Surah Al-Kahf 18:68
سُورَةُ الكَهۡفِ · Meccan · Verse 68 of 110
وَكَيْفَ تَصْبِرُ عَلَىٰ مَا لَمْ تُحِطْ بِهِۦ خُبْرًۭا
Translation
How could you be patient in matters beyond your knowledge?’
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'And how can you have patience over what you do not encompass in knowledge?' al-Saadi and Ibn Ashur note the profound principle stated as a question, patience fails precisely where knowledge is incomplete; I cannot calmly endure what I do not understand, and I never fully understand. Ask yourself: this is the root diagnosis of all my impatience with life. I lose patience with a hardship, a loss, a delay, because I cannot 'encompass' its wisdom, I see only the painful fragment, not the whole. But I never have the whole; my knowledge is always partial. The verse implies the only cure: since I will never fully understand, patience must rest not on comprehension but on trust in the One who does encompass all of it. When something makes no sense and I cannot bear it, is my demand really for understanding I can never have, when what I actually need is trust in the One who understands completely?
Grounded in classical tafsir: al-Saadi, Ibn Ashur, al-Biqa'i.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Al-Kahf 18:68 is discussed in 6 study guides on Maani. Each guide gathers the key verses, Arabic words and lessons of one Quranic topic.
Reflect on this verse
Open Surah Al-Kahf 18:68 in Maani to reflect on it through the Five Lenses: its wording, its context, what it means for you, its connections across the Quran and its lessons, grounded in classical tafsir.