Al-Anbya · Makki · ayah 28 of 112

Al-Anbya 21:28

يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ وَلَا يَشْفَعُونَ إِلَّا لِمَنِ ٱرْتَضَىٰ وَهُم مِّنْ خَشْيَتِهِۦ مُشْفِقُونَ

“He knows what is [presently] before them and what will be after them,[883] and they cannot intercede except on behalf of one whom He approves. And they, from fear of Him, are apprehensive.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Even the angels are fully known to Him, intercede only for those He approves, and tremble with a fear that is really tenderness.

A reflection

Known in every layer

Yaʿlamu mā bayna aydīhim wa mā khalfahum: He knows what is before them and what is behind them. The "them" here are the angels, the noblest creatures the previous ayat have described. The commentators gather several readings. What they have done and what they will do. What they have sent ahead and what they have left undone. What came before their creation and what will come after it. One classical commentator sums it up: they turn about under His power, inside His dominion, and He encompasses them.

The same commentator then makes a striking point. The angels know that He knows them, outwardly and inwardly. And that knowledge is precisely what moves them to utter humility and complete servanthood. Their obedience in the ayah before is explained by this one.

Picture a conservator in a museum laboratory, x-raying a celebrated old painting. On the screen, beneath the famous surface, a ghost appears. The first sketch, a different angle of the head, a hand painted three times before the artist settled. The masterpiece everyone admires is laid over its own hesitations and mistakes. Nothing about it is hidden from the machine.

Now apply that to yourself. Whatever polished surface others see, He sees every layer beneath: the first draft of every motive, the corrections, the hand painted three times. If the angels, with nothing to hide, respond to that knowledge with humility, what should our pride do?

A sceptic may ask whether a God who watches everything so closely is controlling, or wants to be admired for His power. But nothing in the ayah suggests He gains from His knowledge. He is the Free of need (35:15). His knowing is what makes justice possible, and, as the rest of the ayah shows, it is also what makes mercy precise. Only One who knows every layer can judge who is fit to be interceded for.

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.