Al-Ahqaf · Makki · ayah 23 of 35

Al-Ahqaf 46:23

قَالَ إِنَّمَا ٱلْعِلْمُ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ وَأُبَلِّغُكُم مَّآ أُرْسِلْتُ بِهِۦ وَلَـٰكِنِّىٓ أَرَىٰكُمْ قَوْمًا تَجْهَلُونَ

“He said, "Knowledge [of its time] is only with Allāh, and I convey to you that with which I was sent; but I see you [to be] a people behaving ignorantly."”

Saheeh International

Essence

Hud answers the dare in three calm sentences: the knowledge is Allah's, the delivering is mine, and your haste shows a people without landmarks.

A reflection

The knowledge is His; the ego's timetable is not

ʿAd demanded the punishment on their schedule. Hud's first sentence removes the schedule from everyone but Allah. 'The knowledge is only with Allah.' One commentary explains: the knowledge of when it will come is with Allah, not with me. Another adds that the phrase is a way of saying Hud had no power over it at all. If he could bring it, he would at least know when. Knowledge and control both belong to Allah alone.

That is majesty spoken plainly. The proud people of ʿAd assumed that if something were real, it would arrive when they demanded it. Their ego had made itself the timekeeper of the universe.

Picture a successful man who has always organised his life by deadlines he sets. One winter his wife falls seriously ill. He rings the hospital every day demanding to know when the results will come, when she will be discharged, when she will be well. The nurse on the ward is kind but firm. She says the same thing each time: 'We will know when we know.' After a week he stops demanding and starts praying. Something in him that had been very large becomes very small, and oddly lighter.

Is it arrogant for Allah to keep the timing to Himself? Only if He needed something from withholding it. He needs nothing; He is free of all need (35:15). The timing belongs to the One who knows when it would be wise. One commentary notes Hud's point: I do not know the time at which punishing you would be wisdom.

The ego wants to hold the calendar. This ayah takes it gently out of our hands. What remains for us is the next instruction, and trust.

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.