An-Nisa · Madani · ayah 42 of 176
An-Nisa 4:42
يَوْمَئِذٍ يَوَدُّ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ وَعَصَوُا۟ ٱلرَّسُولَ لَوْ تُسَوَّىٰ بِهِمُ ٱلْأَرْضُ وَلَا يَكْتُمُونَ ٱللَّهَ حَدِيثًا
“That Day, those who disbelieved and disobeyed the Messenger will wish they could be covered by the earth. And they will not conceal from Allāh a [single] statement.”
Saheeh International
Essence
On that Day the deniers will wish the earth were smoothed over them, and not a single word will stay hidden from Allah.
A reflection
Not a single word kept from Him
Picture a man who clears his message history every night before bed. Not because of anything dramatic. He simply likes knowing that nothing he said today can be found tomorrow. It gives him a feeling of control.
The ayah ends: 'and they will not hide from Allah a single statement'. The word is ḥadīth. Its root means something that was not, then came to be: a fresh fruit, a young man, speech arising word after word. Every sentence ever spoken is a ḥadīth. Not one will be hidden.
The commentaries read the line two ways. Some say it is a fact stated on its own: what they did is plain before Allah, so how could they hide it? Others read it as part of their wish: they long for the earth to cover them, and for never having tried to hide anything.
This is where the ego shrinks. So much of adult life is managing information. What to share, what to leave out, which version to tell whom. The ego builds itself out of edits. Before Allah there is no edit. Every ḥadīth is already known, from the One who knew it before it was spoken.
Does Allah need us to know this? He needs nothing. The knowledge is a gift while there is still time. The man with the cleared history is not more private than anyone else. He has only fooled one person.
The question is not whether we will be known. We already are. It is whether what is known will be something we are glad to meet.
Open An-Nisa 4:42 in Quran Ponder →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.