Tafsir for verse: 11:31
وَلَآ أَقُولُ لَكُمۡ عِندِي خَزَآئِنُ ٱللَّهِ وَلَآ أَعۡلَمُ ٱلۡغَيۡبَ وَلَآ أَقُولُ إِنِّي مَلَكٞ وَلَآ أَقُولُ لِلَّذِينَ تَزۡدَرِيٓ أَعۡيُنُكُمۡ لَن يُؤۡتِيَهُمُ ٱللَّهُ خَيۡرًاۖ ٱللَّهُ أَعۡلَمُ بِمَا فِيٓ أَنفُسِهِمۡ إِنِّيٓ إِذٗا لَّمِنَ ٱلظَّٰلِمِينَ ٣١ ﴿31
31And I do not say to you that I have the treasures of Allah, nor that I have the knowledge of the unseen, nor do I say that I am an angel. Nor do I say (as you do) about those who are contemptible in your eyes that Allah will never award them any good; Allah knows best what lies in their hearts. (If I were to say so,) then, I would indeed be one of the unjust.”
AI-Assisted Translation: This translation was produced by AI agents carefully trained over several months and thoroughly reviewed. It does NOT replace the scholarship of traditional scholars and is intended as a step in the right direction to make classical tafsir more accessible. There may still be inaccuracies—please report them promptly so we can improve the translation quality.

Commentary

And when their denial of virtue included wealth and knowledge of the unseen, He confirmed them in that, warning them of their error in it by saying that He never said among them anything that would be a cause for it. So He said, adding to His words: "I do not ask you for it any reward"; ﴿And I do not say to you﴾ meaning: at any time of the times ﴿I have the treasures of Allah﴾ meaning the Greatest King, so I bestow upon you from it; (p-276) and when it is possible for Allah to enable whomever He wills from the treasures of sustenance and the like, it is permissible for Him to grant the ownership of that metaphorically, but it is not permissible for Him to enable him to have knowledge of the unseen, which is what is hidden from all of creation, because it is His exclusive right, glorified and exalted is He. He said, adding to: "I say" not to the statement: ﴿And I do not know the unseen﴾ neither truly nor metaphorically, for I know the time of what you are promised or what is in the hearts of the believers regarding what may be imagined of evil. And He informed them that there is no barrier to sending a human by saying: ﴿And I do not say that I am an angel﴾ so that my strength is better than your strength or my creation is of greater worth than your creation and the like of that from the superficial virtue that you have made to be virtue, so the verse is not a proof of the superiority of the angels. And it was previously mentioned in Al-An'am the secret of its omission of "for you".

And when their insinuation of denying kingship from Him was of the nature of belittlement, He followed it with a confirmation of acceptance for whoever believes, whoever he may be, even if they belittle him by saying: ﴿And I do not say to those﴾ meaning: for the sake of those ﴿whom your eyes despise﴾ meaning: you consider him to be lacking in virtue when you look at him and you criticize him ﴿Allah will not grant them﴾ meaning: He who has all perfection ﴿any good﴾. And when it was as if it was said: why do you not say that? He answered with what you can understand: because I know their inner thoughts and I do not judge except by the apparent: ﴿Allah﴾ meaning: the One who encompasses everything ﴿knows﴾ meaning: even more than them ﴿what is in their souls﴾. And it is known that He does not wrong anyone, so whoever has goodness in himself, He rewards him for it. And it is permissible (p-277) that this refers back to ﴿the initial opinion﴾ [Hud: 27] in relation to him ﷺ as was previously mentioned; [Then He justified His refraining from that by saying, confirming their denial of His injustice regarding that estimation]: ﴿Indeed, if I were to say to them that﴾ ﴿I would indeed be among the wrongdoers﴾ meaning: those who are deeply rooted in placing something in the wrong place; and the treasures are the stores of fine goods, [and the treasures of Allah are His decrees because He creates from them what He wills, and in describing them as such there is eloquence]; and the unseen is the departure of something from perception, and among it is the witness in contrast to the absent. And when it is said: knowledge of the unseen, it means: knowledge without teaching; and belittlement is contempt, and it is a form of exaggeration from the act of belittling, I belittled him - if I criticized him, and I belittled him - if you considered him to be lacking; and the angel originally means a messenger.

Explore Other Scholars on This Verse

Compare different scholarly perspectives on Surah Hud verse 31

Al-Biqa'iBurhān ad-Dīn Ibrāhīm al-Biqāʿī
Learn more about Al-Biqa'i
1469 / 6181