9:129
But if they turn away, Say: “Allah sufficeth me: there is no god but He: On Him is my trust,-He the Lord of the Throne (of Glory) Supreme!”
“No! If he does not desist, We will surely drag him by the forelock – A lying, sinning forelock.”
Qur’ān 96: 15-16
Shaykh al-Zindānī interprets the Qur’ānic description of the nāṣiyah (forelock or front of the head) as “lying” and “sinful” as a metaphor connected to human decision-making and moral responsibility. He argues that although the forehead itself does not act independently, modern neurological knowledge regarding the frontal lobe provides a conceptual explanation for this expression. Drawing on discussions with medical scholars, including Professor Muḥammad Yūsuf Sukkar and anatomist Keith L. Moore, al-Zindānī associates the nāṣiyah with the prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain involved in behavioral regulation, judgment, memory, emotional processing, and initiative. In this interpretation, decisions related to truthfulness, deception, or moral action originate in this frontal region, while the body’s limbs merely execute the choices formed there (al-Zindānī, n.d.).
Al-Zindānī further links this interpretation to Qur’ānic verses such as 96:15–16 and 11:56, as well as prophetic supplications that reference the forelock as a symbol of divine control over human and animal behavior. He suggests that comparative anatomical studies show similar regulatory functions in the frontal regions of various animal brains, reinforcing the symbolic significance of the nāṣiyah as a center of guidance and control. From this perspective, the Qur’ānic language is presented as consistent with contemporary understandings of neuroscience, particularly the role of the prefrontal cortex in personality formation and ethical decision-making. He concludes that such correspondences demonstrate, in his view, a harmony between scriptural expression and modern scientific insights regarding brain function (al-Zindānī)
References:
Project, The Qur’an. Scientific Truths And The Quran (pp. 48-52). The Quran Project. Kindle Edition.