An-Najm · Makki · ayah 35 of 62

An-Najm 53:35

أَعِندَهُۥ عِلْمُ ٱلْغَيْبِ فَهُوَ يَرَىٰٓ

“Does he have knowledge of the unseen, so he sees?[1571]”

Saheeh International

Essence

Every time we hold back good or bet our souls on a promise, we act as if we could see behind the screen, and the Quran quietly asks: can you?

A reflection

A policy from a stall that does not exist

Picture a man at a weekend market. A stranger at a stall offers him a remarkable policy. Pay a modest fee today, and the stall will cover all his debts, whatever they come to, for the rest of his life. There is a printed certificate, and a signature. The man pays. He sleeps better that night. He never asks whether the stall will be there next week.

The commentaries describe exactly that kind of bargain behind this ayah. A man had turned back from Islam because another promised, for a price, to carry his punishment in the next life. Now the Quran asks him: a-ʿindahu ʿilmu al-ghaybi fa-huwa yarā, 'Does he have knowledge of the unseen, so that he sees?' Does he see, with his own eyes, that his guarantor will be there on the Day, able to carry what he promised? One commentary's verdict is blunt: guaranteeing to carry another's punishment is ignorance and folly enough.

The word ghayb carries a picture. The lexicons say it is what is screened from the eyes. The sun 'goes ghāba' when it sets: hidden, not gone. A thicket is a ghāba, because whatever is in it cannot be seen. The dark bottom of a well, where Yusuf (as) was thrown, is its ghayāba.

So the question is pointed. The man has bet everything on something behind the screen. He has no window into it. He has only the word of another man who has no window either.

We still make bets like this. We trust that 'everyone does it' will count for something on the Day. We assume a parent's piety will cover a child's neglect. We lean on promises about the unseen made by people who cannot see it.

Only One sees behind the screen. It makes sense to take His word about what is there.

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.