Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 140 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:140

أَمْ تَقُولُونَ إِنَّ إِبْرَٰهِـۧمَ وَإِسْمَـٰعِيلَ وَإِسْحَـٰقَ وَيَعْقُوبَ وَٱلْأَسْبَاطَ كَانُوا۟ هُودًا أَوْ نَصَـٰرَىٰ ۗ قُلْ ءَأَنتُمْ أَعْلَمُ أَمِ ٱللَّهُ ۗ وَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّن كَتَمَ شَهَـٰدَةً عِندَهُۥ مِنَ ٱللَّهِ ۗ وَمَا ٱللَّهُ بِغَـٰفِلٍ عَمَّا تَعْمَلُونَ

“Or do you say that Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the Descendants were Jews or Christians? Say, "Are you more knowing or is Allāh?" And who is more unjust than one who conceals a testimony[49] he has from Allāh? And Allāh is not unaware of what you do.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Allah knows best what Ibrāhīm and his sons were, none wrongs more than one who hides a testimony from Him, and nothing done escapes Him.

A reflection

Do you know better than Allah?

At a dinner party a confident guest explains to a retired archaeologist what really happened at a famous excavation. She worked on that site for twenty years. She listens politely, and says nothing.

The ayah asks a question that ends every such conversation. 'Say: Are you more knowing, or is Allah?' The question needs no answer. A later commentary says simply: you are not more knowing about Ibrāhīm's religion; Allah is. And He has told us.

This is a question for the ego, and not only for the ego of others. We speak confidently about many things beyond our knowledge. What God really wants. Who will be saved. What a long-dead person truly believed. The ayah does not forbid knowledge. It forbids claiming more of it than we have, in matters that belong to Allah.

The ayah ends with another reminder: 'Allah is not unaware of what you do.' A major theologian gives it a vivid gloss. Imagine a king's agent assigned to you, counting your very breaths. You would be careful every moment. Yet that agent sees only the outside. How then of the Lord who knows what is secret, and what is more hidden still?

The word for unaware, ghāfil, has a picture in its root. Land with no waymarks was called ghufl, and so was a camel bearing no brand: things left unmarked, as if no one had noticed them. Nothing a person does is left unmarked before Allah.

Does Allah need us to admit that He knows best? No; He is free of all need (35:15). But the one who admits it can stop pretending. There is rest in saying: I do not know, and He does.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.