Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Excerpt from Quran and Evolution - Dr. Ahmed Afzaal

The whole process of the evolution of cosmos can be understood as having several stages, as follows:

The first stage was that of physical evolution, which lasted from the creation of matter out of nothing up to the time when simple chemical compounds grew into complex organic molecules, leading to the emergence of life on earth. This stage of purely physical change was directed by the Divine current of consciousness that continuously runs through all matter, causing it to behave in specific ways (what we describe as the ‘‘laws of nature’’). The second stage was that of biological evolution, when the same current of consciousness took the form of an indwelling life-force which directed the process towards the creation of the perfect animal, the Homo sapiens. The third stage was that of human intellectual evolution, which started when selfconsciousness developed in man, and the Divine current took the form of an urge for Beauty and Perfection, expressing itself in human thought and behavior as the love of an ideal. Just as the biological phase of evolution was characterized by sudden appearances of new species at variable intervals which accelearted the process of biological evolution, in the same way the intellectual phase of evolution was characterized by the phenomenon of prophethood, the purpose of which was to accelerate the intellectual evolution of mankind. Prophethood ended after reaching its ultimate perfection in the person of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), who also represents the zenith of the human search for the ultimate ideal. At the moment we are going through the fourth stage of cosmic evolution, that of the social evolution, whereby humanity as a whole is moving towards the realization of the values and ideals which have already been achieved at an individual level in the life and teachings of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), and at a collective level in the politico-socio-economic system that was established by the Prophet. This phase of evolution is going to culminate in the global domination of the only true Ideal, otherwise known as Islam, at all levels of collectivity.

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Read the complete book here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/6731618/Quran-and-Human-Evolution

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