Can one animal species develop from another?

Yes, this is possible and even likely. But the Holy Qur’an does not teach development through blind chance; it teaches a development that God guides step by step according to His plan.

It is quite conceivable that, over a long time, fish gave rise to animals able to live both on land and in water. Frogs still show today what a life between these two worlds looks like. So one species can develop into other species. There is no contradiction with faith in this.

The difference lies in how it happens. In the purely Darwinian view there was no plan, no direction and no one guiding the process. The Holy Qur’an, by contrast, says that God had a plan before He created, and that every step followed that plan. The third verse above says that God creates and chooses whatever He pleases. The choice is His, not chance’s.

A picture shows why chance alone is not enough. Imagine dice with letters on their faces. Throw them often enough and perhaps one meaningful sentence appears. Now the next throw must produce a second sentence that fits the first exactly, and so on, until a thick book is complete that describes the entire human body. With every sentence the number of attempts needed grows beyond measure. No one would believe that dice could write such a book.

A typesetter in an old printing house works quite differently. He too has letters in front of him, but he chooses each one deliberately and places it in the right spot. That is how a meaningful text comes about. It is a picture of guided development.

The first verse above describes how God created living creatures from water in great variety. Faith therefore does not have to deny the development of species. It recognises in it the handwriting of a Creator who plans.