Does the Qur'an contain the roots of every science?

هل اشتمل القرآن على أصول كل العلوم؟

At the start of al-Burhan al-Zarkashi's tradition of counting the Qur'anic sciences goes back to Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi, who numbered them as the Qur'an's words times four; al-Suyuti, in the type 'sciences derived from the Qur'an', says God's Book contains everything, so that there is no root chapter or question of any science without something in the Qur'an pointing to it; an Alexandria University MA thesis criticises this view, seeing in the Qur'an broad indications rather than scientific theories.

Depth

At a glance

Contested: This record includes matters on which scholars differ. The speaker's views are labelled as his, and other views are marked where no cited source yet exists.

Scripture and its sciences

Summary

This question concerns the reach of the Qur'anic sciences: al-Zarkashi opened al-Burhan with Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi's words on the number of the Qur'anic sciences; al-Suyuti devoted a type in al-Itqan to the sciences derived from the Qur'an, saying God's Book contains everything; and a modern academic study has criticised that view. 1 2 3

Ibn al-Arabi as quoted in the foreword to al-Burhan

Muhammad Rizq Satur reports that al-Qadi Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi said in Qanun al-Ta'wil that the Qur'anic sciences number 77,450, the count of the Qur'an's words multiplied by four, because, according to some of the early generations, each word has an outward and an inward sense, a limit and an end-point (maqta') — and that this is before counting its constructions and connections, which only God can number. 1 He then reduces their roots to three: divine unity, reminder and rulings. 1

Al-Suyuti's view

Layla Muhammad Mas'ud's thesis quotes al-Suyuti in al-Itqan: God's mighty Book contains everything; there is no chapter or root question of any science without something in the Qur'an pointing to it; it holds the wonders of creation, the kingdom of the heavens and earth, the beginning of creation, the names of the famous messengers and angels, the chief reports of past nations, the branches of faith and the kinds of major sins; and she notes that he listed in it medicine, dialectic, astronomy, geometry, algebra and crafts such as smithing, carpentry and spinning. 2 3

The academic critique

The researcher judges that al-Suyuti was not well advised here: the Qur'an is law and guidance for Muslims, fit to order this life safely towards the next; its verses hold broad indications, some of which may be read as principles of the sciences, not scientific theories that may hold one day and change the next; a student of medicine, engineering or the crafts cannot rely on reciting the Qur'an instead of studying them with their masters; and any indication of an established scientific fact is evidence of the Qur'an's inimitability, not of its being a book of science from which all sciences are taken. 3

Disagreement and views

Opinions on the question

The question: Whether the Qur'an contains all sciences

First opinion · Sunni tradition (the museum's frame) · Sunni: al-Suyuti in al-ItqanMain reference

God's Book contains everything; no root of any science lacks something in it pointing to it 2 3.
More opinions (2)

Sunni tradition (the museum's frame) · Sunni: Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi, as quoted by SaturMain reference

the Qur'anic sciences are numbered only by God; their roots are divine unity, reminder and rulings 1.

Academic: Layla Muhammad Mas'ud viewSecondary opinion

the Qur'an holds broad indications that show its inimitability; it is not a book of science from which every science is taken 3.

Connections

Explore the connections

Mentions
al-Itqan fi Ulum al-Qur'an

People and things also explored

Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti· Is al-Suyuti's al-Itqan an abridgement of al-Zarkashi's al-Burhan?· Al-Burhan fi Ulum al-Qur'an (al-Zarkashi)· al-Itqan fi Ulum al-Qur'an· Hadith· Shama'il Muhammadiyya· Ghanima (spoils of war)· Sacred hadith (hadith qudsi)

Sources

  1. al-Burhan fi Ulum al-Qur'an — Badr al-Din al-Zarkashi, ed. Abu al-Fadl al-Dimyati Ahmad ibn Ali (Dar al-Hadith, Cairo, 2006) , p.11
  2. Thaqafat al-Mufassir 'inda al-Zarkashi: the exegete's learning in al-Zarkashi's al-Burhan — Layla Muhammad Mas'ud Abd al-Mun'im (MA thesis, Alexandria University) , p.145
  3. Thaqafat al-Mufassir 'inda al-Zarkashi: the exegete's learning in al-Zarkashi's al-Burhan — Layla Muhammad Mas'ud Abd al-Mun'im (MA thesis, Alexandria University) , p.146
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Does the Qur'an contain the roots of every science?”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/questions/does-the-quran-contain-every-science/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-04.

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Related

Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti

Jalal al-Din Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr al-Suyuti (849-911 AH); Egypt's prolific hadith imam, author among much else of Tarikh al-Khulafa, caliphal biographies to his own day.