Quranic Reflections – The Omniscience of Allah

“Have you not seen that Allah knows whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is on the earth? There is no Najwa (secret counsel) of three, but He is their fourth (with His Knowledge, while He Himself is over the Throne, over the seventh heaven), nor of five but He is their sixth (with His Knowledge), not of less than that or more, but He is with them (with His Knowledge) wherever they may be; and afterwards on the Day of Resurrection, He will inform them of what they did. Verily, Allah is the All-Knower of everything.” [Surah Mujadila (58: 7)]

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Reflections from this verse –

• In this verse Allah the Exalted informs us of His knowledge encompassing all creation, observing it, hearing and seeing every thing and every one, wherever they may be and in whatever condition they may be.

• This verse while calling our attention to Allah’s Omniscience also helps us form the correct perspective about His (SWT)’s Omnipresence. As Allah’s vision grasps everything, we feel that He The All Knower is present every where. But He tells us that His Knowledge encompasses all while He Himself is over the Throne, over the seventh heaven.

• When we are told that Allah is the fourth in a counsel of three and sixth in a counsel of five, and so on, we don’t think of His presence as a physical presence, but we associate it with His infinite and all encompassing knowledge and vision.

• When we think of any entity as ‘present everywhere’ we are still thinking of a physical entity. But Allah is not to be visualized as such. As His vision grasps everything and nothing escapes His Knowledge, He is understood to be present everywhere.

• The verse highlights the need for us to be always conscious of being in Allah’s view. We are therefore never alone. Our actions should be according to what is acceptable to Him and what pleases Him so that our meeting with Him on the Day of Resurrection would be our greatest happiness.

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