Tafseer of The Repentance · At-Tawba · 9:78
Did they not know that Allah knows their secrets and their private conversations and that Allah is the Knower of the unseen?
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 His word: أَلَمْ يَعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ سِرَّهُمْ وَنَجْوَاهُمْ وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ عَلامُ الْغُيُوبِ (78) ("Do they not then know that Allah knows their secret and their secret counsel, and that Allah is the Knower of the unseen?") (78)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: Do these hypocrites (munāfiqūn), who secretly disbelieve in Allah and His Messenger while openly professing faith therein before the believers, not then know that Allah knows their secret — that which they conceal within themselves, namely their disbelief (kufr) in Him and in His Messenger — and their secret counsel (najwā). He says: "and their secret counsel," when they whisper among themselves in private deliberation to belittle Islam and its adherents and to mention them in a manner that does not befit them. Let them then be on their guard against the punishment of Allah, that He may send it down upon them, and against His retributive power, that He may strike them with it, on account of their disbelief in Allah and in His Messenger and their slander against Islam and its adherents — so that they may desist from that and repent of it. And that Allah is the Knower of the unseen (ʿallām al-ghuyūb). He says: Do they not then know that Allah knows all that is hidden from the hearing, the sight, and the senses of His creatures, namely what their souls conceal so that it does not become visible upon their outward limbs — so that this restrains them from deceiving His protected ones with hypocrisy (nifāq) and lying, and holds them back from concealing other than what they display, and from displaying the opposite of what they harbor in their conviction? (53)
