Tafsir of Surah Yunus - Verse 61

Everything Small or Large is within the Knowledge of Allah

Allah informed His Prophet that He knows and is well acquainted with all of the affairs and conditions of him and his Ummah and all of creation and its creatures at all times -- during every hour and second. Nothing slips or escapes from His knowledge and observation, not even anything the weight of a speck of dust within the heavens or earth, or anything that is smaller or larger than that. Everything is in a manifest Book, as Allah said:

وَعِندَهُ مَفَاتِحُ الْغَيْبِ لاَ يَعْلَمُهَآ إِلاَّ هُوَ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا فِى الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ وَمَا تَسْقُطُ مِن وَرَقَةٍ إِلاَّ يَعْلَمُهَا وَلاَ حَبَّةٍ فِى ظُلُمَـتِ الاٌّرْضِ وَلاَ رَطْبٍ وَلاَ يَابِسٍ إِلاَّ فِى كِتَـبٍ مُّبِينٍ

(And with Him are the keys of the Ghayb (all that is hidden and unseen), none knows them but He. And He knows whatever there is in the land and in the sea; not a leaf falls, but He knows it. There is not a grain in the darkness of the earth nor anything fresh or dry, but is written in a Clear Record.)(6:59) He stated that He is Well-Aware of the movement of the trees and other inanimate objects. He is also Well-Aware of all grazing beasts. He said:

وَمَا مِن دَآبَّةٍ فِى الاٌّرْضِ وَلاَ طَائِرٍ يَطِيرُ بِجَنَاحَيْهِ إِلاَّ أُمَمٌ أَمْثَـلُكُمْ

(There is not a moving creature on earth, nor a bird that flies with its two wings, but are communities like you.) (6:38) He also said:

وَمَا مِن دَآبَّةٍ فِي الاٌّرْضِ إِلاَّ عَلَى اللَّهِ رِزْقُهَا

(And no moving creature is there on earth but its provision is due from Allah. )(11:6) If this is His knowledge of the movement of these things, then what about His knowledge of the movement of the creatures that are commanded to worship Him Allah said:

وَتَوكَّلْ عَلَى الْعَزِيزِ الرَّحِيمِ - الَّذِى يَرَاكَ حِينَ تَقُومُ

وَتَقَلُّبَكَ فِى السَّـجِدِينَ

(And put your trust in the Almighty, the Most Merciful, Who sees you when you stand up, and your movements among those who fall prostrate.)(26:217-219) That is why Allah said:

وَمَا تَكُونُ فِى شَأْنٍ وَمَا تَتْلُواْ مِنْهُ مِن قُرْءَانٍ وَلاَ تَعْمَلُونَ مِنْ عَمَلٍ إِلاَّ كُنَّا عَلَيْكُمْ شُهُودًا إِذْ تُفِيضُونَ فِيهِ

(Neither you do any deed nor recite any portion of the Qur'an, nor you do any deed, but We are Witness thereof when you are doing it.) meaning, `We are watching and hearing you when you engage in that thing.' When Jibril asked the Prophet about Ihsan, he said:

«أَنْ تَعْبُدَ اللهَ كَأَنَّكَ تَرَاهُ، فَإِنْ لَمْ تَكُنْ تَرَاهُ فَإِنَّهُ يَرَاك»

(It is that you worship Allah as if you are seeing Him. But since you do not see Him, be certain that He is watching you.)

In the fifth verse (61), mention has been made of the all-encompassing knowledge of the most exalted Allah and its unmatched multi-dimensional extensions. The address is to the Holy Prophet ﷺ . He is being told that nothing he does by way of his work or recital of the Qur'an remains hidden from Allah. Similarly, whatever all human beings do remains before Him. And not even a single particle in the heavens and the earth is concealed from Him. Rather, everything is written in the clear Book, that is, the Preserved Tablet (al lawh al-mahfuz).

At this place, as it seems, the wisdom of describing the all-encompassing nature of Divine knowledge is aimed at consoling the Holy Prophet ﷺ that his enemies cannot harm him in any way for he was under the protection of Allah Ta` ala.

All of God’s gifts to man—whether agricultural produce or other things which are useful to man—are divine provision (rizq). As man utilizes them in the way shown by God, he developes a feeling of gratitude towards his Maker. But Satan wants man to fail to remember God while making use of divine provisions. In ancient times Satan induced people to associate with these provisions the rites due to false gods and goddesses so that in availing of them, they would forget the remembrance of their true Lord. In the present age Satan is achieving this purpose by advancing material explanations for things. God-gifted things are being shown to people as resulting from certain material factors, so that when they receive these things, they will not treat these bounties as the provision (rizq) of God but as the outcome of worldly toils.