8. Are we all descendants of Adam?

Becoming Bani Adam: Exploring Twelver-Shii Discussions on Human Ancestry - Mizan Institute

This episode discusses the scriptural evidence for the idea that Adam (a) is the forefather of all of humanity today. The answer to this question from a scriptural perspective is multi-fold. The ahadith are pretty clear that he is, however the Qur’an does not include much in a literal way, except for in the first verse of Surat an-Nisa. Various Twelver-Shii scholars opine that the literal meaning of this verse, or its dhuhur, indicates that all of humanity today are the offspring solely of Adam and Eve with no third-parties. However, in the event that there is definitive evidence otherwise, this dhuhur is not binding to a literal understanding of the verse. This is possibly the most crucial question in the series and this episode will break it down in detail. References Qur’anic References: Q.4:1 Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, “Genetics,” The Smithsonian Institution’s Human Origins Program, March 2010, http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/genetics. “Behind the Science” The Genographic Project: National Geographic, accessed February 20, 2015, https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/science-behind/ Dennis R Venema, Adam and the Genome: Reading Scripture after Genetic Science (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2017). Dennis Venema, “Adam, Eve, and Human Population Genetics Part 4: Signature in the SNPs” The Biologos Forum: Science and Faith in Dialogue, modified January 16th, 2015, http://biologos.org/blog/signature-in-the-snps. “Modern Human Diversity- Genetics” Smithsonian Natural Museum of Natural History, accessed February 20, 2015, http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/genetics/skin-color/modern-human-diversity-genetics Lin Edwards, “Humans were Once an Endangered Species” phys.org, modified January 21st, 2010, http://phys.org/news183278038.html. Nature Research Ecology & Evolution Community, “Adam and Eve: A Tested Hypothesis?,” Nature Research Ecology & Evolution Community, October 28, 2017, https://natureecoevocommunity.nature.com/users/24561-richard-buggs/posts/22075-adam-and-eve-a-tested-hypothesis. Ewen Callaway, “Genetic Adam and Eve did not live too far apart in time” Nature, modified August 6th, 2013, http://www.nature.com/news/genetic-Adam-and-eve-did-not-live-too-far-apart-in-time-1.13478#/b2. Douglas L. T. Rohde, Steve Olson & Joseph T. Chang, “Modelling the recent common ancestry of all living humans” Nature 431, 562-566 (30 September 2004). http://www.nature.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/nature/journal/v431/n7008/full/nature02842.html