SCIENTIFIC INTERPRETATION OF THE QURAN

Support Of Science

MANY Muslims believe that the Quran contains a lot of scientific information and that a scientific commentary of the Quran can be written. They go to such extremes to further this viewpoint that they become unscientific. For example, some say that the verse “Have We not lifted up your heart” (THE QURAN 94: 1), refers to the anatomy of the heart, and that the verse “You were heedless of this, but now we have removed your veil, so your sight today is sharp” (THE QURAN 50: 22), gives us ophthalmological insights, etc.

This theory is baseless. The Quran is not at all a book of science. As the Quran itself says, it is a book of guidance (THE QURAN 2: 2). However, it is true that modern scientific research facilitates our understanding of the Quran. For example, a verse of the Quran says, “… We have made every living thing out of water” (THE QURAN 21: 30).

This was known to earlier readers of the Quran, but a present-day reader studying this verse in the light of scientific discoveries becomes all the more convinced of the truth of the Quran.

Likewise, there is a verse in the Quran that says:

The sun cannot overtake the moon, nor can the night outpace the day: each floats in (its own) orbit.

(THE QURAN 36:40)

Clearly, the conviction of present-day readers is increased on comparing this with scientific discoveries. In this way, we become more convinced of the truth of the Quran.

Similarly, there are many other verses of the Quran regarding God's creation: nature, the heavens, mankind etc., the understanding of which has become much clearer with the insights that science has provided. Science has enlarged the canvas of God-realization through the Quran. In our scientific interpretation of the Quran, we have to differentiate between reality and exaggeration.