الآية رقم (59) - وَعِندَهُ مَفَاتِحُ الْغَيْبِ لاَ يَعْلَمُهَا إِلاَّ هُوَ وَيَعْلَمُ مَا فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ وَمَا تَسْقُطُ مِن وَرَقَةٍ إِلاَّ يَعْلَمُهَا وَلاَ حَبَّةٍ فِي ظُلُمَاتِ الأَرْضِ وَلاَ رَطْبٍ وَلاَ يَابِسٍ إِلاَّ فِي كِتَابٍ مُّبِينٍ

(59) - (And with Him are the keys of the unseen; none knows them except Him. And He knows what is on the land and in the sea. Not a leaf falls but that He knows it. And no grain is there within the darknesses of the earth and no moist or dry [thing] but that it is [written] in a clear record.)

(… مَفَاتِحُ… ) (…the keys ): Let us pause and ponder upon the word Mafatih (the keys). Observe the precision of the Holy Quran and its greatness, for:

 وَلَوْ كَانَ مِنْ عِندِ غَيْرِ اللّهِ لَوَجَدُواْ فِيهِ اخْتِلاَفًا كَثِيرًا

(Had it been from anyone other than Allah, they would have certainly found in it many inconsistencies) (An-Nissa: 82)

If a human being had authored the Quran, it would never have occurred to him to use the word this way, i.e., Mafatih, but would have instead said: Mafateeh. However, since it is the Speech of the Divine, He uses a word which contains many meanings, which will never have crossed a human being’s mind. 

What then, is the difference between Mafatih and Mafateeh?

The word Mafateeh is the plural for Miftaah, which means ‘keys’.

Whereas the word Mafatih can be the plural for two words, Miftah and Maftah, that is He (swt) owns both the keys and the treasuries, and not only the keys.

(… الْغَيْبِ… ) (…the unseen ): The unseen is what is hidden from you and no one else knows of it. Whereas the (treasuries) refer to the place which is used for storing something – such as money- for safe-keeping, for it to be brought out when the time comes. The unseen can be of three types:

 

1) Something that hidden from you but is known to others. This is not part of the unseen at all. For example: Someone stole your bag of money, so you do not know where the bag is located, but he knows. So, this is of the unseen with respect to you only.

2) Premises that from them, conclusions are drawn. Before obtaining these conclusions, they are of the unseen. For example, gravity exists, but it was of the unseen before it was discovered. However, it is not completely of the unseen, as there are premises which point to it, such as what Newton witnessed of the piece of paper falling to the ground. Based on these premises, he arrived at conclusions and formed his theory.

3) The completely unseen, which is not known except by Allah (swt). This type of unseen does not have premises which point to it, nor can they be known in any way by other than Him. This is the type of unseen that Allah (swt) refers to in this verse.

In conclusion, the treasuries of the unseen matters and their keys are with Allah (swt).

(… وَيَعْلَمُ مَا فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ… ) (…And He knows what is on the land and in the sea.): Why is the land mentioned before the sea?

The answer: This is because, there are some countries which do not have seas, nor do they border any seas. Additionally, the sea kingdom is more hidden than the land kingdom, while the land kingdom consists of the non-living things, the plants, the trees, the animals, the human beings, the countries and the roads.

(… وَمَا تَسْقُطُ مِن وَرَقَةٍ إِلَّا يَعْلَمُهَا… ) (…Not a leaf falls but that He knows it. ): We should pause to ponder upon this great Quranic expression.  Allah (swt) knows everything, up to the falling of the leaves from the trees. After the leaves play their part in chlorophyllin representation, nourish the tree and ripen the fruits, they will fall from the tree due to gravity. And Allah (swt) fully knows the environment circling these leaves, their falling and the movement of the winds which move them. It is not possible for any other power, except Allah (swt), to have full encompassing knowledge of every single leaf which falls, and the data surrounding it.

(… وَلَا حَبَّةٍ فِي ظُلُمَاتِ الْأَرْضِ… ) (…And no grain is there within the darknesses of the earth ): Allah (swt)  is He, knows of every single seed that is planted in the earth and hidden in its darkness. He knows how it grows and the stages it goes through. No one can know of this except Allah (swt).

(… وَلَا رَطْبٍ وَلَا يَابِسٍ إِلَّا فِي كِتَابٍ مُّبِينٍ) (and no moist or dry [thing] but that it is [written] in a clear record ): The plants which are described as (moist) are those which contain water, whereas the (dry) are those which do not.

In summary, Allah (swt) has the keys to the unseen dominion. He knows every single movement, does not get confused between all the sounds, and knows everything – be it small or big – in this universe, which all happen at the exact same time and moment.