Tafsir of Luqman 31:34

It is narrated: A man from the tribe of Muharib, al-Harith ibn ‘Amr ibn Harithah, came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said: "O Messenger of Allah, tell me about the Hour: when will it rise? I have sown my seeds in the earth, and the rain has been withheld from us; when will it rain? Tell me about my wife, for she is pregnant; will she bear a male or a female? I know what I did yesterday, but what will I do tomorrow? I know where I was born, but where will I die?"

Thereupon, this verse was revealed. The Prophet (ﷺ) said: "The keys of the Unseen are five," and he recited this verse.

Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: "Whoever claims to know these five has lied. Beware of soothsaying, for soothsaying leads to polytheism, and polytheism and its people are in the Fire."

It is narrated that al-Mansur was anxious about the length of his life. He saw in a dream a phantom that extended its hand from the sea and gestured with five fingers. He asked the scholars about it, and they interpreted it as five years, or five months, or other things. Finally, Abu Hanifah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "The interpretation is that the keys of the Unseen are five, which none knows but Allah, and that what you sought to know is beyond your reach."

{With Him is the knowledge of the Hour}—when it will be anchored.

{And He sends down the rain}—at its appointed time, without delay or haste, and in the specific land He intends, not exceeding it.

{And He knows what is in the wombs}—whether it is male or female, complete or incomplete, and all other conditions.

{And no soul knows}—whether righteous or wicked—{what it will earn tomorrow}—of good or evil. A person may intend good but do evil, or intend evil but do good.

{And no soul knows}—in what land it will die. A person may settle in a land, drive in their stakes, and say, "I will never leave this place; I will be buried here." Yet, the decrees of fate cast them away until they die in a place that never crossed their mind and which their thoughts never entertained.

It is narrated that the Angel of Death passed by Solomon and kept staring at one of his companions. The man asked, "Who is this?" Solomon replied, "The Angel of Death." The man said, "It is as if he wants me." He asked Solomon to carry him on the wind and cast him into the land of India, and he did so. Then the Angel of Death said to Solomon, "My constant staring at him was out of astonishment, for I was commanded to take his soul in India, yet he was with you."

Allah uses the term "knowledge" (‘ilm) for Himself and "discernment" (dirayah) for the servant, because dirayah implies a sense of trickery and artifice. The meaning is that a soul cannot know—even if it employs all its tricks—what is uniquely attached to it and pertains specifically to it. If a person has no way to know their own earnings and their own end, they are even further from knowing anything else.

It is read: bi-ayyati ardin (in which land). Sibawayh compared the feminization of ay (which) to the feminization of kull (all) in the expression: kullatuhunna (all of them [feminine]).

From the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ): "Whoever recites Surah Luqman, Luqman will be his companion on the Day of Resurrection, and he will be given ten good deeds for every person who enjoined good and forbade evil."