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Allahu a'alam (God Knows Best): Difference between revisions
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The phrase, though originating in Islamic discourse, has become very common in all registers of Arabic. It used by people of all religious persuasions to indicate that a particular question has no answer which is known to the speaker. An example outside of a religious context might be a scientist speaking about what happened before the big bang in modern cosmology--modern mathematical models take us to the very earliest microseconds before the explosion of the singularity, however they cannot tell us anything about where the singularity came from or what it was doing, if anything, before the explosion; as most modern cosmological models also explain that time itself began with the big bang, the question of "what was before the big bang" lacks meaning as it would normally be understood. As such, when asked about such a thing which is basically unknowable to modern science, an Arabic speaking cosmologist might answer "allahu 'alam" "God (only) knows" id est I don't know, an admission of lack of knowledge. | The phrase, though originating in Islamic discourse, has become very common in all registers of Arabic. It used by people of all religious persuasions to indicate that a particular question has no answer which is known to the speaker. An example outside of a religious context might be a scientist speaking about what happened before the big bang in modern cosmology--modern mathematical models take us to the very earliest microseconds before the explosion of the singularity, however they cannot tell us anything about where the singularity came from or what it was doing, if anything, before the explosion; as most modern cosmological models also explain that time itself began with the big bang, the question of "what was before the big bang" lacks meaning as it would normally be understood. As such, when asked about such a thing which is basically unknowable to modern science, an Arabic speaking cosmologist might answer "allahu 'alam" "God (only) knows" id est I don't know, an admission of lack of knowledge. | ||
==In the Qur'an== | ==Uses In the Qur'an== | ||
The Qur'an uses Allahu A'alam | The Qur'an uses Allahu A'alam frequently. It is often used as "'''wa-'''Allahu A'alam" meaning "'''and''' Allah knows best." "wa" literally means "and" in Arabic but its use is considerably wider and carries more shades of meaning than in English. | ||
===Allah knows things=== | ===Allah knows things=== | ||