Is it possible to reconcile the scientific explanation of lightning, which describes it as an electrical discharge, with the prophetic hadith that describes lightning as "a flash of fire that comes out of whips in the hand of an angel with which he strikes the clouds," or does this contradiction raise a question about the authenticity of the hadith?

The questioner is correct in their conviction that science and religion do not conflict, but they are mistaken in claiming that it is impossible to reconcile scientific and prophetic interpretations. The method of reconciliation has already been explained. This is while bearing in mind that the correction of the narration of thunder from the Hadith of Ibn Abbas is a matter of dispute among scholars. Interpreters have differed on the meaning of thunder and lightning. Some said that thunder is the voice of an angel herding the clouds, or a constricted wind, or the collision of cloud masses. Lightning was said to be the wands with which the angel drives the clouds, or the shimmering of water, or fire struck forth from the collision of cloud masses.