Science in the Glorious Quran: Diversity of Living Things
The phenotype of a living creature is based on its characteristic traits, which are inherited through genes. The role of genes was discovered by Mendel between 1856 and 1863. On the other hand, the environment plays a much lesser effect on traits, such as the effect of the sun on the skin colors of humans. Wilhelm Johannsen, in 1911, discovered the effect of environmental factors on phenotypic variations and coined the terms ‘genotype’ and ‘phenotype’.
It was in 1735 when Carl Linnaeus set up the biological classification, or what is called taxonomy, in his ‘Systema Naturae’ and subsequent works.
Interestingly, the Glorious Qur’an – revealed more than 14 centuries ago– has referred to the presence of floral diversity and to distinct faunal classes as omam.
Faunal Diversity: “Omam”
“وَمَا مِن دَابَّةٍ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَلَا طَائِرٍ يَطِيرُ بِجَنَاحَيْهِ إِلَّا أُمَمٌ أَمْثَالُكُم ۚ مَّا فَرَّطْنَا فِي الْكِتَابِ مِن شَيْءٍ ۚ ثُمَّ إِلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ يُحْشَرُونَ” (الأنعام: 38).
“There is not a moving (living) creature on Earth, nor a bird that flies with its two wings, but are communities (omam) like you. We have neglected nothing in the Book.” (Qur’an, 6:38)
In humans, there are genes responsible for each characteristic, such as the color of the skin. The degree of pigmentation of human skin is decided by a set of genes. Nonetheless, the environment, like the exposure to sunlight, affects the intensity of the skin color (phenotype).
The above verse of the Qur’an states that people are classified according to their phenotypic features or traits into omam, as are all other moving or flying creatures.
Differences in genotypes and phenotypes of humans were realised thousands of years ago. The apparent variations of humans (omam) were recorded on the walls of the temples of the Egyptian pharaoh, Ramses III. However, the observation of variations in the traits of the same Genus–or species of animals (like insects, reptiles, birds, jaguar, etc.), which is referred to as “omam”, in the verse above — was not realized by scientists until the late 18th and early 20th centuries.
Differences in human’s traits (omam) were depicted as early as the time of the Pharaoh, Ramses III, in Egypt
“And of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, as well as the difference of your languages and colour” (Qur’an, 30:22).
Zonotrichia albicollis with black-and-white-striped morph.
Zonotrichia albicollis with brown-and-tan-striped morph
Light-morph jaguar
Dark-morph jaguar
Genotypic and phenotypic variations result in the formation of different features in the species, which leads to their classification into omam as shown in the pictures above.
Different frog species of the genus Micrixalus