The Perceptible and the Unseen: the Qur'anic Conception of Man's Relationship to God and Realities Beyond Human Perception
By Umar F. Abd-Allah
Even in the modern age, in which the instruments of technology have magnified the powers of the human mind to a degree never before imagined, the modest radius of human perception and its inherent limitations remain primary epistemological facts of the human condition. Our perception of the present moment constitutes only a small portion of the reality that envelops us; we stare myopically into the past and can only vaguely anticipate the future. The imperfection of human perception-the fact that the knowledge of man, however much he knows, is forever dwarfed by the vast domain of that which he does not and even cannot know-is one of the first foundations of religious speculation. That dimension which lies beyond the threshold of human perception-the world of God and supernatural beings, the infinite circumstances and particulars of the past, present, and future-is a natural focus of religious teaching. Although their answers sometimes differ, each religion addresses the reality of the unseen in human consciousness. What exists in that world? How can man acquire knowledge of it? What bearing does it have on his suffering and well-being in the material world? How is man's destiny and meaning of life connected to it?
Such questions were not asked only in another age, although for many today-given comforts of advanced technology and relative self-assurance that the material conditions and natural forces of our world are under adequate control-they may not have the urgency which they once had. Moreover, modern man, by virtue of his remarkable success in manipulating the material environment, is predisposed to look in the material world and not the dimension of the unseen for solutions to those problems which pertain directly to his material well-being or suffering. Furthermore, since the time of Kant, philosophical speculation in the West has gravitated from the metaphysical toward the more empirical and fundamentally epistemological dimensions of human consciousness. But for many, the realm of the unseen still holds the answer to fundamental philosophical questions about the nature and destiny of man and the world he lives in. Intermediaries between man and the unseen, those who claim to speak authoritatively about the world, remain an important part of human society. Somewhat peripheral figures today, in the past-especially in the pre-industrial societies of the medieval and ancient worlds-such intermediaries and their representatives (shamans, diviners, oracular speakers, prophets or their spokesmen) appear universally to have played a more central and conspicuous role in their societies and cultures.
Islam draws a conscious dichotomy between that dimension of reality which lies within the purview of man's perception and his five senses and that dimension which lies beyond. It calls the first of these the realm of the perceptible or of the visible (calam ash-shahada) and calls the second of them the realm of the unseen (calam al-ghaib). To believe in the unseen, according to the (Qur'an, constitutes the first and most essential requirement of those who would seek guidance; such belief requires, in turn, acceptance of the three fundamentals: the absolute oneness of God (at-tawhid), the institution of prophecy (ar-risala; an-nabuwa), and the coming of the hereafter or return (al-mac). But to believe in the unseen is not to know the unseen or even to desire knowledge of it beyond these fundamentals and the subsidiary beliefs connected to them. God alone, in the view of Islam, is the knower of the unseen and the visible, this being one of the unique attributes of Godhood (uluhiya) and the Lordship (rububiya) which he shares with no created being. Man has the means to know and understand the perceptible, and the Qur'an clearly directs him to make it the object of his speculation and investigation. But he has no means of delving into the unseen and knowing anything about it other than conjecture except through the vehicle of prophecy. Only by means of prophetic revelation, according to the Qur'an, can man acquire that definitive knowledge (cilm) of the important essentials of the unseen as they relate to his being which must be the foundation of his religious life. Like the religion of the biblical prophets, Islam declared other means of intermediation between man and the unseen to be illegitimate and invalid. It abolished the offices of the pre-Islamic shamans, oracular speakers, and diviners. Moreover, Islam emphasized in this process an approach to and a preoccupation with the unseen radically different from those of the pre-Islamic shamans and diviners. Their fundamental concern and that of the people who relied upon them had been with whatever good or evil the unseen held in store for particular persons or their tribes and clans in this world. Islam categorically rejected this emphasis and directed attention to those aspects of the unseen that emphasize God's omniscience and the ultimacy of the last judgment-in other words, to matters which have direct bearing on the spiritual and moral edification of man in this world and which focus his energies on positive action to fulfill the moral imperatives of the Islamic world view.
But in the Qur'anic view, although the realm of the unseen lies beyond the powers of perception of the human mind and cannot be known except through the medium of prophecy, the realm of the unseen does not constitute a single continuum which extends through the realms of the visible and the unseen together; the two worlds are not antihetical or diametrically opposed. Indeed, they constitute two different worlds only from the standpoint of human perception. From the standpoint of God the entire spectrum of reality, in the Qur'anic view, lies within the realm of the perceived and known. Moreover, because of the utter compatibility between the realm of the perceptible and the realm of the unseen, man's short existence within the realm of the perceptible should remain continually alive to the reality of God and those essential elements of the unseen which touch man's moral and spiritual life.
According to the Qur'an, God created man with an instinctively believing nature (fitra), which has inherent knowledge of God and is oriented toward Him. Furthermore, the world of the perceptible which surrounds man is filled with the signs (ayat) of God, which continually remind man of God's presence and his concern with the creation. Such signs of God are no longer to be viewed as omens or to be interpreted for purposes of divination. Rather, in the Qur'anic view, they are man's bridge of certainty linking him with the greater realities of the unseen-the oneness of God, the resurrection, and the last judgment-which have been taught by the prophets. In the Qur'anic view, the key to human dignity is man's ability to believe in God from the context of the perceptible world and without the ability to witness the unseen. Those who can live within the realm of the perceptible and yet believe in the greater realities of the unseen on the basis of the prophetic reports, confirmed by the implicit guidance of the ayat of God in the world and the instinctive knowledge and spiritual aptitude of the fitra of the human soul, are those who, in the Qur'anic idiom, have eyes with which to see, ears with which to hear, and tongues with which to speak. Those who destroy this aptitude and who make the realm of the perceptible a barrier between them and the greater realities of the unseen are, in the Qur'anic view, blind, deaf, and dumb; more reprehensible than the beasts of the earth. They are the dead, while believers alone are the living.
Pre-Islamic Parallels
Divine Intermediaries in the Ancient Civilizations of Western Asia
Both the role of intermediaries-shamans, oracular speakers, and diviners-in the religious and cultural life of pre-Islamic Arabia and the prophecy of Muhammad in that context are to a remarkable extent similar to models in other parts of Western Asia in the ancient world. Clearly a strong element of continuity links religious practices of the pre-Islamic Arabs and those of the ancient Near East, just as fundamental parallels appear between Zarathustra, the biblical prophets, and Muhammad. Non-Muslims are frequently inclined to interpret such similarities as evidence of direction indirect borrowing, of similar cultural legacies and backgrounds, or, occasionally, certain universally shared psychological and spiritual traits. Muslims, on the other hand, are inclined to interpret such parallels as evidence of the integrity of the Qur'anic claim that the prophetic message of Muhammad came as a confirmation and fulfillment of the original messages of the earlier prophets. One of the great prophetic and scriptural religions of the world, Islam regards itself as the primordial archetype of a universal monotheism which God revealed to the earth through numerous prophet-messengers (rusul; mursalun) and prophets (anbiya; nabiyun), both biblical and nonbiblical, Qur'anic and non-Qur'anic, whom he sent at different times to different places. The prophecy of Muhammad, who, according to Islamic belief, was the last of the prophets and prophet-messengers of God, marks only the end of the prophetic age and the culmination of revealed religion. Muhammad's teachings, according to the Qur'an, confirmed and fulfilled the revelations of the prophets before him. His teachings were not new but old, the restoration of original prophetic teachings as old as man himself which had been lost, then renewed, then lost or rendered obscure again because of the disobedience and deviations of religious communities entrusted at various times with preserving the prophetic message. Islam (literally "peace through submission to the One God") was in its Arabian context the religion of Abraham restored, who himself, according to the Qur'an, had with his son Ismacil (Ishmael) restored monotheism among the Arabs in his own time; and Islam, the religion of Abraham, was in direct continuity with the messages of Noah, Moses, Jesus, and the other major and minor prophets of history.
The complex and varied religious practices of ancient Mesopotamia reflect a fundamental preoccupation with that aspect of the unseen which has direct bearing upon man's mortal well-being or suffering. Ancient Mesopotamian religion's interest in the unseen was pragmatic-chiefly concerned with discerning the future and predicting the probable success or failure of human undertakings. The gods and spirits of the ancient Mesopotamian world were seen as merciful to the extent that they would communicate the propitiousness of human undertakings through omens, warning signs, or, rarely, by speaking directly through oracles. If a particular undertaking seemed inauspicious, it could still be successfully undertaken by using ritual and cultic means for assuaging unfavorable gods and spirits.
The oracular speakers, although a noteworthy part of the religious life of ancient Mesopotamia, were less important than the diviners, who throughout ancient Mesopotamian religious history stand at the center of upper-class social life and affairs of state. Less expensive divining techniques appear also to have been a fundamental part of the day-to-day life of the general people. The diviners were the "scientists" of the ancient Mesopotamian world and the application of their art at the more sophisticated levels required extensive apprenticeship and study, close observation and recording of the natural world, the ability to read and research the studies and observations of the past, and the training to make inductive conclusions about the import of ominous phenomena Analysis of the livers of sacrificial animals was probably one of the oldest techniques of Mesopotamian divining, but others included examining other entrails of sacrificed animals, observing astrological movements, augury (divination through the movements of birds), interpreting dreams, interpreting extraordinary events and occurrences, and so forth. Oracular speakers-who in ecstatic states would speak directly in the names of particular gods or spirits-never appear to have received the social approval or encouragement of ancient Mesopotamian diviners. Records of events that include oracles have been found in the Old Babylonian city of Mari in the west of ancient Mesopotamia but simply confirm their apparently peripheral role. Their position appears to have been enhanced considerably in the later neo-Assyrian and Akkadian periods, but even here they remained secondary to the court diviners.
Divination was also an important part of the religious life of ancient Egypt, although the ancient Egyptians did not develop such elaborate rituals. There is also evidence of oracular speakers in ancient Egypt, although oracular literature in Egypt constitutes a relatively rare genre. Moreover, much of the surviving oracular literature of ancient Egypt prophesies about the future without relying upon any intermediary but rather reflects the wisdom and acumen of the writer. In ancient Syria and Palestine, the lands of the Fertile Crescent immediately west of Mesopotamia, both diviners and oracular speakers were apparently central to the religious and cultural life, although most of the evidence for the existence of such figures is biblical. In contrast to ancient Mesopotamian and ancient Egyptian conventions, the oracular mode of intermediation was probably most prominent among the Amorites, the Western Semites, and their neighbors within Syria and Palestine, although techniques of divination coexisted alongside those of direct intermediation. The book of Deuteronomy (18:10-11) prohibits both types as "abominations" (tocabot), rebukes "one who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire" (presumably a reference to child sacrifice or a cultic practice of eliciting oracles from the deified dead), and bans the diviner (qosem qesamim), the soothsayer (meconen), the augur (menahesh), the sorcerer (mekashshep), the charmer (hober haber), those who inquire of ghosts (shocel'ob), the wizard (yiddeconi), and those who seek oracles from the dead (doresh el-hametim).
Much of the history and teachings of the ancient Iranian prophetic figure Zarathustra may always remain in obscurity, but it is clear from what can be discerned about him that there are remarkable parallels between his life and teachings and those of the biblical prophets and the prophet Muhammad after them. Messenger of Ahura Mazda (the wise lord), the supreme deity of Zoroastrianism, Zarathustra-who probably lived in Eastern Iran toward the end of the second or the beginning of the first millennium B.C.E.-preached a monotheism which militated against the paganism of pre-Zoroastrian Iran: a religious universe teeming with aggressive deities, the warlike ethics of its warrior bands, and cultic practices centered around sacrifice and priestly ritual. Zarathustra's message was emphatically antiritualistic and antisacrificial, emphasizing an inner religiousness of "good thoughts, good words, good deeds." It brought him-like the biblical prophets and the prophet Muhammad-into sharp conflict with the polytheistic religious hierarchy of his society. He condemned the religious beliefs and practices of his contemporaries as the fruit of ignorance and illusion and denounced their gods (the daevas) as false. Zarathustra sought to end the intermediation and the ecstatic practices of the kavis, karapans, and usijs-priests, religious figures, and wise men of the old order-and their enmity toward him constituted his major source of opposition, resulting ultimately in his assassination, as an old man, by a karapan priest of the former religious hierarchy.
The Hebrew tradition of Mosaic prophets shows unequivocal antagonism toward pagan techniques of intermediation. Such opposition between the prophetic and pagan modes of intermediation is epitomized in the biblical accounts of the monarchical prophets Elijah and Elisha in their struggle to destroy the cult of Baal with its oracular speakers, who held great power over the kings and large numbers of the people of Israel. However, biblical accounts of the early prophets of Israel describe them as exhibiting ecstatic traits, and their record contains examples of clairvoyance, foreseeing and foretelling, wonder-working, and magical actions, although such traits are not common among the major prophets in the biblical tradition. The terms hozeh and ro'eh (seer), which are occasionally used about the early prophets, suggest that they prophesied events to come in a manner analogous, in the view of some scholars, to that of the pagan diviners and oracular speakers. Use of the Greek prophetes to translate the Hebrew nabi (prophet) also seems to have contributed to such a conception of the early prophets, although other scholars argue that the Greek prophetes served other functions in addition to foretelling the future and that the original sense of the word was probably more "forth-teller" (proclaimer) than "foreteller."
The etymology of the Hebrew word nabi has not been established. Some believe that it was borrowed from another ancient Semitic language; it appears, however, that the original sense of the word was "one who calls" or "one who is called." The paradigm of prophecy in the Islamic religion is essentially the same as that of the Mosaic prophets of the biblical tradition. In both, the office of prophecy began with a call-often in the form of a vision-and was not an instinctive aptitude or disposition of one's personality, as appears generally to be the case with oracular speakers. The prophet received his message from God, occasionally through the intermediation of an angel (maliak). The prophets played a central role in the religious and cultural life of ancient Israel and were not simply monotheistic substitutes for the diviners and oracles of the ancient world, although they claimed the exclusive authority to speak to the people on behalf of God and the realities of the unseen world. They were bound to speak God's messages exactly as received and they could not filter or alter the content of their revelations. According to the Mosaic tradition, God would destroy any prophet who spoke false words or spoke on the behalf of other gods. But although the messages of the prophets would warn or make promises of things to come, their messages primarily contained commands from God and religious teachings which the people were morally obliged to hear and obey.
The Pre-Islamic Arabian Background
Accurate understanding of the pre-Islamic background within which Islam arose is essential to the full understanding and the proper evaluation of the Islamic religion. For it was against this background that Islam articulated itself, and it was in this context that its first and most important religious and ideological struggles took place. Continuity characterizes a number of areas between the thought and practice of the earliest Muslims and the world view and culture in which they had been born; neither outwardly nor inwardly had the coming of Islam constituted an absolute transformation. The pre-Islamic Arab would, for all the minor and the radical transformations in the new society, still have noticed many things with which he was readily familiar. But these elements of continuity are not as important for understanding the dynamics and the historical accomplishments of Islam as the elements of discontinuity-those vestiges of an earlier religion and social order which, in many cases, were utterly obliterated except for literary and historical remnants. Islam's dramatic movement-vivid impressions of which form the most fundamental and abiding images and ideals of Muslim religious consciousness to this day-came in the wake of its uncompromising challenge to the religious hierarchy and the socio-political oligarchies of pre-Islamic Arabia. And Islam kept the religious and ideological "abominations" of its enemies in view, from its more imperious rhetorical statements to its seemingly inconsequential directives regarding mundane circumstances of day-to-day life, from the categorical declaration of the absolute Oneness of God to the everyday etiquette of invoking God's mercy upon one who sneezes.
There is sufficient literary evidence to show that the pre-Islamic Arabs used the words al-ghaib (the unseen) and ash-shahada (the visible) in a manner similar to though apparently not identical with their usage in the Qur'an. The two words constituted a semantic pair but appear to have been used in an essentially worldly sense; that is, al-ghaib referred to that dimension of material reality which lay outside immediate human perception, or the future, and ash-shahada referred to the content of immediate perception. Still pre-Islamic Arabs may not have used them consciously to divide reality into the realm that lies beyond human perception and that which lies within. Nevertheless, the world of the Unseen-the realm of God (Allah), the lesser gods, the angels (al-mala'ika), and the spirits (al-jinn)-had a deep effect and ubiquitous influence on the religious and cultural life of the pre-Islamic Arabs. The peoples of pre-Islamic Arabia included Jewish and Christian tribes, Zoroastrians in the east along the Persian Gulf, indigenous Arab monotheists (al-Hunafa) who were neither Jew nor Christian, and-the majority-idolators (mushrikun) who associated (ashraku) lesser gods, angels, and spirits with God in their worship of him. In general, these tribes practiced animal sacrifice and intermediation with the spirit world to secure material benefit and avoid harm. Animal sacrifice was so closely tied to intermediation that it was essentially a part of it. The attempt to learn from the spirit world and to harness its forces through means of intermediation was the major preoccupation of the religious life of the idolatrous pre-Islamic Arabs. Drawing near to God, the gods, and the spirits (at-taqarrub) and having means of access (at-tawassul) to their knowledge and their powers to effect benefit or harm were the objectives of various types of oracular speakers, shamans, diviners, and other intermediaries and the objects of cultic rites and special poems (ashcar) and prayers (ciya), both oral and written.
Although the pre-Islamic Arabs believed in Allah, the supreme God and Creator of the heavens and the earth, and a number of lesser, intermediate gods, to whom they did not ascribe such attributes, the jinn (the unseen spirits of the earth) received greatest attention in their religious life and practice. They deemed the jinn to have an importance which they did not attribute even to the gods. Intermediation with the spirit world-"drawing close" (at-taqarrub) and "finding means of access" (at-tawassul)-characterized dealings with the jinn more than intermediation with the gods; consequently it appears valid to say that the pre-Islamic Arabs essentially conceived of the jinn as an inferior order of terrestrial goods, even though it was not their custom to refer to them as such. The Qur'an attacks sharply both worship of the jinn and the tribal belief that connubial relations between Allah and the daughters of the most illustrious jinn had produced the angels, the daughters of God. (See, for example, Qur'an 6:100; 34:41; 37:158; JA 6:710, 738-39.) The belief that angels were daughters of God had the practical effect of elevating the status of the jinn in pre-Islamic religious practice; for, according to the tribal thinking of that society, it meant that the jinn-the closest of all created beings to man-had special access to God himself through the good offices of his daughters, their own maternal kinsmen.
Pre-Islamic Arabs divided spirits into two sorts: the evil and unclean, and the clean and benign. Although intermediation was directed at both types of spirits, cultic and ritual practices probably centered on the evil jinn and the shayatin (Satanic spirits) who could inflict harm and bring chaos. Out of natural fear, they devoted much attention to meeting the needs of and attempting to appease the evil spirits (JA 6:706, 709).
Both evil and benign jinn, however, were analogous to the human society and culture of pre-Islamic Arabia. Male and female, the jinn procreated, ate, drank, slept, grew old, and eventually died. Of all beings in the created world, they were the most like man. They had genealogies; they formed families, clans, and tribes. They had tribal leaders, tribal arbitrators (hukkam), and even kings (muluk). Their tribes, moreover, behaved like the Arab tribes themselves. They feuded with hostile tribes; they made alliances and pacts with other tribes of jinn and, on occasion, with certain tribes of human beings. They protected their allies, their clients, and their proteges, and they would surely avenge the murder of any of their tribal members or of those associated with their tribes. Like pre-Islamic Arabs, there were sedentary jinn and nomadic jinn; there were jinn who traveled by night and jinn who traveled by day (JA 6:711-14).
The powers of the jinn far exceeded those of man, although in single combat it was conceivable that a man could kill a jinn, even the invidious ghul of the isolated deserts-as, on one occasion, the famous poet Ta'abbata Sharran is reported to have done (JA 6:712-13). Jinn, with their prodigious strength, could travel swiftly from region to region and into the heavens; indeed, it was by access to the heavens that they were believed to have knowledge of future events. Although the jinn usually remained in their invisible spirit state, pre-Islamic Arabs believed that they could assume the shapes of human beings and animals, especially snakes, dogs, and scorpions. The jinn were most dangerous in their spirit state, simply because they could attack without being seen. Renowned for their eloquence, they were believed to inspire poetry; indeed, poet Ta'abbata Sharran's name means "he carried an evil one under his arm." Whereas the Arabs prided themselves on their fifteen masterly poetic meters, the poetic meters of the jinn reportedly numbered in the thousands. Close to the world of men and the nature of men, jinn, more than other creatures, were capable of feeling strong emotions of both love and hatred toward human beings. The evil eye of the jinn's envy was more pernicious than the evil eye of a human being; a hostile jinn could cause sickness, plagues, fevers, epileptic seizures, demonic possession, and insanity (al-junun). One who was insane was said to be majnun, that is, possessed by a jinn. But jinn would also fall in love with human beings and, by taking the form of a human being, have sexual intercourse with them. The genealogies of certain tribes were traced to the children of such unions. Love, friendship, and other strong personal bonds between jinn and the pre-Islamic Arab intermediary were the reason for the jinn's assistance in providing information about the unseen (JA 6:711-14, 723-25).
There were also animistic elements in pre-Islamic Arab religion, such as the veneration of certain rocks, trees, wells, and caves that were believed to be imbued with spiritual efficacy and power. Such places and objects were the focus of pilgrimages, immolations, prayers, and special rituals which would harness the forces of such places for the spiritual and material benefit of the worshippers. Although not themselves part of the unseen world, these objects and places were deemed to possess a latent power which enamated from the spirits or the gods of the unseen (JA 6:706).
Shamans and Oracular Speakers
Pre-Islamic Arabia, like the lands of the Fertile Crescent, believed in both spirit intermediaries, who dwelt in the unseen world and would provide information about it, and diviners, who would discern the unseen through the interpretation of natural phenomena. Although shamans and oracular speakers-those who made direct contact with the spirit world-seem to have been more prestigious and influential in pre-Islamic Arabia, diviners, especially at lower social levels, were probably more common. Certainly there were a number of simple divining techniques which one could use with little or no expense. Use of oracular speakers and shamans, on the other hand-especially the famous ones-was often a costly matter, as were the more sophisticated divining techniques, which required the services of professional diviners.
The kahin (shaman, soothsayer, oracular speaker-feminine kahina) stood at the top of the religious hierarchy for idolatrous pre-Islamic Arabs. As a rule, the kahins came from the most powerful clans within each tribe.
The kahin's influence generally derived from his social standing within the tribe, his family and kinship relations, the comparative strength of his tribe, and his record in making successful predictions, giving sound counsel, and solving matters of arbitration. For in the absence of a central judiciary administration, a kahin's judgment in arbitration depended on his personal prestige and the backing of his tribesmen, although they also sometimes secured ransom or hostages in advance.
Both the kahin and the carraf and the sahir (sorcerer), a shaman-like figure who had direct contact with spirits, were closely, although not inseparably, connected with the religious and cultic life of pre-Islamic Arab idolatry. The idols of the gods, for example, would have kahins who looked after their maintenance and spoke on their behalf. Frequently the kahin would carry out his functions within the house or temple in which an idol was lodged. Many kahins also worked in their own houses or would retire to secluded or partially secluded places to make contact with the spirits (JA 6:763-71).
Very little important business was conducted in the pre-Islamic Arab tribes without consulting one or more kahins. The concluding of pacts and alliances, the making of war, the launching of attacks and raids, the discovery of criminals and murderers, the establishing or problematic genealogical connections, counseling marriage to a particular man or woman-all came under the aegis of the kahin. He was, moreover, the chief guardian of Arab customary and tribal law; he solved difficult questions of inheritance, served as arbitrator (hakam) in disputes between individuals, clans, and tribes, called upon oracular powers to determine questions of guilt or innocence if disputed, and also ensured that judgment was in keeping with the precedents of tribal law. The revenge of unrequited wrongs-especially murders-was itself a quasi-religious practice in pre-Islamic Arabia, but the moral duty of revenge (ath-tha'r) could not legitimately be assumed until one had sought redress through an arbitrator-generally a kahin-and had failed. The tribes also relied upon their kahins to warn them of impending enemy raids or natural calamities, or to predict good times. Kahins were sometimes called upon to find lost articles or strayed or stolen animals. (Finding of lost articles was more commonly the office of the carraf.) Kahins would often accompany their tribes into battle or on raids to inspire the tribal warriors to fight bravely.
Although principally and invariably a spirit medium, the kahin would sometimes also use divining techniques-conjuring by idols, examining the liver, entrails, or bones of sacrificial sheep, drawing omens from the movements and sounds of birds and other animals or from unusual natural phenomena, or interpreting dreams. By far the most common technique of the kahin, however, was securing information from a spirit or from gods and spirits with which he was tied by close personal bonds. The familiar spirit of the kahin was called most frequently his tabic (follower) or ra'i (one who sees or is seen), although the expressions sahib (companion), mawla, or wali (close friend, patron, client), and shaitan (demonic spirit, no pejorative connotation) were also used. Tabic and the feminine tabica were generally used for describing a jinn-lover (JA 6:711-14). Although some accounts tell of kahins going into difficult and exhausting ecstatic states, the kahins appear, in general, to have had much more natural relationships with their familiar jinn, whom they could see (hence, perhaps, ra'i) although others could not. The kahin is sometimes described as receiving information from his tabic by means of inspiration or revelation (wahy) and pronouncing them in the form of sajc-that is, short, rhymed verses of varying meter, characterized by vague words and obscure references (JA 6:755-61).
Both the kahin and the sahir (sorcerer) required a payment in advance which was termed al-hulwan (from the root "to be sweet"). The hulwan was set by means of bargaining between the kahin and his client. Technically, the kahin shared it with his tabic; thus, the tabic also had to agree, a device that enabled the kahin to profit even in cases in which his social relation to his clients might have dictated according to custom that he offer his services for less. Since the fees demanded could be substantial, pre-Islamic Arabs would often test the kahin's effectiveness by hiding an object, which the kahin was asked to find, or by asking obscure questions about the client, the answers to which the kahin could not ordinarily be expected to know (JA 6:761-62).
Pre-Islamic Sorcerers
The pre-Islamic Arab kahin and sahir (sorcerer) both made some form of direct contact with spirits and both required the advance payment of a hulwan. But the kahin contacted the spirit world chiefly for information, while the sahir effected some harm or benefit through the medium of the spirits. Within the pre-Islamic world, therefore, the sahir constituted one of the most important means of harnessing the latent powers of the unseen world. Unlike the kahins, the sorcerers apparently had no cultic and ritualistic functions; nevertheless, the extent of their practice can be deduced from numerous references throughout the Qur'an to sihr (sorcery) and related words. The familiar spirits of the sahir were jinn, like those of the kahin, and were also called by the same names: tabic, ra'i, and shayatin. The sahir called upon their powers to produce love or hatred, sickness, distress, or visual hallucinations. But sorcery in pre-Islamic Arab society was associated with medicine, and the Arabic tibb (medicine) stood in its pre-Islamic context for the medicinal arts of the sorcerer, who in that capacity was referred to as tabb and sometimes tabib, while one who was under the spell of a tabb was referred to as matbub or tabib. In addition to curing a number of physical ailments and sicknesses through his spirit powers, the pre-Islamic sahir was also deemed able to cure various types of insanity, which is not surprising, considering that the pre-Islamic Arabs associated insanity with spirit possession.
The pre-Islamic raqi (charmer, sorcerer) held a position similar to that of the sahir, although he primarily provided amulets, charms, and other devices and techniques to protect the client against sorcery, the evil eye, fever, and sickness. The most famous sahirs of pre-Islamic Arabia were reportedly from Jewish tribes and were believed to derive their skills ultimately from Babylon. In general, however, Arab Jews and non-Jews practiced sorcery, while the office of the kahin was essentially the exclusive reserve of Arabs (JA 6:739-45, 751-54, 762).
Diviners
Diviners and divining techniques were probably more common in pre-Islamic Arabia than direct spirit mediation through the kahins, although spirit intermediaries-the kahins and sahirs-appear to have had higher status. The carraf (one who knows; an emphatic noun) may have stood at the head of the hierarchy of diviners, although neither his profession nor his status is clear. Some pre-Islamic Arabs, for example, apparently drew no distinction between the kahin and the carraf. The prophet Muhammad explicitly prohibited both offices, implying a technical difference between the two. Unlike the kahins, the carrafs were not apparently associated with ritual and cultic practices; they did not function within the houses and temples of idol worship, nor did they rely upon tabics or ra'is. One divining technique was khatt, rapidly drawing a number of straight lines in smooth sand or soil with a special instrument. The diviner would then slowly erase the lines. If a single line remained, the undertaking would be deemed inauspicious; a pair of lines denoted good fortune. The carraf was also believed to have the ability to read one's destiny from the signs and markings of one's body. Children were often brought to carrafs to have their futures foretold through such techniques. cArrafs also found stolen or lost items and animals. Interestingly, al-cUkkaz, one of the most important annual fairs in pre-Islamic Arabia, was also a major center for carrafs (JA 6:772-74).
Pre-Islamic Arabic idiom contained a number of other specialized titles for different types of diviners and their techniques. The caif, for example, divined by studying the movements and the sounds of birds and animals and by reading the entrails of sacrificial animals. The zajir's office appears to have been restricted to augury and did not include animals other than birds (JA 6:774-75). Munajjim and hazza were applied to diviners who studied the movements of the stars and other celestial bodies. The hazi (cf. Hebrew hozeh) specialized in al-khatt, although he also interpreted the movements and sounds of birds, particularly the sounds of the raven (JA 6:775-76, 783). Special kahins used divining arrows azlam, aqda in the presence of their particular idols to determine the favor or disfavor of the god toward particular matters; but the common man also carried personal divining arrows which he could consult. Likewise, the common man would himself observe the flight and movements of the birds and animals that crossed his path at the beginning of an undertaking and drew omens from them. The everyday life of the pre-Islamic Arab was, indeed, filled with such omens-many of them as commonplace as yawning and sneezing-both, incidentally, viewed as evil omens presaging injury to others (JA 6:776-82, 786-800).
Islam systematically assailed reliance in oracular speakers, diviners, and the practices and superstitions associated with them. It declared such intermediaries and their practices to be taghut (gross transgression against God), the heavens sealed against the kahin "mixed with a hundred lies." The offices of the kahin and carraf and the practices of the sahir were outlawed. The payment of a hulwan was prohibited as sin. Muhammad directed his followers to ignore evil omens and proceed with their undertakings if they were morally legitimate, by invoking the help of God. The prophet did not prohibit his followers from taking heart in auspicious signs, but he directed them all the same to "leave the birds perched in the trees." Divining arrows and the like were declared an abomination, their use tantamount to breaking one's covenant with God. Islamic etiquette directed Muslims simply to cover their mouths when they yawned and required that one praise God after sneezing, while others invoked God's mercy upon the sneezer. Neither sneezing nor yawning were considered evil omens (JA 6:756-59, 762, 772, 800). But Islam, in addition to these and many other specific prohibitions and alterations in pre-Islamic Arab custom, radically transformed the very conception of the realm of the unseen and man's relationship to it and to the material world around him.
The Islamic Definition of the Perceptible and the Unseen
Al-ghaib (the unseen) and ash-shahada (visible) are, as we have mentioned, semantic pairs in classical Arabic. Izutsu refers to such words as "correlation words," each of which presupposes the other and derives its full significance from this integral correlation, even when used in isolation. Classical Arabic affords many such correlation words, which are significant in understanding the structure of the Qur'anic world view. For example, ad-dunya (the world at hand, or the life of this world) is such a correlation word in Qur'anic semantics as well as in general Arabic usage. Literally a feminine comparative adjective meaning "the nearer, closer, lower" life, ad-dunya always points, even when used in isolation, to al-ukhra or al-akhira (the other world, the world to come, i.e., the hereafter), with which it is explicitly tied in Qur'anic usage.
Al-ghaib and ash-shahada have connotations which are not conveyed immediately by their English translations as the unseen and perceptible. Ash-shahada in modern standard usage means either the act of bearing witness or the testimony which is given. In early Arabic, however, the primary meaning of shahida, the verb from which the noun ash-shadada is derived, was "to be present," "to be on hand," and hence able to witness and bear witness to that which occurs in one's presence. The proper synonym of shahida in classical Arabic, therefore, is hadara (to be present, to be in the presence of something, to appear before someone or something). Its antonym in early and classical Arabic idiom is the verb ghaba, to go away, to go out of sight, from which is derived the noun al-ghaib. Thus, the verb continues to be used for the setting of the sun and other celestial bodies. Ghaba also was often used in a more restricted sense to stand for "going away on a distant journey" (i.e., safara), and in such contexts shahida still constituted its semantic pair, standing in that case for "remaining behind in the village or encampment" and, hence, being present and on hand. In ancient Arabic usage, a married woman whose husband was away on a journey was referred to as "imra'at mughib," while a woman whose husband was present was "imra'at mushhid," from the root shahida.
Because of its semantic background, al-ghaib in its Qur'anic context refers to all things that stand without human perception-whether they stand outside of it by virtue of their nonmaterial nature as in the case of God and the angels or whether they have not been perceived or have not been retained in perception-as, for example, future events, forgotten things, or things of any period which are material but unknowable, as for example, the number of fish in the sea. The word, therefore, does not denote only super-natural realities.
In contrast, ash-shahada primarily refers not only to things within the range of man's five senses but also, by virtue of their limited proximity to man in time and place, to things that are both perceived and retained in consciousness. God is called ash-Shahid in the Qur'an and extra-Qur'anic Islamic textual sources because he is proximate to all things-although also absolutely transcendent and distinct. He perceives and is knowledgeable of each detail. Ash-Shahid as a name describes God simultaneously as omniscient and omnipresent. Ash-shahid with reference to human beings means a religious martyr, from its passive participial meaning, "one who has been brought into the presence of another." For in Islamic belief, the sincere shahid is alive, having been brought (uhdira) spiritually into the presence of God in Paradise.
Belief in the Unseen As Opposed to Detailed Knowledge of the Unseen
Belief in the unseen is identified toward the beginning of the Qur'anic text as an essential attribute of one who would seek divine guidance.
Alif. Lam. Mim:
This is the book: In it there is no misgiving, a Guidance for those who are conscientious [toward God],
Who believe in the Unseen, perform the daily prayer as it is meant to be performed, and who give generously of that which We [God] have bestowed upon them,
And [for those] who believe in that which has been revealed unto you [O Prophet], and that which was revealed before you and Who have absolute certainty [of belief] in the Hereafter. (Qur'an 2:1-4).
The direct object of the verb "to believe" (amana) can be introduced by the preposition bi (in), as in this verse, or by the preposition li (to, for), as, for example, in Qur'an 26:111. When amana is used in conjunction with the preposition bi, however, that preposition adds greater meaning to the verb by virtue of its use as the element of transitivity in other verbs. This semantic enrichment is referred to by Arab grammarians as tadmin (the assimilation of one meaning to another). In the case of amana, use of bi lends it the associative meanings of "to recognize and acknowledge as valid" (ictarafa bi), "to have fullest confidence in" (wathaqa bi), and "to submit to and recognize as valid" (adhcana bi). As a consequence the Arabic expression, "they believe in the Unseen," is at once richer and more expressive than its English rendition. Moreover, because of the semantic pairing in Arabic of al-ghaib and ash-shahada, some commentators contend that the original Arab receptors of the statement "they believe in the Unseen" would have heard the double entendre "they believe in the Unseen just as unequivocally as they believe in the perceived" (JA 1:115).
Generally speaking, traditional Qur'anic commentators did not understand this reference to belief in the unseen as belief about the existence of an unseen, spiritual dimension of reality. Some commentators interpret another Qur'anic passage, 45:24, as evidence that some Arabs had a materialistic view of the universe which denied the existence of greater nonmaterial realities; this interpretation is conjectural. In any case, Arabic and Islamic history shows that the overwhelming majority of pre-Islamic Arabs believed firmly in the existence of a highly consequential spiritual dimension. Thus, many commentators hold that "belief in the unseen" presumes belief in the spiritual dimension of reality and means in these opening verses of the second sura belief in the fundamental articles of faith regarding the unseen as set forth in Islamic belief. It refers, then, to such things as belief in God, the physical resurrection of the dead, the last judgment, the hereafter, and so forth-things which Islam commands human beings to believe but which lie beyond the immediate confirmation of the five senses. Belief in the unseen means therefore, according to the commentator at-Tabatabai, belief in the three fundamentals: the absolute unity of God (at-tawhid), the phenomenon of divine prophecy (an-nabuwa,) and the hereafter (al-mac). Moreover, he continues, this definition of the unseen is either alluded to or specifically indicated within these first four verses of the sura. Conscientiousness toward God (at-taqwa) necessarily implies in its Quranic and Islamic context belief in the Oneness of God and ethical behavior in accordance with that belief. Belief in prophecy is implied in the fourth-verse reference to belief in the revelation of Muhammad and the earlier prophets--divine revelation being, par excellence, that dimension of prophecy, according to Islamic belief, which pertains to the unseen. This same verse ends with an explicit reference to belief in the third fundamental, the hereafter (T 1:45-46).
But although the Quran requires belief in these "great realities," it does not command the reader to seek detailed knowledge of the unseen. Indeed, it discourages the believer from excessive preoccupation with aspects of the unseen which have no direct practical importance to his spiritual and moral edification. The Qur'an states: "And they ask you about the Spirit [ar-Ruh]. Say: The Spirit is a matter among those pertaining [only] to [my Lord] and of which only He has knowledge, and you, [O people], have been given of knowledge but little." (Qur'an 17:85.)
Ar-ruh (the spirit) has a number of meanings in the Qur'an, as does its Hebrew counterpart ruah in the Bible. Sometimes it refers to angelic messengers, sometimes to spiritual aid, sometimes to divine revelation itself. In that context it would be similar to the biblical usage of ruah to indicate prophetic ecstasies. Although some commentators have held to this particular meaning of ar-ruh in this verse, many others have understood the verse as answering a question about the Spirit of God in the most general sense (A 15:155-64; T 13:198) and thus constituting a rhetorical and not a theological answer. For the purpose of the Qur'anic response is not to inform the people about the theological subtleties of the Spirit but rather to indicate that preoccupation with these kinds of questions is undesirable, for in the view of some commentators, the answer is beyond the capacity of most or all of the people (T 13:200; A 15:153; Q 4:224).
The commentator an-Nisaburi notes, however, that this verse should not be understood as a categorical prohibition against meta-physical speculation about realities of the unseen. Although meta-physical understanding of the nature of the Spirit is difficult to attain, metaphysical understanding of the nature of God himself is much more difficult. Yet the Qur'an abounds with verses which invite the human imagination to reflect on the wonders of God and his being (N 15:73). An-Nisaburi's point seems well taken, and one might consider as an example the parable of light (Qur'an 24:35-42), a long and beautiful analogy between God, the light of the heavens and the earth, and a radiant crystal lamp of olive oil within a niche in a house of worship. A crucial difference between the Qur'anic response to questions about the Spirit and the numerous passages that allude to the wonders of the great realities of the unseen is the fact that the information about the Spirit was directly solicited, while these other passages are, as it were, freely given in token of God's bounty. The Qur'an contains a number of solicited responses to questions that begin similarly, "They ask you about.... Say:...." ("yas'alunaka can....qul:..."). The Qur'anic responses to these questions vary considerably, depending on whether the question pertains to practical matters of taklif (man's moral responsibility to obey revealed law) or to metaphysical and impractical questions. Such questions and their answers become, in the context of Qur'anic revelation, matters of immediate concern to the entire Muslim community and, consequently, establish religious and behavioral norms. Verses like the parable of light occur incidentally as embellishments to other discussions. Although such questions may have originated with a single person, they represent questions of the entire community to the prophet of God. In responding to them, the Qur'an also evaluates the question, indicating whether it constitutes a legitimate concern for the community.
Examples of other questions addressed to Muhammad concern the phases of the moon (Qur'an 2:189), which are used to determine the season of pilgrimage and other religious observances; what amount of their wealth inquirers should contribute to the cause of Islam (Qur'an 2:215, 219); conducting war during the sacred months of Rajab, Dhu-'l-Qicdah, Dhu-'lHijjah, and Muharram (Qur'an 2:217); the legal status of wine and games of chance (Qur'an 2:219); the treatment of orphans (Qur'an 2:220); laws pertaining to women during their menstrual cycles (Qur'an 2:222); the marital status of women (Qur'an 4:127); laws of inheritance regarding those who die without ascendant or descendant surviving kinsmen (Qur'an 4:176); what the law has made permissible (Qur'an 5:4); and the division of booty in war (Qur'an 8:1). All of these questions begin with the same wording as in the verse about the Spirit, but these are all matters of immediate importance to the practice of Islamic law and the Islamic code of behavior in the life of the community. As a consequence, the Qur'an indicates that the questions represent valid communal concerns and it answers them in specific detail.
The eighteenth chapter of the Qur'an, Surat al-Kahf (the cave), contains three stories which occur nowhere else in the Qur'an. Each pertains to the ghaib of the historical past: 1) the story of the Sleepers of the Cave, 2) the story of Moses and his spiritual teacher, al-Khidr, and 3) the story of Dhu-'l-Qarnain (literally, "he whose headpiece has two horns"). Unlike the first two stories, the account of Dhu-'l-Qarnain begins with the formula: "And they ask you about Dhu-'l-Qarnain. Say:..." (Qur'an 18:83). The Qur'an goes into surprising detail in presenting each story, even though they seem to have no immediate value. Nevertheless, as traditional and modern Qur'anic commentators have observed, the questions about the Sleepers and Dhu-'l-Qarnain were presented to Muhammad by his opponents to test the validity of his claim to prophecy. Apparently no question was asked about Moses and al-Khidr, so their story may be an unsolicited incidental. Moreover, as commentators like at-Tabataba'i demonstrate, the Qur'an does not present these stories as quaint or elaborately detailed accounts but as prefigures of the eventual success of the Muslim community, then young and vulnerable. Thus these tales are inspiring stories of earlier believers whose examples early Muslims could emulate in their own struggle (T 13:235-391; cf. Q 4:2255).
In Surat Taha (Qur'an 20:105-106) another apparently impractical question is asked: "And they ask you about the mountains. Say: My Lord will reduce them utterly to dust and lay them low like the valleys, leaving them barren and empty with no living thing." The importance of this question and answer lies in the cultural and religious context of pre-Islamic Arabs. They saw mountains as the preeminent symbol of permanence and strength. Doubters found it difficult to believe that God could obliterate the mountains on the last day, as eschatological verses of the Qur'an promise. Thus, by entertaining this question about the mountains, the Qur'an at once vindicated the omnipotence of God and asserted in the most vivid and profound terms the integrity of the Islamic doctrine about the last day and the events that will accompany it.
In contrast, the prophet Muhammad was frequently asked when the hour of judgment would come; the Qur'anic response is essentially the same as the answer about the Spirit:
They ask you concerning the Hour [of the coming of the judgment]: When will the time of its fulfillment be? Say: The knowledge of it is with my Lord alone; non will unveil it toward the time of its coming but He. It is a matter that weighs heavy in the heavens and the earth and will overtake you as a sudden and unexpected event. They ask you about it as if you had intimate knowledge of it and took pleasure in being asked. Say: The knowledge of it is with God alone. But the majority of mankind have no [true] knowledge. Say: I do not possess the power to cause benefit to my own soul or to ward off from it harm except to the extent that God wills, and if I had knowledge of the Unseen, my life would have been filled with abundance of good things, and trouble would have never afflicted me: I am only one who gives warning of a Divine punishment to come and good tidings of Paradise for a people bound together by belief. (Qur'an 7:187-188.)
They ask you concerning the Hour [of the coming of the judgment]:
When will the time of its fulfillment be?
On what basis could you [possibly] inform them of its time of coming?
The ultimate knowledge of it rests with your Lord alone. You are but a warner for those who stand in fear and awe of its coming:
It shall seem on the day when they [finally] behold it as if they had not lingered on this earth but a single evening or [a single night] and the following morn. (Qur'an 79:42-46.)
While affirming that the prophet himself does not have access to the knowledge of all details of the unseen, these verses-like the verse about the Spirit-also support the Qur'anic principle that such knowledge is not essential to the community of believers. Indeed, some Islamic commentators observe that it is part of God's wisdom to hide the knowledge of the coming of the hour as well as the knowledge of the particulars of each individual's future and the time of one's death. The complete absence of such knowledge is intended as a source of spiritual and moral edification, since it requires the believer to prepare continually for the unexpected, for the end of his life, and for the moral consequences of judgment that come ultimately with death (A 21:109-111; N 9:98-100; T 8:371).
The first of these passages specifies that the prophet is not a "knower of the Unseen," does not have direct access to particular aspects of the unseen at will, and hence does not usurp a function that belongs to God alone. Muhammad's comment, "if I had knowledge of the Unseen, my life would have been filled with abundance of good [things], and trouble would have never afflicted me," is his renunciation of divination and foretelling. To the Arabs of his generation, preoccupied with predicting when prices would rise or fall, when and where the rains would come, which pasture lands would be best, the outcomes of wars, etc., the courageous redefinition of prophethood marks a clear break with pre-Islamic religiousness. In the words of some commentators, the verse proclaims the thorough cubudiya (lordship) of God. Delving into such aspects of the unseen is not the legitimate concern of the prophet or the community which follows him.
Moreover, the passage also implies that some among the Islamic Arabs to whom the prophet preached did see him shaman-like kahin figure: "They ask you about it as if you intimate knowledge of it [and took pleasure in being asked] semantically rich hafiyuncanha carries both connotations intimate knowledge and taking pleasure in being asked stood in this context, therefore, these verses also emphasize that having such knowledge is not a defect or inadequacy in any other human being (N 9:100; T 8:372).
God As Exclusive Knower of the Unseen
God is frequently described in the Quran in terms of his knowledge of the unseen. He is, for example, 'alim al-ghaib wa-sh shahada (knower of the unseen and the perceptible, Quran 6:73; 9:94, 105; 13:9; 23:92; 32:6; 39:46; 59:22; 62:8; 64:18). He is 'allam al-ghuyub (the supreme knower of [all] unseen things, Quran 5:109, 116; 9:78; 34:48), and throughout the Quran he is described repeatedly by adjectives indicating his exact knowledge of all particulars, be they hidden or manifest, future or past, exoteric or esoteric, exterior or interior: al-hakim al-khabir (the all-wise, having knowledge of all things, especially hidden things), al-batin (knower of all things interior), az-zahir (knower of all things exterior), and so forth. Such references to God, as the commentator at-Tabataba'i observes, often occur in the context of references to the last judgment and the ultimate rewards of heaven and hell, where the justice of God's judgment depends on the fullness of his knowledge (T 7:146). Here again, we observe how the context of such Quranic references to God as knower of the unseen are-like other dimensions of the Islamic conception of the unseen-fundamentally linked to spiritual edification and the imperative of moral action.
God, according to Islamic belief, is absolutely unique. His uniqueness is one of the fundamental attributes of his oneness. He has no likeness and no opposite. Attributes such as eternal life, omniscience, omnipotence, and absolute transcendence with absolute proximity to all being are, as a consequence, attributes to his godhood (uluhiya) and his lordship (rububiya). Knowledge of the unseen and the perceptible, which falls under the rubric of God's omniscience, is, according to Islamic belief, one such unique and essential attribute. "Say: None of the beings who dwell in the heavens or on the earth have knowledge of the Unseen but God, nor do they have any perception of when they will be resurrected from the dead. Nay, the knowledge which they [the disbelievers] have will come utterly to naught in the hereafter: Nay, they are in doubt about the hereafter itself: Nay, they are with regard to [the hereafter] completely blind." (Qur'an 27:65-66.) God's exclusive knowledge of the unseen is absolute. No other creature in the heavens or on earth can have such knowledge and thus cannot be gods (T 15:385).
These two verses occur within a broader discussion establishing the unique divinity of God. God's unique knowledge of the unseen, coupled with his power over the heavens and the earth, further indicate his godhood and absolute perfection (A 20:9; Q 6:2661). However, the larger discussion also expresses the Qur'anic theme that religious belief must be based upon definitive knowledge ('ilm) and not upon conjecture (zann), which is the foundation, it argues, of the idolatrous religious conceptions of the pre-Islamic Arabs. Thus, by emphasizing that God alone has knowledge of the unseen, these verses-in addition to excluding other beings from divinity-also state quite clearly that God alone, as knower of the unseen, can be the only source of sound religion. In the Islamic context, this means that only prophetic religion-religion revealed to man by God through prophecy-can be authentic religion. Commentator an-Nisaburi adds that the reference in the second verse to doubts (shakk) about the hereafter established the conjectural nature of religious belief among Muhammad's opponents. For shakk, in the Qur'anic view, comes from lack of knowledge ('ilm), from ignorance and conjecture, and is thus different from negligence (ghafla), to which the Qur'an also refers as a source of error. Ghafla springs from a lack of concern about the very subject matter of religious knowledge, irrespective of its content (N 20:9-11).
The Qur'an also establishes the unseen as God's unique possession: ". . . Knower of the Unseen: Thus, He make manifest to no one the [unfathomable] Unseen, which is His, Except to that person with whom He is well-satisfied [to have elected] as a Prophet-Messenger...." (Qur'an 72:26-27.)
Knowledge of the unseen, this unique possession of God, is also portrayed in the Qur'an as a matter of supreme value. It is precious knowledge. Hence, God's knowledge of the unseen and his sole possession of it are often described with the image of keys to the treasuries khaza'in, mafatih:
Say: Behold, I [call you and take my stand] on the basis of a manifest proof from my Lord [which makes the Truth distinct from falsehood]; yet you have disbelieved in Him. I do not have in my presence [or my power] that [punishment] which you in your sarcasm wish for me to make come quickly:
Ordination of judgment rests with God alone: He makes Truth stand out distinctly, and He is the best to judge between falsehood and Truth.
Say: Were I to have in my power that [punishment] which you seek to hasten, the matter [of dispute] between me and you would have been decided. Yet [know that] God is the most knowledgeable of those who do wrong and are workers of oppression.
In his possession [alone] are the keys to the treasuries of the Unseen: None has knowledge of them but He. He knows that which is on the land and in the sea. Not a leaf falls to the ground but that He has knowledge of it, nor is there a seed hidden within the dark recesses of