This excerpt is taken from Sheikh Abdullah Nasir Rahmani's Explanation of Kitab al-Tawheed from Sahih Bukhari.
بَاب: قَوْلِ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى:[عَالِمُ الْغَيْبِ فَلا يُظْهِرُ عَلَى غَيْبِهِ أَحَدًا]
Reference: (Al-Jinn:26)
. وَ:[إِنَّ اللَّهَ عِنْدَهُ عِلْمُ السَّاعَةِ] (لقمان:34). وَ:[أَنْزَلَهُ بِعِلْمِهِ] (النساء:166). [وَمَا تَحْمِلُ مِنْ أُنْثَى وَلا تَضَعُ إِلا بِعِلْمِهِ] (فاطر:11). [إِلَيْهِ يُرَدُّ عِلْمُ السَّاعَةِ] (فصلت:47).قَالَ يَحْيَى: [الظَّاهِرُ] عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ عِلْمًا. [وَالْبَاطِنُ]
Reference: (Al-Hadid:3):
عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ عِلْمًا.
Reference: Surah Al-Jinn 27:
is an exception that the Messenger, who is His representative, informs His servants; He informs them of some unseen matters, otherwise He does not inform anyone of His unseen.Knowledge of the unseen is a special attribute of Allah Almighty; ‘Alim al-Ghayb’ is a compound name exclusive to Allah Almighty. Allah Almighty alone is the Knower of all unseen and present.
Question: What is the unseen?
Answer: Literally, it is a source, meaning everything that is hidden and unseen from us.
Perception of anything is through five senses.
[1] Sight (by seeing)
[2] Hearing (by listening)
[3] Tasting (by tasting)
[4] Touching (by touching)
[5] Smelling (by smelling)
Out of the five senses given to humans, perception of something is obtained through any one of these. If something is beyond all these senses, it is called unseen (ghayb). We do not have knowledge of it; only Allah Almighty has knowledge of it. He is the Knower of the unseen.
والشہادۃ: means that which is present before us, which we are seeing and hearing, or gaining knowledge of by tasting, which is within the range of our senses.
اللہ تعالی عالم الغیب والشہادہ: means that Allah Almighty is the Knower of every unseen and present thing; the knowledge of the entire universe is with Him. This knowledge is an attribute of Allah Almighty and it is His personal attribute; it is also called an essential attribute. This is the attribute that is always established with Allah Almighty’s essence, He is always the Knower, and there is no moment when His knowledge is not active. He knows everything, has always known everything. This attribute is the attribute of knowledge, an essential attribute, a personal attribute, or an attribute that is inherent.
An active attribute: which is called a voluntary attribute, not essential.
Performing any action by Allah’s will (such as) being All-Knowing, All-Hearing, and All-Seeing are essential attributes.
But active attributes are voluntary attributes; Allah may perform any action or may not. The attribute of speech is that Allah Almighty does not speak all the time; He speaks when He wills and does not speak when He wills.
Attribute of descent: descending towards the lowest heaven whenever Allah Almighty wills to descend. It is established in the hadiths that descent occurs at night.
[عن أبي هريرة رضي الله عنه أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم قال : ينزل ربنا تبارك وتعالى كل ليلة إلى السماء الدنيا حين يبقى ثلث الليل الآخر...]
It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Our Lord, the Most High, the Most Blessed, descends every night to the lowest heaven when the last third of the night remains.
Reference: (Sahih al-Bukhari:1145)
The descent of Allah Almighty at the time of Hajj in the plain of Arafat is established.
[وما من يوم أفضل عند الله من يوم عرفة ينزل الله إلى السماء الدنيا فيباهي بأهل الأرض أهل السماء]
And there is no day more virtuous in the sight of Allah Almighty than the day of Arafah. On this day, Allah Almighty descends from the heavens towards the earth and expresses pride in the people of the earth before the inhabitants of the heavens.
Reference: (Sahih Ibn Hibban:3853)
These are voluntary attributes, they are active attributes.
Absolute knowledge is an essential attribute of Allah Almighty; no one else possesses it.
It is impermissible to name anyone as the Knower of the Unseen, and belief in knowledge of the unseen in any being other than Allah is disbelief.
Allah Almighty says: [قُلۡ لَّا یَعۡلَمُ مَنۡ فِی السَّمٰوٰتِ وَ الۡاَرۡضِ الۡغَیۡبَ اِلَّا اللّٰہُ ؕ وَ مَا یَشۡعُرُوۡنَ اَیَّانَ یُبۡعَثُوۡنَ]
Say, "None in the heavens and earth knows the unseen except Allah, and they do not perceive when they will be resurrected."
Reference: (An-Naml:65)
Knowledge of the unseen is an essential attribute of Allah Almighty. The position of Allah Almighty as the Provider requires that He is All-Knowing. He has knowledge of all creatures of land and sea; His knowledge encompasses every creature and all treasures.
By establishing this chapter, Imam Bukhari, may Allah have mercy on him, refuted the misguided sect جہمیہ who do not accept the names of Allah Almighty, even though the names of Allah Almighty are established from the Qur'an. In this chapter, the verses presented by Imam Bukhari, may Allah have mercy on him, mention the attribute of knowledge.
Reference: Surah Luqman 34:
intended to affirm the attribute of knowledge
Reference: Surah An-Nisa 166:
intended to affirm the attribute of knowledge
Reference: Surah Fatir 11:
intended to affirm the attribute of knowledge The entire duration of pregnancy is known to Allah Almighty; He knows everything about pregnancy.
Reference: Surah Fussilat verse 47:
The time of the occurrence of the Day of Judgment and all its circumstances are known to Allah Almighty. The Mu'tazila deny the attribute of knowledge of Allah Almighty.
And a sect called the Qadariyyah, who deny predestination, deny it on the basis of denying prior knowledge in Allah Almighty. They say that Allah Almighty does not have prior knowledge (seeking refuge in Allah) of anything; when an event occurs, then Allah Almighty becomes aware of it. Denial of prior knowledge, although prior knowledge is one of the pillars of predestination, and one of its essential pillars.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
[عن عبد الله بن عمرو بن العاص، قال: سمعت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم، يقول: كتب الله مقادير الخلائق قبل أن يخلق السماوات والأرض بخمسين ألف سنة، قال: وعرشه على الماء.]
Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Amr bin As, may Allah be pleased with him, narrates: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: Allah Almighty wrote the destinies of the creatures fifty thousand years before the creation of the heavens and the earth, and His Throne was upon the water.
Reference: (Sahih Muslim:2653)
He wrote all affairs based on His knowledge; all affairs are known to Him. This is His prior knowledge. Every ،،ماکان،، knows what has happened. ،،ما یکون،، knows what is going to happen. All these texts prove the prior knowledge of Allah Almighty, while the Qadariyyah sect denies predestination, and an important branch of belief in predestination is to accept the prior knowledge of Allah, which they deny.
By the grace and mercy of Allah Almighty, we believe in the attribute of Allah Almighty in the light of all these texts. He alone is the Knower of the Unseen. No other being, whether jinn, angel, or human, knows the unseen. This is a special attribute of Allah Almighty. To attribute knowledge of the unseen to any other creature besides Allah is misguidance and disbelief.
قال یحیی: is the name of Imam Farrā’, who was a famous grammarian.
Yahya bin Ziyad al-Farrā’ was a trustworthy hadith scholar and also an expert in tafsir.
The name of his tafsir is: Ma‘ani al-Qur’an lil-Farrā’
Some scholars interpret "apparent" to mean the manifest blessing, meaning the earth, sky, moon, sun, etc. The Creator of all these is Allah, Lord of Glory. Because of all these creatures, it is apparent that we know that Allah is their Creator. And the meaning of "hidden" is that it is concealed from people.
