On Islam and Evolutionary Theory
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Abstract
The paper aims to explore Indonesian Muslim biologists’ views on the evolutionary theory. Employing Stenmark’s concepts of “rationality” and “religious commitment”, this study wishes to show how these two aspects are interconnected, and how a certain rationality primarily constitutes a certain religious commitment. The research involves both library and field research. The library research is to get a general overview on the relation of evolution and Islam (and Muslim) in the past. While a small scale, in-depth, and qualitative field research project is intended to portray the views of Muslim biologists in Indonesia on the theory. Interviews that include three Muslim biologists from three universities in Indonesia are also conducted to explore what kind of rationality they have and how this rationality influences their religious commitments. The findings report that: 1). The ambiguous responses to evolution in Muslim society are because Koran does not explicitly deal with the first-human creation story. 2). The various responses of Indonesian Muslim biologists to the theory along with their variety of understandings of the rationality and its relation to the religious commitment is also due to this ambiguity.
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