And any human are not made of dust (Genesis) or clay (Qur'an).
Cells are not dust or clay.
Copied from #329
Al-Quran is only in the Arabic language. A translation to other languages is not Quran. It’s interpretations of Quran. Multiple different translations can be found in each language and it depends on the understanding of the translator.
The translation of Surah Al-Hijr 26 is “Assuredly we have created humankind from salsaalim min hama im masnoon"
“salsaalim min hama im masnoon" means a plastic substance from earthy mixture of solid material and water that has its color darkened and odor changed due to prolonged decomposition of organic material present in the mixture. (“حمأ مسنون" means old sludge).
About 98% of the mass of living cells is composed of four elements carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen. The remaining 2% includes phosphorus, sulphur, calcium iron, zinc, sodium, potassium, chlorine, selenium, iodine, and small amounts of other elements.
Considering the chemistry conservation principle, organisms would retain their chemical traits as a reflection of the environment from which it originated. If this is the case, then there is no substance in any environment on earth that reflects the elements/chemistry of the living cell better than “حمأ مسنون" as explained above. A 2013 study by Cornell University suggested that life might have evolved in Clay.
It’s interesting that when Darwin proposed that life may have originated in some warm little pond with all sort of elements (in his letter to Joseph Hooker), the idea was appealing to many till today.
The difference here is we are talking about an intelligently guided (intentional) process not a random process. The hypothesized emergence of a living cell (complex internally intelligent system) through slow random process from nonliving mater is not possible simply because any biomolecules that may have emerged from nonliving mater through an unknown process, will decompose relatively very quickly before it gets any chance to change into something more complex. (It will not wait millions of years to get the other essential molecules. It will simply decompose.) See # 236.
We don’t know what life is but we do know beyond any doubt that a single living cell is an extremely complex structure beyond any thing that could be possibly engineered by man and that there is absolutely no process in nature through which nonliving matter could be transformed into the extremely complex living cell.
We can neither explain how a single cell would emerge from nonliving matter nor we have the slightest idea what life itself is.
Fundamental answers with respect to “Beginnings” are not attainable through science, it’s beyond the jurisdictions of science. Any thing that cannot be observed, replicated or get experienced with is beyond the jurisdictions of science. But we can logically understand that objective reality doesn’t stop at the point where we cannot see any further. We don’t and cannot identify the limits of objective reality.
Again this thread is about the ToE, religious beliefs/concepts are beyond this discussion.
Dust are lifeless husk. Neither are origin of cells of any organisms.
Under abiotic conditions, what is your understanding of the nonliving matter that played a role in the first abiotic synthesis that resulted the primordial organic soup from which life on earth allegedly originated? What are the components of the alleged primordial soup? Did it include dust particles (interplanetary dust)?
Dust cannot physically transform into organic matters like cells...unless magic are involved, and no such magic exist.
What is magic?
We identify unknown causes for observed end results, as magic but there is no such thing as magic. The observed end results prove that a cause is necessary. The nature of the cause may be unknown or not understood but it doesn’t mean that there is no cause.
Magic is simply a category of causes that are unknown but these causes must exist as evident by the existence of the witnessed end results itself. The point is, there is no magic but there are causes beyond our knowledge or understanding.
We understand that the entire universe appeared out of nothing. You may call that magic in the sense that the cause is unknown or beyond the limit of human knowledge but it’s not magic. There is no magic. It’s a cause of an unknown nature (beyond our capacity to observe or comprehend).
In our realm of existence, there is no such thing as magic/uncaused entity but beyond our realm of existence a causeless first cause must exist. This is a separate discussion, you may See#132 on page 7 of the thread (Necessary Being: Exists?)
Necessary Being: Exists? - Mainly addressing atheists