Open question Analysis · argument Classical sources

Ṭā-Hā 20:7

By TheQuran.com research team (original site, 2020–21) · last edited 1 Apr 2021

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The verse

وَإِن تَجْهَرْ بِٱلْقَوْلِ فَإِنَّهُۥ يَعْلَمُ ٱلسِّرَّ وَأَخْفَى ٧

And if thou speakest aloud, then lo! He knoweth the secret (thought) and (that which is yet) more hidden. — Marmaduke Pickthall

The meaning of wa-akhfa, translated by Palmer as “and more hidden still”, is confusing. Muslim exegetes offer the following explanations:

Self-talk that a person has not done yet.

Just self-talk.

Plan that is about to be executed.

Hidden things that are placed in the subconscious, i.e., “That which Allah had launched into your heart of that which you did not know”.

Anything that is unknown to man but yet would come to be.

Al-waswasa (the whispered suggestion to one’s mind—possibly by Satan).

Question: Where is the clarity in the text when there are so many possibilities?

Arabic text of this item

يحار المرء في معنى <وَأَخْفَى>. وعندما نعود للتفاسير نجد:

هو حديث النفس مما لم يعمله الإنسان بعدُ.

مجرد حديث النفس.

المخطط المزمع تنفيذه.

خفايا اللاشعور، وبكلمات المفسّر: «ما قذف الله في قلبكِ مما لم تعلَمْه».

المجهول عن علم الإنسان والذي سيتحقق.

الوسوسة.

وهنا نتساءل: أي بيان نجده في القرآن مع هذا العدد من الاحتمالات؟