Website: www.aaiil.uk

The “book” of the knowledge of nature and how to benefit from it

Friday Khutba by Dr Zahid Aziz, for Lahore Ahmadiyya UK, 28 November 2025

“Do you not know that Allah knows what is in the heaven and the earth? Surely this is in a book. That is surely easy to Allah.” — ch. 22, Al-Ḥajj, v. 70	اَلَمۡ تَعۡلَمۡ اَنَّ اللّٰہَ یَعۡلَمُ مَا فِی السَّمَآءِ وَ الۡاَرۡضِ ؕ اِنَّ ذٰلِکَ فِیۡ کِتٰبٍ ؕ اِنَّ ذٰلِکَ عَلَی اللّٰہِ یَسِیۡرٌ ﴿۷۰﴾
“And surely your Lord knows what their hearts conceal and what they manifest. And there is nothing hidden in the heaven and the earth but it is in a clear book.” — ch. 27, An-Naml, v. 74–75	وَ اِنَّ رَبَّکَ لَیَعۡلَمُ مَا تُکِنُّ صُدُوۡرُہُمۡ وَ مَا یُعۡلِنُوۡنَ ﴿۷۴﴾ وَ مَا مِنۡ غَآئِبَۃٍ فِی السَّمَآءِ وَ الۡاَرۡضِ اِلَّا فِیۡ کِتٰبٍ مُّبِیۡنٍ ﴿۷۵﴾

In a khutba three weeks ago, I mentioned that the Quran speaks about books of different kinds. In that khutba I dealt with one of those kinds, which are literally books as produced by human beings in a physical form. We saw the important and crucial role books have played in increasing the knowledge available to human beings, spreading it widely, and bringing about a revolution in the world, and we saw how it was indicated in the Quran that books would play this role. The verses I have recited now mention another kind of book, the book containing the laws of nature and the knowledge of everything. That obviously is not a book on paper with writing in it, and a cover around it. According to the first verse, the knowledge of everything in the heaven and the earth is in a book. We may think that this is the knowledge of those things in the earth and in heaven which are external to us, or which are physical things. But the second verse says that human thoughts and deeds, “what their hearts conceal and what they manifest”, are not hidden from being in this book, and in fact nothing at all is hidden from being in it. Also, this verse does not say that “nothing in the heaven and the earth is hidden from Allah”, which would mean that there are things hidden from humans. It simply says:

“And there is nothing hidden in the heaven and the earth but it is in a clear book”.

This indicates that everything in heaven and earth is meant to be discovered. Of course, this process of human discovery will continue forever, never reaching an end.

On this subject I will read three more verses in translation. One says:

“not the weight of an atom in the earth or in the heaven is hidden from your Lord, nor anything less than that nor greater, but it is (all) in a clear book” (10:61).

Yet another tells us:

“And there is no animal in the earth but on Allah is the sustenance of it, and He knows its abode and its repository. All is in a clear record” (11:6).

The “abode” is the place of habitation of an animal and its “repository” or “depository” is where it stores food.

Speaking of human life, a third verse says:

“And no one living long is granted long life, nor is his life shortened at all, but it is in a book. Surely this is easy to Allah” (35:11).

Allah’s knowledge, apparently, is kept in a book. This indicates that His knowledge is properly organised and classified, like the contents of a book, and various aspects of that knowledge are connected to one another, like the different parts and chapters of a book which are related to one another.

This universe is not run by Allah in the manner of an absolute king or dictator who runs his country on his whims and his daily mood. With such a ruler, no one can be sure of what he will do tomorrow. It may be the complete opposite of what he did today. The king or dictator is inconsistent and does not follow any principle or even his own laws. When Allah establishes a principle, having complete power over what principles He establishes, He acts according to it as well. The Quran emphasises this by repeating:

“So you will find no alteration in the course of Allah; and you will find no change in the course of Allah” (35:43).

The statements that all this knowledge “is in a book” are an encouragement to us humans to try to glimpse that book, which contains the sum total of all possible knowledge. What humans discover about nature, which they record in their books, is a reflection, often a vague and unclear reflection, but still a useful reflection of what is in that book. The first verse I recited mentions that the knowledge of everything in the heaven and the earth is in a book. This is an encouragement to humans to study what they see above them in the sky and beneath them in the earth. The second verse I recited mentions the things which remain concealed in a person’s heart and those which he converts into action as being in a book. This encourages us to study human psychology and behaviour. The meaning of what is concealed in a person’s heart may also be extended to include all that is physically inside his living body which cannot be seen from the outside. This encourages us to develop technologies for looking deep inside the human body and learning how what is inside it effects what is visible outside it.

Then there is the verse I read in translation saying that “not the weight of the tiniest particle in the earth or in the heaven, nor anything less than that, nor greater, is hidden from your Lord” but is in a clear book. This encourages us to study and research into the subject known as particle physics. This is a branch of science which investigates the basic particles that make up the universe, and these are so small they cannot be seen with the naked eye, or even with the most powerful microscopes. Certain particles discovered in the past were at first believed to be the basic particles, nothing less than which existed. Later on, particles even smaller were discovered.

Another verse I read in translation refers to Allah knowing the habitation of all animals and where they store food, and that it is all in a clear book. The many TV documentaries we see about nature, forests and animals, which are produced after a great deal of investigation and hard and painstaking work of filming, are showing us what is in this book. The third verse I read in translation is about the span of human life, or even other kinds of life. It says that how long or short it is, is in a clear book. Now in a sense this is literally true, because we read frequently in magazines and books about what we can do to prolong our lives and what food or habit will shorten our lives.

But speaking more scientifically than that kind of advice, we see data published on life expectancy of humans, showing how long a person can expect to live. It gives details of how the life expectancy of a person varies with sex, their state of health, the area they live in, their type of profession, their ethnic group and other factors. This data is used by governments to set the pension age and by insurance companies to set life insurance premiums. Of course, no one can tell about a particular individual at what age he or she will come to the end of life. But given a large group of people, it can be predicted with accuracy what percentage of them will attain a certain age. That information is extremely valuable for planning for the future.

Another point I draw your attention to is that out of the five verses I have so far quoted, three of them say that this knowledge is not just “ in a book” but “in a clear book”, fī kitāb-in mubīn. The word mubīn means something which is evident and manifest. The Quran itself is called in the Quran as a mubīn book (12:1) because it makes everything clear, and Allah Himself is called the mubīn truth (24:25) because He has made His existence an evident truth through His creation and through the revelations that He sent. If this book containing knowledge is a clear and manifest book, then humans must be able to glimpse some of its contents. None of the five verses say that this book is open only to Allah. Two of them say merely:

“That is surely easy to Allah.”

Muslims in the first half of their history up to now, that is, the first seven centuries or so, investigated the laws of nature and produced a considerable amount of new knowledge and science. Then they turned away from this. In effect, they shut their eyes to this mubīn book of Allah. After them, European civilisation opened its eyes to this mubīn book of Allah, although they did not call it that, and developed knowledge much further.

I may also quote the following verses:

“No disaster befalls in the earth, or in yourselves, but it is in a book before We bring it into existence — surely that is easy to Allah — so that you may not grieve for what has escaped you, nor exult in what He has given you” (57:22–23).

This is speaking both of disasters which strike on a wide scale, affecting large populations, as well as disasters affecting only an individual in his personal life. The meaning of the disaster being in a book, before it comes into existence, is that it is due to certain causes. If we can find out whether those causes have arisen, we can have some idea that a disaster is looming. It is not long ago that we had no idea in advance that a storm was brewing. Before a hurricane came, no one expected it. Since the last few years, we are told in weather forecasts that a storm is developing thousands of miles away and it might strike our country in a few days’ time. There is no absolute certainty in any of these cases about how much strength the storm will develop or exactly what path it will follow. But undoubtedly thousands of lives have been saved by evacuating the areas predicted to be affected. However, it is regrettable that the reaction of Muslims, in general, to any disaster is to declare it as the will of Allah, and they go no further into its causes. But Allah had revealed to them that if they try looking in His book of the laws of nature, they would find out something about a disaster before it happens. Then they can take some remedial steps to mitigate its effects.

The Quran, whatever subject it is dealing with, also makes mention of the moral qualities which we must develop in that situation. These verses about disasters, in the same way, go on to say that calamities, whether on a large scale or affecting just an individual, come to teach people to be patient in the face of loss (“so that you may not grieve for what has escaped you”) and not to be boastful, bragging, and neglectful when in a position of happiness and comfort (“nor exult in what He has given you”), believing that what you have is forever. Only good qualities last, and can save us, not any material possessions.

May Allah enable Muslims to turn again towards seeking knowledge of nature, and displaying the right qualities in their lives — Ameen.

Website: www.aaiil.uk