Scientific Interpretation of the Quran (Al-Tafsir al-'Ilmi)

Definition: Directing Quranic verses toward modern empirical scientific discoveries — deriving cosmological, medical, and physical truths from them.

Scholarly positions — three views:

1. Absolute prohibition: Al-Shatibi and Al-'Izz ibn Abd al-Salam — the Quran was revealed for guidance, not empirical science. Scientific tafsir imposes meanings not originally intended.
2. Absolute permission: Al-Ghazali in Ihya' Ulum al-Din — all sciences of ancients and moderns are derivable from the Quran.
3. Permitted with conditions (contemporary majority): Al-Sha'rawi, Ibn Ashur, and others — permissible within strict guidelines.

Conditions for accepted scientific tafsir:

• The scientific fact must be definitively established, not a disputed hypothesis.
• The verse must linguistically harmonize with the scientific fact without strain.
• No original linguistic or Sharia meaning should be disabled by the scientific interpretation.
• The scientific meaning must not be claimed as the sole intended meaning of the verse.

Accepted example: "And the heaven We built with strength, and indeed We are expanding it." (51:47) — "musi'un" aligns with the scientifically confirmed expansion of the universe, and fits the linguistic context.