Ibn Khaldun on human evolution

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Ibn Khaldun on human evolution
OP - September 18, 2011, 09:47 AM

During the 14th century, Ibn Khaldun wrote in his book 'Al Muqaddimah' (The Introduction):

Quote
This world with all the created things in it has a certain order and solid construction. It shows nexuses between causes and things caused, combinations of some parts of creation with others, and transformations of some existent things into others, in a pattern that is both remarkable and endless. [...]

One should then take a look at the world of creation. It started out from the minerals and progressed, in an ingenious, gradual manner, to plants and animals. The last stage of minerals is connected with the first stage of plants, such as herbs and seedless plants. The last stage of plants, such as palms and vines, is connected with the first stage of animals, such as snails and shellfish which have only the power of touch. The word 'connection' with regard to these created things means that the last stage of each group is fully prepared to become the fist stage of the newest group.

The animal world then widens, its species become numerous, and, in a gradual process of creation, it finally leads to man, who is able to think and reflect. The higher stage of man is reached from the world of monkeys, in which both sagacity and preception are found, but which has not reached the stage of actual reflection and thinking. At this point we come to the first stage of man. This is as far as our (physical) observation extends. [pp 74-75]

http://abdusalaam.blogspot.com/2006/02/ibn-khaldun-on-human-evolution.html
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Re: Ibn Khaldun on human evolution
Reply #1 - September 18, 2011, 09:52 AM

Yup, which completely contradicts the Quran.

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Re: Ibn Khaldun on human evolution
Reply #2 - September 18, 2011, 09:53 AM

Well he was a Muslim scholar.

As they usually say, God knows best.
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Re: Ibn Khaldun on human evolution
Reply #3 - September 18, 2011, 11:57 AM

Quote from: Abood on September 18, 2011, 09:47 AM
During the 14th century, Ibn Khaldun wrote in his book 'Al Muqaddimah' (The Introduction):
http://abdusalaam.blogspot.com/2006/02/ibn-khaldun-on-human-evolution.html

Abood gives a link and says
Quote from: Abood on September 18, 2011, 09:53 AM
Well he was a Muslim scholar.

As they usually say, God knows best.

I still remember discussion in FFI with that good friend Edip Yuksel, J.D. Edip wrote somewhere
Quote
"The prominent Muslim polymath, philosopher and sociologististist Ibni Khaldun (1332-1406), in his famous book Muqaddimah, proposes a theory of evolution starting from minerals. Minerals, according to Ibn Khaldun, evolve and become seeded and seedless plants. Plants evolve and reach to their zenith with palm trees and vines. The evolution continues with snails and shelled sea animals. The diversification in animal kingdom reaches the zenith of creation by gradual evolution into human beings with consciousness and thinking skills. According to Ibn Khaldun, monkeys are the link between animals and the first stage of humanity. Ibn Khaldun presents the theory of evolution by using a scientific language and argues that the essence of creation (in modern terminology: genetic code) passes through various changes (mutations) generating one species after another.

Muslim scientists and philosophers of the medieval period had no qualms in accepting evolution as a divine system for creation. For instance, Ibn Khaldun, after a paragraph about the origin of human species, reminds the reader the verse about deterministic nature of God's system: “You will never find a change in God's system.”

what we need to understand about these people who happened to born to Muslim parents is "THEIR CONTRIBUTIONS TO NATURAL SCIENCES & HUMANISTIC PHILOSOPHY IS NOTHING TO DO WITH ISLAM/QURAN/MUHAMMAD'S SUNNAH" that we read in Hadith. It is purely Human ingenuity and exploring nature that is built in through evolutionary processes. So I give no credit to allah/Muhammad/Quran for the contribution of medieval scientists that happened to be born to Islamic parents for no fault of theirs. ..lol.. So allah knows the best and allah knows nothing Abood.

So Abood., talking about histosy of early Islam., I wonder any one of you read anything on the origin of word "Allah" in pre-Islamic Arabian literature??

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Re: Ibn Khaldun on human evolution
Reply #4 - June 26, 2012, 04:15 PM

Ibn Khaldun is one of the greatest philosophers that came out of the muslim world and left a lasting legacy.

Anyway I once read a part where Betrand Russell claim that the reason why some of the renaissance and modern philosophers didnt reveal their disbelief is because they didnt want to lose their job or patronage, i wonder if its the same with the Muslim philosophers back then.

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Re: Ibn Khaldun on human evolution
Reply #5 - June 26, 2012, 05:27 PM

Quote from: Cato on June 26, 2012, 04:15 PM
Anyway I once read a part where Betrand Russell claim that the reason why some of the renaissance and modern philosophers didnt reveal their disbelief is because they didnt want to lose their job or patronage, i wonder if its the same with the Muslim philosophers back then.

Well it was not just about losing patronage, but also losing your head. In medieval Islamic societies, the crime of apostasy was punished by death.

On Ibn Khaldun, I have never read that before. So thnx for posting. Though I do not think it is quite "evolution", as there is no identification given for the mechanism by which species evolve. I.e. no explanation of the process of natural selection and the survival of species best adapted to suit their environment.

In fact, your quote from Ibn Khaldun sounds pretty similar to the dominant view held in the West since the Classical period developed by Plato and Aristotle known as the "Great Chain of Being". Though it is striking that Ibn Khaldun specifically notes that monkeys are the closest animal to humans on the chain.

I have always wondered why it took so long for humans to understand evolution as it just seems so obvious to us today. Humans have been using the basic concepts of evolution in selective breeding with domestic animals since the dawn of agriculture so it is not much of a leap from understanding those prinicipals to finally working out the whole process of speciation.

I think that the Abrahamic Faiths probably suppressed a lot of inquiry into these areas, but that does not explain why the Ancient Greeks or the Ancient Chinese never figured it out. My guess is that those societies were not well traveled enough and had not yet collected enough samples of various animals to see the wider picture.
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Re: Ibn Khaldun on human evolution
Reply #6 - June 26, 2012, 07:08 PM

Quote

اﻟﻤﻗﺩﻤﻪ

ﻋﺒﺩ اﺭﺤﻤن ﺒن ﻤﺤﻤﺩ اﺑن ﺨﻠﺪﻮن

THE MUQADDIMAH Abd Ar Rahman bin Muhammed ibn Khaldun

Translated by Franz Rosenthal

Those who would like to read that book translated by Franz Rosenthal Please click the link

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Ibn Khaldun on human evolution
Reply #7 - August 02, 2015, 10:28 PM

I don't think or read about religion much these days, but this philosopher caught my attention so I looked him up and found this radio discussion about him and his famous book Al-Muqaddimah.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D13izXNZAc

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Ibn Khaldun on human evolution
Reply #8 - August 03, 2015, 04:59 AM

Quote from: ateapotist on August 02, 2015, 10:28 PM
I don't think or read about religion much these days, but this philosopher caught my attention so I looked him up and found this radio discussion about him and his famous book Al-Muqaddimah.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D13izXNZAc

well it is good to read that book.. indeed he was ahead of his time.. here is that pdf file of
His famous book Al-Muqaddimah.

Do not let silence become your legacy.. Question everything
I renounced my faith to become a kafir,
the beloved betrayed me and turned in to a Muslim
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