Surah An-Naml (27) — Ayah 66

(Ayah 66) ➊ {بَلِ ادّٰرَكَ عِلْمُهُمْ فِي الْاٰخِرَةِ:’’ ادّٰرَكَ ‘‘} is actually {’’ تَدَارَكَ‘‘}, which is the past tense verb from the form "tafā‘ul." Its root is {’’درك‘‘}, from which {’’ ادّٰرَكَ ‘‘} is also derived, meaning to attain something. {’’تَدَارَكَ‘‘} means to continuously run after something in order to catch it, to try to catch it by running from behind. Here, it means that their knowledge kept running after the Hereafter to know it, but could not attain it, and finally gave up exhausted. {’’غَابَ‘‘} was lost, {’’اِنْتَهٰي‘‘} ended. There are different opinions regarding the interpretation of {’’ ادّٰرَكَ ‘‘}, among which the most authentic is this one, because Tabari has narrated with a reliable chain from Ali bin Abu Talhah, from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both): {’’ « بَلِ ادّٰرَكَ عِلْمُهُمْ فِي الْاٰخِرَةِ » يَقُوْلُ غَابَ عِلْمُهُمْ‘‘} [ طبري : ۲۷۲۹۲ ] that is, the meaning of {’’ ادّٰرَكَ عِلْمُهُمْ ‘‘} is that their knowledge about the Hereafter was lost.

➋ {’’ عَمُوْنَ ‘‘ ’’عَمِيٌ‘‘} (on the pattern of {فَرِحٌ}) is the plural, meaning the blind of the heart.

➌ In the previous verse, Allah Almighty said that besides Allah, whoever is in the heavens and the earth does not know the unseen, and they do not perceive when they will be raised. Obviously, this includes the deities made by the polytheists as well as the Prophets and Companions, that no one knows when they will be raised. After this, the discourse returns to the general disbelievers and polytheists, who denied the Resurrection. Regarding them, three things are mentioned with the word {’’ بَلْ ‘‘} three times; rather, their knowledge about the Hereafter has been lost, they have no knowledge about the time of its occurrence, rather, they are in doubt about the very happening of the Resurrection. Only the one who is certain of its truth will be concerned about the Resurrection; rather, they deliberately act blind to it, not even willing to reflect on the Prophet’s words and the evidences of the Resurrection’s truth, because then they would have to believe in being presented before Allah and being held accountable, after which they could not follow their desires and whims. Therefore, they keep making the excuse for denying the Resurrection by saying: Tell us, when will the Resurrection be established? As He said: «{ لَاۤ اُقْسِمُ بِيَوْمِ الْقِيٰمَةِ (1) وَ لَاۤ اُقْسِمُ بِالنَّفْسِ اللَّوَّامَةِ (2) اَيَحْسَبُ الْاِنْسَانُ اَلَّنْ نَّجْمَعَ عِظَامَهٗ (3) بَلٰى قٰدِرِيْنَ عَلٰۤى اَنْ نُّسَوِّيَ بَنَانَهٗ (4) بَلْ يُرِيْدُ الْاِنْسَانُ لِيَفْجُرَ اَمَامَهٗ (5) يَسْـَٔلُ اَيَّانَ يَوْمُ الْقِيٰمَةِ }» [ القیامۃ : ۱ تا ۶ ] “No! I swear by the Day of Resurrection! And no! I swear by the self-reproaching soul! Does man think that We will never assemble his bones? Why not? (We will assemble them) while We are able to perfectly restore even his fingertips. Rather, man desires to continue sinning ahead of him. He asks: When will the Day of Resurrection be?”

1. That is, their knowledge is incapable of knowing the time of the occurrence of the Hereafter.

66. Rather, their knowledge regarding the Hereafter has come to a halt; rather, they are in doubt about it; rather, they are blind to it [73].

[73] That is, no human being, no matter how much he exercises his intellect, can know when the Day of Resurrection will be established. Nor can he comprehend the reality of the Hereafter. Except if he brings faith in divine revelation. In that case, he attains certainty regarding the Hereafter and its conditions. However, even then, the knowledge of the exact time of Resurrection cannot be attained. And the state of these people is such that the Prophet’s call has certainly cast them into doubt, and despite their denial of the Hereafter, they have been compelled to consider that perhaps the Prophet is indeed telling the truth. Nevertheless, these people have preferred to abandon any contemplation on this matter and have completely closed their eyes to those arguments and evidences, by reflecting upon which their doubt could have been removed.