Surah Aal-i-Imraan (3) — Ayah 179

(Ayah 179) ➊ {مَا كَانَ اللّٰهُ لِيَذَرَ الْمُؤْمِنِيْنَ …:} Thus, in the Battle of Uhud, disbelief and hypocrisy and faith and sincerity became separated and apparent. Razi writes: “This verse is also related to the story of Uhud. Thus, in this incident, the killing and defeat, and then after that, the Muslims going out in response to Abu Sufyan’s challenge, etc., all were such events through which disbelief and hypocrisy and faith and sincerity became separated and apparent, and the distinction between the believer and the hypocrite became clear. Since the mingling of the hypocrites with the believers was against divine wisdom, therefore all these events took place.”

➋ {وَ مَا كَانَ اللّٰهُ لِيُطْلِعَكُمْ عَلَى الْغَيْبِ:} That is, if Allah Almighty does not make the conditions of the sincere believers and the hypocrites and their inner and outer states apparent through such trials, then you do not possess any knowledge of the unseen by which these things would become clear to him and you would know who is a believer and who is a hypocrite. Nor can each of you be informed of the unseen, nor can any of you be informed of the entire unseen.

➌ {وَ لٰكِنَّ اللّٰهَ يَجْتَبِيْ …:} Yes, however, Allah Almighty informs as much of the unseen as He wills whatever He wills among His messengers, and what He does not will, He does not inform. Now, He informed about some of the hypocrites and did not inform about some, as He said: «وَ مِمَّنْ حَوْلَكُمْ مِّنَ الْاَعْرَابِ مُنٰفِقُوْنَ وَ مِنْ اَهْلِ الْمَدِيْنَةِ مَرَدُوْا عَلَى النِّفَاقِ لَا تَعْلَمُهُمْ نَحْنُ نَعْلَمُهُمْ » [ التوبۃ : ۱۰۱] “And among those around you of the Bedouins are some hypocrites, and among the people of Madinah as well who persist in hypocrisy; you do not know them, We know them.” From this, it is known that Allah Almighty informs His chosen messengers of some matters of the unseen, which they need as proof of prophethood, but they do not become Knower of the unseen by this; the Knower of the unseen is only Allah Almighty. See also Surah Al-An’am (59), Surah An-Naml (65), and Surah Al-Jinn (26 to 28).

➍ {فَاٰمِنُوْا بِاللّٰهِ وَ رُسُلِهٖ :} It is not the job of the Muslims to demand from the Messenger to tell them matters of the unseen according to their own wishes. Their job is to believe in Allah and His messengers, and if they believe and adopt piety, then for them is a great reward.

179. 1. For this reason, Allah surely puts people through the furnace of trial so that His friends become clear and His enemies are disgraced. The patient believer is separated from the hypocrite, just as in Uhud Allah tested the people of faith, through which their faith, patience, steadfastness, and obedience were manifested, and the veil of hypocrisy that the hypocrites had put over themselves was uncovered.

179. 2. That is, if Allah does not make the conditions of people apparent and their inner and outer selves distinct through such trials, then you do not possess any knowledge of the unseen by which these things could be revealed to him and you could know who is a hypocrite and who is a pure believer.

179. 3. Yes, however, Allah grants knowledge of the unseen to whomever He wills among His messengers, through which sometimes the secrets of the hypocrites, their conditions, and their conspiracies are exposed to them. That is, this is also revealed only at certain times and to certain prophets. Otherwise, generally, even a prophet (unless Allah wills) remains unaware of the inner hypocrisy and deceit of the hypocrites (as Allah Almighty said in Surah At-Tawbah, verse 101, that among the Bedouins and the people of Madinah are hypocrites whom you, O Prophet, do not know) Its second meaning could also be that We grant knowledge of the unseen only to Our messengers because it is a necessity of their office. Through this divine revelation and matters of the unseen, they call people to Allah and prove themselves to be Allah’s messengers. This subject is mentioned elsewhere in this way (عٰلِمُ الْغَيْبِ فَلَا يُظْهِرُ عَلٰي غَيْبِهٖٓ اَحَدًا 26؀ۙ اِلَّا مَنِ ارْتَضٰى مِنْ رَّسُوْلٍ) 72:26, 27 "Knower of the unseen (is Allah the Almighty) and He does not disclose His unseen to anyone except to a messenger whom He has chosen." Obviously, these matters of the unseen are only those related to the fulfillment of the office and duties of prophethood, not the knowledge of 'ma kana wa ma yakun' (all that has happened and all that will happen until the Day of Judgment), as some people of falsehood claim such knowledge of the unseen for the prophets (peace be upon them) and even for their so-called "infallible Imams."

179. Allah will not leave the believers in the state you are in until He separates the impure from the pure. Nor is it Allah’s way to inform you of the unseen [177], but Allah chooses from His messengers whom He wills. So believe in Allah and His Messenger. And if you believe and are mindful of Allah, you will have a great reward.

[176] That is, in such a state, believers with firm faith, those with weak faith, and the hypocrites all live together in the same Islamic society and are all considered Muslims at the same level. The distinction between their degrees of faith is only possible if Allah puts them all through a trial, and thus the distinction between the good and the bad becomes apparent by itself, as happened during the Battle of Uhud when the Muslims faced defeat, and everyone came to know the firmness, weakness, and hypocrisy of each other's faith.

[177]
The Prophets Have Knowledge of the Unseen Only as Much as Allah Grants:

Apart from trials, another way to know the different degrees of faith among Muslims could have been that Allah would inform His Prophet of their conditions through revelation. But this is against the way of Allah, because faith is by its very nature in the unseen. If the unseen is no longer unseen, then what kind of faith is that? Whatever information about the unseen mankind needed, Allah has already informed all people through the previous prophets. For example, that the Day of Judgment will certainly come. On that day, everyone will be rewarded or punished for their deeds, good or bad. The righteous will go to Paradise and the wicked to Hell, and so on. Allah and His Messenger have described the signs of the hypocrites, but have not named anyone specifically as a hypocrite. In the Prophetic era, there is only one such incident when Allah, due to a severe necessity, informed His Prophet of the names of a few hypocrites. During the return journey from the Battle of Tabuk, fourteen or fifteen hypocrites plotted to throw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ from his mount into a ravine at night during the journey, intending to kill him. At that time, Hudhayfah bin Yaman ؓ was driving his mount from behind. Allah informed him of the hypocrites' plot through revelation and also told him the names of those hypocrites and their fathers, which he also told Hudhayfah ؓ, and at the same time strictly instructed him not to tell anyone their names, etc. That is why Hudhayfah ؓ is called the Keeper of the Prophet's Secret. [مزيد تفصيل كے ليے ديكهيے مسلم كتاب صفات المنافقين] Allah informs the Prophet of the unseen whenever He wills, and as much as He wills. And if He wills, He does not inform him. For example, when the shirt was being brought from Egypt, Jacob ؑ was immediately given the good news through revelation. But when Joseph was lying in a well in Canaan near him and Jacob was sick with grief for him, at that time he was not informed. Similarly, when Umar ؓ was coming to accept Islam and was on his way to him, he was informed through revelation, but when he was extremely anxious and distressed for a whole month regarding the incident of Ifk, the revelation came only after a full month.