Allah knows, you do not know
يَعْلَمُ وَأَنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ
yaʿlamu wa-antum lā taʿlamūn — And Allah knows, while you do not know.
In (2:216) the single verse closes a series of paired judgments about what is good and bad for the addressees by opposing two verbs of the same root: Allah's knowing against the addressees' not-knowing, grounding the preceding 'it may be' statements in a difference of knowledge between the parties.
The expression sits at the end of (2:216), after two parallel 'it may be' clauses: 'it may be that you dislike a thing, and it is good for you; and it may be that you love a thing, and it is bad for you.' The closing clause, 'And Allah knows, while you do not know,' names the asymmetry that makes those reversals possible: the addressees' assessments of good and bad can be wrong, while Allah's knowing is stated without qualification. The mirror is built from one root, ع ل م, used twice in the same verse: يَعْلَمُ, an imperfect third masculine singular, and تَعْلَمُونَ, an imperfect second masculine plural, negated by لَا. The contrast is carried by the pronouns as much as by the verbs: وَأَنتُمْ ('while you') sets the second verb directly against the first, and the negation falls only on the addressees' side. The word data shows both verbs in the same form (V imperfect), so the difference between the two occurrences is person and number, not verb form or tense. Structurally, the clause functions as the warrant for the verse's opening statement that fighting, though disliked by the addressees, has been prescribed upon them: the addressees' liking and disliking, expressed in the preceding clauses, is not a reliable guide to what is good or bad for them, and the verse's final words state why.
Where it occurs
- 2:216 Closes the verse by opposing Allah's knowing to the addressees' not-knowing, after clauses in which their liking and disliking diverge from what is good and bad for them.
All Qur'anic expressions