Transliteration:( Alam tara annal laaha ya'lamu maa fis samaawaati wa maa fil ardi maa yakoonu min najwaa salaasatin illaa Huwa raabi'uhum wa laa khamsatin illaa huwa saadisuhum wa laaa adnaa min zaalika wa laaa aksara illaa huwa ma'ahum ayna, maa kaanoo summa yunabbi'uhum bimaa 'amiloo yawmal qiyaamah; innal laaha bikulli shai'in aleem )
“Do you not see that Allah knows [26] whatever is in the heavens and the earth? There is no private conversation among three, except that He is the fourth [27], nor among five but that He is the sixth of them, nor fewer than that, nor more, but He is with them wherever [28] they are. Then, on the Day of Resurrection, He will inform them [29] of what they did. Indeed, Allah is All-Knowing of everything [30].”
One day the sons of Amr Rabeeah, namely Habib and Safwaan ibn Ahmeeyah, were having a discussion.
One of them said: “Is Allah Almighty aware of what we are saying?”
Another replied: “He is aware of some and unaware of others.”
The third said: “If He knows some, then He knows all.”
On that occasion, this verse was revealed (Tafseer Roohul Mu’ani).
He is looking at them, knows them, and listens to every word of theirs.
This does not mean that Allah’s being is physically present at a specific location—rather, it means:
One should feel that Allah is always with them, both in public and private,
Such awareness should prevent a person from boldness in sin,
This consciousness is the essence of piety and trust in Allah.
It should also be remembered that:
Based on knowledge and power, Allah is with everyone,
Based on mercy, He is with the believers,
With the disbelievers, He is present in terms of wrath and justice.
Whether people are in good or evil gatherings, Allah Almighty is with them.
Just as filthy and clean places both fall under the sunlight, and yet:
The sunlight is not defiled,
Nor is the dignity of the sun diminished.
Likewise, Allah’s Knowledge and Power reach every corner, good or bad,
And this in no way reduces His majesty and purity.
Complete accountability cannot take place:
In this world, or
In the grave,
Because:
Some deeds may be ongoing,
Some are yet to be rewarded,
Continuous deeds may still be earning rewards.
Hence, the Day of Judgement has been appointed as the true day of complete reckoning.
His knowledge includes:
Possible and impossible,
Present and absent, etc.
However, impossible and obligatory things are excluded from power, not knowledge.
For deeper insight, consult Tafseer Naeemi.
The tafsir of Surah Mujadilah verse 7 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Mujadilah ayat 5 which provides the complete commentary from verse 5 through 7.
(58:7) Are you not aware[18] that Allah knows whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth? Never is there any whispering among three but He is their fourth; nor among five but He is their sixth;[19] nor fewer nor more but He is with them wherever they may be.[20] And then He will tell them on the Day of Judgement all that they have done. Surely Allah knows everything.
18. From here to verse 10 continuously the hypocrites have been taken to task for the attitude they had adopted in the Muslim society. Although apparently they were a part of the Muslim community, secretly they were a separate group from the believers. Whenever the Muslims saw them, they found them whispering secretly together. That is how they conspired and made all sorts of plans in order to create rifts in the ranks of the Muslims, and to cause alarm and spread mischief among them.
19. The question may arise why have three and five been mentioned here instead of two and three? Why has two and then four been left out? The commentators have given many answers to this question but in our opinion the correct answer is that this style has been adopted for maintaining the literary beauty of the Quran. Without this the style would have suffered from blemishes. Therefore, after making mention of three and five whisperers the gap has been filled up in the following sentence by saying: whether the whisperers are fewer than three, or more than five, in any case Allah is always with them.
20. This Allah’s being associated with them is, in fact, in the sense of Allah’s being All-Knowing and All-Aware, All- Hearing and All-Seeing and His being absolute in power, and not in the sense that Allah, God forbid, is a person who is secretly and invisibly present among the five persons as their sixth associate. This, in fact, is meant to make the people realize that they may be holding secret counsels in safe and hidden places and may be able to conceal their plans from the world but they cannot keep them concealed from Allah, that they may escape from every power of the world, but they cannot escape the grasp of Allah.
[1642]- Through His knowledge of them and their secrets.
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