Ghafir · Makki · ayah 83 of 85

Ghafir 40:83

فَلَمَّا جَآءَتْهُمْ رُسُلُهُم بِٱلْبَيِّنَـٰتِ فَرِحُوا۟ بِمَا عِندَهُم مِّنَ ٱلْعِلْمِ وَحَاقَ بِهِم مَّا كَانُوا۟ بِهِۦ يَسْتَهْزِءُونَ

“And when their messengers came to them with clear proofs, they [merely] rejoiced in what they had of knowledge, but they were enveloped by what they used to ridicule.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Offered clear proofs, they delighted in the 'knowledge' they already had; then the very thing they mocked closed round them.

A reflection

Is this ayah against knowledge?

Fariḥū bimā ʿindahum mina al-ʿilm. They rejoiced in what they had of knowledge.

A modern reader might hear this as hostility to learning. Are people being condemned for valuing their knowledge? Does the Quran set faith against thinking?

The commentaries explain what this knowledge was. A narration-based commentary quotes an early explainer giving their words. We know better than them; we will not be raised, and we will not be punished. Another says simply: they rejoiced in their ignorance. A classical rhetorical commentary explains that their beliefs about the Hereafter are called knowledge here sarcastically, as they themselves called it.

So the knowledge in this ayah was a set of confident claims used to wave away the messengers' clear proofs. It was pride wearing the clothes of learning.

The Quran itself praises knowledge repeatedly. Are those who know and those who do not know equal (39:9)? Only those with knowledge among His servants truly fear Allah (35:28). The first word revealed was: read (96:1).

What the ayah condemns is not knowing, but a particular use of it. Holding what you have so tightly that you cannot hear anything new, especially from Allah.

On a university field trip, a geology lecturer spends the day explaining rock strata, faults and ancient seabeds. At sunset, on the cliff top, he quietly prays on a flat rock. A student asks whether the two do not contradict each other. He laughs gently. The rocks are His signs, he says. The more I know, the more there is to bow to.

What remains is real tension in some debates, and it should be met with honesty, not slogans. But this ayah does not set faith against knowledge. It sets humility against pride.

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.