Tafsir of Surah Al-Ahqaf - Verse 9

Refuting Claims of the Idolators about the Qur'an and the Messenger

Concerning the disbelief and rebellion of the idolators, Allah says that when the clear Ayat of Allah are recited to them they say;

هَـذَا سِحْرٌ مُّبِينٌ

(This is plain magic!) meaning, simple magic. In this statement of theirs, they have lied, invented a falsehood, went astray and disbelieved.

أَمْ يَقُولُونَ افْتَرَاهُ

(Or they say: "He has fabricated it." ) They are referring to Muhammad . Allah responds saying,

قُلْ إِنِ افْتَرَيْتُهُ فَلاَ تَمْلِكُونَ لِى مِنَ اللَّهِ شَيْئاً

(Say: "If I have fabricated it, you have no power to support me against Allah...") which means, `if I lie against Allah and falsely claim that He sent me when He actually had not, then He would punish me with a severe punishment. No one on the earth -- you or anyone else -- would then be able to protect me from Him.' It is similar to Allah's saying,

قُلْ إِنِّى لَن يُجِيرَنِى مِنَ اللَّهِ أَحَدٌ وَلَنْ أَجِدَ مِن دُونِهِ مُلْتَحَداً إِلاَّ بَلاَغاً مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَرِسَـلَـتِهِ

(Say: "None can protect me from Allah, nor would I find a refuge except in Him. (My duty) is only to convey from Allah and (deliver) His Messages. ") (72:22-23) Allah says,

وَلَوْ تَقَوَّلَ عَلَيْنَا بَعْضَ الاٌّقَاوِيلِ - لأَخَذْنَا مِنْهُ بِالْيَمِينِ - ثُمَّ لَقَطَعْنَا مِنْهُ الْوَتِينَ - فَمَا مِنكُم مِّنْ أَحَدٍ عَنْهُ حَـجِزِينَ

(And if he made up a false saying concerning Us, We surely would have seized him by the right hand. Then we would have cut off his life artery. And none of you could withhold Us from (punishing) him.) (69:44-47) Thus, Allah says here,

قُلْ إِنِ افْتَرَيْتُهُ فَلاَ تَمْلِكُونَ لِى مِنَ اللَّهِ شَيْئاً هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا تُفِيضُونَ فِيهِ كَفَى بِهِ شَهِيداً بَيْنِى وَبَيْنَكُمْ

(Say: "If I have fabricated it, still you have no power to support me against Allah. He knows best of what you say among yourselves concerning it (i.e. this Qur'an)! Sufficient is He as a witness between me and you!...") This is a severe threat, intimidation and warning for them. Allah then says,

وَهُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ

(And He is the Oft-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.) This is an encouragement for them to repent and turn to Allah. It means, `despite all of this, if you turn back and repent, Allah will accept your repentance, pardon you, forgive you, and have mercy upon on.' This is similar to Allah's saying in Surat Al-Furqan,

وَقَالُواْ أَسَـطِيرُ الاٌّوَّلِينَ اكْتَتَبَهَا فَهِىَ تُمْلَى عَلَيْهِ بُكْرَةً وَأَصِيلاً - قُلْ أَنزَلَهُ الَّذِى يَعْلَمُ السِّرَّ فِى السَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضِ إِنَّهُ كَانَ غَفُوراً رَّحِيماً

(And they say: "(This Book is) legends of the ancients that he has written down, and they are dictated to him morning and afternoon." Say: "It has been sent down by the One Who knows every secret within the heavens and the earth. Truly, He is ever Forgiving and Merciful.") (25:5-6) Allah then says,

قُلْ مَا كُنتُ بِدْعاً مِّنَ الرُّسُلِ

(Say: "I am not a new thing among the Messengers...") which means, `I am not the first Messenger who ever came to the world. Rather, Messengers came before me. Therefore, I am not an unprecedented incident that should cause you all to reject me and doubt my being sent to you. Indeed, Allah has sent before me all of the Prophets to various nations.' Allah then says,

وَمَآ أَدْرِى مَا يُفْعَلُ بِى وَلاَ بِكُمْ

(nor do I know what will be done with me or with you.) `Ali bin Abi Talhah reported from Ibn `Abbas that he said, "It (this Ayah) was followed in revelation by,

لِّيَغْفِرَ لَكَ اللَّهُ مَا تَقَدَّمَ مِن ذَنبِكَ وَمَا تَأَخَّرَ

(That Allah may forgive for you your sins of the past and future). Similarly, `Ikrimah, Al-Hasan, and Qatadah all said that this Ayah was abrogated by the Ayah;

لِّيَغْفِرَ لَكَ اللَّهُ مَا تَقَدَّمَ مِن ذَنبِكَ وَمَا تَأَخَّرَ

(That Allah may forgive for you your sins of the past and future). They said that when the latter Ayah was revealed, one of the Muslims said to Allah's Messenger , "Allah has declared what He will do for you. But what will He do for us" Then Allah revealed;

لِّيُدْخِلَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَـتِ جَنَّـتٍ تَجْرِى مِن تَحْتِهَا الاٌّنْهَـرُ

(That He may admit the believing men and the believing women to Gardens under which rivers flow). This is what they said. That which has been confirmed in the Sahih is that the believers said, "May you enjoy that, O Allah's Messenger! But what do we get" So Allah revealed this Ayah. Imam Ahmad recorded that Kharijah bin Zayd bin Thabit, reported that Umm Al-`Ala' -- a woman from the Ansar who had given her pledge of loyalty to Allah's Messenger -- said, "When the Ansar drew lots regarding taking in the Muhajirun to dwell with them, our lot was to have `Uthman bin Maz`un. Later, `Uthman fell sick in our house, so we nursed him until he died, and we wrapped him in his garments (for burial). Allah's Messenger then came in, and I said, `O Abu As-Sa'ib! May Allah have mercy on you. I bear witness that Allah has indeed honored you.' Allah's Messenger asked,

«وَمَا يُدْرِيكِ أَنَّ اللهَ تَعَالَى أَكْرَمَه»

(How do you know that Allah has honored him) I said, `I do not know -- may my father and mother both be ransoms for you!' Allah's Messenger then said,

«أَمَّا هُوَ فَقَدْ جَاءَهُ الْيَقِينُ مِنْ رَبِّهِ،وَإِنِّي لَأَرْجُو لَهُ الْخَيْرَ. وَاللهِ مَا أَدْرِي وَأَنَا رَسُولُ اللهِ مَا يُفْعَلُ بِي»

(As for him, certainty (death) has reached him from his Lord, and I surely wish well for him. But by Allah, even though I am Allah's Messenger, I do not know what will happen to me (after death).) I then said, `Never will I claim a person to be pious after this.' This incident caused me some distress, and I went to sleep thereafter. I saw in my dream that `Uthman owned a running water spring. I went to Allah's Messenger and told him about that. Allah's Messenger said,

«ذَاكِ عَمَلُه»

(That was his (good) deeds.)" Al-Bukhari recorded this Hadith but Muslim did not. In one of the narrations, Allah's Messenger said,

«مَا أَدْرِي وَأَنَا رَسُولُ اللهِ مَا يُفْعَلُ بِه»

(Even though I am Allah's Messenger, I do not know what will happen to him.) This and similar texts indicate that it is not allowed to declare that a specific person will enter Jannah except for those who were distinctly indicated by Allah or his Messenger . Examples of those are the Ten, Ibn Sallam, Al-Ghumaysa', Bilal, Suraqah, `Abdullah bin `Amr bin Haram (Jabir's father), the Seventy Recitors (of Qur'an) who were assassinated near the Well of Ma`unah, Zayd bin Harithah, Ja`far, Ibn Rawahah, and other similar individuals, may Allah be pleased with them. Allah then says,

إِنْ أَتَّبِعُ إِلاَّ مَا يُوحَى إِلَىَّ

(I only follow that which is revealed to me, ) which means, `I only follow what Allah has revealed to me of the revelation.'

وَمَآ أَنَاْ إِلاَّ نَذِيرٌ مُّبِينٌ

(and I am but a plain warner.) meaning, `my warnings are obvious to every person with sound intellect and reason.' And Allah knows best.

Commentary

وَمَا أَدْرِ‌ي مَا يُفْعَلُ بِي وَلَا بِكُمْ ۖ إِنْ أَتَّبِعُ إِلَّا مَا يُوحَىٰ إِلَيَّ (and I do not know what will be done to me or to you. I do not follow anything but what is revealed to me - 46:9) The sentence, "I do not follow anything but what is revealed to me," has been used here as an 'exception' to the previous sentence, meaning thereby that I do not know anything except what is revealed to me through wahy. The gist of the explanation given to this verse by Imam Dahhak (رح) is that the knowledge of some unseen things can be obtained by the Holy Prophet ﷺ only through wahy, and he does not have any knowledge about those unseen things which were not revealed to him through wahy, be they about his own self, about the believers and disbelievers among his people, or about matters pertaining to this world or to the Hereafter. Whatever the Holy Prophet ﷺ has said about the unseen things is obtained through wahy. The noble Qur'an has declared that the Holy Prophet ﷺ was blessed by the knowledge of innumerable things from the Unseen (ghaib), but all this knowledge was given to him by the divine revelation. This is exactly what the Holy Qur'an means by saying,

تِلْكَ مِنْ أَنبَاءِ الْغَيْبِ نُوحِيهَا إِلَيْكَ

"These are some reports from the unseen (events) which We reveal to you." (11: 49)

Details of matters relating to the Hereafter, Hell, Paradise, accountability, reward and punishment are given in the Holy Qur'an itself, and many details of certain future events that had to take place in this world are given in authentic ahadith reported from the Holy Prophet ﷺ . Thus the substance of the present verse is simply that the knowledge of the Holy Prophet ﷺ about the Unseen is not all-encompassing as is that of Allah Almighty, nor is it independently obtained; he simply reproduces whatever Allah Almighty tells him through wahy.

After having reproduced this explanation, the author of Ruh-ul-Ma’ ani says, "It is my belief that the Holy Prophet ﷺ did not leave this world until he was blessed by wahy with such a knowledge about Allah Ta’ ala, His attributes and about all those things the knowledge of which could be meritorious that no other in the whole universe has ever been blessed with. But I do not believe that unawareness about trivial worldly affairs like the acts of some particular individuals and what they do at their homes and what happens to them one day or the other can in any way reduce his excellence."

Dictate of etiquette regarding the knowledge of the Holy Prophet t about unseen matters

Respect for the Holy Prophet ﷺ demands that one should not say that he did not know the Unseen; rather one should say that Allah Ta` a1a had given such vast knowledge of unseen matters to him as was not given to any other prophet.

The explanation given by some exegetes that the negation in this verse is only about the unseen affairs pertaining to this world, and not about the Hereafter (as stated by Qurtubi) is probably because they have not taken the words, "I do not follow anything but what is revealed to me," in the sense of an exception to the previous sentence; hence the negation of the knowledge of unseen things has been made specific to the affairs of this world, because the Holy Prophet ﷺ has told very clearly about the Hereafter that the Mu'min would go to Paradise, and the 'kafir' would go to Hell.

The Makkan polytheists regarded the Jews, whom they often met on trading expeditions, as a community of prophets and therefore very learned in religious disciplines. When the Prophet Muhammad had become a controversial personality in Makkah, a number of these polytheists made enquiries of certain Jews about him. In the meantime a Jewish scholar told them that, according to their books, a prophet was due to appear in those parts, and that he (Muhammad) might be that very prophet. Evidently, this Jew had indirectly accepted the prophethood of Muhammad. The events of history had already proved that God’s messengers do appear along with God’s books. It was written in ancient divine scriptures that such a messenger was due to appear among the Ishmaelites. In the life and sayings of the Prophet of God, all those signs were clearly found that signalled prophethood. In the face of such signs and portents, those who denied the prophethood of the Prophet Muhammad were not doing so on any rational grounds, but simply because, by accepting one who had hitherto been an ordinary individual in their eyes as the prophet of God, they would be damaging their own high position. Those who are more concerned with their own pride and prestige than with the Truth, will always be led in the wrong direction by their warped mindset.