The Definition of the Unseen and Its Divisions

The Shaykh : The Unseen is that which is hidden from creation. The Unseen is divided into two categories: absolute Unseen, which creation does not know, and relative Unseen, which some people know while others do not. For example, do we know the people who are in Makkah right now? No. Are the people in Makkah right now absent from us or not? They are absent, but they are in Makkah; their circumstances are not circumstances of the Unseen. So this is relative Unseen. If someone came to us and said, "The place where the stolen item that was stolen from you is such and such," meaning he identified the exact place where the thief buried the stolen item, would we say this is knowledge of the Unseen? For us, it is Unseen, but for the one who witnessed the thief burying it, it is not Unseen. As for the absolute Unseen, this is what Allah described, and it is that which is hidden from all people, from all humans, such as knowledge of the future. This is Unseen. So whoever claims that he knows what will happen tomorrow has claimed knowledge of the Unseen, because it is the future, and the future is unknown to all people. Yes, he says: I wish the author (may Allah have mercy on him) had brought the end of the verse, because its end must be mentioned, and that is His saying: For Allah has revealed to His Unseen more than He has revealed to the messengers. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) told us about future Unseen matters, from the signs of the Hour and the conditions of the Day of Resurrection. So I wish al-Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him) had mentioned this exception, because it is important. He said: Even the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked Jibril, and Jibril said, "The one asked about it is not more knowledgeable than the one asking." So the best of the messengers among the angels does not know it, and the best of the messengers among the humans does not know it, and those below them are even less likely to know it. So whoever claims knowledge of the Hour and says, "The Hour will occur at such and such an hour or in such and such a month," he is lying about this verse, and this is a false claim, and he becomes a disbeliever. The author (may Allah have mercy on him) apparently indicated the rest of the verse: These five are the keys of the Unseen mentioned in His saying: How is the knowledge of these five the keys of the Unseen? Because the Hour is the key to the Hereafter, the sending down of rain is the key to vegetation, knowledge of what is in the wombs is the key to the fetus that Allah created in this womb, meaning the key to human life in this world, and "no soul knows what it will earn tomorrow" is the key to work in the future, and "no soul knows in which land it will die" is the key to the Hereafter for you, one of the people. So for this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: He said: How is the sending down of rain, which is an act of causing, included among the known Unseen matters? Meaning he did not say "and He knows the sending down of rain," but said "and He sends down rain." We say: because the Creator must be knowledgeable of the created. So if He is the One who sends down rain alone, then no one knows when rain will be sent down, because the knowledge of the sending down of rain is with the One who sends down rain. But the verse came this way because the sending down of rain, by which there is rain, never happens except from Allah (Mighty and Majestic). If someone asks, what do we say about those who are speaking now about the weather, saying there will be rain tomorrow in such and such a land after noon or at the beginning of the day or something similar? The answer to that is from two angles. The first angle is that this matter is based on a tangible matter. The atmosphere changes and adapts in a way that is known by precise instruments to be ready for rain or not ready for rain. If that is the case, then it is not among the matters of the Unseen. Second, what they say may be wrong often. If it were knowledge of the Unseen, it would not be wrong, because there is no error in knowledge. "And He knows what is in the wombs" is the third. "He knows what is in the wombs"—whose wombs? The wombs of humans or humans and others? It is He (Mighty and Majestic) who knows. What is the object of the knowledge? Is it maleness and femaleness, or the conditions of this fetus from every angle? It is the second, because the conditions of femaleness and maleness are known; others besides Allah (Mighty and Majestic) know them. The angel who is commanded to create this fetus knows, because the angel says, "O Lord, male or female?" and Allah decrees what He wills. So the angel knows whether what is in the womb is male or female before it is created. Then, the latest devices in our era can determine whether the fetus is male or female. So we say: if the object of knowledge regarding the fetus is not maleness and femaleness, because if the fetus is formed and becomes male, it can be known, and likewise if it becomes female. But we ask first: does the fetus have related matters? Will this fetus come out alive or dead? Who knows? Allah. Will its life be long if it comes out alive, or short? Who knows? Allah. Will it be rich or poor? Who knows? Allah. Will it be knowledgeable or ignorant? Will it be a leader or a follower? Meaning, the related matters of knowledge regarding the fetus are many. So if people know whether it is male or female, they do not know the rest of the many related matters of knowledge that only Allah (Mighty and Majestic) knows. And He did not say "what you will do," because a person can estimate what he will do. You say, "I will travel tomorrow, I will go to the university, I will take an exam," and so on. But does he know that this will be realized and will be an earning for him? The answer is no. There may be obstacles that prevent the realization of what he intended, or he may do it but earn something else by his action. So the earning tomorrow is not known except by Allah (Mighty and Majestic). "And no soul knows in which land it will die." Even if a person decides that he will not leave his country, and Allah has decreed that he will die in another country, Allah must decree a cause by which he moves to the other country. And if he does not know in which land he will die, he does not know at what time he will die, even more so.