This is a tough question and I would love for your eminence to answer it: As Salaam Alaykum Warahmatulahi Wabarakatuhu Unfortunately I have been tainted by western thought and because of that I am forced to ask the following question as it has been bothering me for some time. We know as Muslims that the first man on earth was Adam. However, we also know that scientifically there were two races of humanoids. One group that look exactly like us and the others who were known a Neanderthals. The most up to date research indicate that Neanderthals were very simple people and didn’t really have a religion or any complex concepts of God. In fact most scientists say that there is nothing that shows that Neanderthals had a religion per say. How do we understand the origin of humanity with these creatures in light of Islam and is there any mention of them or other creatures prior to humans?
All praise be to Allah and may His peace and blessings be on His final messenger, Muhammad.
Dear Enquirer,
I would like to commend you for wanting to know the Islamic position on the matters you mentioned in your question. I will have my answers in points:
1- It seems, to me, that you are speaking about those creations with a level of certainty that is unattainable through the available scientific data. Allah said:
“مَا أَشْهَدتُّهُمْ خَلْقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَلَا خَلْقَ أَنفُسِهِمْ وَمَا كُنتُ مُتَّخِذَ الْمُضِلِّينَ عَضُدًا”
“I called them not to witness the creation of the heavens and the earth, nor (even) their own creation: nor is it for Me to take as helpers such as lead (men) astray!” Al-Kahf, Chapter #18, Verse #51
The different types of research in the disciplines of paleontology, archaeology and paleoanthropology, which are conducted to find out about ancient and extinct creations rely predominantly on fossils, which are scarce and provide a very fractured, incomplete and easily contested image of those creations. At times, they find a piece of skull, and through imagination, and sometimes computer animations, they recreate the skull, and if a piece of a body was found, there they would have – they think – all they need to make an image of that creature, which will soon earn a name and become a fact!
The reliance on fossils is what led Darwin to his evolution theory, which was later contested through the fossil record itself, and when it failed to stand the counter rebuttals and true scientific examination using more modern tools, its supporters came up with Modified Darwinism, Neo Darwinism,…etc.
Some of this “science” is in fact, pseudo-science, although some is real. These disciplines are not like chemistry and physics, but a hybrid between science, art, as well as ideology.
2- There could have been creatures before us that became extinct, for Allah said:
“وَيَخْلُقُ مَا لاَ تَعْلَمُونَ”
“…and He has created (other) things of which ye have no knowledge.” An-Nahl, Chapter #16, Verse #8
Also, when Allah informed the Angels that He will create humans to inhabit the earth, they said:
“أَتَجْعَلُ فِيهَا مَن يُفْسِدُ فِيهَا وَيَسْفِكُ الدِّمَاءَ وَنَحْنُ نُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِكَ وَنُقَدِّسُ لَكَ قَالَ إِنِّي أَعْلَمُ مَا لاَ تَعْلَمُونَ.”
“Wilt Thou place therein one who will make mischief therein and shed blood?- whilst we do celebrate Thy praises and glorify Thy holy (name)?” He said: “I know what ye know not.” Al-Baqara, Chapter #2, Verse #30
Many scholars said, they were basing their assumptions about what humans will do on the previous inhabitants of Earth, which they usually say were jinn, but this is not confirmed by the revelation. Could there have been other creatures? Possible. Are they the Neanderthals? Allah knows best but let us first scientifically confirm the existence of those creatures, which we have not done yet.
3- We know that Adam did not evolve from another line of creation, and that Allah created him at one point from soil with His hands, for he said:
“قَالَ يَا إِبْلِيسُ مَا مَنَعَكَ أَن تَسْجُدَ لِمَا خَلَقْتُ بِيَدَيَّ أَسْتَكْبَرْتَ أَمْ كُنتَ مِنَ الْعَالِينَ”
((Allah)) said: “O Iblis! What prevents thee from prostrating thyself to one whom I have created with my hands? Art thou haughty? Or art thou one of the high (and mighty) ones?” Sad, Chapter #38, Verse #75
And said:
“إِنَّ مَثَلَ عِيسَى عِندَ اللّهِ كَمَثَلِ آدَمَ خَلَقَهُ مِن تُرَابٍ ثُمَّ قَالَ لَهُ كُن فَيَكُونُ”
“The similitude of Jesus before Allah is as that of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him: “Be”. And he was.” Aal-e-Imran, Chapter #3, Verse #59
4- We also believe that Adam (pbuh) was a great prophet of God, to whom Allah spoke directly, as clear in the Quran and Sunnah. Thus, he was the farthest from being uncivilized. In light of that, the various stages of the progress of civilization, as posed by modern archaeologists need a serious revision, for they don’t have enough scientific backing to some of their assumptions. Moreover, the presence of uncivilized or primitive people is not enough to prove that this is where humanity started, because those populations could have, due to isolation, suffered from regression.
I hope this answer was satisfactory.
Allah knows best.