What is the story of creation? Many theories exist about the beginning of creation. I appreciate that the advancement of science has contributed to a better understanding of creation and that there are various religious positions on creationism. You may be inclined to have a more zealous view concerning the legitimacy of one theory over the other, and it is not my intention to promote a particular scientific theory or religious belief over another.
Can science and religion co-exist? What messages are conveyed when religion and science dwell in the theories of creation? Now that science knows so much about our celestial origins, is there a place for religious beliefs? Can science and religion agree on creation within the modern global civilization that we live in?
At this point, I am biased towards the Islamic interpretations of creation. Yet, I still question traditional interpretations, which is why I decided to write this blog. It is worth noting that the religious perspectives on creationism have not been proven, or, disproven by science. Every religion has a creation story that tells us about who we are and where we come from, the challenge is, how will those stories enable us to construct the truth of our creation?
Jews, Christians, and Muslims share the belief that we descend from Adam and Eve, the first humans to be created by God. Adam and Eve first lived in a place called the Garden of Eden. Where is the Garden of Eden? Depending on your faith, you may place the Garden of Eden either in the heavens, on this earth near the Euphrates River in Iraq, or in Jerusalem, one of the oldest and holiest cities. It is one thing to believe. It is quite another to have evidence for that belief.
As of now, I hold to the Islamic narrative that concludes that the Garden of Eden is in heaven, a place that my mind is unable to comprehend. As a Muslim, I am aware that this may appear heretical to those who adhere to different faiths.
Do I want to know where the Garden of Eden is? Will I view the window of life from a different perspective if I know the answer? Do Adam and Eve, along with the Garden of Eden represent the beginning of our creation? Was there creation before or was Adam the first human to be created? Did Pre-Adamites exist? Is Adam a real person? Or is he a representation of what humans progressed to be? In Arabic, ‘Adam’, simply means human.
Are we born humane, or must we strive to attain humanness? Were the Pre-Adamites ‘humane’, or did they develop to be humane? Does Adam's story hold a metaphorical meaning on how the human intellect develops?
God created us humans, the heavens and the earth.
In one moment, there was no existence, and in the next,
the heavens and earth were formed.
As per the Quranic scripture, it took six days to create the universe.
وَلَقَدْ خَلَقْنَا السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا فِي سِتَّةِ أَيَّامٍ وَمَا مَسَّنَا مِن لُّغُوبٍ
( سورة ق، الآية ٣٨)
[We created the heavens and the earth and all Between them in Six Days, Nor did any sense Of weariness touch Us.] Surat Qaf, verse 38.
My inner child once craved to unravel the next conundrum, who created God? Should I have even questioned this? Or will it have led me to atheism? Should I be scared to ask certain questions to safeguard myself from stepping into a path which will waver my religious beliefs? I never got the chance to ask this question anyway.
Nevertheless, I understand now that our minds are limited to comprehending the almightiness of God. He is beyond space and time. Our minds are capable of travelling within time and space, but God transcends the dimensions of time and space. As humans, we are limited to comprehend this transcendence, hence, we probably cannot grasp when the world was created or when it will end. God is not on a timeline, time itself was created by God. There can’t be anything more invincible, otherwise, that would have to be God.
God is the supreme divine source which cannot be conditioned by our human minds. God must be the ultimate beginning and end of everything. (If there is an end?)
As a child, I grew up believing, for many years, that humans live on this earth as a consequence of Adam and Eve’s sin. Did Adam and Eve commit an offence that deserved punishment? How can God be just if we must pay for a sin we did not commit, regardless of whether Adam and Eve sinned or not?
I was not sure if I should question a fundamental concept. It should have been clear to me, as per the social religious norms, that we were placed on this earth because ‘Adam’ had eaten the forbidden fruit; hence, he was sent to this earth after being banished from the Garden of Eden as a consequence of disobeying God.
Yet, we often forget that we were created to be curious beings and to make choices amid our life moments. Was Adam being punished for what he was innately created to be? Just curious.
I do not believe that we are born with the inherent
ability to resist temptations automatically, but I believe
we can certainly train ourselves to do so.
Adam was being curious, and this was the start of the human journey, to learn, to discipline, to resist temptations, and to acknowledge humanity. It boils down to being vulnerable, which I like to believe is one of the fundamental instruments of being human. It is through our vulnerabilities that we become humanized.
Questions related to existence and religion were seldom asked, and possibly only allowed if you asked to conform and not to challenge the norms. Moreover, those types of questions were only to be asked of men of religion. Where I come from, men of religion seem to have the answers to everything that relates to God! I was hesitant to ask as I may be perceived as a social pariah. Naturally, I just wanted to ‘fit in’, but I suspect I was struggling with it. In that phase of my life, I stifled any questions I had about creation as I felt that I was going against my religion. Instead, I decided to go along in tandem with the social norms, despite sensing a void in the material which had been portrayed to me, which I kept ignoring.
Years later, the void floated back with a series of propositions that hovered over my mind. An essential dimension to the reality of our creation was missing. Did we invade this earth? Did we just land here because of Adams's sin? Did Adam sin? Or could it be that this earth was created specifically for us to develop as humans and evolve to be God’s successors? Is this earth a punishment or can it be viewed as a rehabilitation world to enable us to live in the afterworld? There is something so meticulous about this earth’s formation that it makes it hard to believe that we were ‘dumped’ here arbitrarily by God as a consequence of Adam's simple mistake.
I decided to explore creation, for the first time, with the help of a friend, away from any religious preconceptions. I went back to the one source that I believe holds the ultimate truth, the Quran. I understand that deciding to bypass men of religion (sheikhs) may not be easily accepted in my culture, however, through my humble research and comprehension, I have found immense gracefulness on this spiritual journey and I would like to share it with you.
[Behold, thy Lord said to the Angels : “ I am About to create man From clay* When I have fashioned him In due proportion) and breathed Into him of My spirit, Fall ye down in obeisance Unto him.” Surat Qaf, verse 71-72]
إِذْ قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ إِنِّي خَالِقٌ بَشَرًا مِّن طِين * فَإِذَا سَوَّيْتُهُ وَنَفَخْتُ فِيهِ مِن رُّوحِي فَقَعُوا لَهُ سَاجِدِينَ* سورة ق، الآيات ٧١-٧٢
For the first time, I felt profoundly empowered to enter this wilderness of exploring creation.
I read this now with an intuition of responsibility; stepping into the path of truth behind creation. This led me to a distinctive extraction of the meaning of this verse. The responsibility allowed me to dive into the philosophy of creation, and to think with the highest principles I could observe in search for the truth. This verse, to me, provided the start of a paradigm shift in the theory of creation.
God clearly states that He will create a man, and when He was done with the physical creation, He breathes into humans from His spirit, and asked the Angels to bow to them.
The Angels, who serve God, and do no mistakes, were asked to bow to humans! This was so profound in a way that it overwhelmed me on an emotional and intellectual level. In addition, humans have the honor of having God's spirit blown into them, we are part of God! Yet I was led to conceptualize that I am here on this earth serving out an outstanding balance for a sin I never committed. How naive was I?
We may not all share the same creation story, and we all come from different places, cultures and belief backgrounds, but whatever we decide to believe in, we share one thing, and that is, we are all here on this earth. I hope that our differing beliefs will not divide us, but instead inspire us to achieve remarkable life experiences in a world where we may never realize how everything began, and if it will ever end.
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