7:188 Al-A'raaf (The Heights)

قُلْ لا أَمْلِكُ لِنَفْسِي نَفْعًا وَلا ضَرًّا فإني فقير مدبر، لا يأتيني خير إلا من اللّه، ولا يدفع عني الشر إلا هو، وليس لي من العلم إلا ما علمني اللّه تعالى. وَلَوْ كُنْتُ أَعْلَمُ الْغَيْبَ لاسْتَكْثَرْتُ مِنَ الْخَيْرِ وَمَا مَسَّنِيَ السُّوءُ أي: لفعلت الأسباب التي أعلم أنها تنتج لي المصالح والمنافع، ولحذرت من كل ما يفضي إلى سوء ومكروه، لعلمي بالأشياء قبل كونها، وعلمي بما تفضي إليه. ولكني - لعدم علمي - قد ينالني ما ينالني من السوء، وقد يفوتني ما يفوتني من مصالح الدنيا ومنافعها، فهذا أدل دليل على أني لا علم لي بالغيب. إِنْ أَنَا إِلا نَذِيرٌ أنذر العقوبات الدينية والدنيوية والأخروية، وأبين الأعمال المفضية إلى ذلك، وأحذر منها. وَبَشِيرٌ بالثواب العاجل والآجل، ببيان الأعمال الموصلة إليه والترغيب فيها، ولكن ليس كل أحد يقبل هذه البشارة والنذارة، وإنما ينتفع بذلك ويقبله المؤمنون، وهذه الآيات الكريمات، مبينة جهل من يقصد النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم ويدعوه لحصول نفع أو دفع ضر. فإنه ليس بيده شيء من الأمر، ولا ينفع من لم ينفعه اللّه، ولا يدفع الضر عمن لم يدفعه اللّه عنه، ولا له من العلم إلا ما علمه اللّه تعالى، وإنما ينفع من قبل ما أرسل به من البشارة والنذارة، وعمل بذلك، فهذا نفعه صلى الله عليه وسلم، الذي فاق نفع الآباء والأمهات، والأخلاء والإخوان بما حث العباد على كل خير، وحذرهم عن كل شر، وبينه لهم غاية البيان والإيضاح.

أمره الله تعالى أن يفوض الأمور إليه وأن يخبر عن نفسه أنه لا يعلم الغيب المستقبل ولا أطلاع له على شيء من ذلك إلا بما أطلعه الله عليه كما قال تعالى "عالم الغيب فلا يظهر على غيبه أحدا" الآية وقوله "ولو كنت أعلم الغيب لاستكثرت من الخير" قال عبدالرزاق عن الثوري عن منصور عن مجاهد "ولو كنت أعلم الغيب لاستكثرت من الخير" قال لو كنت أعلم متى أموت لعملت عملا صالحا وكذا روى ابن أبي نجيح عن مجاهد وقال مثله ابن جريج وفيه نظر لأن عمل رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم كان ديمة وفي رواية كان إذا عمل عملا أثبته فجميع عمله كان على منوال واحد كأنه ينظر إلى الله عز وجل في جميع أحواله اللهم إلا أن يكون المراد أن يرشد غيره إلى الاستعداد لذلك والله أعلم. والأحسن في هذا ما رواه الضحاك عن ابن عباس "ولو كنت أعلم الغيب لاستكثرت من الخير" أي من المال وفي رواية لعلمت إذا اشتريت شيئا ما أربح فيه شيئا إلا ربحت فيه ولا يصيبني الفقر. وقال ابن جرير وقال آخرون: معنى ذلك لو كنت أعلم الغيب لأعددت للسنة المجدبة من المخصبة ولوقت الغلاء من الرخص فاستعددت له من الرخص. وقال عبدالرحمن بن زيد بن أسلم "وما مسني السوء" قال لاجتنبت ما يكون من الشر قبل أن يكون واتقيته ثم أخبر أنه إنما هو نذير وبشير أي نذير من العذاب وبشير للمؤمنين بالجنات كما قال تعالى "فإنما يسرناه بلسانك لتبشر به المتقين وتنذر به قوما لدا".

The Messenger does not know the Unseen, and He cannot bring Benefit or Harm even to Himself

Allah commanded His Prophet to entrust all matters to Him and to inform, about himself, that he does not know the unseen future, but he knows of it only what Allah informs him. Allah said in another Ayah,

عَـلِمُ الْغَيْبِ فَلاَ يُظْهِرُ عَلَى غَيْبِهِ أَحَداً

((He Alone is) the All-Knower of the Ghayb (Unseen), and He reveals to none His Ghayb.) 72:26 Ad-Dahhak reported that Ibn `Abbas said that,

وَلَوْ كُنتُ أَعْلَمُ الْغَيْبَ لاَسْتَكْثَرْتُ مِنَ الْخَيْرِ

(If I had the knowledge of the Ghayb (Unseen), I should have secured for myself an abundance of wealth.) refers to money. In another narration, Ibn `Abbas commented, "I would have knowledge of how much profit I would make with what I buy, and I would always sell what I would make profit from,

وَمَا مَسَّنِىَ السُّوءُ

("and no evil should have touched me.") and poverty would never touch me." Ibn Jarir said, "And others said, `This means that if I know the Unseen then I would prepare for the years of famine during the prosperous years, and in the time of high cost, I would have prepared for it."' `Abdur-Rahman bin Zayd bin Aslam also commented on this Ayah;

وَمَا مَسَّنِىَ السُّوءُ

("and no evil should have touched me. "), "I would have avoided and saved myself from any type of harm before it comes." Allah then stated that the Prophet is a warner and bearer of good news. He warns against the torment and brings good news of Paradise for the believers,

فَإِنَّمَا يَسَّرْنَـهُ بِلَسَانِكَ لِتُبَشِّرَ بِهِ الْمُتَّقِينَ وَتُنْذِرَ بِهِ قَوْماً لُّدّاً

(So We have made this (the Qur'an) easy on your tongue, only that you may give glad tidings to the pious, and warn with it the most quarrelsome of people.) 19:97

هُوَ الَّذِى خَلَقَكُمْ مِّن نَّفْسٍ وَحِدَةٍ وَجَعَلَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا لِيَسْكُنَ إِلَيْهَا فَلَمَّا تَغَشَّاهَا حَمَلَتْ حَمْلاً خَفِيفًا فَمَرَّتْ بِهِ فَلَمَّآ أَثْقَلَت دَّعَوَا اللَّهَ رَبَّهُمَا لَئِنْ ءَاتَيْتَنَا صَـلِحاً لَّنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الشَّـكِرِينَ

Say ‘I have no power to bring benefit to attract it to myself or hurt to repel it except as God wills. Had I knowledge of the Unseen — that which is hidden from me I would have acquired much good and adversity in the way of impoverishment and otherwise would not touch me since I would take precautions against such adversity by avoiding what is harmful. I am but a warner to disbelievers of the Fire and a bearer of good tidings of Paradise to a people who believe’.

The Verse 188 clears away a common misbelief of the people regarding the prophets of Allah. They thought that the prophets must possess the knowledge of each and everything in the universe, including the knowledge of the unseen future and unknown past. Similarly, they thought that the prophets must possess the power of bringing benefit or harm to any one out of their own will. The verse made it clear that the all-encompassing knowledge is an exclusive attribute of Allah which cannot be ascribed to any created being. Ascribing these exclusive attributes to anyone other than Allah is the greatest transgression and is tantamount to associating partners with Allah. The very purpose of the revelation of the Holy Qur'an and the advent of the Holy Prophet ﷺ has been to eliminate all the traces of plurality of god and to establish the purest unity of Allah (Tauhid).

The Holy Prophet has been asked to declare that, not to speak of others, even he was unable to harm or benefit himself and that he did not possess the knowledge of the unseen. Had he possessed such knowledge, he would have stored all the good for himself and would have saved himself from every possible harm. There are evident instances in which the Holy Prophet ﷺ could not achieve his objectives inspite of all his effort, and in many other instances, he could not save himself from the damages and harm that reached him. The incident of the treaty of Hudaibiyah is an evident example when the Holy Prophet ﷺ and his companions travelled all the way to Makkah in order to perform the ` Umrah but were stopped by the unbelievers of Makkah. Despite all their desire and effort, they had to go back to Madinah without performing ` Umrah. similarly, the Holy Prophet ﷺ was wounded in the battle of Uhud and the Muslims faced temporary defeat.

Perhaps, such events were allowed to happen, so that it may be demonstrated in practical terms that the Prophets, with due regards to their being closest to Allah and being the best of all the human beings, did not possess divine power and encompassing knowledge.

They were human like other human beings. The Christians fell prey to the same error. They ascribed the divine attributes of Allah to their Prophet and went astray.

The Prophets, however, are invested by Allah with as much knowledge and power as no other human being has ever acquired. They Holy Prophet ﷺ was certainly favoured with the degree of knowledge which surpassed the knowledge of all other prophets. He informed the Muslims of many things which were to happen in future. All his foretellings were seen to happen exactly as he had foretold.

We can say that the Holy Prophet ﷺ was given the knowledge of a number of unseen things, but in Qur'anic terminology this is not termed as (the knowledge of the unseen). Therefore, on the basis of this we are not allowed to call the Holy Prophet ﷺ عَالِمُ الغیب (the knower of the unseen), as knower of the unseen is none other than Allah.

The last sentence of the verse said, إِنْ أَنَا إِلَّا نَذِيرٌ‌ وَبَشِيرٌ‌ لِّقَوْمٍ يُؤْمِنُونَ I am but a warner and a harbinger of good for people who believe." That is, he has been assigned the duty of warning the evil doers against the punishment of Allah and give the good tidings of great reward by Allah to those who are righteous.

(Say: For myself I have no power to benefit, nor power to hurt�) [7:188]. Said al-Kalbi: �The people of Mecca said: �O Muhammad, does not your Lord inform you about lower prices before they go up, and thus you buy and make profit? And does He not inform you about the land which is about to suffer drought and, thus, you travel to a land which is more fertile?� And so Allah, exalted is He, revealed this verse�.