Page 24 - Quick Grasp of Faith 3

their skins: "Why did you testify against us?" and they
will reply: "Allah gave us speech, as He has given
speech to everything. He created you in the first place,
and you will be returned to Him. You did not think to
shield yourselves from your hearing, sight, and skin
testifying against you, and you thought that Allah
would never know much of what you did." (Surah
Fussilat, 19-22)

11. What does the "Unseen" mean?
The "Unseen" is that of which we can have no knowl-
edge, sight, or hearing unless Allah reveals part of this
knowledge to us, for only He knows the Unseen. Only Allah
is Transcendent, free from the limitations of time and space,
and so only He has full knowledge of the past, the present,
and the future. As the verse "Though you speak out loud,
He knows your secrets and what is even more concealed"
(Surah Ta Ha, 7) informs us, He is the One Who possesses
the knowledge of the most concealed things, which we can
never know. He knows what our hearts contain, what peo-
ple conceal in their subconscious, and their most secret
thoughts, which they do not share with anyone. The Qur’an
relates that only Allah knows the Unseen:

The keys of the Unseen are in His possession. No one
knows them but Him. He knows everything in the land
and sea. No leaf falls without His knowing it. There is
no seed in the darkness of the earth, and nothing moist
or dry, which is not in a Clear Book. (Surat al-An`am,
59)

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