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Our chests harbor thoughts, ideas, objectives, and intentions that none can hear or see except for the All-Wise, the All-Knowing.
And our consciences entertain hidden ideas that are unknown to angels, prophets, pious people, scholars, and devils. Only the Knower of the unseen knows them and everything.
The embryo is covered with layer after layer in its mother’s womb, and none knows whether it is alive or dead, male or female, and will be miserable or blissful.
None knows its destiny, sustenance, and term of life except the One Who encompasses all things in His knowledge. {...And Allah is All-Knowing of everything.} [Surat al-Baqarah: 282]
Knowledge is the opposite of ignorance.
The knowledge of our Lord encompasses all things, external and internal, open and secret. His knowledge encompasses the upper and lower worlds. It encompasses the past, present, and future. Allah Almighty says: {Allah knows what is [presently] before them and what will be after them, but they do not encompass it in knowledge.} [Surat Taha: 110]
He knows what lies hidden within our chests, be it belief or disbelief, truth or falsehood, good or evil. {...Indeed, Allah is All-Knowing of that within the breasts.} [Surat Āl-‘Imrān: 119] {...And Allah is All-Knowing of everything.} [Surat al-Baqarah: 282]
To Him, private talk is a public one, secrets are open matters, and what is hidden is apparent and revealed to Him.
He is the All-Knowing and He encompasses all things in His knowledge, and nothing is or has ever been unknown to Him.
Nothing in the universe is hidden from or forgotten by Him.
With His knowledge the leaf falls, the whisper is made, the word is uttered, the intention is made, and the drop of water descends. Indeed, everything happens with His knowledge.
He knows the living and the dead, the wet and the dry, the present and the absent, what is secret and what is public, and what is small and what is great. {He alone has the keys of the unseen; no one knows them except Him. He knows what is in the land and sea. Not a leaf falls without His knowledge, nor a grain in the darkness of the earth, nor anything moist or dry, but is [written] in a Clear Record.} [Surat al-An‘ām: 59]
Some of the Companions engaged in a talk that they concealed and kept to themselves. Thereupon, Allah Almighty revealed: {...Allah knows that you used to deceive yourselves...} [Surat al-Baqarah: 187]
And the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) confided some discourse to one of his wives, and she revealed it. When he informed her about that, she asked him: “Who informed you about that?” {He said: “I was informed by the All-Knowing, the All-Aware.”} [Surat at-Tahrīm: 3]
‘Umayr ibn Wahb and Safwān ibn Umayyah sat together by night at the Ka‘bah, after the battle of Badr, plotting to assassinate the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him). Yet Allah Almighty informed him of their evil plot. {He said: “My Lord knows whatever is said in the heaven and earth, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.”} [Surat al-Anbiyā’: 4]
The hypocrites talked secretly amongst themselves during the battle of Tabūk and spoke critically about the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him), the Companions, and the religion. However, the Knower of the unseen informed His Messenger of their plot, cunning, and mockery. He says: {Did they not know that Allah knows their secrets and their private conversations and that Allah is the Knower of the unseen?} [Surat at-Tawbah: 78]
{[O people], your god is only Allah; none has the right to be worshiped except Him. He encompasses everything in knowledge.”} [Surat Taha: 98]
None of His creation resembles Him in terms of His perfect knowledge: {...There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.} [Surat ash-Shūra: 11]
{...He knew what you did not know, and He granted you prior to that an imminent conquest.} [Surat al-Fat-h: 27] When people know something, it is part of what Allah Almighty teaches them. All knowledge, related to the Sharia or destiny, does belong to Allah, the All-Mighty, the All-Wise. {They said: “Glory be to You, we have no knowledge except what You have taught us. Verily, You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.”} [Surat al-Baqarah: 32]
Allah Almighty also says: {...And He taught you what you did not know...} [Surat an-Nisā’: 113]
If all people were to gather all the knowledge and information they possess, it would be insignificant compared to the vast knowledge of our Lord. {And they ask you about the soul. Say: “The soul is of the affair of my Lord. And you have not been given of knowledge except a little.”} [Surat al-Isrā’: 85]
When Al-Khidr and Mūsa (Moses) (peace be upon him) went aboard the ship and Al-Khidr saw a sparrow stand on the edge of the ship, making one or two pecks into the sea, he said to Moses: “O Moses, my and your knowledge compared to the knowledge of Allah is like the pecks of this sparrow compared to the sea.”
Our Lord keeps the knowledge of the unseen exclusively to Himself: {And with Him are the keys of the unseen; none knows them except Him...} [Surat al-An‘ām: 59] He mentions five categories of the unseen: {Indeed, Allah has the knowledge of the Hour. He sends down the rain and knows what is in the wombs. No soul knows what it will do tomorrow, nor does any soul know in which land it will die. Indeed, Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware.} [Surat Luqmān: 34]
These fives keys of the unseen are known to Allah Almighty alone:
1. Knowledge of the Hour: this is the first key to the life of the Hereafter.
2. Sending down rain: this is the key to giving life to the earth through plants.
3. Knowledge of the wombs: this is the key to life in this world.
4. Knowledge of what will happen tomorrow: this is the key to the earning in the future.
5. Knowledge of the place of death: this is the key to the life of Barzakh (Barrier) and where the particular judgment of each person will be held.
Undoubtedly, knowledge of the unseen is too great and broad to be limited to these five categories. They are merely cited as some important aspects of the unseen. In another verse, Allah Almighty says: {Say: “None in the heavens and earth knows the unseen except Allah...”} [Surat an-Naml: 65]
Whoever claims that anyone other than Allah Almighty knows the unseen has thus disbelieved in what was revealed to Muhammad (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him).
The prophets (peace be upon them) knew nothing of the unseen except what Allah Almighty had informed them. ‘Ā’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: “Whoever claims that the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) knew what would happen tomorrow has indeed fabricated a serious lie against Allah.” {...And if I knew the unseen, I could have acquired much wealth, and no harm would have touched me...} [Surat al-A‘rāf: 188] So, what about those less in rank than the prophets?!
When Allah Almighty grants someone knowledge, even if little, He has thus elevated him. {...Allah will raise those who believed among you and those who were given knowledge, by degrees...} [ِSurat al-Mujādilah: 11] What then if a person is knowledgeable, pious, and fearful of Allah Almighty and heedful of His rights?
Such people are certain of the knowledge of Allah and so their fear and glorification of Him grow. As a consequence, Allah praises them from above seven heavens saying: {...Only those fear Allah, from among His servants, who have knowledge...} [Surat Fātir: 28]
Knowledge is the core of all noble traits. It elevates people to sublime ranks.
A person can only reach such a status through knowledge and persistently asking Allah Almighty to grant it to him, in compliance with the Prophet’s supplication as taught to him by the Almighty Lord: {...And say: “My Lord, increase me in knowledge.”} [Surat Taha: 114]
Ibn Hazm (may Allah have mercy upon him) said: “The most sublime knowledge is what brings you closer to your Lord.”
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy upon him) said: “Were it not for the ignorance of most people of this pleasure - the pleasure of knowledge - and its great status, they would fight each other with swords to attain it. Yet, it is surrounded by difficulties and they are prevented from it with a barrier of ignorance so that Allah particularly gives it to whomever He wills, and Allah is the Owner of great bounty.”
O Allah, the All-Knowing, teach us what benefits us, make us benefit from what You teach us, and increase us in knowledge.