Surah Al-Ahqaf (46) — Ayah 9

(Ayah 9) ➊ {قُلْ مَا كُنْتُ بِدْعًا مِّنَ الرُّسُلِ:’’ بَدَعَ يَبْدَعُ بَدْعًا ‘‘} (F) {’’اَلشَّيْءَ‘‘} To create something, to make something without any previous example. In Surah Al-Baqarah (117) and Surah Al-An’am (101), {’’ بَدِيْعُ السَّمٰوٰتِ وَ الْاَرْضِ ‘‘} is from this. {’’بَدُعَ يَبْدُعُ بَدْعًا وَ بَدَاعَةً وَ بُدُوْعَةً‘‘} (K) To be new, something for which there was no previous example. {’’ بِدْعًا ‘‘} is an adjective from the intransitive verb meaning the active participle, like {’’خِفٌّ‘‘} meaning light, or from the transitive verb meaning the passive participle, like {’’حِبٌّ‘‘} meaning beloved. {’’ بِدْعًا مِّنَ الرُّسُلِ ‘‘} A new or unique messenger. Among the excuses and objections the disbelievers made for not believing, some were mentioned and answered in the previous two verses. In this verse, only the answers to many of their objections are mentioned, not the objections themselves, because they are understood from the answers. In other places in the Qur’an, their mention is also explicitly present, among which one was: how can a human like us become a messenger, who eats and drinks like us, walks in the markets, and has wives and children? Another objection was that the teaching of monotheism this Prophet presents, we have not heard from our forefathers. (See S: 4–8, Al-Furqan: 7) Another was that if he is a messenger, why does he not present miracles according to our demands, for example, move mountains, make rivers flow, build a house of gold, ascend to the sky and bring down a book from there, etc. (See Bani Isra’il: 90–93) And another was: why does he not tell us the unseen news according to our demands, at least tell us when the Day of Judgment will be. (See Al-A’raf: 187) Allah Almighty, in answer to all these, commanded to say that I am not the first messenger who is a human; all messengers before me were humans, they ate and drank, walked in the markets, and had wives and children. Human conditions befell them, all taught monotheism, they did not possess divine powers, nor could they present miracles by their own will. Then if all of them, among whom are your forefathers Ibrahim and Isma’il (peace be upon them) and many prophets of Bani Isra’il, could be messengers and prophets and you accept them as prophets, then what is so unique about me being a messenger?
➋ {وَ مَاۤ اَدْرِيْ مَا يُفْعَلُ بِيْ وَ لَا بِكُمْ:} This is the answer to their demand: why does he not tell us the unseen news according to our demands? Say to them that I myself do not know anything, neither do I know what will be done with him nor what will be done with you, so how can I tell you from myself the things you demand? {’’ مَا يُفْعَلُ ‘‘} The passive verb is used so that the doer remains general, meaning Allah Almighty will do with us whatever He wills and people will do whatever they do. Then it is not mentioned at what time what will be done, so that it remains general—what will be done with us in this world and what will be done in the Hereafter.
Here is a famous question: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) certainly knew what would be done with him in this world and the Hereafter, and what would be done with those who believed in him or did not, as the Qur’an says that all your past and future sins have been forgiven and all the sins of the noble Companions have been forgiven and they will be admitted to Paradise, and the disbelievers and hypocrites will be given the punishment of Hell. (See Al-Fath: 1–6) In the world too, you and the believers will be given honor and dominance, and the disbelievers will be given humiliation and disgrace, and your religion will prevail over all religions. See Surah Al-Mujadilah (21), Al-Fath (28), As-Saff (8, 9), and many other verses. Then why was he commanded to say: I do not know what will be done with him nor what will be done with you? The scholars have given various answers to this question, among which one is that you knew this in general but not in detail—what would happen to you or your addressees in this world or the Hereafter. Another answer is that at first you did not know, later you came to know, but in reality, the answer to this question is present in the phrase {’’ وَ مَاۤ اَدْرِيْ مَا يُفْعَلُ بِيْ وَ لَا بِكُمْ ‘‘} of this verse and in the next phrase {’’ اِنْ اَتَّبِعُ اِلَّا مَا يُوْحٰۤى اِلَيَّ ‘‘}.
➌ { اِنْ اَتَّبِعُ اِلَّا مَا يُوْحٰۤى اِلَيَّ:} That is, I myself do not know anything about the future, neither what will happen to me nor what will happen to you; I only follow what is revealed to me. That is, I can only tell what is revealed to me by Allah Almighty, and indeed, whatever Allah Almighty told the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) about what would happen in the world, he knew, and what He did not tell, he did not know. The evidence for this is in hundreds of incidents, for example, the incident of Ifk, the martyrs of Bi’r Ma’unah, and the Prophet (peace be upon him) naming a few disbelievers and cursing them in Qunut for a month, but then Allah Almighty saying that this is not in your control, and then all of them becoming Muslim, etc. For details, see the commentary of Surah An-Naml, verse (65): «قُلْ لَّا يَعْلَمُ مَنْ فِي السَّمٰوٰتِ وَ الْاَرْضِ الْغَيْبَ اِلَّا اللّٰهُ ». In Surah Al-A’raf it is said: « قُلْ لَّاۤ اَمْلِكُ لِنَفْسِيْ نَفْعًا وَّ لَا ضَرًّا اِلَّا مَا شَآءَ اللّٰهُ وَ لَوْ كُنْتُ اَعْلَمُ الْغَيْبَ لَا سْتَكْثَرْتُ مِنَ الْخَيْرِ وَ مَا مَسَّنِيَ السُّوْٓءُ اِنْ اَنَا اِلَّا نَذِيْرٌ وَّ بَشِيْرٌ لِّقَوْمٍ يُّؤْمِنُوْنَ» [الاعراف : ۱۸۸ ] “Say: I do not possess for myself any benefit or harm except what Allah wills, and if I had known the unseen, I would have acquired much good and no harm would have touched me; I am only a warner and a bringer of good tidings to people who believe.” Similarly, regarding the Hereafter, whatever was told, you knew, whatever was not told, you did not know, as in the hadith of intercession: I will fall in prostration under the Throne and Allah Almighty will inspire me with such praises which I do not remember now. [ دیکھیے بخاري، التوحید، باب کلام الرب عز و جل یوم القیامۃ مع الأنبیاء وغیرہم : ۷۵۱۰ ]
In short, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and all previous prophets (peace be upon them) had neither general nor detailed knowledge of future events, only the knowledge of those things which Allah Almighty told them, whether generally or in detail. The story of Yusuf and Ya’qub (peace be upon them) is the best example of this. See the commentary of Surah Yusuf, verse (94). Similarly, all the events in the life of Ibrahim (peace be upon him) are evidence that a prophet only knows as much about future events as he is told. If it is said that they knew everything, then there would be no value left in Ibrahim (peace be upon him) being thrown into the fire, the command to sacrifice his son, his wife’s honor being at risk during migration, leaving his wife and child in a barren valley, in short, in succeeding in any test.
In summary, the words of the verse clearly state that O Prophet! Say: I am not a unique messenger among the messengers, nor do I know what will be done with him, nor what will be done with you; I only know and follow what is revealed to me, apart from this I do not know anything about the future concerning myself or you. Therefore, do not demand from me to tell you the time of the Day of Judgment or any other future matter, because these are not within my domain.
➍ { وَ مَاۤ اَنَا اِلَّا نَذِيْرٌ مُّبِيْنٌ:} That is, my job is not to tell you when the Day of Judgment will come, or to tell you future news from myself. My job is only to clearly warn you before the punishment of Allah comes.
➎ The commentator Ali bin Ahmad Mahaimi, in his tafsir { ’’ تبصير الرحمان ‘‘}, while commenting on this verse, has summarized the discussion in very excellent words, he writes: [« قُلْ مَا كُنْتُ بِدْعًا مِّنَ الرُّسُلِ» آتِيْكُمْ بِالْمُؤَاخَذَةِ الْأُخْرَوِيَّةِ « وَ» مِنْ أَيْنَ لِيْ تَعْيِيْنُ وَقْتِهَا مَعَ أَنِّيْ « مَاۤ اَدْرِيْ مَا يُفْعَلُ بِيْ وَ لَا بِكُمْ » فِيْمَا لَمْ يُوْحَ إِلَيَّ وَالْوَحْيُ بِبَعْضِ الْأُمُوْرِ لَا يَسْتَلْزِمُ الْعِلْمَ بِالْبَاقِيْ وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لِيْ أَنْ أَضُمَّ إِلَی الْوَحْيِ كَذِبًا مِنْ عِنْدِيْ « اِنْ اَتَّبِعُ » فِيْ تَقْرِيْرِ الْأُمُوْرِ الْغَيْبِيَّةِ « اِلَّا مَا يُوْحٰۤى اِلَيَّ وَ » مَعَ ذٰلِكَ لَا يُفَوَّضُ إِلَيَّ شَيْءٌ مِمَّا يُوْحٰی إِلَيَّ مِنْ تَعْذِيْبِ مَنْ لَا يُؤْمِنُ بِيْ بَلْ « مَاۤ اَنَا اِلَّا نَذِيْرٌ » عَنْهُ « مُبِيْنٌ » لَهُ بِالدَّلَائِلِ الْقَطْعِيَّةِ۔] “(Say: I am not a unique messenger among the messengers) that I should bring the punishment of the Hereafter upon you (and) how can I determine its time when (I do not even know what will be done with him nor what will be done with you) in those matters which have not been revealed to me, and the revelation of some matters does not necessitate that I have knowledge of all matters, and it is not possible for me to mix lies from myself with revelation in the remaining matters. (I do not follow) in stating matters of the unseen (except what is revealed to me) and along with this, in what is revealed to me, I am not given any authority regarding punishing those who do not believe in me, rather (I am only a warner) from Him (absolutely clear) who am one who explains my warning with decisive proofs.”