27:66 An-Naml (The Ant)

{ بَلِ ادَّارَكَ عِلْمُهُمْ فِي الْآخِرَةِ } أي: بل ضعف، وقل ولم يكن يقينا، ولا علما واصلا إلى القلب وهذا أقل وأدنى درجة للعلم ضعفه ووهاؤه، بل ليس عندهم علم قوي ولا ضعيف وإنما { هُمْ فِي شَكٍّ مِنْهَا } أي: من الآخرة، والشك زال به العلم لأن العلم بجميع مراتبه لا يجامع الشك، { بَلْ هُمْ مِنْهَا } أي: من الآخرة { عَمُونَ } قد عميت عنها بصائرهم، ولم يكن في قلوبهم من وقوعها ولا احتمال بل أنكروها واستبعدوها.

أي انتهى علمهم وعجز عن معرفة وقتها وقرأ آخرون "بل أدرك علمهم" أي تساوى علمهم في ذلك كما فى الصحيح لمسلم أن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم قال لجبريل وقد سأله عن وقت الساعة "ما المسئول عنها بأعلم من السائل" أي تساوى في العجز عن درك ذلك علم المسئول والسائل قال علي بن أبي طلحة عن ابن عباس "بل ادارك علمهم في الآخرة" أي غاب وقال قتادة "بل ادارك علمهم في الآخرة" يعني بجهلهم بربهم يقول لم ينفذ لهم علم في الآخرة هذا قول وقال ابن جريج عن عطاء الخراساني عن ابن عباس "بل ادارك علمهم في الآخرة" حين لم ينفع العلم وبه قال عطاء الخراساني والسدي أن علمهم إنما يدرك ويكمل يوم القيامة حيث لا ينفعهم ذلك كما قال تعالى "أسمع بهم وأبصر يوم يأتوننا لكن الظالمون اليوم في ضلال مبين" وقال سفيان عن عمرو بن عبيد عن الحسن أنه كان يقرأ "بل أدرك علمهم" قال اضمحل علمهم في الدنيا حين عاينوا الآخرة وقوله تعالى "بل هم في شك منها" عائد على الجنس والمراد الكافرون كما قال تعالى "وعرضوا على ربك صفا لقد جئتمونا كما خلقناكم أول مرة بل زعمتم أن لن نجعل لكم موعدا" أى الكافرون منكم وهكذا قال ههنا "بل هم في شك منها" أي شاكون فى وجودها ووقوعها "بل هم منها عمون" أي في عماية وجهل كبير في أمرها وشأنها.

The One Who knows the Unseen is Allah

Allah commands His Messenger to inform all of creation that no one among the dwellers of heaven and earth knows the Unseen, except Allah.

إِلاَّ اللَّهُ

(except Allah) This is an absolute exception, meaning that no one knows this besides Allah, He is alone in that regard, having no partner in that knowledge. This is like the Ayat:

وَعِندَهُ مَفَاتِحُ الْغَيْبِ لاَ يَعْلَمُهَآ إِلاَّ هُوَ

(And with Him are the keys of the Unseen, none knows them but He) (6:59).

إِنَّ اللَّهَ عِندَهُ عِلْمُ السَّاعَةِ وَيُنَزِّلُ الْغَيْثَ

(Verily, Allah, with Him is the knowledge of the Hour, He sends down the rain) (31:34). until the end of the Surah. And there are many Ayat which mention similar things.

وَمَا يَشْعُرُونَ أَيَّانَ يُبْعَثُونَ

(nor can they perceive when they shall be resurrected.) That is, the created beings who dwell in the heavens and on earth do not know when the Hour will occur, as Allah says:

ثَقُلَتْ فِى السَّمَـوَتِ وَالاٌّرْضِ لاَ تَأْتِيكُمْ إِلاَّ بَغْتَةً

(Heavy is its burden through the heavens and the earth. It shall not come upon you except all of a sudden) (7: 187). meaning, it is a grave matter for the dwellers of heaven and earth.

بَلِ ادَرَكَ عِلْمُهُمْ فِى الاٌّخِرَةِ بَلْ هُمْ فِى شَكٍّ مِّنْهَا

(Nay, their knowledge will perceive that in the Hereafter. Nay, they are in doubt about it.) means their knowledge and amazement stops short of knowing its time. Other scholars read this with the meaning "their knowledge is all the same with regard to that," which reflects the meaning of the Hadith in Sahih Muslim which states that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to Jibril, when the latter asked him when the Hour would come: s

«مَا الْمَسْؤُولُ عَنْهَا بِأَعْلَمَ مِنَ السَّائِل»

(The one who is being asked about it does not know any more than the one who is asking.) In other words, they were both equal in the fact that their knowledge did not extend that far.

بَلْ هُمْ فِى شَكٍّ مِّنْهَا

(Nay, they are in doubt about it.) This refers to the disbelievers in general as Allah says elsewhere:

وَعُرِضُواْ عَلَى رَبِّكَ صَفَا لَّقَدْ جِئْتُمُونَا كَمَا خَلَقْنَـكُمْ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ بَلْ زَعَمْتُمْ أَلَّن نَّجْعَلَ لَكُمْ مَّوْعِدًا

(And they will be set before your Lord in rows, (and Allah will say:) "Now indeed, you have come to Us as We created you the first time. Nay, but you thought that We had appointed no meeting for you (with Us). ") (18:48) i.e., the disbelievers among you. By the same token, Allah says here:

بَلْ هُمْ فِى شَكٍّ مِّنْهَا

(Nay, they are in doubt about it.) meaning, they doubt that it will come to pass.

بَلْ هُم مِّنْهَا عَمُونَ

(Nay, they are in complete blindness about it.) They are blind and completely ignorant about it.

وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ أَءِذَا كُنَّا تُرَاباً وَءَابَآؤُنَآ أَءِنَّا لَمُخْرَجُونَ - لَقَدْ وُعِدْنَا هَـذَا نَحْنُ وَءَابَآؤُنَا مِن قَبْلُ إِنْ هَـذَآ إِلاَّ أَسَـطِيرُ الاٌّوَّلِينَ

Nay has their knowledge come to comprise read adraka similar to the 4th verbal form akrama ‘he was kind to’; a variant reading has iddāraka which is actually tadāraka with the tā’ changed into a dāl and assimilated with the other dāl and a conjunctive hamza added meaning ‘attained’ or ‘caught up with’ the Hereafter? such that they have reason to ask about the time of its coming — not so Nay for they are in doubt of it. Rather they are blind to it ‘amūna ‘blind’ as in blindness of the heart; this statement is rhetorically more powerful than the preceding one; the origin of the term is ‘amiyūn but the damma vowel is deemed too heavy for the yā’ and has been moved to the mīm after dropping its kasra vowel.

بَلِ ادَّارَ‌كَ عِلْمُهُمْ فِي الْآخِرَ‌ةِ ۚ بَلْ هُمْ فِي شَكٍّ مِّنْهَا ۖ بَلْ هُم مِّنْهَا عَمُونَ ﴿66﴾

Rather, their knowledge failed in the matter of Hereafter. Rather, they are in doubt about it. Rather, they are blind to it. 27:66.

There are different recitations for the word اِدّٰرَکَ (iddaraka) and their meanings are also different. Those who are interested should refer to different commentaries for the details. It is enough to understand here that some commentators have taken it to mean "completion" and have explained the verse thus: "Their knowledge and understanding will be completed in the Hereafter", because then the truth about every thing shall be laid bare. But knowledge of truth at that time will be of no avail, because they had been contradicting the Hereafter in the world. But some other commentators have taken the word in the meaning of 'having failed' and 'hating been lost'. The sense in this case would be that their knowledge about the Hereafter was lost, and they could not understand what it was.