An-Najm · Makki · ayah 30 of 62

An-Najm 53:30

ذَٰلِكَ مَبْلَغُهُم مِّنَ ٱلْعِلْمِ ۚ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَن ضَلَّ عَن سَبِيلِهِۦ وَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنِ ٱهْتَدَىٰ

“That is their sum of knowledge. Indeed, your Lord is most knowing of who strays from His way, and He is most knowing of who is guided.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Knowledge that stops at this world has reached its ceiling, and only your Lord knows who has truly lost the way and who has found it.

A reflection

Not your verdict to give

Inna rabbaka huwa aʿlamu: 'Your Lord, He knows best.' The pronoun huwa, 'He', stands in the middle like a pillar, so the sentence cannot be misheard, and the phrase is said twice. One commentary explains the repetition: it underlines how completely different the two groups are, and that He alone knows them. Aʿlam here, another explains, means a Knower like whom there is no knower at all.

This is a quiet blow to the ego. We love to sort people. This one is lost, that one is saved, my group is guided, theirs is not. The ayah takes the sorting out of our hands. It was spoken to the Prophet ﷺ himself, as consolation after he had done everything, and still it says: leave the verdict with your Lord.

A doubt can arise. If Allah already knows who will stray, are people blamed for what He foreknew? One commentary answers that their ignorance came from their own turning away. They were offered knowledge and declined it.

So our task is to strive and invite. His is to know and judge. The proud heart wants both jobs. The humble heart is relieved to have only one.

The full entry has 2 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.