—“O company of jinn and humankind, if you can pierce through the confines of the heavens and the earth, then pierce through; you will never pierce through except by an authority” (Q. 55:33).—They insist that this verse foretells man’s reaching the moon, the stars, and similar bodies, because, they say, Allah added, “you will never pierce through except by an authority,” and that “authority,” in their view, means scientific knowledge. Without doubt, this is a distortion and it is unlawful to interpret Allah’s words in this manner. Anyone who reflects on the verse will see that it speaks of the Day of Resurrection, and the surrounding context makes this perfectly clear. Moreover, the verse says, “if you can pierce through the confines of the heavens and the earth, then pierce through,” yet these people have not pierced the confines of the heavens; they have not even reached the first heaven. The verse also goes on to say, “A flame of fire and molten brass will be loosed upon you” (Q. 55:35), and nothing of the sort has been loosed upon them.

In short, some people go to excess, affirming things that the Quran never affirmed, while others fall short, denying matters that the Quran does affirm, saying, “Only what the early scholars said may be accepted; we will allow nothing else, in whole or in part.” This too is a mistake. If the Quran points to something that modern science has uncovered about the subtle realities of creation, there is no harm in accepting it and believing it—provided the wording of the verse can bear that meaning. If the wording cannot bear it, we may not affirm it.

Among such groups are the Khawarij, the Rafidah, the Jahmiyyah, the Muʿtazilah, the Qadariyyah, the Murji’ah, and others. Take the Muʿtazilah, for example: they are among the most verbose and argumentative of people.