Introduction to the Study of The Holy Quran — Page 308
308 man rules over the whole of creation and that no part of creation rules over him. He is no doubt affected by changes of climate, by the light of the planets and the stars, by thunder and lightning, by storms and blizzards, by epidemics and pestilences, but he is not in any way ruled by these phenomena. Those that rule are often affected by those over whom they rule and yet there is never any difficulty in determining who rules and who is ruled. Thus though man is affected by the other parts of creation, he nevertheless rules over them. He controls rivers, oceans, mountains, winds, thunder, rain, herbs and medicines and is manifestly the central point of creation or at least of that part of creation which is related to our universe. God’s creation is vast and there may be worlds in existence of which we have no knowledge. We cannot therefore speculate with regard to them. The Culmination of Process of Evolution The Quran, contrary to the accounts given in the Old and the New Testaments, teaches that man was created through a gradual process. We have adverted to this subject above and have cited Quranic authority for the proposition we have stated. There is another verse in the Quran which shows that the creation of man was the culmination of a gradual process and that it is not correct to say that God formed man out of clay and breathed His spirit into him. The Quran says: "And He has created you in different stages and different forms. " 385 That is to say, God has created man by making him pass through stage after stage and condition after condition. According to the Quran, therefore, man was not created suddenly at one stroke but as the result of a gradual process. In the same way man’s intellectual development also proceeded gradually. The Quran shows that human beings were in existence before Adam but that they were not yet able to bear the responsibility of revealed Law. They lived in caves and in mountain fastnesses. It is for this reason that the Quran has called them by the name of Jinn, which means literally those that dwell out of sight. Some people have applied this word to the genii of tales and fables, but the Quran does not support this interpretation. It expressly states that when Adam and his people went out of the garden (which again, according to the Quran, was a region of the earth and is not to be confused with Paradise) God warned them against Iblis "who was one of the Jinn" and told them to be careful of him and his people as they would all have to live together upon the earth wherein they would spend their spans of existence and wherein they would die. 386 Again, addressing Adam and his people and Iblis and his people God admonishes all of them to accept His Prophets when they should appear among them from time to time. 387 All this shows that the Jinn of the time of Adam and their leader Iblis were of the human race. The genii of the fables do not live in company with men nor are they in any other way connected with men. The Quran does not lend any support to the idea of the Jinn of the fables. Those whom the Quran describes as Jinn in connection with Adam were human beings who dwelt upon the earth but whose mental faculties were not yet fully developed. When the stage of the