Surah Al-Baqarah 2:33
سُورَةُ البَقَرَةِ · Medinan · Verse 33 of 286
قَالَ يَٰٓـَٔادَمُ أَنۢبِئْهُم بِأَسْمَآئِهِمْ ۖ فَلَمَّآ أَنۢبَأَهُم بِأَسْمَآئِهِمْ قَالَ أَلَمْ أَقُل لَّكُمْ إِنِّىٓ أَعْلَمُ غَيْبَ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَأَعْلَمُ مَا تُبْدُونَ وَمَا كُنتُمْ تَكْتُمُونَ
Translation
Then He said, ‘Adam, tell them the names of these.’ When he told them their names, God said, ‘Did I not tell you that I know what is hidden in the heavens and the earth, and that I know what you reveal and what you conceal?’
English translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem.
Meaning and reflection
'He said: O Adam, inform them of their names. And when he had informed them, He said: Did I not tell you that I know the unseen of the heavens and the earth, and I know what you reveal and what you conceal?' al-Saadi and Ibn Kathir note the lesson sealed, God's knowledge encompasses not only the hidden things of the cosmos but the hidden things of hearts, 'what you reveal and what you conceal'. Ask yourself: the same verse that honours human knowledge reminds me how total God's is, reaching into what I make visible and what I keep hidden inside. Nothing I conceal, the private motive, the buried resentment, the secret intention behind a public act, is unseen by Him. It is both a warning and a strange comfort: I am fully known, so pretence is pointless, but also, I am fully known, so I need never explain myself to the One who already sees. Do I live as one whose concealed self is completely open to God?
Grounded in classical tafsir: al-Saadi, Ibn Kathir, Ibn Ashur.
Topics that discuss this verse
Surah Al-Baqarah 2:33 is discussed in 8 study guides on Maani. Each guide gathers the key verses, Arabic words and lessons of one Quranic topic.
Reflect on this verse
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