Al-Mu'minun · Makki · ayah 92 of 118

Al-Mu'minun 23:92

عَـٰلِمِ ٱلْغَيْبِ وَٱلشَّهَـٰدَةِ فَتَعَـٰلَىٰ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ

“[He is] Knower of the unseen and the witnessed, so high is He above what they associate [with Him].”

Saheeh International

Essence

He knows what is hidden and what is in plain view, and that complete knowing is itself the reason nothing can stand beside Him.

A reflection

We only ever see the lit side

An analyst spends three weeks studying a company before advising a client to invest. He reads every report, every set of accounts, every interview with the founder. He is thorough and proud of it. At eight the next morning, the founder resigns over something no document mentioned.

He knew the shahāda, everything in view. He did not know the ghayb.

The ayah names Allah as ʿālim al-ghayb wa-l-shahāda: Knower of the unseen and the witnessed. Concise commentaries spell it out. He knows all that is hidden from His creatures and all that they see and perceive with their senses. Nothing of either is concealed from Him.

One major commentator draws out the contrast with us. He alone knows the unseen. Others may know some of the witnessed, but without the unseen even that knowledge cannot reach its full benefit. And he adds that the phrase carries a warning, which is why it is followed by fa-taʿālā, so exalted is He.

Here the ego meets its blind side. We are proud of what we know: our expertise, our research, our read on people. All of it is a lit corner of a dark room. Tomorrow, a phone call, a test result, a single decision by someone else, and the picture changes entirely.

He does not need our admission of this. But admitting it changes us. A person who knows how little they see becomes careful with their conclusions, gentle with their judgements, and quick to say in shāʾ Allāh. That is not weakness. It is what an honest mind looks like before the One who sees both rooms.

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.