British Imam retracts views on Darwin’s theory of evolution
March 8th, 2011 - 2:51 pm ICT by ANILondon, Mar 8 (ANI): A British Imam has taken back his supporting statements theory of evolution and the right of Muslim women not to cover their hair after reportedly receiving death threats over his views.
Manu British Muslims do not believe in Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution
Dr Usama Hasan, a science lecturer, has voluntarily suspended his role in taking Friday prayers at Leyton Mosque in east London, saying that he went too far in the way he defended the theory of evolution, the BBC reports.
The senior lecturer at Middlesex University further acknowledged that many British Muslims believe in creationism, adding that he intended only to begin a debate.
In 2008, Dr Hasan had suggested on the Guardian newspaper’s website that Darwin’s theory of evolution was not incompatible with the teachings of Islam.
He wrote that there were many Muslim biologists who had no doubt about the essential correctness of evolutionary theory and he added: “Many believers in God have no problem with an obvious solution: that God created man via evolution.”
He had also alleged that many websites, videos and books produced by fundamentalist Muslim ‘creationists’ like those at www.harunyahya.com, were concealing clear scientific thinking.
“One problem is that many Muslims retain the simple picture that God created Adam from clay, much as a potter makes a statue, and then breathed into the lifeless statue and lo! it became a living human,” He had written.
“This is a children’s madrasa-level understanding and Muslims really have to move on as adults and intellectuals,” he added.
Dr Hasan had also claimed in a separate article that the need for women to cover their hair in public was cultural in origin, and that British Muslims should have the choice.
However, a number of fatwas were issued against him by Muslim scholars in several countries for his remarks.
Recently, it was reported that he was subjected to death threats when he delivered a lecture in January and that a leaflet campaign had been mounted against him, the report said. (ANI)
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Tags: british muslims, charles darwin, creationists, death threats, east london, fundamentalist muslim, guardian newspaper, imam, intellectuals, madrasa, middlesex university, muslim biologists, muslim scholars, muslim women, no doubt, scientific thinking, senior lecturer, teachings of islam, theory of evolution, usama