Surah Luqman (Luqman ) 31 : 34

Explanatory Note

At the end of this fourth presentation, which completes the sūrah, a final note is given, one which is both powerful and awesome. It describes God’s perfect and comprehensive knowledge contrasting this with our own limited, human knowledge. It states the question discussed throughout the sūrah, in its four sections, and presents all this in one of the most wonderful images drawn in the Qur’ān. 

God Almighty has chosen to keep the knowledge of the Last Hour to Himself; none knows it other than Him. Thus people will always remain cautious, expecting its arrival at any time, trying to be ready for it. They know that there is no time to lose in preparing for its arrival.

It is God who sends down rain in accordance with His wisdom, and in the measure He chooses. People may know by experience and measurement that rain is due, but they cannot create the conditions that bring rain about. The Qur’ānic statement makes clear that it is God who sends down the rain, as it is He who initiates the universal conditions that form and regulate it. Thus, what is exclusive to God in this respect is the ability to send down the rain, as is made clear in the text. Scholars who have included rain among matters that belong exclusively to God’s knowledge are mistaken. Yet God’s knowledge is true, complete, comprehensive and permanent in all matters. It is not liable to increase or decrease.

“He knows what the wombs contain.” This is exclusive knowledge similar to that of the Last Hour. It is God alone who knows, with absolute certainty, what wombs contain at every moment and in every stage, how they swell or shrink, what type of foetus, even when it has no shape, form or size. He knows whether it is a male or a female, even at the moment when no one can have any knowledge of this, at the time when the female egg is fertilized. He further knows the features the foetus will have, its characteristics and future abilities. All this is part of God’s exclusive knowledge.

“Whereas no one knows what they will earn tomorrow.” No one knows what will happen to them tomorrow: good or bad, benefit or harm, ease or hardship, health or sickness, obedience to God or disobedience. ‘Earning’ is far more general than material gain. It applies to everything that happens to a person tomorrow, which is kept hidden under thick covers. People may try to discover this, but they will always fail, remaining unable to discern anything beyond those covers.

Similarly, “No one knows in what land they will die.” Such knowledge is kept behind thick blinds which cannot be penetrated by hearing or seeing.

As human beings we stand before these covers acknowledging our weakness and limited knowledge. Thus, the arrogance of assumed, penetrative knowledge is thus seen for what it is. We realize that, compared with what is withheld from us, our knowledge is indeed limited. Even when human knowledge achieves all that it can, there remains a great deal about which we do not know. We will always remain blind to what happens tomorrow, or even in the next moment. With such realization, humans should reduce their arrogance and submit to God.

The sūrah presents these highly effective notes against an expansive backdrop of time and place, the present, the near future, the great realm that lies beyond our perceptions, our thoughts and imaginations. This background includes the Last Hour that seems so distant, rain which originates far away, wombs and their hidden contents, what is earned tomorrow which is close in time yet remains unknown, and our place of death and burial which is driven away in our thoughts. Although the background is expansive, the Qur’ānic style gathers it from its broad perspective so that it comes close and points to God’s hidden knowledge. Thus we stand as though we try to look through a peephole, but find it blocked. Should even a tiny opening be made in it, what is behind is in the same position as what is before it. It remains closed to man because it is beyond human ability and knowledge. It continues to belong exclusively to God. None knows anything about it except by His permission and according to the measure He determines. “God alone is omniscient and takes cognisance of all things.”