Allah is the Absolute Controller of every event that has taken place, is taking place, and will take place.
Every living thing in the universe has been given life by Allah, and Allah alone is sustaining every second of its life. If a species survives better than another in a particular environment, it is because Allah allowed it to live more days, and He willed for its posterity to continue.
Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqi, former President of the Islamic Society of North America, states the following: There are many theories of evolution. Some of them are acceptable according to Islam, while there are others that are not acceptable. If by evolution one means the development and growth that Allah Almighty has placed in the nature of His creation, then this is acceptable and the Qur’an itself talks about it. Allah has power to say “Be” and everything will become. But He created the heaven and earth in six days, as mentioned in the Qur’an (Al-A’raf 7:54; Yunus 10:3; Hud 11:7; Al-Furqan 25:59; As-Sajdah 32:4; Qaf 50:38; Al-Hadid 57:4; Al-Mujadilah 58:4).
The word “six days” does not necessarily mean six days of twenty-four hours duration each. It could also mean six periods whose duration is known to Allah alone. The word “day” is used in the Qur’an for various lengths or periods of time. It could mean 24 hours, or one thousand years (Al-Hajj 22:47) or fifty thousand years (Al-Ma`arij 70:4) or even more. However, this process of time does indicate some kind of evolution that was created by Allah and directed by Him.
The theory of evolution that postulates that the whole creation came by itself and nature evolved itself by mutation, selection and fixation, et cetera, is not acceptable in Islam. This is an atheistic theory and it has no sensible rational and logical foundation. Everyone knows that nature has so many possibilities and variables; how could all these variables have selected, mutated and fixed themselves in such a way that an orderly universe came out and continues to exist and flourish?
To say that all these things happened by themselves is nothing but absurd. It is like saying that words collapsed, mutated and then fixed into a wonderful encyclopaedia by themselves. Or books mutated themselves and then fixed into a well-organized library. Nothing happened or happens by itself. There is a Creator Who has created everything, whether at once or through the process of growth and development. Islam also teaches us that human beings are a special creation of Allah. Allah created Adam and his wife Eve (peace and blessings be upon them), and then through them created many men and women. We do not accept the theory (it is important to keep in mind that this is only a theory and not a fact) that says that all living organisms came from matter and man evolved from lower living organisms. There is a link between the human body and other living organisms, but this does not prove that one is evolved from the other.