Al-Jahiz, The Muslim Scientist Philosopher Who Formulated Theory of Evolution a Thousand Years Before Darwin, Detailed in The Book of Animals. The encyclopedia presents 350 species
(BBC). About a thousand years before Darwin, an Iraqi Muslim philosopher, Abu Usman Amr Bahr Alkanani al-Basri, wrote the book Kitab al-Hayawan (The Book of Animals), in which he describes how animals change through a process he also called natural selection.
(BBC). Also known as Al-Jahiz, Abu Usman was born in 776 in the city of Baçorah, southern Iraq, at a time when the Mutazilah movement—a school of theological thought that defended the exercise of human reason—was growing in the region at the height of the Abbasid caliphate.
Academic works were translated from Greek to Arabic, and Baçorá chaired important debates about religion, science, and philosophy that shaped the mind of Al-Jahiz and helped him formulate his ideas.
The paper had been introduced to Iraq by Chinese merchants, which prompted the dissemination of ideas, and the young Al-Jahiz began writing on various topics.
His interests covered many academic areas, such as science, geography, philosophy, Arabic grammar and literature.
He is believed to have published 200 books during his lifetime, but only one-third have survived to this day.
THE BOOK OF THE ANIMALS
His most famous work, The Book of Animals, was conceived as an encyclopedia featuring 350 species. In it, Al-Jahiz posits ideas that are very close to Darwin's theory of evolution.
"Animals are engaged in a fight for existence and resources, to avoid being eaten and reproducing," Al-Jahiz writes.
"Environmental factors influence organisms causing them to develop new characteristics to ensure survival, thus transforming them into new species. "
He continues: "Animals that survive to reproduce can pass on their successful traits to their offspring."
To survive, animals had to possess competitive characteristics to find food, avoid turning over food from others, and reproduce. That made them change from generation to generation.
Al-Jahiz ideas influenced other later Muslim thinkers. His work was read by the likes of Al-Farabi, Al-Arabi, Al-Biruni, and Ibn Khaldun.
Pakistan's "spiritual father" Muhammad Iqbal, aka Allama Iqbal, acknowledged the importance of Al-Jahiz in his collection of lectures, published in 1930.
Iqbal pointed out that "it was Al-Jahiz who pointed out the changes taking place in the lives of animals due to migration and environmental changes."
'THEORY OF MAOMETANA'
The contribution of the Muslim world to the idea of evolution was no secret to 19th-century European intellectuals. Indeed, a contemporary of Darwin, the scientist William Draper, spoke of the "Mohammed theory of evolution" in 1878.
However, there is no evidence that Darwin knew al-Jahiz's work or that he understood Arabic.
Science journalist Ehsan Masood, who ran a series for the BBC called Islam and Science, says it's important to remember others who contributed to the history of evolutionary thought.
Ehsan Masood also points out that creationism did not appear to exist as a significant movement in 9th-century Iraq, when Baghdad and Bazarah were major centers of advanced education in Islamic civilization.
“Scientists did not spend hours examining Revelation landscapes to see if they were comparable to the knowledge observed in the natural world,” Masood wrote in an article on al-Jahiz in the British newspaper The Guardian.
https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/internacional-47577118
