The Atlas is among Yahya’s more ecumenical works. It isn’t afraid to quote the Qur’an or to invoke the name of Allah, but most of it would make perfect sense to a creationist Christian (except this particular blend of old-earth creationism doesn’t much lend itself to Genesis). In other books, such as Why Darwinism Is Incompatible with the Qur’an, he speaks more directly to Muslims. Nowhere is he reluctant to proclaim a Muslim identity. He does, however, like to reach out to Christians by talking about the imminent coming of Christ.

I do agree that it is wrong to label anti-evolutionism as flat-out aligned with post-colonial Islam. In my next article on Yahya, projected for the March issue of Search magazine, I will argue that Muslims are anything but doomed to creationism. I think it is very much an open question, one where there is a lot of room for creativity.

So in understanding the significance of Yahya’s work, I think it’s more helpful to place him in a broader, globalized context of those who oppose the outcomes of a Darwinian, scientific age rather than a post-colonial Muslim world. I’m not familiar with his work…Do any parts of the Atlas speak specifically to a Muslim audience?

Note that the article in Search will not feature the complete interview, but probably even less about it; instead, it will focus on contextualizing Yahya and Islamic creationism in general. If you want to see the full interview, you can watch it here.

And I do believe I’ve seen pictures of Darwin in the Yahya corpus where the images are edited to make him look a lot scarier.