RT Article
T1 Evolving Creation: An Ismaili Muslim Interpretation of Evolution
JF Zygon
VO 57
IS 2
SP 443
OP 466
A1 Andani, Khalil
LA English
YR 2022
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/180596299X
AB This article presents a constructive Shīʿī Ismaili Muslim engagement with Neo-Darwinian evolution. By drawing on Ismaili metaphysics and hermeneutics, I argue that Ismailis can affirm evolution without exceptions due to four features of contemporary and historical Ismaili thought. First, Aga Khan III (d. 1957), the 48th hereditary Ismaili Imam, integrated Neo-Darwinian evolution with his theological views. Likewise, the present Imam Aga Khan IV (b. 1936) teaches that there is no conflict between Islam and scientific truth because God's creative act is eternal and continuous. Second, Ismaili Neoplatonic metaphysics is compatible with evolution because it situates all natural processes as guided by the Universal Soul without a need for miracles. Third, the common descent of all life lends further support to the Ismaili belief in an unbroken lineage of hereditary Imams since the origins of life on earth. Fourth, the Quranic story of Adam's creation poses no hermeneutical issue because Ismaili scholars read the Adam story symbolically through esoteric exegesis (ta'wīl).
K1 Universal Soul
K1 Universal Intellect
K1 al-Sijistānī
K1 Neoplatonic
K1 Ismaili
K1 Imamate
K1 Hermeneutics
K1 Evolution
K1 Creation
K1 Aga Khan
K1 Adam
DO 10.1111/zygo.12774