Verses 26-28 of Surah Al-Jinn often misinterpreted

"(He is) the Knower of the Unseen, and He revealeth unto none His secret, (72:26)

Save unto every messenger whom He hath chosen, and then He maketh a guard to go before him and a guard behind him (72:27)

That He may know that they have indeed conveyed the messages of their Lord." (72:28)


Even though the Glorious Quran has flatly refuted it, plenty of Hadith narrations imply that the Prophet (SAAW) knew the events of the future.

Someone I know, recently picked the above Verses 27-28 of Surah Al-Jinn to have yet another go for justifying those fabricated Hadith narrations portraying the Prophet as a 'fortune teller.' I have studied these Verses several times before and have always found them very clear and precise. Uptil now, it never struck me how anyone could misunderstand them.

In V. 72:26 when Allah says that only He is the Knower of the unseen and He does not reveal his secrets to anyone, is easy to follow. The "unseen" here includes everything unknown to us, including the future and all other things in the vast expanse of the universe. Then, in the following verses 27 and 28 where Verse 27 starts with "save unto every messenger he hath chosen" onward, is a reference to the Divine Revelations sent by Allah to every Prophet. It's important to know that a Revelation coming to a chosen slave of Allah (a Prophet) from the Divine Power is itself a thing of the unseen. Also, the task of all Prophets was to deliver the Message of Allah to humankind, which made every Divine Revelation a huge responsibility on each Prophet it was revealed to. When Allah says that He makes "a guard to go before him and a guard behind him" refers to the recording angels watching over the Prophets, in my opinion, so that they can be witnesses to the fact that every Prophet delivered Allah's Message to humanity. It further underscores the importance of the task entrusted to all Prophets.

To elaborate a little more, when Prophet Muhammad (SAAW) received the first Revelation, try to imagine the situation and how the Prophet (SAAW) must have felt. The Angel Gabriel (a slave and servant of Allah, always ready to carry out His Orders) standing before the Prophet across the horizon (only for the eyes of the Prophet) by the command of Allah Almighty, and a voice telling the Prophet to "read." Although the Prophet had no formal education and knew nothing about reading, yet after a while he began to recite a set of most eloquent Words (consisting of the first 5 verses of Surah Al-Alaq, 96th chapter of the Glorious Quran). The words came to him easily and smoothly because God Almighty was watching over him and made it happen. This itself was one of the most tremendous manifestations of the unseen. Similarly, the Divine Revelation sent to every Prophet was a sign of the unseen. After all, Divine Revelations are not sent to ordinary people. They are only sent to those whom Allah choses as special ones on the basis of their merits.

To sum it up:
- Verse 72:26 refers to the unknown, which include future events, all contents of the entire universe, Paradise and Hellfire.
- Verses 72:27-28 refer to the Divine Revelations of Allah, an aspect of the unseen sent upon His chosen slaves, the Prophets.

Therefore, the only unseen factor the Prophets knew of was the Divine Revelations sent to them as expressed in Verses 27 and 28 of the above verses.

It must be known that Verses 72:27-28 by NO means justify NOR refer to the fortune telling falsely attributed to the Prophet (SAAW) in so many Hadith narrations. No Prophet was a 'fortune teller' nor did they know the future. That's for sure. Plenty of Quranic verses can be quoted to confirm it.

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