Al-Ahzab · Madani · ayah 63 of 73

Al-Ahzab 33:63

يَسْـَٔلُكَ ٱلنَّاسُ عَنِ ٱلسَّاعَةِ ۖ قُلْ إِنَّمَا عِلْمُهَا عِندَ ٱللَّهِ ۚ وَمَا يُدْرِيكَ لَعَلَّ ٱلسَّاعَةَ تَكُونُ قَرِيبًا

“People ask you concerning the Hour. Say, "Knowledge of it is only with Allāh. And what may make you perceive? Perhaps the Hour is near."”

Saheeh International

Essence

Asked for a date, the Prophet ﷺ hands the question back to Allah, then turns the asker from the calendar to the nearness.

A reflection

The best-informed man on earth was taught to say: not mine

The question came again and again. Yasʾaluka al-nāsu: people ask you. The verb is present tense, as if the asking never stopped. And the reply is handed to him word for word. Qul: say.

Say what? Innamā ʿilmuhā ʿinda Allāh. Its knowledge is only with Allah. The word innamā closes every other door. Not with the angels. Not with the Prophet ﷺ. Not with anyone who will ever claim it.

One commentary adds that Allah has kept this knowledge for Himself, showing it to no angel and no prophet. Another notes that hiding the time from the Prophet ﷺ does nothing to undo his prophethood. A prophet knows the unseen only as far as he is taught.

The two Sahihs record the moment this was put to the test. Jibrīl came in the form of a man and asked: when is the Hour? The Prophet ﷺ replied that the one asked knows no more about it than the one asking. The two most knowing messengers, one human and one angel, stood level in not knowing.

Now notice how hard that is for us. Sit at any table where one guest has an opinion on everything. The cause of the traffic. The next jump in prices. Which marriage in the family will not last. 'I don't know' feels like losing. The ego would rather guess wrong than admit a limit.

This ayah puts a limit at the centre of the faith, and treats it as honour. The greatest of creation was taught to say, in public, that one thing is not his. Pride wants to own every answer. Worship begins where you are glad that some answers belong to Him alone.

There is relief in that. You do not have to know when the world ends. You were never built to carry that. You only have to know what you will bring to it.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.