Surah Luqman Ayat 34 (31:34 Quran) With Tafsir

Ala-Maududi

(31:34) Surely Allah alone has the knowledge of the Hour. It is He Who sends down the rain and knows what is in the wombs, although no person knows what he will earn tomorrow, nor does he know in which land he will die. Indeed, Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware.^[63]

63. This verse is, in fact an answer to the disbelievers’ question as to when the Hour of Resurrection will come, which they asked when they heard the Prophet (peace be upon him) mention it and the promise of the Hereafter, again and again. The Quran has answered this sometimes by citing the question and sometimes without citing it, because the addressees knew what they were asking. This is one of those verses which answer the question without citing the question itself.

The first sentence: “Allah, with Him is the knowledge of the Hour”, is the real answer to the question. The four sentences that follow constitute the argument to support it. The argument means this: “O man, you do not have the knowledge even about those things with which you are most closely and intimately concerned in life. How then can it be possible for you to know as to when will the whole world come to an end? Your prosperity and adversity mainly depend on the rain. But its control and regulation is entirely in the hand of Allah. He sends down the rain whenever and wherever and in whatever measure He pleases and withholds it whenever he pleases. You do not at all know how much of the rain will fall at a particular place at a particular time and which land will remain without it, and which land will be adversely affected in spite of it. Your wives conceive by your own sperm-drop, which perpetuates your race in the future, but you do not know what is taking shape in their wombs, and in what form and with what good or evil it will emerge. You do not even know what you are going to meet with the next day. A sudden accident can change your destiny; but you are unaware of it even a minute before its occurrence. You do not know where your present life will eventually come to an end. Allah has kept all this information within Himself alone; and has not given you any knowledge of any of these. You actually desire that you should have the knowledge of each of these things so that you may make necessary preparations beforehand, but you have no other course open to you than to depend only on Allah’s decree and disposal in these matters. Likewise, about the end of the world also there is no alternative but to rely on Allah’s decree and decision. The knowledge of this also has neither been given to anybody, nor can it be given. Here, another thing also should be understood well, and that is: This verse does not give a list of the unseen and hidden things, which are known to no one but Allah. Here only some of the most apparent things have been pointed out only to serve as an illustration. These are the things with which man is most deeply and intimately concerned, yet he is unaware of them. From this it would be wrong to conclude that these are the only five unseen and hidden things which are known to no one but Allah. As a matter of fact, ghaib applies to every such thing which is hidden from the creation but is in the knowledge of Allah, and such things are countless and limitless. For a detailed discussion of this, see (Surah An-Naml, Ayat 65) and its E.Ns.

Ibn-Kathir

34. Verily, Allah, with Him is the knowledge of the Hour, He sends down the rain, and knows that which is in the wombs. No person knows what he will earn tomorrow, and no person knows in what land he will die. Verily, Allah is All-Knower, All-Aware.) The Knower of the Unseen is Allah These are the keys of the Unseen, whose knowledge Allah alone has kept for Himself, and no one else knows them unless Allah tells him about them. The knowledge of `when the Hour will occur’ is not known to any Prophet who was sent or any angel who is close to Allah.

(None can reveal its time but He) (7:187). Similarly, no one but Allah knows when rain will fall, but when He issues the commands, the angels who are entrusted with the task of bringing rain know about it, as do those among His creation whom He wills should know. No one but He knows what is in the wombs of what He wants to create, but when He decrees whether it is to be male or female, and whether it is to be blessed or doomed, the angels who are entrusted with that know about it, as do those among His creation whom He wills should know. No one knows what he will earn tomorrow with regard to this world or the Hereafter.

(and no person knows in what land he will die.) in his own land or elsewhere, in some other land. No one knows this. This Ayah is like the Ayah,

(And with Him are the keys of the Unseen, none knows them but He.) (6:59) It was reported in the Sunnah that the above five things are called the Keys of the Unseen. Imam Ahmad recorded that Buraydah said that he heard the Messenger of Allah say:

(There are five things which no one knows except Allah: (Verily, Allah, with Him is the knowledge of the Hour, He sends down the rain, and knows that which is in the wombs. No person knows what he will earn tomorrow, and no person knows in what land he will die. Verily, Allah is All-Knower, All-Aware.)) The chain of narrators for this Hadith is Sahih, although they did not recorded it.

Imam Ahmad recorded that Ibn `Umar said, “The Messenger of Allah said:

(The Keys of the Unseen are five, which no one knows except Allah: (Verily, Allah, with Him is the knowledge of the Hour, He sends down the rain, and knows that which is in the wombs. No person knows what he will earn tomorrow, and no person knows in what land he will die. Verily, Allah is All-Knower, All-Aware.)) This was recorded only by Al-Bukhari, which he narrated in the Book of the Rain Prayer in his Sahih. He also recorded it in his Tafsir with a different chain of narrators, stating that `Abdullah bin `Umar said, “The Prophet said:

(The Keys of the Unseen are five.)” Then he recited:

(Verily, Allah, with Him is the knowledge of the Hour, He sends down the rain, and knows that which is in the wombs.) This too was recorded only by Al-Bukhari.

In his Tafsir of this Ayah, Al-Bukhari narrated from Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of Allah was standing before the people one day when a man came to him and said, `O Messenger of Allah, what is Iman’ He said:

(Iman is to believe in Allah, His Angels, His Books, His Messengers and in the meeting with Him, and to believe in the Resurrection in the Hereafter.) He said: `O Messenger of Allah, what is Islam’ He said:

(Islam is to worship Allah Alone and not associate anything in worship with Him, to establish regular prayer, to pay the obligatory Zakah, and to fast in Ramadan.) He said, `O Messenger of Allah, what is Ihsan’ He said:

(Ihsan is to worship Allah as if you see Him, and if you do not see Him, then He sees you.) He said, `O Messenger of Allah, when will the Hour come’ He said:

(The one who is asked about it does not know more than the one who is asking, but I will tell you of some of its signs: when the servant woman gives birth to her mistress, that is one of its signs; when the barefoot and naked become leaders of the people, that is one of its signs. The timing of the Hour is one of the five things which no one knows except Allah: (Verily, Allah, with Him is the knowledge of the Hour, He sends down the rain, and knows that which is in the wombs….)) Then the man went away, and the Prophet said,

(Bring him back to me.) They went to bring him back, but they could not find him. He said:

(That was Jibril who came to teach the people their religion.) It was also recorded by Al-Bukhari in the Book of Faith, and by Muslim with several chains of narration. We have discussed this at the beginning of our commentary on Al-Bukhari, where we mentioned at length some Hadiths narrated by the Commander of the faithful `Umar bin Al-Khattab. These were recorded only by Muslim.

(and no person knows in what land he will die.) Qatadah said, “There are some things which Allah has kept to Himself, and they are not known to any angel who is close to Him or any Prophet who was sent by Him.

(Verily, Allah, with Him is the knowledge of the Hour, ) no one among mankind knows when the Hour will come, in which year or month, or whether it will come at night or during the day.

(He sends down the rain,) and no one knows when rain will come, night or day.

(and knows that which is in the wombs.) No one knows what is in the wombs, male or female, red or black, or what it is.

(No person knows what he will earn tomorrow,) whether it will be good or bad. You do not know, O son of Adam, when you will die. You might die tomorrow, you might be stricken by calamity tomorrow.

(and no person knows in what land he will die.) means, no person knows where his resting place will be, on the land or in the sea, on a plain or in the mountains. It says in the Hadith:

(If Allah wants to take a person’s soul in a particular land, He will give him a reason to go there.) In Al-Mu`jam Al-Kabir, Al-Hafiz Abu Al-Qasim At-Tabarani recorded that Usamah bin Zayd said, “The Messenger of Allah said:

(Allah does not will that a person should die in a certain land but He gives him a reason to go there.)” This is the end of the Tafsir of Surah Luqman. Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. Sufficient for us is Allah and He is the Best Disposer of affairs.