Has he knowledge of the Unknown that he perceives everything?
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Tafseer
'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : (hath he knowledge of the unseen) the guarded tablet (so that he seeth) his doing in it that it is indeed as he did? this verse was revealed about 'uthman ibn 'affan who was of the habit of spending a great deal on, and gives alms to, the companions of the prophet (pbuh) but then he met 'abdullah ibn sa'd ibn abi sarh. the latter said to him: "i see that you spend a great deal on these, and i fear that you may be left with nothing". 'uthman said to him: "i have faults and sins which i want to expiate and i also want to obtain allah's good pleasure". 'abdullah said: "give me the halter of your camel and i will bear your sins and faults in this life and in the hereafter". as a result, he gave him the halter of his camel and confided himself to spending on him. it is because of this that this verse was revealed.
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : does he possess knowledge of the unseen so that he sees?, [and therefore] from among such [knowledge] he is able to know that another person may bear the chastisement of the hereafter for him? no! this was al-walīd b. al-mughīra, or someone else (the sentence beginning with a-‘indahu, ‘does he possess’, is the second object of the a-ra’ayta, ‘have you seen’, which has the significance of ‘inform me!’).
