The story of Darwin’s theory of evolution in Iran

Prof Hassan Akbari Beiragh, Semnan University, Iran

Darwin’s theory of evolution caused considerable controversy among conservative Christians, but his ideas were not immediately available to Muslims. The first Arabic excerpts of Darwin’s work were made in 1876 by a Syrian Christian who was influenced by pro-creationist Protestant missionaries. This article provides a brief historical overview of the debate among Muslim scholars about Darwin’s theory of evolution. The range of reactions to Darwinian evolution in the Muslim world has included that of traditionalist scholars, to that of Western-trained Muslim scientists who see no contradiction between Darwinian evolution and Islamic religious beliefs.

In Iran, as one of the Islamic countries, Seyed Jamaluddin Asadabadi (1838–1897), was the one who presented the first narration of Darwin's theory in his well known work: Brochure about Naturalism or materialism. After that, Darwin's name and his theory of evolution entered Persian literature. But it should be mentioned that Iranian poets and writers did not have a correct and deep understanding of this theory.

This article tries to analyze the process of the introduction of Darwin's theory to Iran and the Persian-speaking world and the use of this theory in literary criticism and philosophical thinking among Iranian writers, during the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century.