What does man achieve by interfering with the laws of nature, when God has reserved knowledge of five things for Himself?

Human beings can study and use the laws of nature, but they cannot set them aside. What they achieve depends on whether they respect the measure God has placed in creation.

The question touches a very wide field. Each of the five areas named in the first verse is vast in itself: the Hour, the rain, the child in the womb, tomorrow, and the place of one’s death. Add human intervention in nature, and an even larger field opens up. So only the basic idea can be given here.

Human beings have learned a great deal in some of these areas. Yet what they know remains partial. They know a part, and even that only because God has ordered nature according to fixed laws. Full knowledge of these things remains with God.

Islam does not stand against research. The second verse says that God has made everything in the heavens and the earth serve human beings, as a sign for those who reflect. Whoever studies nature and uses its laws is therefore doing nothing forbidden. Every invention applies a law that God has created. No human being can abolish such a law.

What matters is measure. The third verse warns not to transgress the measure. Whoever uses nature with respect achieves good for themselves and for others. Whoever disregards the balance of creation will in the end harm themselves.