Fussilat · Makki · ayah 47 of 54

Fussilat 41:47

۞ إِلَيْهِ يُرَدُّ عِلْمُ ٱلسَّاعَةِ ۚ وَمَا تَخْرُجُ مِن ثَمَرَٰتٍ مِّنْ أَكْمَامِهَا وَمَا تَحْمِلُ مِنْ أُنثَىٰ وَلَا تَضَعُ إِلَّا بِعِلْمِهِۦ ۚ وَيَوْمَ يُنَادِيهِمْ أَيْنَ شُرَكَآءِى قَالُوٓا۟ ءَاذَنَّـٰكَ مَا مِنَّا مِن شَهِيدٍ

“To Him [alone] is attributed knowledge of the Hour. And fruits emerge not from their coverings nor does a female conceive or give birth except with His knowledge. And the Day He will call to them, "Where are My 'partners'?" they will say, "We announce to You that there is [no longer] among us any witness [to that]."”

Saheeh International

Essence

The Hour, every fruit splitting its sheath, every birth: all is known to Him, and on that Day every false partner vanishes.

A reflection

The question that is handed back

"To Him is returned the knowledge of the Hour." One commentary records the occasion. People said: Muhammad, if you are a prophet, tell us when the Hour will come. The answer was this ayah. A classical commentator notes that the construction restricts the knowledge: no one knows the Hour's exact time except Allah.

The verb is yuraddu, is returned, is handed back. Another commentator draws out a practical lesson. When believers are asked about the Hour, they are taught to answer: Allah knows. Saying "So-and-so knows" quietly admits that you yourself do not, and points to the One who should be asked.

Sahih al-Bukhari records the Prophet ﷺ living this. Jibril came in human form and asked him when the Hour would be. He replied: the one being asked knows no more about it than the one asking. The greatest of creation, asked by one of the greatest of angels, simply handed the question back.

That is a deep rebuke to the ego. We hate not knowing. We fill gaps with confident guesses, predictions, timelines and theories, because admitting ignorance feels like losing status.

Picture an eminent cancer specialist with thirty years of experience. A frightened patient asks her: how long do I have? She knows the statistics better than anyone in the building. She also knows what they can and cannot tell her. She takes his hand and says: I can tell you what usually happens, but the exact time is not mine to know. He does not trust her less. He trusts her more.

Humility is not ignorance. It is accuracy about where your knowledge ends. The ayah hands one question back to Allah. A humble heart learns to hand back many more.

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.