Title: Only Known to Allah Question/Comments: You mentioned that:"among the five things mentioned in the verse, the exact time of the Day of Judgment, the knowledge of the events of future and the exact place of one's death are mentioned as known only to God - i.e. refuting knowledge for others besides God - while the knowledge of rainfall and that of what grows in the wombs has been mentioned as being known to God - without refuting knowledge for anyone else". However in a hadis related by Bukhari , as mentioned in tafseer Ibnu Kathir,the meaning being "The keys to al-ghaib are 5:none knows except Allah..........." The impression that is given by the phrase "none knows except Allah" is a denial of anyone possessing the knowledge including regarding the rain & womb. Also the hadith mentioned by the questioner states:"there is a kind of Unseen knowledge which Allah alone knows". If it were to mean that the prophet himself does not know as you suggested I would think the wording would be made like "there is a kind of Unseen knowledge which even I do not know" If "the knowledge of the events of future " if implied by the verse is absolute in Allah's knowledge how does it not contradict by the fact: some people gets an indication regarding future events in their dreams which turned out to be true. the hadith related by Muslim that the shaitan sometimes manage to steal info from the heavens & then whispers into the ears of the kahin. Only it mixes it with lot of untruths-that is why sometimes their predictions are true. some people including the prophet could sense that they are nearing death. Thank you. Answer: You write: "You mentioned that: "among the five things mentioned in the verse, the exact time of the Day of Judgment, the knowledge of the events of future and the exact place of one's death are mentioned as known only to God - i.e. refuting knowledge for others besides God - while the knowledge of rainfall and that of what grows in the wombs has been mentioned as being known to God - without refuting knowledge for anyone else". 1.However in a hadith related by Bukhari , as mentioned in tafseer Ibnu Kathir, the meaning being "The keys to al-ghaib are 5:none knows except Allah..." The impression that is given by the phrase "none knows except Allah" is a denial of anyone possessing the knowledge including regarding the rain and the womb. Also the Hadith mentioned by the questioner states: "there is a kind of Unseen knowledge which Allah alone knows." If it were to mean that the Prophet himself does not know as you suggested I would think the wording would be more like "there is a sort of Unseen knowledge which even I do not know" First I would like you to appreciate the fact that the Hadith narratives are not necessarily the verbatim transmission of the Prophet's [pbuh] sayings. Most of the narrators in the chain only manage to preserve the meaning and it certainly gives way to different expressions leading to altered message. Therefore we need to basically rely on the meaning of the verse and accept the narrative only when we are sure that it does not contradict with any Qur'anic statement. We will not accept a Hadith which is more than an explanation of the text. This is because the Qur'an has been transmitted verbatim and through absolutely reliable sources, generation-to-generation mode of transfer and the hadith literature comprises of individual reports, pregnant with many flaws. To reach a safer conclusion in knowing the meaning of a Hadith the scholars collect all the versions of the narrative and study them. Sometimes a narrator forgets something and the others supply it. Some versions leave out background and contextual information while others provide it. We need to study the various versions of the narrative you have referred to. Thus, we will come to a relatively more accurate understanding of its meaning. The Hadith you have referred to as quoted in Ibn Kathir also appears in some more books of the hadith. Even Bukhari himself has recorded other versions of the narrative where the wording is different: Narrated By Abdullah bin Umar [rta]: The Prophet [pbuh] said, "The keys of the unseen are five." And then he recited: 'Verily, the knowledge of the Hour is with Allah (alone).'[Bukhari: 4500] Narrated By Salim Bin Abdullah on authority of his father: Allah's Apostle said, "The key of the unseen are five: "Verily with Allah (alone) is the knowledge of the Hour. He sends down the rain and knows what is in the wombs. No soul knows what it will earn tomorrow, and no soul knows in what land it will die. Verily, Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware." (31.34) [Bukhari: 4351] The above narratives tell us that the Prophet (sws) recited the same verse of the Holy Qur'an in this regard. Even Abdullah Bin Umar himself says so. Therefore we will interpret the Hadith according to the clear Qur'anic words and not the vice versa. You write: Also the hadith mentioned states: "there is a kind of Unseen knowledge which Allah alone knows". If it were to mean that the Prophet himself does not know as you suggested I would think the wording would be made like "there is a kind of Unseen knowledge which even I do not know" In his response Mr. Amjad had written: "at that time, no one besides God knew about the phenomena referred in the verse, yet this lack of exhaustive knowledge has never been considered sufficient grounds to reject the phenomena itself; even the Prophet (pbuh) did not have knowledge about any of the things mentioned in the verse. The first point can easily be read from the Prophet's comments that 'none knows this' and the second part can be concluded from the fact that someone questioned specifically the Prophet [pbuh] about the knowledge of the unseen and he replied that he did not know anything. Now I cannot say that people do not know anything about future events and even their Prophet [pbh] has not been informed by the Almighty for he confesses his lack of knowledge in this regard? I do not see why this information cannot be acquired by plain acknowledgement of the Prophet [pbuh]. You write: "If the knowledge of the events of future " if implied by the verse is absolute in Allah's knowledge how does it not contradict the fact that: a. Some people receive indications regarding future events in their dreams which turned out to be true. b.the hadis related by Muslim that the shaitan sometimes manage to steal info from the heavens & then whispers into the ears of the kahin. Only it mixes it with lot of untruths-that is why sometimes their predictions are true. c. some people including the prophet could sense that they are nearing death. The question of contradiction does not arise unless the claim that dreams are a reliable source of knowledge and the one who has vision is certain of the happening is proved beyond any doubt. Since dreams are not always recognized as a reliable source of knowledge we cannot say that mere coincidence can cancel the authentic knowledge. As regards the Shaytan stealing information from the heavens please note that it is again not the knowledge of the unseen. Similar is the case of men's ability to have some information regarding the fetus in the womb and time of the downpour. This is not the knowledge of the unseen which the doctors and the meteorologists claim to have. They have now developed the means to gather data about the interior of the womb and the atmosphere above. This provides them useful information which helps them come to a conclusion. Just as the events of tomorrow no more remain a 'knowledge of the unseen' for me when I enter tomorrow and start experiencing the happenings similarly information about the fetus are no more called 'knowledge of the unseen' once the expert gynecologist use sophisticated machines to know the inside if the womb. The claim that the Prophet's [pbuh] could sense the nearing of their death is not an established fact. We need not matching the suppositions with the knowledge which is neither coincidental nor uncertain. Regards, Tariq Mahmood Hashmi