American Muslim Undergraduates’ Views on Evolution
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AMERICAN MUSLIM UNDERGRADUATES’ VIEWS ON EVOLUTION Khadija Engelbrecht Fouad Submitted to the Faculty of the University Graduate School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Education Indiana University May, 2016 ii Accepted by the Graduate Faculty, Indiana University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Doctoral Committee __________________________________________ Valarie L. Akerson, Ph. D. __________________________________________ Robert Dan Sherwood, Ph. D. __________________________________________ Gayle Anne Buck, Ph. D. __________________________________________ Sander Gliboff, Ph. D. February 25, 2016 iii Bismillah religious emblem from the Boy Scouts of America for Cub Scouts and Webelos Scouts. The Arabic text on the emblem states, “With the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Ever Merciful. All praise is due to God, the Master, Planner, Creator, Cherisher, and Sustainer of the worlds.” iv Khadija Engelbrecht Fouad AMERICAN MUSLIM UNDERGRADUATES’ VIEWS ON EVOLUTION A qualitative investigation into American Muslim undergraduates' views on evolution revealed three main positions on evolution: theistic evolution, a belief in special creation of all species, and a belief in special creation of humans with evolution for all non-human species. One can conceive of the manner in which respondents chose their respective positions on evolution as a means of reconciling their religious beliefs with scientific evidence in support of current evolutionary theory. Of 19 theistic evolutionists, 18 affirmed that revelation is a source of knowledge. 74% were convinced by the scientific evidence that evolution happens and did not see evidence in the Quran that contradicts this. 37% state that it is consistent with God’s attributes that He would have created organisms to evolve. That seeking knowledge in Islam is important was mentioned by 21%. All 19 participants with a belief in special creation of humans affirmed the idea that revelation is a source of knowledge and considered scientific evidence a source of knowledge as well. Their positions on evolution can be seen as a means of reconciling their religious beliefs with scientific evidence. They found scientific evidence convincing for all non-human species. They thought that humans could not have evolved because the creation of humans is treated with more detail in the Quran than is the creation of other species. Most accepted microevolution, but not macroevolution for humans. Those with a belief in the special creation of all species found the evidence in the Quran and hadith more convincing than scientific evidence. They interpreted the Quran and hadith as v indicating special creation of all species. They accommodated scientific evidence by accepting microevolution for all species. Because most respondents accepted microevolution for all species, teaching microevolution before macroevolution might be beneficial for Muslim students. Teachers helped some students navigate the relationship between science and religion to allow them to accept evolution without negating their religious beliefs. Providing role models who reconcile science and religion, Muslim evolutionary biologists, and examples of Muslim scientists from history can help accommodate acceptance of evolution by Muslims. __________________________________________ Valarie L. Akerson, Ph. D. __________________________________________ Robert Dan Sherwood, Ph. D. __________________________________________ Gayle Anne Buck, Ph. D. __________________________________________ Sander Gliboff, Ph. D. vi Table of Contents List of appendices xi List of tables xii List of figures xiv Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Cultural Border Crossings 1 Rationale for and Purpose of the Study 6 A Brief Introduction to Islam 8 Evolution in Islamic thought 9 Relevant verses of the Quran 9 Popular scholars’ ideas about evolution 12 Yusuf Estes 13 Yasir Qadhi 14 Hassanain Rajabali 18 Mirza Tahir Ahmad 23 Nation of Islam (NOI) 26 Muslims in America 29 Demographics 30 Muslim groups in America 31 A brief history of Islam 32 Sunni Islam 33 Shi’i Islam 33 Just Muslim 34 vii Nation of Islam 35 Muslim American Society 35 Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam 36 History of Islam in America 37 Theoretical Frameworks 38 Jasmine Zine’s critical faith-centred epistemology 38 Ian G. Barbour’s four-fold typology of ways people relate science and religion 45 Chapter 2: Literature Review 47 Best Practices for Pedagogy of Evolution 47 Muslim Students’ and Teachers’ Views of Evolution 51 Polling data 51 Quantitative studies 54 Qualitative studies 58 Summary of findings 65 Implications and recommendations 65 Chapter 3: Methods 68 Theoretical framework for qualitative research 69 The Researcher as the Instrument of Study 71 Sampling 75 Sampling limitations 78 Participant Characteristics 79 Instrumentation 80 GAENE 81 viii ACORNS 82 VNOS-C 83 Measures of religiosity 84 Correspondence between instruments, interview questions, and surveys 86 Data collection and analysis 89 Data collection 89 Question 1 91 Question 2 91 Question 3 91 Data Analysis 92 Qualitative interview questions 92 ACORNS 93 Dimensions of religiosity 94 NOS views 98 Demographic information 98 Question 1 99 Question 2 99 Question 3 100 Chapter 4: Results 101 Question 1 102 Stances towards evolution 102 Theistic evolutionist 107 Belief in the special creation of humans 110 ix Belief in the special creation of all species 113 Moral consequences for acceptance or rejection of evolution 117 Religiosity 125 The Quran is the word of God 126 Literal vs. metaphorical interpretation of scripture 130 Randomness 138 Time frame for evolution 141 ACORNS as a measure of understanding of evolution 145 GAENE as a measure of acceptance of evolution 149 Sources of respondents’ ideas on evolution 150 Question 2 162 Understandings of nature of science 163 Empirical NOS 163 Scientific methods 164 Tentative NOS 167 Hypotheses, theories, and laws 169 Observation, inference and theoretical entities 172 Theory-laden NOS 176 Socially and culturally embedded NOS 177 Creative and imaginative NOS 178 Relationship between NOS views and stances on evolution 180 Views on the relationship between science and religion 181 Integration 181 x Dialog 182 Independence 183 Conflict 184 No conflict 185 There is conflict for others, but not for Islam 188 Question 3 189 Samra 189 Nadira 190 Sulayman 193 Sana 197 Ali 202 Sauda 205 Overview of highly religious accepters of evolution 206 Chapter 5: Discussion and Implications 210 Limitations 221 Interview question to elicit stances on evolution 221 GAENE 222 VNOS-C 223 The researcher as the instrument of study 225 Religiosity surveys 229 Pedagogical Implications 232 Directions for Further Research 237 References 239 xi List of Appendices Appendix A: Interview Questions 247 Appendix B: Religious beliefs and practices survey 249 Appendix C: Views of Nature of Science Questionnaire Form C 252 Appendix D: Demographic information 254 Appendix E: Generalized Acceptance of EvolutioN Evaluation 256 Appendix F: Illustrative Examples of Responses to VNOS Items 257 Appendix G: ACORNS Scoring Rubrics 262 Appendix H: Large Tables 272 Curriculum vitae xii List of Tables Table 1: Muslim Americans: Who Are They? 31 Table 2: Muslim Religious Affiliation 32 Table 3: American Context: Evolution is the best explanation for the origins of human life 52 Table 4: Methods of Data Collection and Analysis 90 Table 5: Theistic Evolutionists – Relationship Between Science and Religion, Evolution Understanding, Evolution Acceptance, Religiosity, and Demographic Information 273 Table 6: Those With a Belief in the Special Creation of Humans – Relationship Between Science and Religion, Evolution Understanding, Evolution Acceptance, Religiosity, and Demographic Information 274 Table 7: Those With a Belief in the Special Creation of All Species– Relationship Between Science and Religion, Evolution Understanding, Evolution Acceptance, Religiosity, and Demographic Information 275 Table 8: Theistic Evolutionists – Elements of Religiosity 276 Table 9: Those With a Belief in the Special Creation of Humans – Elements of Religiosity 277 Table 10: Those With a Belief in the Special Creation of All Species – Elements of Religiosity 278 Table 11: Theistic Evolutionists – Views of Nature of Science 279 Table 12: Those With a Belief in the Special Creation of Humans – Views of Nature of Science 280 Table 13: Those With a Belief in the Special Creation of All Species – Views of Nature of Science 281 Table 14: Highly Religious Theistic Evolutionists – Demographic Information 207 xiii Table 15: Highly Religious Theisitic Evolutionists’ Understandings of Nature of Science 207 Table 16: Religious Views of Highly Religious Accepters of Evolution 208 xiv List of Figures Figure 1: Acceptance of Evolution by Country 53 1 Chapter 1 – Introduction “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution,” Theodosius Dobzhansky famously titled his seminal 1973 paper. What is less well known is that he staked out his position as a theistic evolutionist in that same paper by declaring, “It is wrong to hold creation and evolution as mutually exclusive alternatives. I am a creationist and an evolutionist. Evolution is God’s or Nature’s method of creation” (Dobzhansky, 1973, p. 127). Yet, many people have difficulty accepting biological evolution because they believe that this acceptance would run counter to their religious faith. They are somehow unable to