Do Ismailis believe in Evolution?
Short answer: Kind of?? Yes, they believe in evolution, but things didn't evolve in the way us unenlightened ones have come to believe.
I was researching about Das Avatar lately and found an old thread about Smileys believing there was a Fish Imam and Turtle Imam and a Bacteria Imam
Spotlight on the Ancient Imams: meet Mowlana ... E. Coli??
I started reading one of the links there about "84 lakh" - a discussion on Ismaili.net forums. There is some debate there about Lakh Chorasi referring to reincarnation/rebirth - either physically or esoterically, because the ginans say things like
>Oh brothers, we will give 8.4 millions births to a single soul
and in these (births) 84 births are (reserved) for human being.
Prolific poster kmaherali actually changes his mind in the thread. Starting from the position:
>In my opinion "lakh chorasi" are mental cycles one goes through until one finds the Light of faith. It is wandering from one state of mind to another until certainty of faith through spiritual enlightenment is achieved. No physical rebirths as per Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah.
he later says
>I have changed my views since I made the post. Physical rebirths do happen, but as Ismailis we must aspire for higher life and hopefully not to undergo physical rebirths.
and
>I checked the Farman yesterday. The lakh chorasi actually means 184,000 rebirths in non-human forms. In my opinion the number alludes figuratively to many many life forms before the appearance of man. It does not imply the exact number.
All very confusing stuff, probably because
> In the Farmans there is always room for allegorical interpretation.
Thankfully, the Admin stepped in and provided a useful link, giving the explanation from the highly respected Missionary Alwaez Abu Aly:
>Our Holy Ginans are full of details about evolution. ...“Lakh Chorasi” mentioned in our Ginans is nothing else but the theory of evolution. If you read “Moman Chitwaini” by our Holy Pir Sadruddin, you will get the full explanation about evolution and the process of creation. This book contains 630 stanzas but the language is difficult. It requires an expert to understand it.
So I thought that settles it - the ginans fully explain evolution. But as I read on, I discovered that the Ismaili Theory of Evolution is very different from Darwinian evolution. For one thing, according to the Ismaili Theory of Evolution:
>It has taken 4,313,000 years of evolution from the amoeba to man of today. Some details:
> - It took the amoeba 432,000 years to evolve into a fish.
> - It took the fish 432,000 years to evolve into a tortoise.
> - It took the tortoise 432,000 years to evolve to a mammal like water hog.
> - It took the water hog 432,000 years to evolve to a higher form of mammal like a lion.
> - It took the lion 432,000 years to evolve to an ape such as a chimpanzee or sometimes known as the missing link.
> - It took that ape 432,000 years to evolve to the first man with intelligence. He was actually the ADAM known as ABUL BASHR.
> After another 432,000 years’ period of development, the civilized man appeared during the period of the first RAMA (there are hundreds of kings known as Rama) who lived about 864,000 years ago.
Mind blown. But there's more. This is just the latest cycle of life - it has appeared before and gone extinct many times:
> According to our Holy Ginans, the Wonderful Tradition, life started on earth thousands of million years ago. It was destroyed after a certain evolution for many millions of years. After the elapse of some millenniums, life reappeared on earth. There were many such cycles of life and destruction.
And apparently, the earth was once much closer to the Sun?
> In the beginning, the earth was not so far away from the sun. Life started first in the north, perhaps in the arctic region because this was the first part of the earth to cool down. As the north became unbearably cold, the creatures moved down toward the tropical zone. One-third of the species became extinct in the process of evolution.
I'm not sure if that was the first cycle of life or the current cycle.
Anyway, at the bottom of the page, is linked this helpful chart:
https://www.ismaili.net/granths/ginanihist.jpg
Which I think says that the Fish Imam and the Tortoise Imam and the Hog Imam all appeared before vegetation was even in an early stage? And that the Rig Veda is older than insect or bacteria?
I admit I am not an expert enough to understand ginans and farmans and the nuances of esoteric and allegorical interpretation, but I thought I understood evolution. As it turns out though,
> Scientists are gradually discovering now what Hazrat Pir Sadruddin had told us six hundred years ago.
So maybe soon there will be a revolution in our understanding of evolution. Perhaps AI will understand the difficult language of the ginans and help these scientists discover the truth of the Ismaili Theory of Evolution?