Taha · Makki · ayah 7 of 135

Taha 20:7

وَإِن تَجْهَرْ بِٱلْقَوْلِ فَإِنَّهُۥ يَعْلَمُ ٱلسِّرَّ وَأَخْفَى

“And if you speak aloud - then indeed, He knows the secret and what is [even] more hidden.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Speak aloud if you wish; He already knows the secret, and what lies deeper still, even the thought you have not yet had.

A reflection

He knows tomorrow's secret

The commentators read al-sirr, the secret, and akhfā, what is more hidden, in several layers. One early teacher said: the secret is what you say to yourself; the more hidden is what you have not yet said to yourself. Another said: the secret is what a person hides in his heart. The more hidden is what he will do before he knows he will do it. A third put it most simply. You know what you keep secret today. You do not know what you will keep secret tomorrow. Allah knows both.

Sit with that last one. Most of us are confident that we at least know ourselves. Other people may misjudge us, but surely we know our own minds. This ayah quietly takes that confidence away. Next Tuesday's thought, next year's temptation, the decision you will make in old age: you have no access to any of it. He does.

That is humbling in the best sense. It shrinks a particular kind of pride, the pride of the self-made, self-known person who needs no one. We are strangers to large parts of our own future selves.

One classical theologian adds a comparison. He imagines all knowledge as a gold coin. Almost all of it belongs to Allah; a tiny fraction is shared out among all creatures, and your share is less than a speck. Then he corrects himself. Even the speck is His, since whatever you know, He taught you.

Someone may ask whether Allah describes His knowledge to be admired. The ayah's own focus is the reader. It is meant to restrain us from wrongs, open or hidden, and to encourage good, open or hidden.

Pray today for the self you have not yet become. He already knows that person. Ask Him to guide them.

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.