The scriptural texts assure us that we are descendants from a couple being sent down to the earth but not when our parent was first sent down to the earth, and then we are progenies down the generations through reproduction. We are able to understand complex mechanisms of human reproduction through modern knowledge to be accurate and exact by appropriate interpreting what has been described in the Quran, but we are not able to understand how long we are on the earth from it or from the texts of the other scriptures to establish as an acceptable data.
Discovery of science from DNA analysis
The oldest fossil remains of anatomically modern humans found in Morocco, Africa, which date to approximately 300,000 to 500,000 years ago. This is a genetic concept based on genetic evidence of a larger human population size at the time of our origins, but not from a single unique contemporary couple. Since the process of human evolution is gradual, there isn’t a single precise moment of creation for our species. No human DNA can be traced back to Adam and Eve found in the scriptural texts, but science has not disproven the existence of a literal Adam and Eve, while the possibility of a single, unique couple as the sole progenitors of humanity is scientifically implausible, even some scientific and theological perspectives suggest it may still be possible for humans to descend from a small ancestral population, which could align with the concept of a first couple.
According to the Bible
According to the Bible, humanity first appeared on the sixth day of creation, and Genesis says that the first man was Adam, while the first woman was Eve, and all human beings are their descendants. It also provides a very precise genealogical data from Adam to Abraham. It has a direct line back to Adam, which gives the time of each person lived, the father’s age at the birth of the son. Thus, it makes possible to deduce that Abraham was born 1948 years after Adam and he lived 175 years. It is found that 19 generations of human beings existed before Abraham. Today it is estimated that Abraham was alive in circa 1850 B.C. and it has been deduced from this that the information provided by the Old Testament places man’s appearance on earth at roughly thirty eight centuries B.C.
On the other hand the genealogy of Luke’s Gospel (3, 23-38) is different from Matthew’s Gospel (1, 1-17). Matthew’s Gospel genealogy is incomplete, while Luke’s Gospel listed 77 generation from Adam to Jesus. Thus, there are 76 generations of human beings existed before Jesus. Thus, the estimated time would be approximately 4,000 years from Adam to Jesus averaging 50 years per generation, while the lifespans were significantly longer in the early biblical history. However, according to the biblical commentators, the 77 generations in Luke’s Gospel serve a theological purpose, establishing Jesus’s lineage from Adam and connecting him to all humanity. Because of the inconsistent and symbolic nature of biblical generations, any calculation based on a fixed number of years is only an approximation.
However, if we calculate from Adam to Abraham 2,000 years, from Abraham to Jesus 3,000 years and from Jesus to now, the total is 7,000 years that the human being appeared on earth before approximately 7,000 years ago is very difficult to establish it as a fact from the inconsistent and the symbolic nature of biblical generations as we know now that the genealogies are clearly fabricated because of the implausible patterns. while the estimated years is not even close to the scientific data based on study of the oldest fossil remains of anatomically modern humans, which is approximately 500,000 years.
According to the Quran
Quran has given a very clear description of the descent of Adam and his wife from the Paradise to the earth as well as reproduction of human on earth. But it does not provide any genealogy of human being from Adam down to Jesus or to any particular generation, while there are no hints or histories that may be helpful to calculate how long ago the human being appeared on the earth using data derived from it. However, in it there are references of certain names and families in relation to being chosen ones, prophets, messengers and righteous along with the limited lineage, but the information is not adequate to be broken to create a genealogical tree from them.
[7:19] And O, Adam, dwell you and your wife in the Paradise, and eat both of you from wherever you wish, and you (both) do not approach this – the tree that you (both) would be with the wrongdoers.”
[7:20] Then the Satan whispered to both of them to display for both of them what has been concealed of their shame from both of them. And he said, “Your Lord have not forbidden you both from this – the tree, except that you two become angels, or you two become among the everlasting ones.”
[7:21] And he (Satan) had sworn to both of them, “Indeed, I am to both of you surely, of the good advisors.”
[7:22] Thus, he misled both of them by deception. Then when they both had tasted the tree, their shame became visible to both of them, and they both had begun to fasten over them from leaves of the Paradise. And their Lord called them both: “Did I not forbid you both from this – the tree, and say to you both that the Satan is an open enemy to you both?”
[7:23] They both said, “Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves, and if You do not forgive for us and have mercy on us, surely, we will be with the losers.”
[7:24] He said, “Go down as enemy to one of you to other, and for you there will be a dwelling place and livelihood in the earth for a while.”
[7:25] He said, “In it you will live and in it you will die, and from it you will be brought forth.”
[2:140] Or do you say that Abraham, and Ismail, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the Patriarchs had been Jews or Christians? Say, “Are you better knower or God?” And who is more unjust than whoever has concealed a testimony with him from God? And God is not unaware of what you do.”
[3:33] Indeed, God has chosen Adam, and Noah, and a family of Abraham, and a family of Imran among the people of the world.
[3:34] A progeny of one from other. And God is Hearer, Knower.
[3:35] When Imran’s wife said, “My Lord, indeed, I have vowed to You dedicated what is in my womb, so accept from me. Indeed, You are the Hearer, the Knower.”.
[3:36] Then when she delivered her (Mary), she said, “My Lord, indeed, I have delivered her a female. God knows of what she has delivered and it has not been the male like the female. And that I have named her Mary and that I seek refuge for her in You and her offspring from the Satan, the rejected.”
[3:37] So her Lord has accepted her a gracious acceptance and has brought her up a gracious upbringing, and has put her in care of Zakariya. Whenever Zakariya had entered upon her in the chamber he found provision with her. He said, “O Mary, from where is this for you?” She said, “It is from God.” Indeed, God provides for whomever He wills without reckoning.
[3:45] When the angels said, “O Mary, indeed, God gives you a good news with a word from Him – his name is the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary has an honor in the world and the Hereafter, and is among the nearer (to Him).
[6:84] And we had granted to him (Abraham) Isaac and Jacob – each we had guided. And Noah, we had guided from before (of them), and of his descendants: David, and Solomon, and Job, and Joseph, and Moses, and Aaron. And thus that we reward the good-doers.
Conclusion
It can be estimated from the bible texts that the human being appeared on earth approximately 8,000 to 10,000 years ago but the data in the bible are fictitious and inconsistent, thus implausible, while the data in the Quran are very general to make any approximation on when the human being appeared on earth but there is clear indication of the descent of Adam and his wife from the Paradise to the earth. Science gives us an approximation based on genetic studies on fossils that modern humans first appeared on Earth in Africa around 500,000 years ago through the evolution process, and has not disproven the origin of humans from a single unique couple of Adam and Eve as found in the scriptural texts. However, our estimation on the existence of the human being on the earth may be around 10,000 years, but there is no doubt that it would be more than that the human being existed on the earth, and if it is 500,000 years may not be an out number.
Scientists understood that the age of the universe is approx. 13.8 billion years, the age of the earth is 4.5 billion years, and the existence of first human being on the earth is calculated about 500,000 years ago, do not contradict the Quran, the most authentic scripture in the world. On the other hand the origin of other species would be through the process of evolution, which is not applicable in the case of the human being, and at the present stage however, it would seem that scientific data are unable to cast any light on this that goes beyond human understanding.
Peaceful Friday, salaam and God.
Tafazzal (09/05/2025)