superiority of kanz: translation of verse of surah naml, 27:22

[abu Hasan]

the verse of surah naml is translated by all other urdu translators - and the s

فَمَكَثَ غَیۡرَ بَعِیدࣲ فَقَالَ أَحَطتُ بِمَا لَمۡ تُحِطۡ بِهِۦ وَجِئۡتُكَ مِن سَبَإِۭ بِنَبَإࣲ یَقِینٍ

"i have learned about what you are [hitherto] not aware'"

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sayyiduna sulayman alayhi's salam noticed that the hoopoe was not present; and when the bird came back and was questioned, the bird replied that "it had seen something which you have not."

in arabic, aHaTa - is derived from حاط Haata, meaning "'watching, guarding" or حوط HawwaTa meaning enclosed, surrounded.

and from this come words like Haa'iT حائط wall, or iHtiyaaT احتياط meaning caution, carefulness and iHaaTah إحاطة meaning encompassing/encompassed.

and so also aHaaTa أحاط which also means, bring to the notice of someone, inform, be informed et.

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idiomatically it is used to mean: 'knowledge of something' 'aHaTa bihi ilm..."

some urdu translators were a bit restrained, and some others like mahmud hasan didn't bother about being impudent or rude. but they all translated the bird saying: "i know what you don't know" addressing the Prophet sulayman alayhi's salam.

now, even if this is a fact - it could be conveyed in a respectful manner. and ONLY alahazrat does this.

alahazrat translates: "main woh baat dekh aaya hun jo huzur ne na dekhi"
in english:"i have seen such a thing, which [your majesty]* has not seen.."

obviously, it is the literal meaning of the verse. because the hoopoe did not have all-encompassing knowledge of the Throne and every detail, such as: how much did it weigh? how big was it in dimensions? who made it? how many people made it? how long did it take to make such a throne? when was it made? does it have any flaws? etc.

all the hoopoe saw a people in far off land, their queen, their worshipping the sun and that the queen had a huge throne. only an ignoramus or a fool will say that the hoopoe had all-encompassing knowledge of all that it saw. aHaTTu bima lam tuHiT, therefore means "description of what the bird saw".

to further elaborate, just take the throne. the hoopoe only SAW a great throne - and said so on the assumption that sayyiduna sulayman alayhis salam had not seen it. because certainly the hoopoe didn't - rather, COULD NOT - peep into the blessed mind of sayyiduna sulayman alayhi's salam and KNOW with certainty that he had never seen it. after all, he was a nabiy, and how could a small bird KNOW for certain that he did not have knowledge?

unless the bird had received waHy that informed it that sayyiduna sulayman alayhi's salam was not given this knowledge. al-iyadhu billah! or if hazrat sulayman alayhi's salam himself acknowledged that he didn't know - and given the context of the aayah, it was not said before the hoopoe's submission.

as for the people or their queen, their parents, their ancestries, their eating habits, their natures - a million things about the people of Saba - how could the bird claim: "iHaTa" / all-encompassing knowledge?

therefore this was just an expression, meaning it had seen something which ordinarily is not seen.

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imagine the scene: a little bird speaking to a mighty king - who is a Prophet alayhi's salam. how would it address him? the wording of the qur'an is direct and many things are to be understood in context. alahzrat brings this context to fore - so that the reader does not mistake that they can speak to Prophets alayhimu's salam as they would speak to ordinary people.

can a devbandi tell his teacher - "i know something you don't know." even if it is a fact. because it is against adab to say so. but that will be conveyed in an euphemistic manner so as to avoid being rude.

shafi usmani tried to smuggle his wahabi/devbandi aqidah even here, that anbiya do not have ilm ghayb.

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alahazrat's kanz:

 

[abu Hasan]

mahmud hasan devbandi:

"i have brought news of one thing, the news/information of which you did not have"

according to this fellow, an insignificant bird has ilm ghayb of what the nabiy knows and does not know! notice the definite tense. how exactly did the hoopoe KNOW that sayyiduna sulayman alayhi's salam did not know?

those two clowns of bradford who were screeching like monkeys that alahazrat used "tu" may please note the adab of the elders in your house.

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thanavi in bayanu'l qur'an, is far better and respectful compared to the gruff manner of the translator above.

"i have come having learned such a thing, which is not known to you"

even though we have comments on thanawi's other translations, here he is mindful of respect. the phrase 'ma'lum na huwi' has the undertone of "perhaps" and is not definitive as in other translators. similar to alahazrat's "huzuur ne na dekhi" in contrast to "huzuur ne dekha nahin hai" [the latter construct is presented only to illustrate my point].

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rafiq usmani:

"i have brought news of such a thing, which you don't know".


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fatah mohammad jalandhari:

"i have learned about such a thing, which you do not have news about"

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maududi in tafhim:

"i have obtained such knowledge which is not in your knowledge."

this is so stupid. "malumat" could refer to many kinds of knowledge - whereas, the aayat specifies as "one such thing" denoted by bihi and as you can see most translators have acknowledge that.

and the same definiteness. these criminals cry hoarse that belief of anbiyaa alayhimu's salam having ilm al-ghayb is shirk - but a hoopoe has ilm al-ghayb about the extent of the knowledge of sayyiduna sulayman alayhi's salam.

how did the hoopoe know that sulayman alayhi's salam did NOT know? and the tone of definiteness!

this is the difference between superficial knowledge and people who think deeply. and this is what make kanz a hundred notches above superlative.

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taqi usmani:

"i have obtained such knowledge, about which you have no knowledge of.."

oh dear! taqi usmani follows maududi instead of his own teachers. kaash, thanawi ji ki payrawi karletay! or even your own father...

so what about his father shafi usmani? next post. in sha'ALlah.

 

[abu Hasan]

shafi usmani said:

"I have brought news of one thing, about which, you did not have information [earlier]"

and in its commentary he says:

that is the hoopoe, explaining its excuse said: "i know about such a thing, which you don't know". that is, i have brought news of such a thing, which was not in your knowledge earlier.

prophets alayhimu's salam are not knowers of unseen [aalimu'l ghayb]: imam qurtubi has said that: "it is clearly known by this that prophets are not knowers of unseen - by which they have knowledge of everything"​

[the complete text in blue above is shafi usmani's].
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as you can see, he attributed to imam qurtubi that "clearly known" "prophets do not have knowledge of unseen" and explains that "knowledge of everything".

the poor man did not realise, that he was attributing 'knowledge of unseen' to the hoopoe! how did the hoopoe know that sayyiduna sulayman alayhi's salam did not know about the country, its people or about the throne?

this is not a rhetorical question. think about it based on the explanation above and translations, which clearly attribute KNOWLEDGE, and definitive knowledge to the hoopoe! sub'HanAllah - they are willing to believe ilm ghayb for hoopoe to deny ilm ghayb for prophets!

that is one thing. but what did imam qurtubi say?

sixth: that is, i learned about one thing that whcih you do not know"
thus, there is in it refutation of those who say that Prophets have the knowledge of unseen.

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there is no "clearly" [wazih taur par] and nor does he asserts it as his own view. this is a stretch by shafi usmani to push his wahabi agenda. plus imam qurtubi was talking about "ilm al-ghayb" NOT "aalimu'l ghayb" - and going by mufti shafi's explanation, if mentioning 'ilm al'ghayb' with prophets is as if one calls them "aalimu'l ghayb".

to clarify: alahazrat has also said in his fatwa that it is not right to term prophets as "aalimu'l ghayb" as it is a title that befits ONLY Allah ta'ala. of course, they are GIVEN ilm al-ghayb, but you do not describe them as "aalimu'l ghayb".

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this is the verse of surah jinn. 72:27 in which Allah ta'ala says: that He does not inform [from] the unseen to anyone EXCEPT those with whom He is Pleased among His Messengers.

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explaining this imam qurtubi says [translation from second line of the above citation]

{He does not give knowledge of the unseen to anyone, except those with whom He is Pleased among Messengers} thus, He GIVES [makes apparent] knowledge of unseen about whatever He Wishes - because Messengers are aided by prophetic-miracles [mujizah]; and from those [mujizat] is some knowledge of unseen [ba'aD al-ghayibaat] as mentioned in the qur'an: "And I inform you of what you eat and what you store in your homes" [aal imran, 3:49].

ibn jubayr said: "except those with whom He is pleased among Messengers" refers to jibril alayhi's salam. but this is far-fetched.

it is more appropriate that its meaning is: "that is He does not reveal the unseen [lit. His unseen] except those with whom He is pleased; that is, those whom He has chosen for prophethood. for, He informs them about whatever He wills from the unseen, so that it is evidence for his prophethood.​

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Allah knows best.