'an, 16: 40)

He gives life and causes to die. When He decides on something, He just says to it, "Be!" and it is. (Qur'an, 40:68)

It is Allah's infinite might and wisdom that turns a cell, invisible to the naked eye, into a thinking, speaking, and breathing human being.

Creation is very easy for Allah. As these verses reveal, all He has to do is say "Be!," thereby willing it to be so. Many verses reveal that He created the universe and living things in perfect form. It is a grave mistake for Muslims to adhere to forced explanations in the face of this evident truth and to make such specious claims that Allah employed evolution to create and used mutation, natural selection, and transitional stages between apes and humans. It is quite wrong to put forward such accounts, for which there is no evidence in either the Qur'an or science, in the hope of being accepted by evolutionists.

Allah makes all the laws in the universe and gives them the form He chooses, brings about what He wills and when He wills it, permeates everything in the Earth and the heavens, and rules everything with His power. Yet some people do not fully comprehend His might and thus judge Him based upon their own limited powers. Allah reveals their existence in the Qur'an:

They do not measure Allah with His true measure when they say: "Allah would not send down anything to a mere human being."... (Qur'an, 6:91)

They do not measure Allah with His true measure. Allah is All-Strong, Almighty. (Qur'an, 22:74)

They do not measure Allah with His true measure. The whole Earth will be a mere handful for Him on the Day of Rising the heavens folded up in His right hand. Glory be to Him! He is exalted above the partners they ascribe! (Qur'an, 39:67)

Contrary to what those who believe in evolutionary creation suggest, Allah did not first create apes and then cause them to evolve into humans through flawed transitional forms with missing organs. Rather, as the Qur'an reveals, Allah created man in the most perfect manner:

We created man in the finest mold. (Qur'an, 95:4)

He created the heavens and Earth with truth and formed you, giving you the best of forms. And He is your final destination. (Qur'an, 64:3)

Ever since the first man, all human beings have been the result of Allah's flawless creation. Throughout history, all human beings have come into being through the stages Allah commanded.

The above verses are some of the proofs that Allah created man in perfect form, in other words, the form that he has now. Of course, man also has several incapacities and weaknesses, all of which remind him of his poverty before his Lord. Deformities and disabilities are the results of a purposeful creation, for they serve as reminders for those who see them and as a test for those who carry them.

As forms and species, Allah created all living things instantaneously and perfectly, with no need for evolution at all. That evident truth is revealed in the Qur'an:

He is Allah - the Creator, the Maker, the Giver of Form. To Him belong the Most Beautiful Names. Everything in the heavens and Earth glorifies Him. He is the Almighty, the All-Wise. (Qur'an, 59:24)

The Qur'an describes how simple creation is for Allah:

Does He Who created the heavens and Earth not have the power to create the same again? Yes indeed! He is the Creator, the All-Knowing. (Qur'an, 36:81)

Your creation and rising is only like that of a single self. Allah is All-Hearing, All-Seeing. (Qur'an, 31:28)

Another important point ignored by those who believe in evolutionary creation is Allah's different forms of creation. Allah has produced living things that differ significantly from humans and animals, such as angels and the jinn. This matter will be discussed in the following pages.

Chance Conflicts with the Truth of Creation

Those who maintain that there is no contradiction between evolution and creation ignore one important point: Such people believe that Darwinism's main claim is that living species emerged by evolving from each other. However, this is not the case, for evolutionists claim that life emerged as the result of chance, by unconscious mechanisms. In other words, life on Earth came about without a Creator and by itself from inanimate substances.

Such a claim rejects the existence of a Creator right from the start, and thus cannot be accepted by any Muslim. However, some Muslims who are unaware of this truth see no harm in supporting evolution on the assumption that Allah could have used evolution to create living things.

Prof. Fred Hoyle

Yet they ignore one important danger: Although they are trying to show that evolution is parallel to religion, in reality they are supporting and actually agreeing with an idea that is quite impossible from their own point of view. Meanwhile, evolutionists turn a blind eye to this situation because it furthers their cause of having society accept their ideas.

Looking at the matter as a devout Muslim and thinking about it in the light of the Qur'an, a theory that is fundamentally based upon chance clearly cannot have anything in common with Islam. Evolution sees chance, time, and inanimate matter as divine, and ascribes the title of "creator" to these weak and unconscious concepts. No Muslim can accept such a pagan-based theory, for each Muslim knows that Allah, the sole Creator, created everything from nothing. Therefore, he uses science and reason to oppose all beliefs and ideas that conflict with that fact.

Evolution is a component of materialism and, according to materialism, the universe has no beginning or end, and thus no need for a Creator. This irreligious ideology suggests that the universe, galaxies, stars, planets, sun, and other heavenly bodies, as well as their flawless systems and perfect equilibrium, are the results of chance. In the same way, evolution claims that the first protein and the first cell (the building blocks of life) developed by themselves as the result of a string of blind coincidences. This same ideology claims that the wonders of design in all living things, whether they live on land, in the sea, or in the skies, are the product of chance. Although surrounded on all sides by evidence of creation, starting with the design in their own bodies, evolutionists insist upon ascribing all of that perfection to chance and unconscious processes. In other words, their main characteristic is to see chance as divine in order to deny Allah's existence. However, such a refusal to accept or to see Allah's evident existence and greatness changes nothing. Allah's infinite knowledge and matchless art reveal themselves in everything He creates.

As a matter of fact, recent scientific advances definitively reject the evolutionists' baseless claims that life emerged by itself and by natural processes. The superior design in life shows that a Creator Who has superior wisdom and knowledge created all living things. The fact that even the simplest organisms are irreducibly complex places all evolutionists in an impossible quandary - a fact that they themselves often admit! For example, the world-famous British mathematician and astronomer Fred Hoyle admits that life could not have come about by chance:

Once we see, however, that the probability of life originating at random is so utterly minuscule as to make it absurd... 1

Evolutionists claim that the first living cell came about in the conditions of the primitive Earth, from inanimate substances and the chance effects of natural events.

The evolutionist Pierre-Paul Grassé confesses that ascribing a creative force to chance is pure fantasy:

Yet the Darwinian theory is even more demanding: A single plant, a single animal would require thousands and thousands of lucky, appropriate events. Thus, miracles would become the rule: events with an infinitesimal probability could not fail to occur... There is no law against daydreaming, but science must not indulge in it. 2

Those words make the evolutionists' ideological dilemma perfectly clear: Even though they see that their theory is untenable and unscientific, they refuse to abandon it because of their ideological obsession. In another statement, Hoyle reveals why evolutionists believe in chance:

Indeed, such a theory (that life was assembled by an intelligence) is so obvious that one wonders why it is not widely accepted as being self-evident. The reasons are psychological rather than scientific. 3

What Hoyle describes as a "psychological" reason has conditioned evolutionists to deny creation. All of these reasons are sufficient evidence for Muslim evolutionists to consider evolution as nothing more than a theory designed to deny Allah.

Evolutionists' claim that life formed by itself by chance from inanimate substances is as irrational and illogical as claiming that America's Statue of Liberty was formed by the coincidental coming together of sand and rocks when lightning struck the sea.

Two-, Three-, and Four-Winged Angels

Angels are beings that always obey Allah's commands. The Qur'an describes their creation as follows:

Praise be to Allah, the Bringer into Being of the heavens and Earth, He Who made the angels messengers, with wings - two, three, or four. He adds to creation in any way He wills. Allah has power over all things. (Qur'an, 35:1)

As we can see from this description, the forms of angels differ considerably from those of human beings. Allah draws attention to the different forms of creation in the above verse.

Verses also show how angels are at Allah's command and obey Him:

Everything in the heavens and every creature on Earth prostrates to Allah, as do the angels. They are not puffed up with pride. They fear their Lord above them and do everything that they are ordered to do. (Qur'an, 16:49-50)

The Messiah would never disdain to be a servant of Allah, nor would the angels near to Him. If any do disdain to worship Him and grow arrogant, He will in any case gather them all to Him. (Qur'an, 4:172)

You who believe! Safeguard yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is people and stones. Harsh, terrible angels are in charge of it, who do not disobey Allah in respect of any order He gives them and carry out what they are ordered to do. (Qur'an, 66:6)

In addition, angels were created before man. In fact, Allah told the angels when He was going to create Adam, the first human being, and commanded them to prostrate before him.

At the same time, Allah gave Prophet Adam, peace be upon him, knowledge that was different from that of the angels, and taught him the names of things. Angels do not possess that knowledge. As the Qur'an states:

When your Lord said to the angels, "I am putting a vicegerent on Earth," they said, "Why put on it one who will cause corruption on it and shed blood when we glorify You with praise and proclaim Your purity?" He said, "I know what you do not know." He taught Adam the names of all things. Then He arrayed them before the angels and said, "Tell me the names of these, if you are telling the truth." They said, "Glory be to You! We have no knowledge except what You have taught us. You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise." He said, "Adam, tell them their names." When he had told them their names, He said, "Did I not tell you that I know the Unseen of the heavens and Earth, and I know what you make known and what you hide?" We said to the angels, "Prostrate to Adam!" and they prostrated, with the exception of Iblis. He refused and was arrogant and was one of the disbelievers. (Qur'an, 2:30-34)

Jinn are Created from Fire

Like angels, the jinn's appearance also differs from that of man. The verses below show that man was created from clay, while the jinn were created from fire:

We created mankind out of dried clay formed from fetid black mud. We created the jinn before, out of the fire of a searing wind. (Qur'an, 15:26-27)

He created man from dry earth like baked clay, and He created the jinn from a fusion of fire. (Qur'an, 55:14-15)

In the Qur'an, Allah also reveals His purpose in creating man and the jinn:

I only created jinn and man to worship Me. (Qur'an, 51:56)

It is clear from this that although man and the jinn are very different beings, they both were created to worship only Allah by living by the values He prescribed. He has revealed in many verses that both angels and the jinn have some characteristics that differ from human characteristics. For instance, both can transport matter:

He (Sulayman) said, "Council! Who among you will bring me her (the Queen of Saba's) throne before they come to me in submission?" An audacious one among the jinn said, "I will bring it to you before you get up from your seat. I am strong and trustworthy enough to do it." (Qur'an, 27:38-39)

The Qur'an also says that the jinn, just like the angels, were created before man. When He created Prophet Adam, peace be upon him, Allah commanded the angels and the jinn to prostrate before him. After that, He reveals that Satan is one of the jinn:

When We said to the angels, "Prostrate yourselves to Adam," they prostrated, with the exception of Iblis. He was one of the jinn and wantonly deviated from his Lord's command. Do you take him and his offspring as protectors apart from Me when they are your enemy? How evil is the exchange the wrongdoers make! (Qur'an, 18:50)

Creation is a simple matter for Allah, Who can create from nothing and with no previous cause. Just as He created the angels and the jinn in different forms from nothing, He also created man as a separate being from nothing and with no need for evolution. The same applies to other living things, such as animals and plants. Allah created all of these spontaneously out of nothing and without having them evolve - in other words, without turning one species into another. As we saw earlier, the stages Allah uses in this creation which we mentioned before have nothing to do with evolutionist coincidence or random events, for each is the product of the flawless systems Allah's might and sovereignty brought about.

How the Bird Created from Clay by the Prophet 'Isa Came to Life

Allah endowed Prophet 'Isa, peace be upon him, with metaphysical properties in the life of this world, as seen in: "... 'Isa, son of Maryam, of high esteem in this world and the hereafter, and one of those brought near." (Qur'an, 3:45) He came into the world with no father, spoke while still in the cradle, and cured the sick in a miraculous way.

Moreover, when Prophet 'Isa, peace be upon him, made a clay object in the shape of a bird and breathed into it, the bird came to life by Allah's will. This fact is related in the Qur'an:

As a Messenger to the tribe of Israel, saying: "I have brought you a sign from your Lord. I will create the shape of a bird out of clay for you and then breathe into it and it will be a bird by Allah's permission..." (Qur'an, 3:49)

Remember when Allah said, "'Isa, son of Maryam, remember My blessing to you and to your mother when I reinforced you with the Purest Spirit so that you could speak to people in the cradle and when you were fully grown; and when I taught you the Book and Wisdom, and the Torah and the Gospels; and when you created a bird-shape out of clay by My permission, and then breathed into it and it became a bird by My permission..." (Qur'an, 5:110)

Allah can spontaneously create a living thing in that way. This is one of His miracles, and an important truth that evolutionist Muslims should not ignore.

A similar example mentions Prophet Ibrahim, peace be upon him, and reveals how Allah endows inanimate things with life:

When Ibrahim said, "My Lord, show me how You bring the dead to life." He asked, "Do you not then believe?" He replied, "Indeed I do! But so that my heart may be at peace." He said, "Take four birds and train them to yourself. Then put a part of them on each mountain and call to them; they will come rushing to you. Know that Allah is Almighty, All-Wise." (Qur'an, 2:260)

Creation Is a Miracle

Ignoring the fact that Allah has the power to create and destroy plays an important role in causing some Muslims to believe in evolution. Such evolutionist Muslims are under the influence of naturalism, which asserts that the laws of nature are fixed and unchanging, and that nothing can take place outside of them. Yet this is a great error. What we mean by "the laws of nature" stem from Allah's creating and maintaining matter in a particular form. In no way can they be considered features that stem from within matter itself. As Allah has made clear, He can alter these laws at any time and act outside of their scope.

We call such actions miracles. That the above-mentioned group of the cave remained alive for more than 300 years is a miracle beyond the laws of nature. Those whom Allah killed and then brought back to life are also miracles. Every event occurs because Allah wills it to occur. Those that occur within the bounds of certain laws are "normal," while the others are miracles.

The point that needs to be understood here is that Allah is not constrained by the laws He created. If He so wills, He can totally reverse all the laws of nature. That is easy for Allah to do.

Since Muslim evolutionists have fallen under the influence of naturalism, which forms the foundation of Darwinism, they try to account for the origin of human and other life in terms of natural laws. They believe that Allah brought living things into existence by means of a creation that is limited by natural laws, and thus imagine that creation was brought about by mutation, natural selection, variation, and one species turning into another. It is a grave error, however, for Muslims to accept such "naturalist" logic, for the miracles described in the Qur'an clearly reveal that such logic is ill-founded.

When we look at those verses that discuss the creation of living things and man, we see that this creation took place in a miraculous way and outside the laws of nature. This is how Allah reveals the creation of living things:

Allah created every animal from water. Some of them go on their bellies, some of them on two legs, and some on four. Allah creates whatever He wills. Allah has power over all things. (Qur'an, 24:45)

This verse points to the main living groups on Earth (reptiles, birds, and mammals) and says that Allah created all of them from water. On closer inspection, these groups were not created "out of each other," as "foreseen" by evolution, but "from water." In other words, they were formed separately from a common material Allah shaped.

Modern science also has made it clear that this common material was water, the basic component of every living body. Mammals' bodies are about 70 percent water. Each living thing's bodily water enables contact between cells, as well as inter-cell and inter-tissue contact. It is an accepted fact that nothing can live without water.

And yet some Muslims misinterpret the above verse and try to give it a meaning more in line with evolution. However, it is obvious that the fact of creation from water has nothing to do with evolution, for that theory does not claim that every living thing emerged from water and evolved. On the contrary, it maintains that living species evolved from one another, an evident contradiction of the fact that all living groups were created from water (in other words, that they were created independently).

The Error That The Qur'an Points to Natural Selection

One of evolution's most fundamental claims is that natural selection is an evolutionary force. As we saw in earlier chapters, natural selection is an evolutionist deception that maintains that the strong survive while the weak are eliminated over time.

However, modern science shows that natural selection has no evolutionary force and cannot cause species to develop or new ones to appear. However, these scientific facts, which Darwinists choose to ignore because of their materialist concerns, also are ignored by Muslim evolutionists. Some Muslim circles support this dogmatic Darwinist view and even try to provide extremely forced Qur'anic evidence for it. For example:

Your Lord creates and chooses whatever He wills. The choice is not theirs. Glory be to Allah! He is exalted above anything they associate with Him! (Qur'an, 28:68)

This verse reveals those to whom Allah will show the true path and those prophets He will announce as messengers. It is a great mistake to say that the verse points toward evolutionary natural selection.

Qur'anic scholars unanimously agree on this interpretation. For instance, Imam al-Tabari offers the following commentary:

Your Lord creates what He wills out of His servants, and selects those He chooses to follow the true path. They have no right of choice in the matter. They have no right to choose to do as they wish... 4

The great scholar Omer Nasuhi Bilmen offers this interpretation:

In those holy verses, Allah declares His creative Power, that He favors and chooses whom He wishes, His Wisdom and Might, His Unity, His meriting praise and splendor, His Divine Command, and that all His servants will be summoned to His spiritual Presence. In other words, no one can prevent the Almighty's favoring and choosing in any way. Whatever His servants choose is not effective on their own. With all due respect, Allah is not obliged to create what they favor and prefer. Allah does not send His prophets upon the preference and opinion of the people to whom He has sent His prophets, but only upon His divine Preference. Only He knows how and by which means goodness and prosperity will manifest. He has no partners, nothing may exist against His eternal Will, and no one's will may be against His exalted Determining and Selecting. 5

Hamdi Yazir of Elmali interprets the verse as follows:

Your Lord creates and selects what He chooses. In other words, He creates what He wills and chooses those He wills from whom He has created. He imposes upon them such duties as prophethood and intercession. They have no choice in the matter. Apart from those Allah chooses, they have no right to select other partners or intercessors. 6

A second verse that evolutionist Muslims offer is:

Praise be to Allah, the Bringer into Being of the heavens and Earth, He who made the angels messengers, with wings - two, three, or four. He adds to creation in any way He wills. Allah has power over all things. (Qur'an, 35:1)

Such Muslims suggest the verse is evidence for evolutionary development. However, they have to twist the verse's true meaning in order to derive such a meaning. It also conflicts with reason and logic, for the verse talks about the creation of the angels. Imam al-Tabari interprets the verse as follows: "He can increase the number of an angel's wings to the extent that He wills. He can carry out the same process in all living things. Creation and command are in His hands." 7 Omer Nasuhi Bilmen agrees, "He is so powerful that He decides on angels' wings and powers." 8

1- Sir Fred Hoyle & Chandra Wickramasinghe Prof of Astronomy, Cambridge University Prof of Astronomy and Applied Mathematics University College, Cardiff Evolution from Space, J. M. Dent, 1981, pp.141, 144

2- Pierre-Paul Grasse, Evolution of Living Organisms, Academic Press, New York, 1977, p.103

3- Fred Hoyle, Chandra Wickramasinghe, Evolution from Space, Dent, London, 1981, p.130

4- Imam at-Tabari, Tabari Commentary, vol. 4, p. 1707

5- Omer Nasuhi Bilmen, Turkish Edition of and Commentary on the Qur'an, vol. 5, p. 2622

6- Hamdi Yazir of Elmali, http://www.kuranikerim.com/telmalili/kasas.htm

7- Imam at-Tabari, Tabari Commentary, vol. 4, p. 1877

8- Omer Nasuhi Bilmen, Turkish Edition of and Commentary on the Qur'an, vol. 6, p. 2882