Tafseer of The Inner Apartments · Al-Hujuraat · 49:18
Indeed, Allah knows the unseen [aspects] of the heavens and the earth. And Allah is Seeing of what you do.
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: إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ غَيْبَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ وَاللَّهُ بَصِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ (18) (Indeed, Allah knows the unseen of the heavens and the earth, and Allah is All-Seeing of what you do (18)).
The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: indeed, for Allah, O bedouins, the truthful one among you is not hidden from the liar, nor who among you has entered the religious community of Islam out of desire for it, and who has entered it out of fear of Our Messenger Muḥammad ﷺ and his army. So do not instruct Us about your religion and the hidden things of your innermost selves, for indeed Allah knows what the hidden things of your innermost selves enclose and what you speak to yourselves; and He knows what withdraws itself from you and lies hidden in the recesses of the heavens and the earth — nothing of that remains concealed from Him. ( وَاللَّهُ بَصِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ ) (and Allah is All-Seeing of what you do), He says: and Allah possesses sight of your deeds which you perform — do you perform them openly or in secret, do you perform obedience or disobedience? — and He will requite you for all of that: if good, then with good, and if evil, then with evil and the like of it.
And ( أَنْ ) in His saying ( يَمُنُّونَ عَلَيْكَ أَنْ أَسْلَمُوا ) (they regard it as a favor to you that they have accepted Islam) stands in the accusative position because the verb yamunnūna acts upon it. It has been mentioned that in the reading of ʿAbd Allāh [ibn Masʿūd] this reads ( يَمُنُّونَ عَلَيْكَ إِسْلامَهُمْ ) (they regard their acceptance of Islam as a favor to you), and that is an indication of the correctness of what we have said. And if it were said: it stands in the accusative with the meaning "they regard it as a favor to you because they have accepted Islam," then that would be a defensible view. And some of the grammarians said: it stands in the genitive position, with the meaning "because they have accepted Islam."
And as for the ( أَنْ ) in His saying ( بَلِ اللَّهُ يَمُنُّ عَلَيْكُمْ أَنْ هَدَاكُمْ ) (rather, Allah bestows a favor upon you in that He has guided you), it stands in the accusative position through the omission of the connecting particle, for the meaning of the word is: rather, Allah bestows a favor upon you in that (bi-an) He has guided you to faith.
End of the tafsīr of Sūrat al-Ḥujurāt.
