Study the Quran

Tafsir

Scholarly commentary explaining a verse — its context, its meaning and how the scholars have understood it.

Al-A'raf 7:188

Word by word

قُل لَّآ أَمْلِكُ لِنَفْسِى نَفْعًا وَلَا ضَرًّا إِلَّا مَا شَآءَ ٱللَّهُ ۚ وَلَوْ كُنتُ أَعْلَمُ ٱلْغَيْبَ لَٱسْتَكْثَرْتُ مِنَ ٱلْخَيْرِ وَمَا مَسَّنِىَ ٱلسُّوٓءُ ۚ إِنْ أَنَا۠ إِلَّا نَذِيرٌ وَبَشِيرٌ لِّقَوْمٍ يُؤْمِنُونَ

Say, "I hold not for myself [the power of] benefit or harm, except what Allāh has willed. And if I knew the unseen, I could have acquired much wealth, and no harm would have touched me. I am not except a warner and a bringer of good tidings to a people who believe."

Ibn Kathir (Abridged) English Ma'arif al-Qur'an English Tafsir Muyassar Arabic Tafsir Ibn Kathir Arabic All sources

Ibn Kathir (Abridged)

Hafiz Ibn Kathir

The Messenger does not know the Unseen, and He cannot bring Benefit or Harm even to Himself

Allah commanded His Prophet to entrust all matters to Him and to inform, about himself, that he does not know the unseen future, but he knows of it only what Allah informs him. Allah said in another Ayah, عَـلِمُ الْغَيْبِ فَلاَ يُظْهِرُ عَلَى غَيْبِهِ أَحَداً ((He Alone is) the All-Knower of the Ghayb (Unseen), and He reveals to none His Ghayb.) 72:26 Ad-Dahhak reported that Ibn `Abbas said that, وَلَوْ كُنتُ أَعْلَمُ الْغَيْبَ لاَسْتَكْثَرْتُ مِنَ الْخَيْرِ(If I had the knowledge of the Ghayb (Unseen), I should have secured for myself an abundance of wealth.) refers to money.

In another narration, Ibn `Abbas commented, "I would have knowledge of how much profit I would make with what I buy, and I would always sell what I would make profit from, وَمَا مَسَّنِىَ السُّوءُ("and no evil should have touched me.") and poverty would never touch me." Ibn Jarir said, "And others said, `This means that if I know the Unseen then I would prepare for the years of famine during the prosperous years, and in the time of high cost, I would have prepared for it."' `Abdur-Rahman bin Zayd bin Aslam also commented on this Ayah; وَمَا مَسَّنِىَ السُّوءُ("and no evil should have touched me. "), "I would have avoided and saved myself from any type of harm before it comes." Allah then stated that the Prophet is a warner and bearer of good news.

He warns against the torment and brings good news of Paradise for the believers, فَإِنَّمَا يَسَّرْنَـهُ بِلَسَانِكَ لِتُبَشِّرَ بِهِ الْمُتَّقِينَ وَتُنْذِرَ بِهِ قَوْماً لُّدّاً (So We have made this (the Qur'an) easy on your tongue, only that you may give glad tidings to the pious, and warn with it the most quarrelsome of people.) 19:97 هُوَ الَّذِى خَلَقَكُمْ مِّن نَّفْسٍ وَحِدَةٍ وَجَعَلَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا لِيَسْكُنَ إِلَيْهَا فَلَمَّا تَغَشَّاهَا حَمَلَتْ حَمْلاً خَفِيفًا فَمَرَّتْ بِهِ فَلَمَّآ أَثْقَلَت دَّعَوَا اللَّهَ رَبَّهُمَا لَئِنْ ءَاتَيْتَنَا صَـلِحاً لَّنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الشَّـكِرِينَ

Ma'arif al-Qur'an

Mufti Muhammad Shafi

The Verse 188 clears away a common misbelief of the people regarding the prophets of Allah. They thought that the prophets must possess the knowledge of each and everything in the universe, including the knowledge of the unseen future and unknown past. Similarly, they thought that the prophets must possess the power of bringing benefit or harm to any one out of their own will. The verse made it clear that the all-encompassing knowledge is an exclusive attribute of Allah which cannot be ascribed to any created being. Ascribing these exclusive attributes to anyone other than Allah is the greatest transgression and is tantamount to associating partners with Allah. The very purpose of the revelation of the Holy Qur'an and the advent of the Holy Prophet ﷺ has been to eliminate all the traces of plurality of god and to establish the purest unity of Allah (Tauhid).

The Holy Prophet has been asked to declare that, not to speak of others, even he was unable to harm or benefit himself and that he did not possess the knowledge of the unseen. Had he possessed such knowledge, he would have stored all the good for himself and would have saved himself from every possible harm. There are evident instances in which the Holy Prophet ﷺ could not achieve his objectives inspite of all his effort, and in many other instances, he could not save himself from the damages and harm that reached him. The incident of the treaty of Hudaibiyah is an evident example when the Holy Prophet ﷺ and his companions travelled all the way to Makkah in order to perform the ` Umrah but were stopped by the unbelievers of Makkah. Despite all their desire and effort, they had to go back to Madinah without performing ` Umrah. similarly, the Holy Prophet ﷺ was wounded in the battle of Uhud and the Muslims faced temporary defeat.

Perhaps, such events were allowed to happen, so that it may be demonstrated in practical terms that the Prophets, with due regards to their being closest to Allah and being the best of all the human beings, did not possess divine power and encompassing knowledge.

They were human like other human beings. The Christians fell prey to the same error. They ascribed the divine attributes of Allah to their Prophet and went astray.

The Prophets, however, are invested by Allah with as much knowledge and power as no other human being has ever acquired. They Holy Prophet ﷺ was certainly favoured with the degree of knowledge which surpassed the knowledge of all other prophets. He informed the Muslims of many things which were to happen in future. All his foretellings were seen to happen exactly as he had foretold.

We can say that the Holy Prophet ﷺ was given the knowledge of a number of unseen things, but in Qur'anic terminology this is not termed as (the knowledge of the unseen). Therefore, on the basis of this we are not allowed to call the Holy Prophet ﷺ عَالِمُ الغیب (the knower of the unseen), as knower of the unseen is none other than Allah.

The last sentence of the verse said, إِنْ أَنَا إِلَّا نَذِيرٌ‌ وَبَشِيرٌ‌ لِّقَوْمٍ يُؤْمِنُونَ I am but a warner and a harbinger of good for people who believe." That is, he has been assigned the duty of warning the evil doers against the punishment of Allah and give the good tidings of great reward by Allah to those who are righteous.

Tafsir Muyassar

Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Saudi Arabia

قل -أيها الرسول-: لا أقدرُ على جَلْبِ خير لنفسي ولا دفع شر يحل بها إلا ما شاء الله، ولو كنت أعلم الغيب لفعلت الأسباب التي أعلم أنها تكثِّر لي المصالح والمنافع، ولاتَّقيتُ ما يكون من الشر قبل أن يقع، ما أنا إلا رسول الله أرسلني إليكم، أخوِّف من عقابه، وأبشر بثوابه قومًا يصدقون بأني رسول الله، ويعملون بشرعه.

Tafsir Ibn Kathir

Hafiz Ibn Kathir

أمره الله تعالى أن يفوض الأمور إليه ، وأن يخبر عن نفسه أنه لا يعلم الغيب ، ولا اطلاع له على شيء من ذلك إلا بما أطلعه الله عليه ، كما قال تعالى : ( عالم الغيب فلا يظهر على غيبه أحدا . [ إلا من ارتضى من رسول فإنه يسلك من بين يديه ومن خلفه رصدا ] ) [ الجن : 26 ، 27 ]وقوله : ( ولو كنت أعلم الغيب لاستكثرت من الخير ) قال عبد الرزاق ، عن الثوري ، عن منصور ، عن مجاهد . ( ولو كنت أعلم الغيب لاستكثرت من الخير ) قال : لو كنت أعلم متى أموت ، لعملت عملا صالحا .وكذلك روى ابن أبي نجيح عن مجاهد : وقال مثله ابن جريج .وفيه نظر ; لأن عمل رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم كان ديمة . وفي رواية : كان إذا عمل عملا أثبتهفجميع عمله كان على منوال واحد ، كأنه ينظر إلى الله ، عز وجل ، في جميع أحواله ، اللهم إلا أن يكون المراد أن يرشد غيره إلى الاستعداد لذلك ، والله أعلم .والأحسن في هذا ما رواه الضحاك ، عن ابن عباس : ( ولو كنت أعلم الغيب لاستكثرت من الخير ) أي : من المال .

وفي رواية : لعلمت إذا اشتريت شيئا ما أربح فيه ، فلا أبيع شيئا إلا ربحت فيه ، وما مسني السوء ، قال : ولا يصيبني الفقر .وقال ابن جرير : وقال آخرون : معنى ذلك : لو كنت أعلم الغيب لأعددت للسنة المجدبة من المخصبة ، ولعرفت الغلاء من الرخص ، فاستعددت له من الرخص .وقال عبد الرحمن بن زيد بن أسلم : ( وما مسني السوء ) قال : لاجتنبت ما يكون من الشر قبل أن يكون ، واتقيته .ثم أخبر أنه إنما هو نذير وبشير ، أي : نذير من العذاب ، وبشير للمؤمنين بالجنات ، كما قال تعالى : ( فإنما يسرناه بلسانك لتبشر به المتقين وتنذر به قوما لدا ) [ مريم : 97 ]

Tafsir is provided for educational reference. Paragraph breaks are added for readability — the wording of each commentary is unchanged. For religious guidance, consult a qualified scholar.