The Importance of Discovery and the Danger of the Project

If the Qur'an has disclosed to the ummah a trajectory that begins with:

﴿لَأَتَّخِذَنَّ مِنْ عِبَادِكَ نَصِيبًا مَفْرُوضًا﴾ (I will surely take an allotted share of Your servants.) []

Then discloses what this share does:

﴿وَلَأُضِلَّنَّهُمْ وَلَأُمَنِّيَنَّهُمْ وَلَآمُرَنَّهُمْ﴾ (And I will surely lead them astray, and fill them with wishes, and command them.) []

Then discloses one form of its implementation:

﴿فَلَيُبَتِّكُنَّ آذَانَ الْأَنْعَامِ﴾ (Then they will surely slit the ears of livestock.) []

Then culminates in:

﴿وَلَآمُرَنَّهُمْ فَلَيُغَيِّرُنَّ خَلْقَ اللَّهِ﴾ (And I will surely command them, and they will surely alter God's creation.) []

Then we are not confronted with an additional piece of information in a book, but with an issue that the Qur'an has disclosed, whose trajectory it has defined, and whose beginning, means, and end it has made clear.

Herein begins the importance of the discovery.

The issue is not that we read a verse:

﴿لَأَتَّخِذَنَّ مِنْ عِبَادِكَ نَصِيبًا مَفْرُوضًا﴾ (I will surely take an allotted share of Your servants.) []

And then close the page.

Rather, it is that we open up the issue in its entirety:

Who constitutes this share?

What does it do?

How does its work begin?

Who follows it?

What means does it use?

What does it reach?

And where does the effect of this trajectory appear in reality?

Here, Tadbur shifts from reading to testing.

We read the text through the text, bring the verses together, discover relationships, construct the hypothesis, and then set reality before the Qur'an.

The Qur'an discloses → research tests → reality supplies the evidence → witnessing (shahāda) is built upon what has been established.

Witnessing (shahāda) Is Not Silent Observation

God says:

﴿لِّتَكُونُوا شُهَدَاءَ عَلَى النَّاسِ وَيَكُونَ الرَّسُولُ عَلَيْكُمْ شَهِيدًا﴾ (So that you may be witnesses over the people and the Messenger may be a witness over you.) []

[البقرة: 143]

The ummah was not made a witness because it bears a name or an identity, but because it bears a function.

A witness is not a spectator.

A witness knows the case, sees the evidence, understands its place, and then delivers their testimony.

Thus, withholding the meanings of the Qur'an from the ummah does not merely withhold information from it; it withholds part of its function.

For the Messenger was commanded:

﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الرَّسُولُ بَلِّغْ مَا أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكَ مِن رَّبِّكَ﴾ (O Messenger, convey what has been sent down to you from your Lord.) []

[المائدة: 67]

What was sent down is not merely a set of separate rulings, but a book that discloses to the human being the path of guidance, and also discloses what opposes it, what leads the human being astray, and what works to corrupt the human being's course.

Here the relationship between conveying the message and disclosing the issue becomes apparent.

How can the message be built without people being informed of what works to demolish it?

How can something be built, and then whoever demolishes it be left behind you without people knowing that they are demolishing it?

In this reading, conveying is not limited to transmitting the text; it also encompasses the trajectories disclosed by the text that operate among people and against the effect of the message.

Here the function of the ummah shifts from merely receiving the message to witnessing (shahāda) over the people on the basis of what the message has disclosed.

Not Merely Temptation into Error

The Qur'an does not describe the trajectory here merely as temptation into error.

Rather, he says:

﴿وَلَأُضِلَّنَّهُمْ وَلَأُمَنِّيَنَّهُمْ﴾ (And I will surely lead them astray and fill them with wishes.) []

This is a fundamental point in the issue.

For the Qur'an mentions:

﴿إِلَّا مَنِ اتَّبَعَكَ مِنَ الْغَاوِينَ﴾ (Except those who follow you among those in error.) []

[الحجر: 42]

Then, in surah al-Nisāʾ, it discloses another trajectory:

﴿وَلَأُضِلَّنَّهُمْ وَلَأُمَنِّيَنَّهُمْ وَلَآمُرَنَّهُمْ﴾ (And I will surely lead them astray, and fill them with wishes, and command them.) []

The end here is not merely a passing temptation into error.

It is a sequence:

Leading astray → filling with wishes → commanding → following → implementing.

God says:

﴿إِنَّ عِبَادِي لَيْسَ لَكَ عَلَيْهِمْ سُلْطَانٌ إِلَّا مَنِ اتَّبَعَكَ مِنَ الْغَاوِينَ﴾ (Indeed, you have no authority over My servants, except those who follow you among those in error.) []

[الحجر: 42]

And it says:

﴿إِنَّ كَيْدَ الشَّيْطَانِ كَانَ ضَعِيفًا﴾ (Indeed, Satan's scheming is weak.) []

[النساء: 76]

Satan has no authority over God's servants at the outset; authority emerges only with following.

Here ṭāghūt enters the network of the issue; the Qur'an does not make it another name for Iblis, but mentions it in the context of following and believing in falsehood:

﴿يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْجِبْتِ وَالطَّاغُوتِ﴾ (They believe in jibt and ṭāghūt.) []

[النساء: 51]

Thus, we are not looking merely for an isolated name, but for a system of operation.

The Allotted Share: From Share to Function

Iblis says:

﴿لَأَتَّخِذَنَّ مِنْ عِبَادِكَ نَصِيبًا مَفْرُوضًا﴾ (I will surely take an allotted share of Your servants.) []

The “allotted share” is not, in the verse, the name of a group; rather, it is a share that Iblis takes from among God's servants.

Here the inquiry begins:

Who are those included in this share?

And what attributes does the Qur'an disclose concerning this share?

When we bring the verses together, the connection of the “share” with the Book, error, jibt, and ṭāghūt becomes apparent.

God Most High said:

﴿أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا نَصِيبًا مِّنَ الْكِتَابِ يُدْعَوْنَ إِلَىٰ كِتَابِ اللَّهِ لِيَحْكُمَ بَيْنَهُمْ ثُمَّ يَتَوَلَّىٰ فَرِيقٌ مِّنْهُمْ وَهُم مُّعْرِضُونَ﴾ (Have you not seen those who were given a share of the Book? They are called to God's Book so that it may judge between them, then a party of them turns away in aversion.) []

[آل عمران: 23]

And he said:

﴿أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا نَصِيبًا مِّنَ الْكِتَابِ يَشْتَرُونَ الضَّلَالَةَ﴾ (Have you not seen those who were given a share of the Book, purchasing error?) []

[النساء: 44]

And he said:

﴿أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا نَصِيبًا مِّنَ الْكِتَابِ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْجِبْتِ وَالطَّاغُوتِ﴾ (Have you not seen those who were given a share of the Book, believing in jibt and ṭāghūt?) []

[النساء: 51]

Here the textual network takes shape:

Share → Book → error → jibt → ṭāghūt.

Then comes:

Leading astray → filling with wishes → commanding → altering.

Thus, the identity of the “allotted share” becomes the outcome of an entire Qur'anic trajectory, not the outcome of a single verse.

In this inquiry, the adjudication concludes that the category to which this trajectory applies is those who Judaized/the Jews, according to the descriptions, actions, and indications upon which the judgment was based—not the People of the Book in general, nor the Christians.

Why Did the Qur'an Choose “Altering God's Creation”?

Here the most consequential point in the issue emerges.

Why did the Qur'an not stop at:

﴿وَلَأُضِلَّنَّهُمْ﴾ (And I will surely lead them astray.) []

Or:

﴿وَلَأُمَنِّيَنَّهُمْ﴾ (And I will surely fill them with wishes.) []

Or:

﴿وَلَآمُرَنَّهُمْ﴾ (And I will surely command them.)?

Why did it conclude the trajectory with:

﴿فَلَيُغَيِّرُنَّ خَلْقَ اللَّهِ﴾ (And they will surely alter God's creation.)?

Because the issue ultimately reaches creation itself.

For the Qur'an says:

﴿اللَّهُ خَالِقُ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ﴾ (God is the Creator of all things.) []

[الزمر: 62]

Creation is not a small thing or a single domain.

It is the heavens and the earth and what lies between them, the sun, the moon, and the stars, plants, animals, and the human being, and everything God has created.

This is the creation that the eye sees.

But the human being is not merely a body.

For the Qur'an says:

﴿فِطْرَتَ اللَّهِ الَّتِي فَطَرَ النَّاسَ عَلَيْهَا﴾ (The innate disposition from God upon which He fashioned people.) []

[الروم: 30]

Here another aspect of creation emerges: innate disposition, human constitution, knowledge, perception, and what pertains to the human being's relationship with truth and falsehood.

If the alteration of creation can occur in matter, it does not necessarily stop at matter.

There is creation that is seen.

And there is what pertains to the human being in terms of innate disposition, perception, and meaning.

Here the expression becomes:

﴿فَلَيُغَيِّرُنَّ خَلْقَ اللَّهِ﴾ (And they will surely alter God's creation.) []

Broader than to be confined to an animal organ or a single material alteration.

For the human being can alter:

the body,

the gene,

the cell,

the trait,

and the living organism.

But if the project extends to the human being itself, the question becomes broader:

Can what the human being sees be altered?

And can what the human being does not see be altered?

Can innate disposition be altered?

Can thought be altered?

Can knowledge be altered?

Can the history that the human being reads be altered?

Can the human being's conception of time be altered?

Can the criteria of belief and disbelief, truth and falsehood, be altered?

Here the issue reaches its true gravity.

For whoever alters the human being materially can affect the body.

But whoever alters the human being immaterially can affect awareness of reality itself.

Thus, we have before us two aspects of creation:

material creation, perceived through the senses,

and creation connected to innate disposition, knowledge, perception, and meaning.

From here, the Qur'anic warning becomes more profound:

What you see may be altered, and that by which you see may be altered.

This is the most dangerous point in the issue.

From the Allotted Share to Altering God's Creation

If we read the verses as a single unit, the trajectory emerges:

﴿لَأَتَّخِذَنَّ مِنْ عِبَادِكَ نَصِيبًا مَّفْرُوضًا﴾ (I will surely take an allotted share of Your servants.) []

Then:

﴿وَلَأُضِلَّنَّهُمْ﴾ (And I will surely lead them astray.) []

Then:

﴿وَلَأُمَنِّيَنَّهُمْ﴾ (And I will surely fill them with wishes.) []

Then:

﴿وَلَآمُرَنَّهُمْ﴾ (And I will surely command them.) []

Then:

﴿فَلَيُبَتِّكُنَّ آذَانَ الْأَنْعَامِ﴾ (Then they will surely slit the ears of livestock.) []

Then:

﴿وَلَآمُرَنَّهُمْ فَلَيُغَيِّرُنَّ خَلْقَ اللَّهِ﴾ (And I will surely command them, and they will surely alter God's creation.) []

Thus, “altering God's creation” is not a statement separate from the “allotted share.”

It is the endpoint of the trajectory that began with the share.

For this reason, it is not valid to read the final verse separately from its beginning.

The Qur'an places before us:

A share of God's servants → leading astray → filling with wishes → commanding → action → alteration of creation.

The question that imposes itself is:

Why does the Qur'an disclose this trajectory before the human being acquires the scientific capability that permits direct intervention in the origin of the living organism?

Here the test against reality begins.

When Altering Creation Became a Scientific Capability

Intervention in the genetic material of living organisms is no longer a theoretical idea.

The human being has moved from:

Knowing the genome → reading the genome → understanding the genome

to:

Intervening in the genome → modifying the genome → reshaping the traits of the living organism.

Among the most prominent tools of this stage is CRISPR technology.

Here a qualitative transformation occurred.

The human being no longer merely observes the living organism or selects its traits over time, but now possesses tools that enable intervention in the genetic material itself.

From animals and plants to human beings, the ability to modify the genome has become part of scientific research and medical, agricultural, and biological applications.

Here the verse returns to the fore:

﴿فَلَيُغَيِّرُنَّ خَلْقَ اللَّهِ﴾ (Then they will surely alter God's creation.) []

For the Qur'an began with a specific image:

﴿فَلَيُبَتِّكُنَّ آذَانَ الْأَنْعَامِ﴾ (Then they will surely slit the ears of livestock.) []

Then it moved to the broader expression:

﴿فَلَيُغَيِّرُنَّ خَلْقَ اللَّهِ﴾ (Then they will surely alter God's creation.) []

Thus, the issue is not the animal's ear alone.

It is the transition from a specific example to a broader concept: altering creation.

From Animal to Human Being

The danger emerges when the capability moves from modifying external traits to intervening in the organism's genetic structure.

The genome carries the genetic information associated with the organism's formation, traits, and functions.

With the development of genome editing, the question has become:

To what extent can the human being intervene in the organism that God created?

Then the question broadens:

What happens when this capability enters a system that brings together science, data, artificial intelligence, laboratories, funding, and application?

Here we are not speaking of an isolated tool.

Rather, we are speaking of a system of capability:

Artificial intelligence + biological data + genome editing + laboratories + funding + industrial, medical, and agricultural application.

Each element enhances the capability of the others.

From here, the expression:

﴿فَلَيُغَيِّرُنَّ خَلْقَ اللَّهِ﴾ (Then they will surely alter God's creation.) []

becomes an issue that deserves to be tested against reality rather than left in the past.

The Danger Is Not in Science Alone

Science is not the issue.

Nor is CRISPR technology alone the issue.

Scientific capability can be used for treatment, research, understanding diseases, developing agriculture, and other purposes.

But the question posed by this study is:

What happens when the capability to alter living organisms becomes part of an organized project with the ability to direct, expand, and apply it?

Here the nature of the question changes.

For we move from:

Can the human being alter?

to:

Who possesses the capability?

Who possesses the knowledge?

Who possesses the technology?

Who possesses the data?

Who holds the power of decision?

Who determines the application?

Who determines the direction?

And what is the outcome?

For the witness does not look at the tool alone.

Rather, the witness examines:

The tool + the project + the direction + the application + the outcome.

Israel: From a Site of Testing to a Center of Application

Here Israel comes at the end of the investigation, not at its beginning.

We did not begin with Israel and then search for a verse.

We began with the Qur'an:

The allotted share → leading astray → filling with wishes → commanding → altering God's creation.

Then we searched for the reality against which this hypothesis could be tested.

In contemporary reality, we found an organized scientific project combining artificial intelligence, genome editing, and applications in multiple fields.

Here Israel emerges as a contemporary center for testing the hypothesis.

Thus, Israel is not the origin of the issue.

The origin of the issue is the Qur'an.

Israel comes afterward as one of the points of testing reached by the investigation.

Here the axes connect:

Iblis → the allotted share → those who became Jews → commanding → spreading corruption → altering God's creation → contemporary application.

This is not a reading of an isolated verse.

It is an entire network of texts and facts.

If the Project Falls into the Hands of the Allotted Share

Here the issue reaches its most dangerous stage.

When the human being possesses advanced technology, it can be used for treatment, research, or harm.

But if this kind of capability falls into the hands of the project whose trajectory the Qur'an has disclosed, the question changes.

For the Qur'an does not describe random action.

Rather, it discloses a sequence:

Leading astray → filling with wishes → commanding → execution → alteration.

If tools for altering the living organism become available, then the question posed by the investigation is:

What can the allotted share do if it possesses the tools to alter God's creation?

Then the question becomes broader:

Does alteration stop at the body?

Or can it extend to the human being's consciousness, innate disposition, knowledge, history, and meanings?

Here, “altering God's creation” becomes more than a biological issue.

It becomes a comprehensive civilizational and human issue.

Altering What You See and What You Do Not See

Here we return to the essence of the discovery.

If God's creation encompasses the material world we see, then material alteration can be visible:

A human being, an animal, a plant, a cell, a gene, a trait.

But the human being also lives within a world of meanings:

Innate disposition, knowledge, memory, history, thought, faith, unbelief, truth, falsehood, a conception of time, a conception of the human being, and one's conception of reality.

From here, a more dangerous form of alteration emerges:

That not only the thing a person sees is altered, but also that through which the person sees it.

That not only reality is altered, but also the image the person holds of reality.

That history is not merely erased, but the human being is reconstructed so as to read history differently.

That not only thought is altered, but also the criteria by which the person weighs thought.

Here, alteration can take place on two levels:

An alteration in the creation the human being sees,

And an alteration in the human being who sees creation.

This is what makes “altering God's creation” a profoundly significant endpoint in the trajectory of the “allotted share.”

From Conveying to Witnessing (shahāda)

Here, the precision of bringing together the conveying of the message and the disclosure of the issue becomes apparent.

For the Messenger was commanded:

﴿بَلِّغْ مَا أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكَ مِن رَّبِّكَ﴾ (Convey what has been sent down to you from your Lord.) []

The Qur'an that he conveyed not only presents the path of guidance, but also discloses the trajectories of leading astray, filling with wishes, commanding, and altering.

Thus, conveying the message is inseparable from conveying what God has disclosed within the message about the dangers facing the human being.

How can the message be built without people being acquainted with what works to demolish it?

How can something be built without knowing who will use it to demolish what has been built?

Knowledge of the message alone does not make the ummah a witness over people if it does not know what the message has disclosed about the trajectories that operate among people and against it.

This is why the ummah moved from:

Conveying

To:

Witnessing (shahāda).

God Most High said:

﴿لِّتَكُونُوا شُهَدَاءَ عَلَى النَّاسِ﴾ (So that you may be witnesses over people.) []

Witnessing (shahāda) is broader than merely transmitting words.

Conveying transmits the message.

Witnessing (shahāda), however, requires:

That you see,

And know,

And understand,

And examine,

And establish proof,

Then bear witness.

Therefore:

Conveying acquaints the ummah with the message,

While witnessing (shahāda) makes the ummah responsible for what the message discloses in people's reality.

Witnessing (shahāda) Requires Examining Reality

If the ummah is:

﴿شُهَدَاءَ عَلَى النَّاسِ﴾ (Witnesses over people.) []

Then knowing the name of the project is not enough.

It must examine it:

What does it develop?

What does it apply?

To what does it apply it?

Who possesses the technology?

Who directs it?

What does it alter?

How far can it reach?

And who benefits from this alteration?

For witnessing (shahāda) is not an accusation.

Witnessing (shahāda) is examination.

Nor is it conjecture.

Witnessing (shahāda) is clear evidence.

Nor is it an emotional stance.

Witnessing (shahāda) is knowledge of what is taking place.

This is why discovering the “allotted share” does not end the inquiry.

Rather, it makes inquiry into reality all the more necessary.

From Tadbur to Responsibility

Here, the importance of this discovery within the Tadbur project becomes apparent.

For the aim is not to say:

We have found a new meaning.

Rather, it is to read the Qur'an until we discover what familiarity has concealed, then test what the text has disclosed against the Qur'an and reality.

The method becomes:

Reading → discovery → hypothesis → testing → proof → knowledge → witnessing (shahāda).

If the hypothesis is established, this is not a moment of triumph for the researcher.

It is a moment of increased responsibility for the ummah.

For the ummah that has come to know the issue cannot behave as though it had not seen it.

And the ummah that has read the warning cannot make the Qur'an a book of the past when the human being has come to possess tools that intervene at the very foundation of a living organism's genetic structure.

Why Was Disclosing the “Allotted Share” Important?

Because the warning was already there.

But the issue needed to be read along its entire trajectory.

For the Qur'an says:

﴿لَأَتَّخِذَنَّ مِنْ عِبَادِكَ نَصِيبًا مَّفْرُوضًا﴾ (I will surely take an allotted share of Your servants.) []

Then:

﴿وَلَأُضِلَّنَّهُمْ﴾ (And I will surely lead them astray.) []

Then:

﴿وَلَأُمَنِّيَنَّهُمْ﴾ (And I will surely fill them with wishes.) []

Then:

﴿وَلَآمُرَنَّهُمْ﴾ (And I will surely command them.) []

Then:

﴿فَلَيُبَتِّكُنَّ آذَانَ الْأَنْعَامِ﴾ (And they will surely slit the ears of livestock.) []

Then:

﴿وَلَآمُرَنَّهُمْ فَلَيُغَيِّرُنَّ خَلْقَ اللَّهِ﴾ (And I will surely command them, and they will surely alter God's creation.) []

These, in this reading, are not scattered verses.

They constitute a single issue with a sequential trajectory.

More dangerously, the endpoint is not merely “misguidance.”

Rather, it is:

Altering God's creation.

Thus, the question becomes:

If the Qur'an has disclosed the project, disclosed its trajectory, and disclosed its aim, and a scientific capability then emerged in reality that had not previously existed in this form, has the ummah fulfilled its function of examining reality?

From Knowing the Issue to Bearing Witness

Judgment is not the end of the issue.

Rather, judgment discloses a new responsibility.

After the issue has become known, the question arises:

What has the ummah done with what it knows?

After clear evidence has emerged, the question arises:

Has the ummah borne witness?

After the tools of alteration have come into existence, the question arises:

Has the ummah considered these tools in light of what the Qur'an has disclosed?

Here, the issue shifts from:

Putting the issue on trial

To:

⚖️ Putting the witnesses on trial

For the witness who does not know the issue cannot bear witness.

The witness who knows the issue but then does not examine the evidence has not fulfilled his function.

And the witness who sees the evidence and then remains silent remains responsible for bearing witness.

Thus, the Tadbur project becomes broader than extracting a meaning from a verse.

It is a transition:

From the text to discovery,

From discovery to testing,

From testing to proof,

From proof to knowledge,

And from knowledge to witnessing (shahāda).

Conclusion: The Question That Remains Before the Ummah

If the Qur'an has disclosed:

The allotted share → leading astray → filling with wishes → commanding → execution → altering God's creation

And if reality has reached a stage in which the human being has become capable of intervening in the genetic material of living organisms, then has brought together genome editing, artificial intelligence, data, and application, the issue is no longer merely a question about the past.

The ummah now faces a question of the present:

What does “altering God's creation” mean when the human being possesses the capacity to alter the creation he sees, and the capacity to influence the human being who sees this creation?

And if the “allotted share” has been disclosed to the ummah in the Qur'an, and if the Qur'an has disclosed its course and function, then responsibility does not end with its discovery.

Rather, it begins.

Because:

The judgment disclosed the case.

And the discovery disclosed the evidence.

And reality placed the evidence before the ummah.

And witnessing (shahāda) determines the responsibility of the ummah after it has seen.

For this reason, the final question is not:

Have we discovered the allotted share?

Rather:

Has the ummah fulfilled its witnessing (shahāda) after discovering it?

Here begins the second trial:

⚖️ The Trial of the Witnesses

Related Case Materials

The Allotted Share

The Decisive Trial

After the Judgment: The Witnessing (shahāda) of the Ummah over Humankind