Review

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Evolution and Islam: The story of Adam and Eve and The Ape

Hello, I have noticed a lot of Muslims are intimidated by the topic of Evolution due to ignorance. I understand the feeling because I used to get nervous when someone would bring it up to challenge my beloved religion. However, after studying it at university, I love to talk about it and it makes me feel great that finally my doubts have been removed because the puzzle finally fits together.

Here's a short synopsis of my opinion on how Evolution fits perfectly with Islamic beliefs.

If Homo-Erectus, Homo-Neanderthals and Denisovans (species that are similar to us; modern humans) were the result of over 4.5 billion years of Evolution, it doesn't mean homo-sapiens (modern humans) had anything to do with that.
Adam and Eve were put on earth while other 'Homo' species were still evolving. Adam and Eve's descendants reproduced with other Homo species which were alive at the time. Since those Homo species have a common ancestor with apes, this explains the link between us and apes.

Don't worry if you're lost, I'll explain this below.

This applies to all the Homo species (that we know of so far) that existed at the same time as Homo-sapiens. Below is a (slightly edited to accommodate the above "hypothesis") family tree of the four groups of early humans living in Eurasia 50,000 years ago and the gene flow between the groups due to interbreeding. [Source]

1.5-2.1% of our genes can be dated back to Neanderthals, from when they interbred with homo-sapiens (Adam and Eve's descendants). Denisovans also passed on 6% of their genes to Homo-sapiens. Hence, since Neanderthals and Denisovans are genetically cousins to apes, they passed on those genes to the modern humans; Homo-sapiens. This explains why the modern humans' genes are similar to apes. It is hypothesised that there could be potentially more Homo species that interbred with the modern humans, but scientists have yet to find out more about them!

To sum it all up in one sentence, our genes are related to apes, because our early ancestors interbred or 'mixed their genes' with species who already had a common ancestor with apes.