The Importance of Anthropology In addition to the general...

The Importance of Anthropology In addition to the general aspects of the importance of understanding human nature, anthropology is especially significant from the religious perspective. The understanding of humanity and the mysteries of its being open up new doorways to understanding God. Humans are the only creation that can be the manifestation and absolute mirror of the Supreme Truth.

Thus, similar to the exterior world, our inner being is also a focus of divine signs: ﴿سَنُريهم آياتِنا في الآفاقِ و في أَنفسِهم حتّی يَتبيّن لهم أَنَّه الحقّ﴾ “We shall soon reveal unto them Our signs in the horizons and in themselves, till it is clear to them that He is the Supreme Truth (that it is the truth).” [^2] Moreover, the Qur’an considers neglecting oneself concomitant with neglecting God: ﴿نَسُوا اللهَ فَأَنساهُم أَنفسَهم﴾ “They forgot Allah so He caused them to forget themselves.” [^3] Various Hadiths also emphasize this concomitance.[^4] Additionally, anthropology has an intricate relationship with other Islamic ideological—like prophethood and resurrection—, moral and jurisprudential [fiqhī] teachings such that correct understanding of these teachings cannot be realized without understanding humanity.

The Creation of the Human Race According to Islamic belief, all humans that have ever existed, regardless of their racial, cultural, lingual, and other differences have arisen from a single and common origin. In the beginning, God created a single man and woman and the rest of humankind were born of their filiation. Thus, through consecutive generations, the number of humans slowly increased: “O People!

Be pious towards your Lord, who created you from a single soul (person), and from it created its mate, and scattered from them many men and women.”[^5] Accordingly, some Qur’anic verses call humans the children of Adam and in this way the Qur’an stresses their relationship with the first link in humanity’s history.[^6] Also, in several verses it is emphasized that Adam (‘a), who was the first human to lay foot on earth, has been created differently than the creation of his children because, in contrast to his descendants, he has not been born through the coupling of a man and woman.

Like many other truths in existence, the manner of genesis of the first human is hidden from us.

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