Shīʿī Readings of Human Evolution: Ṭabāṭabāʾī to Ḥaydarī

Kocsenda, Karim Gabor

Abstract

Within the context of Islamic discourse about evolution, this is the first study that focuses exclusively on the views of Kamāl al-Ḥaydarī (b. 1957), a prominent Shīʿī thinker of the contemporary period. Ḥaydarī develops his views from Muḥammad Ḥusayn al-Ṭabāṭabāʾī (1904–1981), the author of the seminal exegesis The Balance in Interpreting the Qurʾān (Al-Mīzān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān). Ṭabāṭabāʾī is very hesitant about accepting whether the Qurʾān can be read to indicate evolution and ultimately refuses it because of a lack of scientific evidence in his eyes. However, Ḥaydarī challenges the hesitation in Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s hermeneutics while nonetheless agreeing with him on the lack of hard scientific proof for macroevolution. Instead, Ḥaydarī proposes a novel, theological reading of evolution understood in a nonscientific sense. The article examines Ḥaydarī’s views on evolution, his creationist conclusions, his suggestion of multiple “Adams” in human and Prophetic origins, and his attempt to link evolution of consciousness with the Shīʿī belief in the Parousia of the Mahdī. His unique reading of scripture marks him as being radically different to any of the currently available opinions in the discourse of Islam and evolution.

Citation

Kocsenda, K. G. (2022). Shīʿī Readings of Human Evolution: Ṭabāṭabāʾī to Ḥaydarī. Zygon, 57(2), 418-442. https://doi.org/10.1111/zygo.12781

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 15, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Feb 25, 2022
• Publication Date: 2022-06
• Deposit Date: Feb 18, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 26, 2024
• Journal: Zygon
• Print ISSN: 0591-2385
• Electronic ISSN: 1467-9744
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 57
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 418-442
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/zygo.12781
• Keywords: Shīʿī thought, Evolution and Islam, Exegesis, Tafsir, Qurʾān, Islamic theology, Adam, Mahdi
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/7473128
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/zygo.12781