bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Raheem
asslamu alaikum wa rehmatullahi wa barakaatohu
Islam teaches people to treat ones mother and father with honour and
kindness in their capacity as parents. To this end, remembering one’s
parents and imploring Allah’s peace and mercy upon them are acts of
honour and great respect. Such a deference is more than due to humanity’s
common ancestor. However, with so much emphasis in the educational
institutions on trying to prove that humankind evolved from apes, people’s knowledge
and awareness of the Almighty Originator, and His great and gracious act in
creating Adam and Hawa, for whom there is little regard these days, has
steadily dwindled. The question to be put is not so much, “What are the
names of the first man and woman”? but, “Do we really have a common
ancestor?” and “How much do I know about humanity’s common ancestors,
Adam and Hawa?”.
The religious and scientific answer to the first question is simply
yes! On 11th January 1988, the Newsweek Magazine carried an article which
stated that studies by molecular biologists of an international assortment of
genes had put them on the trail of the mitochondrial Deoxyribonucleic
Acid (DNA).
The studies were carried out on both black and caucasian women “with
ancestors from Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia”. Despite the
fact that the women “were from widely different racial and geographical
backgrounds”, the geneticists “found that all had identical stretches
of the mitochondrial DNA, which is inherited only from mothers and
therefore not a mixture of parental genes”. This has led them from a Qur’anic and
Biblical perspective back to the idea of a common ancestor: “to a
single women from whom we are all descended”. The report went on to say, “most
evidence so far indicates that Eve”…“was more likely a dark-haired,
black skinned woman (who) lived in sub-Saharan Africa.” It is believed that
our common ancestor - African Eve - must has lived “between 100,000 and
200,000 years ago”, and this is consistent with the findings related to Adam.
This finding adds weight to the Biblical and Qur’anic statements about the
existence of a Hawa (Eve), the mother of all humanity, who was not a
product of an accident or chance in nature, but was created and
fashioned by the Creator. Also, it is yet another piece of evidence for the
authenticity of the Holy Qur’an, stating long before this discovery:
“The Revelation of this Book is from Allah, the Exalted in Power, Full
of Wisdom… He created you (all) from a single Person:… created, (out
of it) of like nature his mate… and from them twain scattered (like
seeds) countless men and women” (S. 39:1,6: S: 4:1).
This passage was also telling the men of science that to progress their
understanding about humanity’s common ancestor they must seek to
establish Hawa’s origin and indeed humanity’s from a single individual, named
Adam.
It is therefore not surprising to learn from an article in The Times on
23rd November 1995 that following a scientific study of the
Y-chromosomes in a mixed- race group, Dr. Michael Hammer, a geneticist from the
University of Arizona, was able to establish that all men do have a
common ancestor “of African origin”, who lived less than 200,000 years ago.
the article went on to say “this opposed a theory that mankind evolved in
different regions of the Old World from an earlier ancestor, Homo
Erectus (apes)”. What is now missing is for scientists to find the evidence
which links Hawa to Adam, perhaps they will find the answer among the DNA of
the bones, in particular, the lower ribs.
As regards the second question, science has very little to offer human beings who again, must resort to
the Divine revelations to acquire deeper knowledge of their common
ancestor.
Even the fact that Hawa (Eve) was dark-skinned was already known to
scholars of Islam. E.W. Lane, in his Arabic-English Lexicon, (Book 1,
Part 2, p.661), says that the name Hawa (the Arabic equivalent of Eve)
signifies " a brown colour, redness inclining to blackness or a colour intermixed
with the blackish red dust like the rust of iron".
In short, she was black or, if you prefer, a dark-skinned women.
The creation of Eve: a sign and a phenomenon
The story of Adam is of universal significance not only because of what
is related about him but also for what we can learn about his “mate”. The
name in the Torah to Adam’s mate is Eve, there is no explanation how she
acquired this name, whether from the Creator or Adam, it simply
appeared at the beginning of Genesis, Chapter 4. According to Islamic Tradition,
that same person is known by the Arabic name Hawa, and not Eve although
again, this name does not appear anywhere in the Holy Qur’an. As regards the
creation of Hawa, the information in the Torah can be summarised as
follows: The LORD God said, “it is not good that man should be alone; I
will make him an help meet” …the LORD God caused a deep sleep to
fall upon Adam… and He took one of his ribs… and made He a women… and
brought her unto the man… and… Adam said,… “she shall be called
woman” (Gen. 2:18,21-3)
The Holy Qur’an confirms that Hawa was indeed created out of Adam but
is silent on the specific process used in her creation. It states: “O
mankind!
Reverence your Guardian-Lord Who created you from a single person,
created, of like nature, his zaowja (wife/mate), and from them twain scattered
(like seeds) countless men and women” (S. 4-:1).
Stephen Jay Gould, the Harvard paleontologist and essayist, say, “.. it
makes us realise that all human beings, despite differences in external
appearances, are really members of a single entity that’s had a very
recent origin in one place. There is a kind of biological brotherhood that’s
much more profound than we ever realised”.
This is the very point that Allah has related in the Holy Qur’an, which
evidently Mr Gould was not aware of, or perhaps, like many others, did
not want to accept until it was endorsed by science. Do they not see
though, how far modern science lags behind the teachings of the Holy Qur’an?
It is evident from the above stated Qur’anic verse and Torah that
Hawa’s creation is a phenomenon - she is the only women that was created from
a man, but clearly not by the natural process that women would give
birth. Her creation is significant, a sign and the second part of the three -
part phenomenon of human creation. First was the creation of Adam, a human
being who was made out of nothing, using only water and earth; second, the
creation of a women (Hawa) as explained above, and third, the creation
of a man - Jesus (pbuh) - out of a women without the participation of a man.
All three creations are on the same footing in being unique, evident
reasons for faith in Allah, and were all made possible by only the commanding
word “Be” from the Almighty, attesting His power and knowledge of the
secrets of the heaven and the earth, and of what is revealed and concealed
(S. 3:59; 76:1-3).
In terms of religion and as a phenomenon of human creation, it is easy
to understand the rank held by Hawa’s creation. An unmarried women who
conceives is open to all kinds of questions about the circumstances
under which she became pregnant. In contrast, there is little that can be
said where a women is formed out of the sole male human being in existence -
that creation is undoubtedly a great feat at which humans should
marvel.
In contrast to the Torah, the Holy Qur’an does not say that Hawa was
created from Adam’s rib, but says that she was made “of like nature” to
him, and this fact is confirmed by reality and what is known about the
human body. The biblical statement “God caused a deep sleep to fall
upon Adam… and He took one of his ribs… and made He a women” (Gen. 2:18,
21-3), can be interpreted literally or as an allegory, the result
however, in my view, is the same whichever interpretation is applied. This
biblical notion, though no authenticated by the holy Qur’an, is supported by the
following hadith. In the absence of any Qur’anic foundation one might
argue that their authenticity is thus subject to a measure of doubt.
Nevertheless, these historical sources state: Abu Hurairah (ra) relates
that the Prophet Muhammad (saw) said: Treat women kindly. Woman has
been created from a rib and the most crooked part of the rib is the
uppermost. if you try to straighten it, you will break it and if you leave it, alone,
it will remain crooked. So treat women kindly. (Bukhari and Muslim)
Another version is: A woman is like a rib; if you try and straighten
it, you will break it and i you wish to draw benefit from it, you can do so
despite its crookedness.
Another version is: Woman has been created from a rib and you cannot
straighten her. If you wish to draw benefit from her, do so despite its
crookedness. If you try to straighten her, you will break her and
breaking her means divorcing her.
In Islam, women are not viewed biologically warped nor generally
speaking of a criminal mentality (crooked), they are human beings of a similar
nature (S. 4:1) to men and were also created “in the best of moulds”
(S. 95:4). As already stated it may well be that an actual rib was take
from Adam and then clothed with flesh in the formation of Hawa. This idea is
Lamely acceptable in light of the following verse from the Holy Qur’an:
Men we did create from quintessence (of clay), then We placed him as (a
drop of) sperm in a place of rest, firmly fixed; then We made the sperm into
a clot of congealed blood; the of the clot We made a (foetus) lump; then
We made out of that lump bones and clothed with flesh; then We developed
out if it another creature. So Blessed be Allah, the best to create. (S.
23:12-14)