Al-Inshiqaq · Makki · ayah 23 of 25

Al-Inshiqaq 84:23

وَٱللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا يُوعُونَ

“And Allāh is most knowing of what they keep within themselves.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Every heart is a container, packed with what it keeps; Allah knows its contents better than the one who packed it.

A reflection

'My greatest weakness is that I work too hard'

At a job interview, a candidate is asked the familiar question: what is your greatest weakness? He smiles and says he works too hard, and cares too much. The panel nods politely. Everyone in the room knows it is not the answer. Perhaps he does not know the real one himself.

Wa-llāhu aʿlamu bimā yūʿūn: and Allah knows best what they keep inside. The form aʿlam is a comparative: better than anyone, more than anyone. Better than their neighbours, better than their families, and better than they know themselves.

The early explanations list what might be stored there. What they conceal. What they hide in their breasts. Denial, envy, hatred and wrongdoing, says one classical commentator. Another view, reported by a later commentator, is striking. Allah knows best what they keep inside of the proofs that the Quran is true. They deny outwardly what they half know inwardly.

That is the humbling point for all of us. We are rarely good judges of our own contents. We tell ourselves flattering stories about our motives, like the interview answer, and half believe them. The Quran says so directly. 'He knows you best, from when He brought you out of the earth and when you were hidden in your mothers' wombs. So do not claim purity for yourselves; He knows best who is truly mindful of Him' (53:32).

The ego wants to be the final authority on itself. This ayah removes that authority. Someone else knows the true answer to the interview question.

Is this a display of power, or a need to be feared? Neither. The Quran says Allah 'knows the secret, and what is even more hidden' (20:7), and that knowledge is the ground of His justice. Nobody will be judged by the flattering story, and nobody by a false rumour either.

So ask Him, in your own words, to show you the real answer about yourself while there is time to act on it. It is the most useful interview you will ever sit.

The full entry has 4 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.