How does Darwin's theory of evolution fit with Islam?

Islam does not reject a long development of life. But it teaches that this was not blind chance but a development guided by God, with the purpose of creating man.

Islam has no difficulty with the idea that life developed over a very long time. The Holy Qur’an itself says that God created man in stages and that every living thing comes from water. The real question is not whether there was a development. The question is whether it was blind and random or guided.

This deserves a closer look. Every evolution needs a starting point. Before anything could evolve, the first living cell had to exist, with its genetic material and everything it needs to live and reproduce. These first building blocks of life are so intricate that man, with all his knowledge, still cannot make them. There is no convincing explanation for their appearance by pure chance. The theory of evolution only begins once this first step has already been taken.

Natural selection does not create anything either. It can only choose among what already exists. Every selection therefore presupposes creation. And whoever creates without a goal in mind ends up with a development that runs in every direction. The fact that life moved towards man over such a long time shows that the Creator and the one who selects are one and the same.

Understood in this way, evolution is not evidence against God but a sign of Him. When the first building block of life came into being, it did so because God intended to create man. The long history of life is the road that led there. The Holy Qur’an describes it as a work with a plan and a purpose, and an open look at nature confirms this.