Presumptions About God's Wisdom in Muslim Arguments for and Against Evolution

Abstract

Wisdom‐based arguments recognize that God has the power to act or refrain from acting in a certain way, but His wisdom dictates a particular course of action. Such arguments have been applied on both sides of the creation/evolution debate among Muslims. This article analyzes a number of contemporary wisdom‐based arguments for and against evolution in light of how God's wisdom is understood by classical Muslim theologians of the three canonical Sunnī schools of Ashʿarism, Māturīdism, and Atharism/Salafism. It finds that there is a considerable disconnect between these contemporary arguments and how God's wisdom has been traditionally understood. It also examines the high level of subjectivity exhibited by these arguments and the potential negative impact this subjectivity could have on the broader debate.