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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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Exegesis of the verse: ((Say, "If you conceal what is in your breasts or reveal it, Allah knows it...")).

Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Then Allah the Exalted said:
Say, "Whether you conceal what is in your breasts or reveal it, Allah knows it. قل إن تخفوا ما في صدوركم أو تبدوه يعلمه الله
[Ali 'Imran 3:29]
Say قل
The address is to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), but there is no harm in anyone who needs it saying it, even if he is not the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him).
you conceal what is in your breasts تخفوا ما في صدوركم
[Ali 'Imran 3:29]
For indeed, it is not eyes that are blinded, but blinded are the hearts which are within the breasts. فإنها لا تعمى الأبصار ولكن تعمى القلوب التي في الصدور
[Al-Hajj 22:46]
And His saying:
Whether you conceal what is in your breasts إن تخفوا ما في صدوركم
[Ali 'Imran 3:29]
From what? From everything, from good or evil, or enmity or loyalty, or anything else. Everything a person conceals in his breast or reveals, to whom? To people. He said:
or reveal it, Allah knows it أو تبدوه يعلمه الله
[Ali 'Imran 3:29]
He knows it يعلمه
The jussive is the answer to the conditional. His saying:
if you conceal إن تخفوا
Allah the Mighty and Majestic knows it. He, (Glorified and Exalted is He), knows it before the breasts are created and what is in them, but He also knows it after it occurs in the breasts as knowledge of occurrence. As for His prior knowledge, it is knowledge of what will be, and as for after the thing occurs, it is knowledge of the thing after its existence. So for Allah, (Glorified and Exalted is He), regarding what happens in terms of knowledge, there are two considerations: the first consideration is in terms of what will be, and the second is in terms of what has been. With this estimation, the problem that arises in the mind and is raised by many people in such a saying as:
And We will surely test you until We make evident those who strive among you [for the cause of Allah] and the patient ولنبلونكم حتى نعلم المجاهدين منكم والصابرين
[Muhammad 47:31]
is resolved. He says: Did not Allah the Mighty and Majestic know the mujahideen and the patient among others from eternity? The answer: Yes, but His knowledge in eternity is knowledge of what will be, and His knowledge of the thing after its existence is knowledge of it as existing, and there is a difference between the two. This is from one angle, and from another angle: His eternal knowledge does not entail punishment or reward, and His knowledge of the thing after its existence is what entails reward and punishment. So the meaning of
until We know حتى نعلم
is knowledge that entails reward and punishment; otherwise, Allah is knowing before He tests us. He said:
Allah knows it. And He knows that which is in the heavens and that which is on the earth يعلمه الله ويعلم ما في السموات وما في الأرض
[Ali 'Imran 3:29]
"He knows" is in the nominative case as a new statement, and the estimation is: and He knows. It is not permissible in such a case to use the jussive by connecting it to:
Allah knows itيعلمه الله
Unlike His saying the Exalted:
Whether you show what is within yourselves or conceal it, Allah will bring you to account for it. Then He will forgive وإن تبدوا ما في أنفسكم أو تخفوه يحاسبكم به الله فيغفر
[Al-Baqarah 2:284]
For it is permissible
He will forgive whom He willsفيغفر لمن يشاء
[Al-Baqarah 2:284]
and it is permissible
He forgives فيغفر
in three ways, but in this verse, only the nominative is permissible. Why? Because if we made it jussive, Allah's knowledge of what is in the heavens and what is in the earth would be restricted by His saying:
Say, "Whether you conceal what is in your breasts or reveal it قل إن تخفوا ما في صدروكم أو تبدوه
[Ali 'Imran 3:29]
Because the connected particle has the ruling of the answer to the condition, and the answer to the condition is suspended by what? By the verb of the condition. And on this basis, in His saying:
And He knows it ويعلمه
the new statement and the nominative are required, and the jussive is not permissible.
And He knows what is in the heavens and what is on the earth ويعلم ما في السموات وما في الأرض
"What" is from the forms of the relative pronoun or from the relative nouns, and every relative noun implies generality, whether it is from the forms of the plural like "those who" and "those who (feminine)," or from the forms of the singular like "who" and "which," or from the shared forms like "what" and "whom." And on this basis, all relative nouns in their three categories all imply generality. Have you not seen the saying of Allah the Exalted:
And the one who has brought the truth and [they who] believed in it والذي جاء بالصدق وصدق به
[Az-Zumar 39:33]
Where is the news?
Those are the righteous أولئك هم المتقون
So he made the news plural even though the subject is singular, because it is singular but it is general. Now here
What is in the heavens and what is on the earth ما في السموات وما في الأرض
I say that "what" is a relative noun that implies generality, so everything in the heavens is known to Allah the Mighty and Majestic, and everything in the earth is known to Allah the Mighty and Majestic by His eternal, ancient knowledge. Allah said:
Indeed, from Allah nothing is hidden in the earth nor in the heaven. إن الله لا يخفى عليه شيء في الأرض ولا في السماء
[Ali 'Imran 3:5]
And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informed:
That Allah decreed the measures of all things fifty thousand years before He created the heavens and the earth أن الله كتب مقادير كل شيء قبل خلق السموات والأرض بخمسين ألف سنة
And nothing is written except what was known by Him, the Mighty and Majestic.
And Allah is over all things competent والله على كل شيء قدير
The verse concludes with a clarification of the generality of His power, indicating that Allah the Exalted has encompassed everything in knowledge and power, and that He is capable of taking revenge from you if you conceal what He does not approve of, but by His wisdom, He may delay the revenge. His saying:
And Allah is over all things competent والله على كل شيء قدير
The form is general, as you see, over every thing, whether that is from His actions or from the actions of the servants, He is capable of every thing, and whether He willed that thing or did not will it, He is capable of every thing He willed or did not will, and every thing He willed, He is capable of it. So we now have two generalities: the first generality is in power, so we say He is capable of every thing whether He willed it or not, and the second generality is the will, so everything Allah willed, He is capable of it, as came in the Qudsi hadith:
Indeed, I am All-Powerful over what I will. إني على ما أشاء قادر
Sahih Ibn Hibban 64:341
.
Source alathar.net

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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