The Quran

Preface

وَما تَكونُ في شَأنٍ وَما تَتلو مِنهُ مِن قُرآنٍ وَلا تَعمَلونَ مِن عَمَلٍ إِلّا كُنّا عَلَيكُم شُهودًا إِذ تُفيضونَ فيهِ ۚ وَما يَعزُبُ عَن رَبِّكَ مِن مِثقالِ ذَرَّةٍ فِي الأَرضِ وَلا فِي السَّماءِ وَلا أَصغَرَ مِن ذٰلِكَ وَلا أَكبَرَ إِلّا في كِتابٍ مُبينٍ

Yusuf Ali

In whatever business thou mayest be, and whatever portion thou mayest be reciting from the Qur-ān,- and whatever deed ye (mankind) may be doing,- We are witnesses thereof when ye are deeply engrossed therein. Nor is hidden from thy Lord (so much as) the weight of an atom on the earth or in heaven. And not the least and not the greatest of these things but are recorded in a clear Record.¹

There is nothing that men can do but God is a witness to it. We may be deeply engrossed in some particular thing and for the time being be quite unconscious of other things. But God’s knowledge not only comprehends all things, but has all things actively before it. Nothing is hidden from Him. And His knowledge has another quality which human knowledge has not. Human knowledge is subject to time, and is obliterated by time. God’s knowledge is like a Record and endures forever. And His Record has a further quality which human records have not. The most permanent human record may be quite intelligible to those who make it but may be ambiguous to others and may become unintelligible with the progress of time, as happens almost invariably to the most enduring inscriptions from very ancient times: but in God’s “Record” or knowledge there is no ambiguity, for it is independent of time, or place, or circumstance. This is the force of Mubin (“clear”) here.