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Is it permissible to interpret the opening letters of the surahs (such as: Sad) with a scientific interpretation, or is that forbidden in Islam?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The Quran is miraculous in its eloquence and clarity. Interpreters have differed regarding the disconnected letters at the beginning of some surahs. Some believe they are God's secret in the Quran, part of the mutashabih (ambiguous verses) whose interpretation is known only to God, and one must believe in them without delving into their meaning. This view has been narrated from the Companions. Similarly, scholars have differed on the arrangement of the surahs, whether it is divinely ordained (tawqifi) or a result of human reasoning (ijtihadi). Therefore, discovering aspects of miraculousness in the arrangement of the surahs and their relationship to the letter (ṣād) might be a form of over-elaboration and delving into matters about which one has no knowledge.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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