Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:77
But do they not know that Allah knows what they conceal and what they declare?
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: أَوَلا يَعْلَمُونَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ مَا يُسِرُّونَ وَمَا يُعْلِنُونَ (77)
(Do they then not know that Allah knows what they conceal and what they make public?)
Abū Jaʿfar said: By His saying — exalted be His praise — Do they then not know that Allah knows what they conceal and what they make public, He means: Do these people not know — those of the Jews who reproach their brethren of their own religious community for saying, when they meet those who believe, "We believe," and who reproach them for informing the believers of what is in their books concerning the description of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his mission, and who say to them: Do you tell them what Allah has revealed to you, so that they may use it to argue against you before your Lord? — do they not know that Allah knows what they conceal, namely that which they keep hidden from the believers in their seclusion = of their unbelief (kufr), and of their mutual reproaches concerning the fact that, before the Messenger and the believers, they made public what they made public in acknowledging Muḥammad ﷺ, and concerning their saying to them, "We believe," and concerning the fact that they forbade one another to inform the believers of what Allah had revealed for the believers against them, and of what He had in their books decreed in the believers' favor against them, regarding the truthfulness of the prophethood of Muḥammad ﷺ, his description, and his mission = and what they make public, namely that which they make public to Muḥammad ﷺ and to his companions who believe in him when they meet them, namely their saying to them, "We believe in Muḥammad ﷺ and in what he has brought," out of hypocrisy (nifāq) and out of deceit toward Allah, toward His Messenger, and toward the believers? As [in the following]:
1350 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: Do they then not know that Allah knows what they conceal of their unbelief (kufr) and their denial of Muḥammad ﷺ, when they turn to one another in seclusion, and what they make public, when they meet the companions of Muḥammad ﷺ and say, "We believe," in order thereby to please them.
1351 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ādam related to us, saying: Abū Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya: Do they then not know that Allah knows what they conceal and what they make public, that is to say: what they kept hidden of their unbelief (kufr) in Muḥammad ﷺ and their denial of him, while they found him [indeed] recorded with them, and what they make public, that is to say: what they made public when they said to the believers, "We believe."
