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The Quran and modern science – 2: Faith and Reason

Friday Khutba by Dr Zahid Aziz, for Lahore Ahmadiyya UK, 15 May 2026

“Surely in the heavens and the earth are signs for believers. And in your creation, and in the animals He spreads all over, are signs for a people who are sure; and (in) the alternation of the night and the day and (in) the sustenance which Allah sends down from the heaven, then gives life with it to the earth after its death, and (in) the changing of the winds, are signs for a people who use reason.” — ch. 45, v. 3–5

اِنَّ فِی السَّمٰوٰتِ وَ الۡاَرۡضِ لَاٰیٰتٍ لِّلۡمُؤۡمِنِیۡنَ ؕ﴿۳﴾ وَ فِیۡ خَلۡقِکُمۡ وَ مَا یَبُثُّ مِنۡ دَآبَّۃٍ اٰیٰتٌ لِّقَوۡمٍ یُّوۡقِنُوۡنَ ۙ﴿۴﴾ وَ اخۡتِلَافِ الَّیۡلِ وَ النَّہَارِ وَ مَاۤ اَنۡزَلَ اللّٰہُ مِنَ السَّمَآءِ مِنۡ رِّزۡقٍ فَاَحۡیَا بِہِ الۡاَرۡضَ بَعۡدَ مَوۡتِہَا وَ تَصۡرِیۡفِ الرِّیٰحِ اٰیٰتٌ لِّقَوۡمٍ یَّعۡقِلُوۡنَ ﴿۵﴾

In the last khutba, I dealt with some verses from chapter 3 which begin with the words: “In the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day, there are surely signs for those who have understanding, those who remember Allah, standing and sitting and (lying) on their sides, and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth” (3:190–191). I explained that the words here for “those who have (or possess) understanding”, ūlu-l-albāb, mean those who have the highest and deepest level of intellect.

The word for “remember” in this verse (yadhkurūn) comes from dhikr and the word for “reflecting” (yatafakkarūn) comes from fikr. Muslims are familiar with these words dhikr and fikr. Our relationship with Allah is that we remember Him in our hearts and our relationship with the universe is that we reflect and think as to how it was created and how it works. Both dhikr and fikr are equally important and go hand-in-hand. Dhikr involves the use of the human heart and emotions, and fikr involves the use of the human brain and thinking.

In the Muslim world in its early days, the thinkers, philosophers and scientists employed both dhikr and fikr. They were conscious of the existence of God and they reflected on His creation. Then after a passage of centuries, Muslims ceased to do fikr altogether and their dhikr became just a superficial recitation and repetition of words. Talking about ritual repetition of Islamic phrases, I saw a television documentary recently which exposed a Muslim lawyer here in the UK advising her Muslim client to make a false statement on an official form in order to achieve what the client wanted. The client asked the lawyer: Will this method work? The lawyer replied: Al-hamdu lillah, it has always worked. While fikr disappeared from among the Muslims, even the dhikr of Allah which they continued to practise, took this perverted form. At the same time, the modern scientific world that was established in Western countries started doing plenty of reflecting on the creation of the heavens and the earth, but it is not accompanied by any dhikr or thought of God.

The verses from chapter 3 contain a prayer to God by the possessors of intellect and knowledge. They say:

“Save us from the punishment of the Fire. Our Lord, whomsoever You make enter the Fire, him You indeed bring to disgrace.”

How does that punishment come about? It is by neglecting either the remembrance of God or reflecting on His creation. Reflecting on the creation leads man to achieve power over the physical nature that is around him by finding out how it works, making inventions of all kinds, and bringing the world under his control. But if not accompanied by the remembrance of God, that great power over the physical world is used by man for his selfish gain, for the interests only of his own nation, and to commit injustice against others. This behaviour leads to fires of greed, jealousy and war raging in the world.

On the other hand, neglecting the duty to reflect on the creation, as Muslim nations have done for the past several centuries, stops the progress of knowledge and causes ignorance to spread. They then fall behind the nations that have made material progress and as a result they suffer from disgrace and dishonour in the world, as well as cause own self-harm, due to their backward behaviour. No one looks up to them with respect; instead they are treated with contempt as inferior. Now it is promised in the Quran:

“Allah will exalt those of you who believe, and those who are given knowledge, to high ranks.” (58:11)

If Muslims today had faith which had then led them to acquire and develop knowledge to benefit all mankind, they would be a highly-ranked nation, and not the opposite that they are.

I have mentioned here the verses in chapter 3. The verses I recited today are from chapter 45, and these again refer to signs in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day. But they also refer to signs in other aspects of nature: the creation of human and animal life, and rain and winds. The people for whom these signs are meant, the ones who in chapter 3 are called ūlu-l-albāb, those who have the highest and deepest level of intellect, are here called as believers (mu’minīn) and as “a people who use reason” (qaum-in ya‘qulūn). In another chapter, ch. 30, such signs in creation are said to be meant for “those who are learned (‘ālimīn)” and for “a people who hear” (yasma‘ūn), who use their sense of hearing.

This tells us that Muslims should not only be believers, but also they should use their highest intellect, use their reasoning ability, become learned by acquiring knowledge, and be a people who “hear”, which means hear what nature is trying to say to them, not just hear the Quran or religious talks. As to acquiring knowledge which is based on reason and logic, everyone knows that to earn a living in this world you are greatly helped if you have had some education and have learnt some skills and trades. According to the Quran, it must not be the sole purpose of our acquiring knowledge, that we can earn a better livelihood. Knowledge must also be acquired in order to understand the working of this world, because this will strengthen our faith.

There is a widespread impression among people, including the intellectual elite, that faith and reason are opposite to one another. If you have one, you cannot have the other. They think that having faith means that you have entirely given up and abandoned the use of reason in matters of faith, and are just blindly believing what you have been told by your religious teachers. Conversely, there is also a general impression that if you give importance to using your brain and thinking, and only accept what is provable, this leads you away from faith and even to reject religion. But the Quran, in the verses I have mentioned, tells us that those who have faith in God and religion must also use their reason and thinking, and that those who stick to using their reason to study the working of creation can also be led to faith in God by their study.

So the first principle taught in the Quran about knowledge and science is the importance of learning and developing it. This is more important for Muslims to act upon, and to inform the world that this is what Islam teaches, rather than focussing on some particular discovery of science and trying to locate it in the Quran.

Another very important principle laid down in the Quran is that the amount of knowledge available for humans to acquire has no limit. It says:

“Say: If the sea were ink for the words of my Lord, the sea would surely be exhausted before the words of my Lord were exhausted, even if We brought the same again to add (to it)” (18:109),

and:

“And if all the trees in the earth were pens, and the sea with seven more seas added to it (were ink), the words of Allah would not be exhausted” (31:27).

The “words of God” in these verses mean knowledge of the things that He has created. If humans had as many pens as there are trees in the earth, and as much ink as the volume of all seas multiplied several times, these would not be sufficient for them to write down and record all knowledge. It is limitless, far beyond what can be stored by humans. A glimpse of this is that we now have what is called “big data” in science.

The fact that knowledge is limitless is also indicated in other places in the Quran. Allah says:

“We raise in degree whom We please. And above everyone possessed of knowledge is the All-Knowing One.” (12:76)

Allah is saying here that He raises in status the person who possesses knowledge, but that no matter how much knowledge he acquires, the All-Knowing God will be yet more knowledgeable. There is always more and more knowledge available to humans than what they already possess. This verse also clarifies a misconception held by some Muslims. When modern scanners were invented, which enable the unborn child inside the womb to be seen, some Muslims said that according to the Quran only Allah knows what is in the wombs, so it is disallowed for us to know the same. They didn’t realise that this means that Allah is depending on us to deliberately deprive ourselves of knowledge of certain matters so that only Allah can have that knowledge. In other words, Allah is depending on us to allow Him to be the only possessor of knowledge. This verse tells us that the All-Knowing God will always know more than us, no matter how much we know. The Quran says in the well-known āyat-ul-kursī:

“And they encompass nothing of His knowledge except what He pleases. His knowledge extends over the heavens and the earth” (2:255).

Whatever knowledge humans acquire, God has allowed them acquire it. They don’t need to shut their eyes to it to make sure that only God has that knowledge.

Moreover, the well-known verse of the Quran instructing Muslims to pray: “My Lord, increase me in knowledge” (20:114) shows that their knowledge should always be increasing, without any limit to it.

Those Muslims who claim that certain specific scientific discoveries or theories are mentioned in the Quran should ponder that, according to the Quran itself, human knowledge is always increasing, and therefore in the future the present-day scientific discoveries will most likely undergo improvements and corrections in the light of new knowledge. The history of science itself shows this as well. So it would be far better if we emphasise the principles that the Quran has taught in this matter: that humans must study, observe and think about the world around them, use reason to draw conclusions from what they learn, make inventions for the benefit of all, and tell others about the wisdom of Allah and be inspired by that wisdom. Moreover, we should show the world how the Quran gives guidance on using that knowledge and those powerful inventions for constructive purposes and not destructive ones.

Let us pray that may Allah enable Muslims to act upon what the Quran teaches about discovering new knowledge and show those teachings to the world, ameen.

Website: www.aaiil.uk