 | Dr. Nabil Seyam is director of the Board of Administration of the Islamic Society of Wichita and Co-Founder of the Annoor Islamic School. He was the recipient of the Leader of the Year in 2002 in Wichita and most recently was the recipient of the Community Servant Award by the University United Methodist Church in 2003. Dr. Seyam was selected for the Community Servant Award because of his active role in peace-building and multiculturalism throughout Kansas. He is an adjunct instructor for Pittsburg State University and Wichita State University. He is married and has six children. He can be reached at (316) 630-9222 , by e-mail at nabil@seyam.org, or visit his website at www.seyam.org |
Religion
2003-01-01 11:06:00
Did all of mankind descend from just two people?
: The Bible says God made Adam by breathing life into a handful of clay; then He made Eve by taking a rib from Adam's side. Are these the only two people He made in this fashion? If so, did all mankind evolve from sons and daughters of Adam and Eve?
ANSWER: In the Holy Qur'an God says the following "O mankind! Be dutiful to your Lord. Who created you from a single person (Adam) and from him (Adam) He created (Eve), and from them both He created many men and women; and fear God through Whom you demand (your mutual rights), and (do not cut the relations of) the wombs (kinship). Surely, God is Ever an All-Watcher over you." From the first two human beings came all of us today. Scientists are in virtual agreement that every human being alive today can be traced back to the same ancestor couple. Genetic tests and DNA studies have confirmed that we are all one large extended family. The oldest known humanoid remains have been found in East Africa and date back about three million years. However, Anthropologists are constantly arguing about where we came from. Many people of faith know the answer, but others are proud to accept the idea that God created us. Muslims do not accept the idea that we came or evolved straight from ape-like creatures. Our species is entirely new and without explanation by normal scientific means. In the Holy Qur'an God says "O mankind, verily We have created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other. Verily the most honored of you in the sight of God is the most righteous." The foundations of this Islamic value of equality are deeply rooted in the structure of Islam. It stems from basic principles such as the following: (1) All men are created by one and the Same Eternal God, the Supreme Lord of all. (2) All mankind belong to the human race and share equally in the common parentage of Adam and Eve. (3) God is just and kind to all his creatures. (4) All people are born equal in the sense that none brings any possession with him, and they die equal in the sense that they take back nothing of their worldly belongings. (5) God judges every person on the basis of his own merits and according to his own deeds. (6) God has conferred on man, man as such, a title of honor and dignity. The above is the Islamic perspective of the esteemed question. Islam views Adam and Eve as the mother and father of all races, which means that all of us as human being are tied in a brotherly and sisterly relationship. This bond makes us a one large family. Therefore, as we became different in many aspects of life, still our ancestors' relationship as one family must be intact.
