When did Adam live on the earth? How to reconcile between the Adam of religion and evolutionary findings? What does science tell us about Adam and Eve? Following excerpt is taken from the book “The Atheism Delusion” by Ahmed Al-Hasan:
Mapping the timeline
“Scientifically speaking, the Adam mentioned in religious scriptures could only have physically existed on earth after 100,000 BC. Yet, he had an evolutionary human lineage that goes back millions of years, which means that he was definitely born to two parents.
‘The evolutionary dividing line between Homo erectus and modern humans was not sharp. It extended over several hundred thousand years during the middle of the Pleistocene Epoch. Adding to the confusion about this important transitional period is the fact that some regions were ahead of others in the process of evolving into our species. The evolutionary changes above the neck that would lead to modern humans may have begun in Southern Europe and East Africa 800,000 – 700,000 years ago. Elsewhere in the Old World, this change apparently began around 400,000 years ago or later. The transition to our species, Homo sapiens, was not complete until around 100,000 years ago and even later in some regions’ (O’Neill, 2011).
When searching for the time that Adam existed (within the timeline of Homo sapiens and in a way that is consistent with scripture), we are restricted to the estimated period when the select group migrated out of Africa to the Arabian Peninsula and then elsewhere, about seventy thousand years ago. Based on genetic analysis, all humans on the earth today (with the exception of a few African tribes that descended from the Homo sapiens that remained in Africa) trace back to one small group. This group was the first to migrate out of Africa to the Arabian Peninsula about seventy thousand years ago.
Some human migrations to Asia and Europe date back to approximately sixty and forty thousand years ago, respectively. The offspring of the original group that traveled from Africa to the Arabian Peninsula made these migrations. Therefore, if we want to say that everyone on the earth today is physically from the offspring of the Adam of religion℗—except for some African tribes—and that Adam is from the offspring of the first group to migrate from Africa to the Arabian peninsula, then Adam must have been born into that group sometime after their migration. This small group became extinct later on except for Adam and his offspring, who survived, reproduced, and migrated throughout the rest of the earth.
Scientific Facts and Religious Scriptures
Many scientific explanations exist for the extinction of this first group’s offshoots on the Arabian Peninsula, especially since it was only habitable in the southern region containing water springs that were soon thereafter flooded by seawater. When we combine religious scripture with these scientific facts, there is no way that Adam existed earlier than seventy thousand years ago. In fact, according to certain religious scriptures, he must have been a descendant of the group that migrated out of Africa to the Arabian Peninsula.
The following religious scripture says that this African group of Homo sapiens made pilgrimage two thousand years before Adam’s existence, indicating that they were religiously accountable people who worshiped God in accordance with their circumstances, capabilities, and comprehension.
‘Zurara said: ‘I said to Imam Abu Abdullah℗, ‘May I be of service to you. I have been asking you about pilgrimage for forty years and you always have an answer.’ He said, ‘O Zurara, pilgrimage was made to this house two thousand years before Adam existed, so why would you think that questions about pilgrimage would end in just forty years?’’
Therefore, factual scientific evidence combined with this religious text leads us to the conclusion that Adam was born into a religiously accountable family that belonged to the African migrant group. However, their souls were of a lower type than that of Adam and his children. Furthermore, Sumerian history within discovered texts shows that the Sumerians called their ancestors “the blackheaded people.” Therefore, the origins of the Sumerians trace back to the group that migrated out of Africa. After Anu, Enlil, Enki, and Ninhursag had fashioned the blackheaded people, Vegetation luxuriated from the earth. We can understand from this phrase that the color of their ancestors was black.”
The Atheism Delusion, Chapter 3
Ahmed Alhasan احمد الحسن