The question is that we have been explaining the phenomena of previous religions as a phenomena of evolution in religion, which is travelling towards perfection. And then suddenly we turn, make a somersault, and when we reach Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, we abandon that philosophy and we say we have reached the summit and no more, that is enough. What is the explanation?
There are so many explanations, this question has been put forward to me in various places by various people belonging to various religions, and according to the situation I have been explaining things. But I will give you another angle today, tonight, because about my previous answer you can read in Al-Fazl and have access to the cassettes in which I have answered this question. A new angle, completely new angle, has dawned upon me just now.
The fact is that when you speak of evolution, regardless of religion, you positively reach a summit, and that is man. And as long as evolution has not gone beyond this stage, you can’t condemn man as not being the final thing. You must wait for the next step of evolution, until that happens, this man is the last thing. Is that not true? In the evolution of life, man stands at the summit of evolution, and despite the fact that the phenomena of evolution, the philosophy of evolution explains a constant development of change, development and change towards perfection, right from the start of the first bacteria to the completion of man.
Yet man seems to stand still at that stage, and we don’t see any evolution taking place from man to a higher being. So does that negate the philosophy of evolution, or no? Tell me. Pardon? You didn’t get to the stage of man, or to the stage of amoeba, what do you mean? The point is, I am trying to explain a very important anomaly, which will make you understand the answer to your question. The scientists say that evolution has evolved the tiniest imperfect early beings gradually over billions of years, into a most complete form, which is called man. Is that not correct? Correct. And they explain that phenomena of change, they say it has a direction, they offer so many reasons why this took place, and there’s a lot of controversy as to how, but I am not going into that.
I am just going into this philosophy, talking of this philosophy, that this is an accepted philosophy by all the scientists in the world, that this did happen. How it happened, and how it did not, and how it happened is another question, they may differ. But as to its essential, as to the essential fact of its happening, they all agree. Is that not correct? And do they not believe also that the man is the summit of evolution? Why can’t you turn back to them and ask the same question which you asked me about Islam? That according to your philosophy, things must go on improving and moving towards higher beings. So how can you call man the last perfection of evolution? Will that question negate the philosophy of evolution? No. So how can the same question negate the philosophy of evolution of religion?
The fact is that the evolution of religion and evolution of mankind has now perfectly tallied. So far, we can say at least, man is the final stage of evolution that life could reach. So far, we can say, Islam is the final stage of religion which perfectly suits this man and which has evolved to this stage. So if they tally with each other, unless one changes, other cannot change. As long as one is leaving behind, it has to go on changing until both reach an accord, a single level of development. So if a religion reaches that final level which is suited to all the qualities of man which he has reached after a very long travel into history of billions of years, if a religion reaches that level, unless man goes a step forward, the religion will keep standing along with him.
If he goes a step forward, moves ahead, that religion will be imperfect for that man. So they have to come to a stage where they stand together for a while. Yes, please. Is it possible that at the later stage of human life, certain other qualities may appear to the… Not only it is possible, it has been foretold in the Holy Qur’an that positively Allah will destroy this man ultimately and evolve a better being from this man. Before ever the concept of evolution took root in the philosopher’s mind, the Holy Qur’an not only accepted this philosophy, but also went a step forward and said that ultimately the man will be destroyed as an animal and a higher being will evolve which will be better equipped in every respect and better behaved towards his creator. So that has been told in the Holy Qur’an.
