Quran 7:188 — Surah Al-A'raaf Ayah 188 | Arabic, Translation & Tafsir

يَسْـَٔلُونَكَ عَنِ ٱلسَّاعَةِ أَيَّانَ مُرْسَىٰهَ...

7:188

Al-A'raaf

۞ هُوَ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَكُم مِّن نَّفْسٍۢ وَٰحِدَةٍۢ ...

قُل لَّآ أَمْلِكُ لِنَفْسِى نَفْعًۭا وَلَا ضَرًّا إِلَّا مَا شَآءَ ٱللَّهُ ۚ وَلَوْ كُنتُ أَعْلَمُ ٱلْغَيْبَ لَٱسْتَكْثَرْتُ مِنَ ٱلْخَيْرِ وَمَا مَسَّنِىَ ٱلسُّوٓءُ ۚ إِنْ أَنَا۠ إِلَّا نَذِيرٌۭ وَبَشِيرٌۭ لِّقَوْمٍۢ يُؤْمِنُونَ

Qul laaa amliku linafsee naf'anw wa laa darran illaa maa shaaa'al laah; wa law kuntu a'alamul ghaiba lastaksartu minal khairi wa maa massaniyas soo'; in ana illaa nazeerunw wa basheerul liqawminy yu'minoon

Say, "I hold not for myself [the power of] benefit or harm, except what Allah has willed. And if I knew the unseen, I could have acquired much wealth, and no harm would have touched me. I am not except a warner and a bringer of good tidings to a people who believe."

Related Tafsir

Ibn Kathir

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

View Full Tafsir: The Messenger does not know the Unseen, and He cannot bring Benefit or Harm even to HimselfAyahs 188–188

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: It is not on my own that I give you or withhold from you: I am just a treasure, putting it where I have been commanded.

Sahih al-Bukhari #2989Abu Huraira:

Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "Neither do I give you (anything) nor withhold (anything) from you, but I am just a distributor (i.e. Qasim), and I give as I am ordered."

Sahih al-Bukhari #4616Narrated `Abdullah:

It is a sign of having knowledge that, when you do not know something, you say: 'Allah knows better.' Allah said to his Prophet: 'Say: No wage do I ask of you for this (Qur'an), nor am I one of the pretenders (a person who pretends things which do not exist)' (38.86) When the Quraish troubled and stood against the Prophet (ﷺ) he said, "O Allah! Help me against them by afflicting them with seven years of famine like the seven years of Joseph." So they were stricken with a year of famine during which they ate bones and dead animals because of too much suffering, and one of them would see something like smoke between him and the sky because of hunger. Then they said: Our Lord! Remove the torment from us, really we are believers. (44.12) And then it was said to the Prophet (by Allah), "If we remove it from them. they will revert to their ways (of heathenism)." So the Prophet (ﷺ) invoked his Lord, who removed the punishment from them, but later they reverted (to heathenism), whereupon Allah punished them on the day of the Battle of Badr, and that is what Allah's Statement indicates: 'Then watch for the day that the sky will bring forth a kind of smoke plainly visible...we will indeed (then) exact retribution.' (44.10).

Sunan Ibn Majah #3561It was narrated that Abu Dharr said:

"The Messenger of Allah (saas) said to me: "Shall I not tell you of a treasure which is one of the treasures of Paradise?' I said: 'Yes, O Messenger of Allah.' He said: 'La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah (There is no power and no strength except with Allah).'" (sahih)

Sahih Muslim #6738Zaid b. Alqam reported:

I am not going to say anything but only that which Allah's Messenger (may peace be upgn him) used to say. He used to supplicate:" O Allah, I seek refuge in Thee from incapacity, from sloth, from cowardice, from miserliness, decrepitude and from torment of the grave. O Allah, grant to my soul the sense of righteousness and purify it, for Thou art the Best Purifier thereof. Thou art the Protecting Friend thereof, and Guardian thereof. O Allah, I seek refuge in Thee from the knowledge which does not benefit, from the heart that does not entertain the fear (of Allah), from the soul that does not feel contented and the supplication that is not responded."