(1) Shaykh al-Shinqiti, may Allah have mercy on him, comments on the verse: “Yawma yajmaʿu Allahu ar-rusula fa-yaqūlu mādhā ujibtum qālū lā ʿilma lanā innaka anta ʿallāmu l-ghuyūb” (al-Maʾida, 109) — “The Day when Allah shall gather the messengers and say, ‘How were you answered?’ They will reply, ‘We have no knowledge; You alone are the Knower of the unseen.’ ” At first sight, the verse seems to imply that the messengers will not testify for or against their peoples on the Day of Resurrection. Yet other passages affirm that they will indeed bear witness, e.g. “Fakayfa idhā jiʾnā min kulli ummatin bi-shahīd wa jiʾnā bika ʿalā hāʾulāʾ shahīdā” (an-Nisāʾ, 41) and “Wa-yawma nabʿathu fī kulli ummatin shahīdan ʿalayhim min anfusihim wa jiʾnā bika shahīdan ʿalā hāʾulāʾ” (an-Naḥl, 89). Three answers have been offered: 1. Preferred by Ibn Jarīr and judged “excellent” by Ibn Kathīr: the sentence “We have no knowledge” means “We possess no knowledge in comparison with Your all-embracing knowledge.” The messengers know only outward responses; they have no access to people’s inner secrets, whereas Allah knows the hidden thoughts. Relative to His knowledge, theirs is as nothing. 2. Reported from Mujāhid, al-Suddi and al-Ḥasan al-Baṣri: the messengers speak thus because the terror of the Day overwhelms them; once that shock subsides they will testify against their nations. 3. The weakest view: “How were you answered?” means “What did your people do after you? What innovations did they introduce?” The messengers reply, “We have no knowledge.” Ibn Kathīr cites this opinion but notes that it is remote from the Qurʾanic context. See: Dafʿ Iyhām al-Idtirāb, 1/79-80.