An-Naml (The Ant)

65. “Say: No one in the heavens and the earth knows the Unseen save Allah and they do not know when they shall, be raised’.”

66. “Nay, but their knowledge falls as to the Hereafter; nay, they are in doubt about it; nay they are quite blind unto it.”

Unseen is of several kinds and Allah teaches a kind of it to the prophets, as the Qur’an says:

“(O Prophet!) These are of the tidings of Unseen which We reveal unto you…”1

But another kind of it, such as the knowledge of the time of the occurrence of Hereafter, is particular to the Holy Essence of Allah.

The application of /man/ (who) in Arabic literature is for intellectual beings. Therefore, besides the angels, there may be some intellectual creatures in the heavens who, like human beings, will be raised up in Hereafter.

Since in the former verse the words were about Hereafter and Resurrection, these couple of verses refer to this subject from different points of view.

At first, it answers the question of those pagans who had repeatedly asked and said:

“When does Hereafter occur?”,

it says:

“Say: No one in the heavens and the earth knows the Unseen save Allah and they do not know when they shall, be raised’.”

No doubt the knowledge of Unseen, including the date of the happening of Hereafter, belongs to Allah, but it does not contrast to the fact that He gives a part of the knowledge of Unseen to some ones that He desires; as Surah Jinn, No. 72, verses 26 and 27 say:

“He (alone) knows the Unseen, nor does He make anyone acquainted with His secrets.” “Except to him whom He chooses as a messenger…”

In other words, the knowledge of Unseen, essentially, independently, and illimitably, is particularized to Allah, and whatever others know is from His origin, but, in any case, the date of the occurrence of Hereafter is exceptional from this affair, and no one is aware of it.

Then the next holy verse refers to the lack of knowledge, unawareness and doubt of pagan about Hereafter.

It says:

“Nay, but their knowledge falls as to the Hereafter; nay, they are in doubt about it; nay they are quite blind unto it.”

The Qur’anic word /’iddarak/ has originally been /tadaruk/ in the sense of ‘arranged one after another’. Thus the concept of the sentence in this verse is that they used all their knowledge about Hereafter but they gained nothing.

That is why, next to it, the verse says:

“…Nay, they are in doubt about it, nay they are quite blind unto it.”

The evidence of it is that the signs of Hereafter are seen in the life of this very world, including: the return of the dead land to life in summer, the trees that become fruitful after winter, and observing the greatness of Allah’s power in whole creation.

All of these are some evidence for the life possible after death, but they pass by them as if they are blind. In other words, pagans do not know when they will be raised up and they are doubtful about it. Now the verse announces that they will understand its reality in Hereafter.

Their knowledge about Hereafter will become complete in Hereafter and they will find certainty about it, a certainty which will be in vain, while they are doubtful about it in this world.