Surah al-An`am (The Cattle) 6 : 59

Overview (Verse 59)

Knowledge Unlimited
 
Developing the point of God’s knowledge of who are the wrongdoers, and continuing with the explanation of the nature of Godhead, the sūrah gives us an image of this knowledge as it pertains to one of its unique areas, namely, that of ghayb. This term will be explained presently.
 
“With Him are the keys to what lies beyond the reach of human perception: none knows them but He. He knows all that the land and sea contain; not a leaf falls but He knows it; and neither is there a grain in the earth’s deep darkness, nor anything fresh or dry but is recorded in a clear book.” (Verse 59)
 
This is an image of God’s complete knowledge that leaves out nothing in terms of time or place, land, sea or sky, in the depths of the world or in the wild expanse of space, including what is dead or alive, dry or fresh, green or withering away. But how prosaic is our own description as compared to the fine Qur’ānic portrayal? Wholly inadequate when the latter combines within itself a purely arithmetic statement with a profoundly inspiring image!
 
This short verse causes our human imagination to come to life trying to explore the horizons of what we know and what lies beyond our knowledge. We try to imagine the limitless nature of God’s knowledge as it encompasses the whole universe and goes far beyond what we know of that universe. We are in awe as we receive one image after another from all directions and as we try to lift the curtains drawn over what is kept hidden, whether it relates to the past, the present or the future. This is a complete world extending beyond our imagination. But the keys to all of it are with God, and He alone knows them. Our minds may try to discover what has so far been unknown to us in the land or at sea, realizing that everything in them is perfectly known to God. We visualize the leaves that drop from the trees: innumerable as they are, yet every single one of them, wherever it falls, is seen by God. Every single grain, buried in the darkest depths of the earth, is beheld by God who sees everything, whether fresh or dry, dead or alive, anywhere in the universe. Nothing escapes God’s knowledge.
 
Minds are left dizzy as they contemplate the picture this verse draws of God’s knowledge. Its lines are infinite, stretching endlessly in time and place, across the visible and the unseen. This endless expanse, which exhausts our minds to just imagine, is painted with absolute precision in only a few words.
 
Every time we look at this short verse, we cannot fail to recognize its miraculous style which tells of the author of the Qur’ān. One look at its subject matter is sufficient to make us absolutely certain that this is something no human being would say. Human intelligence does not stretch to limitless horizons when it describes perfect, unfailing knowledge. Instead, the human intellect has different characteristics and set limits, because its images reflect its own concerns. Why should human beings care about the number of leaves falling from the trees all over the globe? Why should they bother about grains buried in the deep dark recesses of the earth? What concern is it to them to know everything that is fresh or dry? People simply do not care about falling leaves, let alone about counting them. They care about the seeds they plant, hoping to have a good harvest. Otherwise, they would not care about the grains buried in the earth. They certainly like to use what they have of fresh and dry things, but none of these matters is thought of as evidence of perfect knowledge. It is only the Creator who knows and cares about every falling leaf, buried grain and the like, as He does about other things, fresh or dry.
 
No human being could ever contemplate that each falling leaf, each buried grain, every fresh object and also every dry one should be recorded in a clear book. They cannot see any benefit to them from keeping such a record. But the Sovereign of the whole universe is the One who has all that recorded because everything in the whole universe, large or small, visible or hidden, distant or close, apparent or unknown, is part of His dominion and, as such, is accounted for.
 
This is an expansive scene, one which leaves a profound effect on the human mind. The human intellect does not even try to paint such a scene comprising the leaves falling from every tree throughout the world and every grain hidden in the soil and every fresh and dry thing on earth. Indeed, neither our eyes nor our imagination care to visualize it in the first place. Nevertheless, it is a powerful scene that tells us much about God’s knowledge, reminding us that God oversees and records everything. His will takes care of what is large or small, highly important or infinitely insignificant, visible or hidden, distant or close, apparent or unknown.
 
Those of us who react to what we experience and have the talent of expression are keenly aware of our human limitations to visualize and express things. We know from personal experience that it does not occur to any human mind to paint such a scene and that no human being can use such a mode of expression. I invite anyone who disputes this to look into everything that human beings have ever written in an attempt to see if human literary talent has ever ventured in this direction. Indeed, this verse and similar ones in the Qur’ān are sufficient for us to know the Author of this glorious book.
 
If we look at the artistic excellence in this verse, we soon realize that it surpasses everything that human beings have ever attempted: “With Him are the keys to what lies beyond the reach of human perception: none knows them but He.” (Verse 59) The verse takes us first into the unfathomable reaches of the world beyond, stretching into time and place, as well as the past, present and future and into what takes place both in this life and in our imagination.
 
“He knows all that the land and sea contain.” (Verse 59) The picture here is of the seen world, stretching infinitely over the horizon so that the world we see is stretched into an infinite existence to provide harmony with the limitless nature of the world beyond.
 
“Not a leaf falls, but He knows it.” (Verse 59) This depicts the movement of death, the fall from above and disappearance after the end of life.
 
“Neither is there a grain in the earth’s deep darkness.” (Verse 59) This depicts the movement of growth and life, starting in the deep and going up onto the surface. We see how the dead quickens and the moving forward with vigour.
 
“Nor anything fresh or dry but is recorded in a clear book.” (Verse 59) This is an overall generalization that comprises both life and death, the thriving and the withering away of everything that lives on earth. Who other than God would begin with such material in order to paint such an expansive scene? And who would give it such beauty and harmony to add to its excellence? Who other than God can do that?
 
Beyond Our Perception
 
We need now to say a word about the first clause in this verse, which states: “With Him are the keys to what lies beyond the reach of human perception: none knows them but He.” (Verse 59)
 
It is important to define what we describe in English as lying “beyond the reach of human perception” and the keys to it as being known only to God. This expression is given in the Arabic text in one word, ghayb, which is an essential element of the Islamic concept of faith, existence and life. The term is derived in Arabic from a root which denotes “absence, disappearance, hiding, shielding from people’s senses and understanding”.
 
We need to speak about ghayb because it is frequently contrasted nowadays with `science’ and what is ‘scientific’. The Qur’ān states that there is something to describe as ghayb which lies beyond the reach of human perception, and that the keys to this world are known only to God. The Qur’ān also states that the knowledge man has been given is scanty, but sufficient for man and appropriate for his potential. Beyond the factual knowledge given them by God, people only indulge in guesswork, which is no substitute for the truth. God states that He has set into operation certain laws for this universe, and He has taught man how to understand some of these laws and deal with them according to his ability. He further states that He will reveal to man of these laws what strengthens his faith. This does not violate the unchangeable laws of nature or affect the world that remains beyond the reach of human perception. Nor does it affect God’s absolute will or the fact that everything occurs in accordance with His will. We will now touch briefly on these facts.
 
In the Qur’ān, God often describes the believers as those who believe in what lies beyond the reach of human perception. This quality is indeed essential to faith: “This [the Qur’ān] is the Book, there is no doubt about it, a guidance for the God-fearing, who believe in what lies beyond the reach of human perception, observe prayers and give of what We bestow upon them. [They are] those who believe in what has been revealed to you and what was revealed before you, and are certain of the hereafter. Those follow their Lord’s guidance, and they shall surely prosper.” (2: 2-5)
 
To believe in God (limitless is He in His glory) is to believe in what lies beyond the reach of human perception. It is not possible for human beings to comprehend the nature of God. When they believe in Him, they recognize the results of His actions, but they cannot conceive His nature or what He works. Similarly, the life to come also lies beyond the reach of human perception. Everything that relates to the Day of Judgement: the reckoning, the reward, and the punishment — all belong to the world beyond. We believe in all these because God has told us about them.

Believing in the angels is also part of believing in the imperceptible, because we only know about angels what God has chosen to tell us. In addition, we have to believe in God’s will and its operation. That is also part of ghayb.
 
Man is, however, surrounded by imperceptibles in every direction. Part of this relates to time: past, present and future. Another part exists within man himself, and more is available in the universe. What does man know about the origin of this universe, its existence, nature and motion? What does he know about life and its cycles? All this lies beyond his perception. Indeed, man does not know what occurs within him at the present moment, let alone what occurs during the next moment or in the universe with its atoms and electrons, etc.
 
It is useful here to cast a glance at what some scientists have said about ghayb, remembering that man has only been given scanty knowledge. We do not need to look at what they say in order to confirm what God has said. A believer does not confirm a divine statement by a human one. We simply quote these scientists in order to put their statements in front of the eyes of those who are always talking about science, as the opposite of ghayb or the imperceptible. In this way, they may realize that they need to increase their knowledge in order to live in their world, and not to be left behind. This enables them to realize that the existence of ghayb is the only scientific fact that is proven by human experience and scientific achievement.
 
They would thus realize that, in the light of recent discoveries and experiments, `scientific’ goes hand in hand with `imperceptible’. What truly contrasts with believing in what lies beyond the reach of human perception is ignorance. It is a sort of ignorance that might have been acceptable in the last three centuries, but it is certainly unacceptable in the twentieth century.
 
Describing the ‘facts’ proven by science generally, a contemporary American scientist says: Science is tested knowledge, but it is still subject to human vagaries, illusions and inaccuracies. It is legitimate only within the confines of its own areas. It is rigidly restricted to quantitative data for description and prediction. It begins and ends with probability, not certainty. Its results are approximations subject to ‘probable error,’ especially in measurements and correlations. Its products are tentative and are modified frequently by new data. There is finality in scientific inferences. The scientist says: “Up to the present, the facts are thus and so.”
 
This sums up the nature of all scientific conclusions. Since these conclusions are the ones which man arrives at, working with his available means and within his own world which remains limited in comparison to the everlasting existence, these conclusions have a human mark. Like man, they are of limited scope, liable to error and admit of amendment.
 
Man arrives at his conclusions through experiment and analogy. He begins with a limited experiment and then generalizes his conclusions by comparison, all of which can only lead a scientist to admit a probability, not a certainty. One way of arriving at a certainty is to apply the result of a particular experiment to everything with the same nature, occurring at any time and under any conditions. This is not available to man. The only way to arrive at a certainty and absolute truism is through divine guidance. What this boils down to is that we have the certainties that God has chosen to give us through His messengers. Beyond these, human knowledge remains within the range of what is probable, not what is certain.