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Quranic Sciences
Surah: Al-Anbiya (30)
Medical and Scientific Inimitability — Accepted Examples and Prohibitions
أَوَلَمۡ يَرَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوٓاْ أَنَّ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضَ كَانَتَا رَتۡقٗا فَفَتَقۡنَٰهُمَا
— الأنبياء الآية 30
Meaning:
Scientific inimitability: correspondence between Quranic allusions and recently discovered scientific facts — used as evidence that the Quran is from Allah.
Accepted examples (permitted by the majority of contemporary scholars):
Scientific inimitability: correspondence between Quranic allusions and recently discovered scientific facts — used as evidence that the Quran is from Allah.
Accepted examples (permitted by the majority of contemporary scholars):
- "Did those who disbelieve not see that the heavens and earth were one mass and We split them?" (21:30) — allusion to the Big Bang theory.
- "We made from water every living thing" (21:30) — water as the basis of life.
- Embryonic stages "a clot, then a chewed lump" (23:14) — correspondence with modern embryology.
- Linking verses to unstable scientific theories — if the theory changes, the Quran appears challenged.
- Interpreting a verse in a way no early scholar held without necessity.
- Claiming the Quran is a science textbook detailing all disciplines — it is a book of guidance.
- Asserting that a Quranic allusion means exactly the modern scientific concept — this is presumptuous.
Source: Al-Ijaz al-Ilmi fi al-Quran — Zaghlul al-Najjar (with scholarly observations); Islamic Research Assembly resolutions; Ibn Kathir, Tafsir (5/339)
Test Yourself
What is the comprehensive criterion for acceptable scientific inimitability? Name two prohibitions.
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