What Abu Hayyaan said about those who claim to know the unseen

17-10-2016 | IslamWeb

Question:

I want to ask about the commentary of Abu Hayyaan Al-Andalusi on verse 188 of Surah Al-A'raf, from Tafsir Al-Bahr Al-Muheet, if not all of it, then please at least tell us a gist of that when he is talking about the people of Egypt regarding their claim of so and so having knowledge of the Unseen. It is very important; I am unable to translate it; I can just understand Arabic a bit. May Allaah reward you.

---

Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

Abu Hayyaan addressed the question of the Unseen in his book Al-Bahr Al-Muheet fee At-Tafseer (5/241):

"The apparent indication of the verse is that it means, 'If I had the knowledge of the Unseen, I could have acquired much wealth, and no harm would have touched me.' The verse clearly negates the claim that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, knew the matters of the Unseen in their entirety, as it was narrated that he, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, 'I do not know what lies behind this wall except what my Lord reveals to me.'

This is contrary to the claim of those who say that they experience Kashf (knowledge of the Unseen) through spiritually purifying their hearts and accordingly receive knowledge of the Unseen and of the things that are yet to happen. Many are the people who make such false claims, especially in Egypt, to the extent that they would attribute the knowledge of the Unseen to a man who is soaked with impurity and, his whole life, refrains from performing prayers and purifying himself after answering the call of nature, exposes his private parts before people when relieving himself, and has no knowledge nor carries out any righteous deeds..."

Allaah knows best.