Evolving Creation: An Ismaili Muslim Interpretation of Evolution

Abstract

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).