Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu. May Allaah bless you for your good work. I already sent you this question, but the answers that you sent me did not really answer my questions. I have a question concerning the age of man: How long have humans been on earth according to islamic teachings? According to scientists, modern humans were present on earth 50.000 years ago. But the Islamic sources say that between Adam and Nuh (may Allaahs peace and blessings be upon them), there were 10 Qarn (generations), and between Nuh and Ibraheem (may Allaahs peace and blessings be upon them), there were the same amount of Qarn, although the hadith concerning the second time mentioned has been a subject of Ikhtilaaf (difference in opinion among the scholars). How is one to harmonize the Islamic sources with the words of the scientists in this regard? In the answer that you sent me, you said that the words of scientists in this regard are not a problem because we do not say when Aadam (peace be upon him) came down to earth. The issue, however, is that Aadam and his descendents were much taller than we are - so the human beings that we have found and that are said to be 50.000 years old can not be of the time of Adam because they have the same size as we do. Thank you for your effort. May Allaah bless you. Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu.

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger. 

We would like to thank you for contacting us. You should know that the topic that you are researching and asking questions about is of no real benefit. The Muslim should not preoccupy himself with such pointless matters and should devote his time and efforts to what is needed and beneficial for his worship and creed.

We have no further information aside from what has been already clarified in the fataawa 224266and 291703 to which we have referred you earlier. These fataawa underlined that there is no authentic religious text with decisive and clear indication stating the length of human existence on earth. Rather, there are texts and reports underlining some issues related to this topic. However, these texts and reports are not of decisive and clear indications and are not pertinent to the age of human life on earth and when exactly human life on earth began.

Allaah knows best.