Al-Qur'an Surah An-Naml Verse 66

Mufti Taqi Usmani

Rather, their knowledge has failed in respect of the Hereafter. Rather, they are in doubt about it. Rather, they are blind to it.

Dr. Mustafa Khattab, the Clear Quran

No! Their knowledge of the Hereafter amounts to ignorance. In fact, they are in doubt about it. In truth, they are ˹totally˺ blind to it.

Ruwwad Translation Center

In fact, their knowledge cannot comprehend the Hereafter; rather, they are in doubt about it; rather, they are blind to it.

A. J. Arberry

nay, but their knowledge fails as to the Hereafter; nay, they are in doubt of it; nay, they are blind to it.

Abdul Haleem

their knowledge cannot comprehend the Hereafter; they are in doubt about it; they are blind to it.

Abdul Majid Daryabadi

Aye! their knowledge attaineth not to the Hereafter, Aye! they are in doubt thereof. Aye! thereunto they are blind.

Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Still less can their knowledge comprehend the Hereafter; Nay, they are in doubt and uncertainty thereanent; nay, they are blind thereunto!

Abul Ala Maududi

Nay, but they have lost their knowledge of the Hereafter. They are steeped in doubt and uncertainty about it: rather they are blind to it.

Ahmed Ali

Still less do they comprehend the life to come. In fact they are in doubt about it. Still more, they are blind to it."

Ahmed Raza Khan

Has their knowledge advanced so much as to know the Hereafter? On the contrary, they are in doubt concerning it; in fact they are blind towards it.

Ali Quli Qarai

Do they comprehend the knowledge of the Hereafter? No, they are in doubt about it. Indeed, they are blind to it.

Ali Ünal

No, indeed. Their knowledge does not attain to the Hereafter (as they have desired only the worldly life and wasted their faculties of learning in pursuit of worldly knowledge). No, indeed, for (despite being informed about it through Revelation) they remain in doubt about it. No, indeed, for they remain blind to (all the arguments about) it.

Amatul Rahman Omar

Nay, (the fact is) their knowledge about the Hereafter has found its limit. Rather they are in doubt about it (- the life after death). Rather they are totally blind to it (- the existence of God Himself).

English Literal

But their knowledge caught up (with them) in the end (other life) but they are in doubt/suspicion from it, but they are from it blinded/confused.

Faridul Haque

Has their knowledge advanced so much as to know the Hereafter? On the contrary, they are in doubt concerning it; in fact they are blind towards it.

Hamid S. Aziz

Say, "None in the heavens or the earth knows the unseen save only Allah; and they perceive not when they shall be raised!"

Hilali & Khan

Nay, they have no knowledge of the Hereafter. Nay, they are in doubt about it. Nay, they are blind about it.

Maulana Mohammad Ali

Or, Who originates the creation, then reproduces it, and Who gives you sustenance from the heaven and the earth? Is there a god with Allah? Say: Bring your proof, if you are truthful.

Mohammad Habib Shakir

Nay, their knowledge respecting the hereafter is slight and hasty; nay, they are in doubt about it; nay, they are quite blind to it

Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall

Nay, but doth their knowledge reach to the Hereafter? Nay, for they are in doubt concerning it. Nay, for they cannot see it.

Muhammad Sarwar

Their knowledge of the next life is no more than doubts. In fact, they are blind about it.

Qaribullah & Darwish

No, their knowledge fails them as to the Everlasting Life; no, they are in doubt about it, no, they are blind to it.

Safi-ur-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri

Nay, their knowledge will perceive that in the Hereafter. Nay, they are in doubt about it. Nay, they are in complete blindness about it.

Wahiduddin Khan

Indeed, their knowledge of the life to come stops short of the truth: they are [often] in doubt as to its reality: in fact, they are blind to it.

Talal Itani

In fact, their knowledge of the Hereafter is confused. In fact, they are in doubt about it. In fact, they are blind to it.

Tafsir jalalayn

Nay, has their knowledge come to comprise (read adraka, similar to the [4th verbal] form akrama, `he was kind to'; a variant reading has iddraka, which is actually tadraka, with the t' changed into a dl and assimilated with the [other] dl, and a conjunctive hamza added, meaning, `attained' or `caught up with') the Hereafter?, such that they [have reason to] ask about the time of its coming -- not so; Nay, for they are in doubt of it. Rather they are blind to it (`amna, `blind', as in blindness of the heart; this [statement] is rhetorically more powerful than the preceding one; the origin [of the term] is `amiyn, but the damma vowel is deemed too heavy for the y' and has been moved to the mm, after dropping its kasra vowel).

Tafseer Ibn Kathir

بَلِ ادَّارَكَ عِلْمُهُمْ فِي الاْخِرَةِ بَلْ هُمْ فِي شَكٍّ مِّنْهَا

Nay, their knowledge will perceive that in the Hereafter. Nay, they are in doubt about it.

means their knowledge and amazement stops short of knowing its time.

Other scholars read this with the meaning "their knowledge is all the same with regard to that,"

which reflects the meaning of the Hadith in Sahih Muslim which states that the Messenger of Allah said to Jibril, when the latter asked him when the Hour would come;

مَا الْمَسْوُولُ عَنْهَا بِأَعْلَمَ مِنَ السَّايِل

The one who is being asked about it does not know any more than the one who is asking.

In other words, they were both equal in the fact that their knowledge did not extend that far.

...
بَلْ هُم مِّنْهَا عَمِونَ

Nay, they are in doubt about it.

This refers to the disbelievers in general as Allah says elsewhere;

وَعُرِضُواْ عَلَى رَبِّكَ صَفَا لَّقَدْ جِيْتُمُونَا كَمَا خَلَقْنَـكُمْ أَوَّلَ مَرَّةٍ بَلْ زَعَمْتُمْ أَلَّن نَّجْعَلَ لَكُمْ مَّوْعِدًا

And they will be set before your Lord in rows, (and Allah will say;) "Now indeed, you have come to Us as We created you the first time. Nay, but you thought that We had appointed no meeting for you (with Us)." (18;48)

i.e., the disbelievers among you.

By the same token, Allah says here;
بَلْ هُمْ فِي شَكٍّ مِّنْهَا
(Nay, they are in doubt about it).

meaning, they doubt that it will come to pass.

...
بَلْ هُم مِّنْهَا عَمِونَ

Nay, they are in complete blindness about it.

They are blind and completely ignorant about it