I studied the origin of man in a history book last year, and the book confirms that man’s origin is a monkey and that he transformed into a human over time.
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The questioner : This is a message we received from the sender Muhammad 'Umar Sultan from Iraq, Ninawa Governorate. He says, "I am the student Muhammad Sultan, one of the students in the second year of middle school. I studied the origin of man in a history book last year, and the book confirms that man’s origin is a monkey and that he transformed into a human over time. Is this correct, or does it contradict what came in the Noble Qur'an regarding the origin of the monkey? Guide us and may Allah guide you to the path so that we may follow it. Thank you?"
The Shaykh : This statement is not correct; I mean the claim that man’s origin is a monkey. But the one who claims this is, in reality, a monkey whose intellect and insight have been distorted. It is fitting that we call him a monkey, not a human, even though he is in the form of a human.
The questioner : But can we not also say that he is truly a distorted monkey because he is a Jew and he is Freud?
The Shaykh : In any case, what you said is more appropriate.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : What I said is more appropriate and sufficient.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : So this statement is not correct that man’s origin is a monkey, and believing in it is disbelief because it is a denial of the Qur'an. For Allah the Exalted has made clear that the origin of the creation of man is from clay, in the creation of Adam (peace be upon him), who is the father of mankind. Then Allah the Exalted made his descendants from a lineage of lowly water. The known monkeys are among the other species of creatures; they are creatures that came into being in this way by their nature. Allah Blessed and Exalted is He created them with this characteristic, like donkeys, dogs, mules, horses, camels, cattle, sheep, gazelles, chickens, and others.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : It is not permissible for anyone, and it is not permissible for a Muslim state that belongs to Islam, to establish this in its schools. Rather, it must remove it from the schools, because if a student grows up with this from a young age, it is very difficult to free him from it. I do not even see it as permissible to establish this in schools even if it is to refute it and invalidate it; rather, it is invalidated without being established in schools.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Because placing something and then attempting to uproot it is a harm, but not placing it at all is more appropriate than placing it and then trying to uproot and invalidate it.
It is obligatory for Muslim states in general to review their curricula and courses and make them derived from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), so that Allah the Exalted may restore to the Muslim nation its glory, might, and dignity, and remove from it the nightmare of humiliation that has befallen it today, until it has reached a state that is pitiable. I might say it is in a state that its enemy pities it for, because of the disunity, division, humiliation, and degradation among the nations of the world, and reality is a witness to that. And the cause of this is nothing but their turning away, or the turning away of many of them, from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and the methodology of the righteous Salaf, about which Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "No one will reform the end of this nation except what reformed its beginning". I ask Allah, by His grace and generosity, to return us all to true Islam in belief, speech, action, methodology, and Shari'ah, so that we may return to the honor and status that we attain by holding fast to our religion.
The Shaykh : This statement is not correct; I mean the claim that man’s origin is a monkey. But the one who claims this is, in reality, a monkey whose intellect and insight have been distorted. It is fitting that we call him a monkey, not a human, even though he is in the form of a human.
The questioner : But can we not also say that he is truly a distorted monkey because he is a Jew and he is Freud?
The Shaykh : In any case, what you said is more appropriate.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : What I said is more appropriate and sufficient.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : So this statement is not correct that man’s origin is a monkey, and believing in it is disbelief because it is a denial of the Qur'an. For Allah the Exalted has made clear that the origin of the creation of man is from clay, in the creation of Adam (peace be upon him), who is the father of mankind. Then Allah the Exalted made his descendants from a lineage of lowly water. The known monkeys are among the other species of creatures; they are creatures that came into being in this way by their nature. Allah Blessed and Exalted is He created them with this characteristic, like donkeys, dogs, mules, horses, camels, cattle, sheep, gazelles, chickens, and others.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : It is not permissible for anyone, and it is not permissible for a Muslim state that belongs to Islam, to establish this in its schools. Rather, it must remove it from the schools, because if a student grows up with this from a young age, it is very difficult to free him from it. I do not even see it as permissible to establish this in schools even if it is to refute it and invalidate it; rather, it is invalidated without being established in schools.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Because placing something and then attempting to uproot it is a harm, but not placing it at all is more appropriate than placing it and then trying to uproot and invalidate it.
It is obligatory for Muslim states in general to review their curricula and courses and make them derived from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), so that Allah the Exalted may restore to the Muslim nation its glory, might, and dignity, and remove from it the nightmare of humiliation that has befallen it today, until it has reached a state that is pitiable. I might say it is in a state that its enemy pities it for, because of the disunity, division, humiliation, and degradation among the nations of the world, and reality is a witness to that. And the cause of this is nothing but their turning away, or the turning away of many of them, from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and the methodology of the righteous Salaf, about which Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "No one will reform the end of this nation except what reformed its beginning". I ask Allah, by His grace and generosity, to return us all to true Islam in belief, speech, action, methodology, and Shari'ah, so that we may return to the honor and status that we attain by holding fast to our religion.