Tafseer of The Pilgrimage · Al-Hajj · 22:70
Do you not know that Allah knows what is in the heaven and earth? Indeed, that is in a Record. Indeed that, for Allah, is easy.
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.
He — exalted be His praise — says: Did you not know, O Muḥammad, that Allah knows all that is in the seven heavens and the seven earths? Nothing of that is hidden from Him. He is the Judge between His creatures on the Day of Resurrection, on the basis of His knowledge of all that they did in the world, and He will recompense the doer of good among them for his good and the doer of evil for his evil. إِنَّ ذَلِكَ فِي كِتَابٍ — He — exalted be His praise — says: His knowledge thereof is recorded in a book, namely the Mother of the Scriptures (umm al-kitāb), in which our Lord — glory be to His praise — wrote down, before the creation of His creatures, what will be until the Day of Resurrection. إِنَّ ذَلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ يَسِيرٌ .
As al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Maysar ibn Ismāʿīl al-Ḥalabī related to us, on the authority of al-Awzāʿī, on the authority of ʿAbda ibn Abī Lubāba, who said: Allah knew what He would create and what the creatures would do, then He wrote it down, and thereafter He said to His Prophet: أَلَمْ تَعْلَمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ مَا فِي السَّمَاءِ وَالأرْضِ إِنَّ ذَلِكَ فِي كِتَابٍ إِنَّ ذَلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ يَسِيرٌ .
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Maysar related to me, on the authority of Arṭāʾa ibn al-Mundhir, who said: I heard Ḍamra ibn Ḥabīb saying: Allah was upon His Throne above the water, and He created the heavens and the earth in truth, and He created the Pen, and with it He wrote down what would be of His creation. Then that book praised and glorified Allah for a thousand years, before He began with any part of the creation.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Muʿtamir ibn Sulaymān related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Sayyār, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, that he asked Kaʿb al-Aḥbār about the Mother of the Scriptures, whereupon he said: Allah knew what He would create and what His creatures would do, and He said to His knowledge: "Be a book."
Ibn Jurayj used to say concerning the words إِنَّ ذَلِكَ فِي كِتَابٍ : that it refers to His words: اللَّهُ يَحْكُمُ بَيْنَكُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ فِيمَا كُنْتُمْ فِيهِ تَخْتَلِفُونَ .
We have chosen the opinion that we have stated, because the sentence إِنَّ ذَلِكَ up to and including أَلَمْ تَعْلَمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ مَا فِي السَّمَاءِ وَالأرْضِ stands closer in the text than اللَّهُ يَحْكُمُ بَيْنَكُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ فِيمَا كُنْتُمْ فِيهِ تَخْتَلِفُونَ , and it is more fitting to relate it to what stands nearer to it than to what stands farther away.
As for His words إِنَّ ذَلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ يَسِيرٌ : concerning this there is disagreement. Some say: the meaning is that the judging between the people who differed in the world, on the Day of Resurrection, is easy for Allah.
Mention of those who said that: Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj: إِنَّ ذَلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ يَسِيرٌ — he said: His judgment on the Day of Resurrection. Then he placed in between it: أَلَمْ تَعْلَمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ مَا فِي السَّمَاءِ وَالأرْضِ إِنَّ ذَلِكَ فِي كِتَابٍ .
Others say: the meaning is that the recording by the Pen — which Allah commanded it to write down in the Preserved Tablet (al-Lawḥ al-Maḥfūẓ) of what would be — is easy for Allah, that is to say: simple. This second opinion is preferable for the explanation of this, because the sentence إِنَّ ذَلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ يَسِيرٌ is near to and adjacent to إِنَّ ذَلِكَ فِي كِتَابٍ , while it stands far from اللَّهُ يَحْكُمُ بَيْنَكُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ in that أَلَمْ تَعْلَمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ مَا فِي السَّمَاءِ وَالأرْضِ is situated between them. Therefore it is more fitting to connect it to what stands closest, so long as that possibility exists, and in that way the explanation is also correct in content.
