Advanced search
Visit
16915
Last Updated: 2014/06/23
Summary of question
Can Satan and angels know our thoughts or only Allah knows them?
question
Can Satan and angels know our thoughts or only Allah knows them?
Concise answer
Knowledge of the unseen is prerogative of God. None other than God has knowledge of the unseen independently of God. However, every existent that has been allowed by God to have knowledge of the unseen can read our mind and can see the unseen. In other words, only God has knowledge of the unseen. Whenever He wants and deems appropriate, He opens the gate of the unseen to prophets and angels and whenever He desires, He closes the gate of the unseen to them and forbids them from knowing the unseen.[i]
Most surely, some guarding angels are aware of some of our thoughts[ii], though according to some narrations, some of our thoughts remain hidden to them and only God knows them. Imam Ali (A.S) in his Dua' Kumayl (Kumayl Supplication) says:
«... وَ جَعَلْتَهُمْ شُهُوداً عَلَیَّ مَعَ جَوَارِحِی وَ کُنْتَ أَنْتَ الرَّقِیبَ عَلَیَّ مِنْ وَرَائِهِمْ وَ الشَّاهِدَ لِمَا خَفِیَ عَنْهُم‏...»[iii]
"…Thou hast ordered the two noble scribes to confirm whom Thou hast appointed to record all my actions and to be witnesses over me along with the limbs of my body, whilst Thou observeth over me besides them and wast witness to those acts concealed from them…"
According to the holy verse which says "And (there is) a safeguard against every rebellious Shaitan",[iv] the Satan climbed up, due to their satanic trait, to hear the angels and when they came down to earth, they claimed that they had knowledge of the unseen. That is why, the Lord saved the heavens from the evil of satans and whenever they want to climb up, they are repelled with piercing flames.[v]
 

[i] Najafi, Khomeini, Muhammad Jawad, Tafsir Asaan, vol.4, p. 386, Tehran, Islamiyah, first edition, 1398 A.H.
[ii] Man does not utter a word unless there is an angel guarding and ready to fulfill its mission (i.e. record) at the same instant.  Q, 18.
[iii] Tusi, Muhammad bin al-Hasan, Mesbah al-Mujtahid wa Selah al-Muta'abbed, vol.2, p. 849, Beirut, Fiqh al-Shi'ah Institute, first edition, 1411 A.H.
[iv] Saffaat, 7.
[v] Saffaat, 10.  Except such as snatch away something by stealth, and they are pursued by a flaming fire, of piercing brightness.
Question translations in other languages
Comments
Number of comments 0
Please enter the value
Example : Yourname@YourDomane.ext
Please enter the value
Please enter the value

Thematic Category

Random questions

  • Is it true that some Muslim Gnostics can fly or levitate?
    12266 Practical 2007/02/08
    That which you have mentioned is an effect and result of Man’s spiritual strength, sometimes this may come about by acting in accordance with religious laws and legitimate ascetic discipline. This means that; by moving closer to Allah, Man can possess the greatest name ...
  • What are the distinct criteria through which we can distinguish a lafdhi mutawatir report from an ijmali or ma\'anawi one?
    9619 Contextual study 2014/09/28
    Mutawatir literally means for things to come one after another, without any interval between them and in hadithic terms, refers to a hadith that has been narrated by a group of narrators that one can be definite haven’t all agreed on forging and lying about altogether. Any ...
  • What are the features and privileges of Behar al-Anwar?
    6998 Contextual study 2015/05/03
    Behar al-Anwa being a huge hadith collection is the most important work by Allamah Muhammad Baqir Majlisi. It is a big encyclopedia of Shiite traditions encompassing all religious issues and themes including exegesis of the Quran, history, jurisprudence, theology etc. Some of the most important features of ...
  • Please explain the principles of Sheikh Toosi's political thought.
    8594 Laws and Jurisprudence 2010/12/21
     With the emergence of every era new needs and questions are generated which cause scientists and scholars to think and contemplate and strive to find appropriate answers to, and Sheikh Toosi is one the great scholars who has carried such a burden. The fundamentals of ...
  • Are there any women who reached the rank of ijtihad in religious seminaries?
    9574 تاريخ بزرگان 2007/11/04
    A worthy interaction of Islam with science, and requiring that from every Muslim man and woman, has resulted in women always studying the sciences in Islamic communities and finally some of them reached the rank of ijtihad.As an example, lady Mujtahideh Amin who passed away in 1403h. Lady Mujtahideh ...
  • Who were the Ansar?
    9406 تاريخ بزرگان 2010/04/07
    Ansar is the plural form of Naser from the root of Nasr, and means people who help and aid. In the advent of Islam, the residents of Medinah and its outskirts, especially the members of the two tribes of the Aws and Khazraj were called the Ansar, because ...
  • What is the relationship between man’s efforts and the sustenance that has been measured out for him?
    12817 Traditional 2011/08/15
    There are two kinds of sustenance. There is a sustenance that we go after and a sustenance that comes after us. In the traditions, the sustenance that comes after us is called “the sustenance that seeks,” and the sustenance that we seek has been named “the sought ...
  • What is the proof for Prophet Adam and Nuh (pbuh) being buried in Najaf?
    23457 تاريخ بزرگان 2010/07/20
    The main reasoning that proves the burial of Prophet Adam and Nuh (pbuh) in Najaf are the many hadith that disclose this fact. ...
  • Is it permissible to evade government tax in non-Islamic countries?
    7801 Laws and Jurisprudence 2011/01/10
    The answer given by Ayatollah Mahdi Hadavi Tehrani is as follows:1. You must abide by the rules of the country in which you are living except for when the rules may be opposed to Islamic Shari'ah.
  • I wish to know what the seven paradises are. Can you explain them for me?
    47501 Traditional 2012/04/07
    Dar al-Salam (Abode of Peace), Dar al-Jalal (Abode of Glory), Jannatul Mava (Garden of Refuge), Jannatul Khuld (Garden of Eternity), Jannatul Adan (Garden of Eden), Jannatul Firdous (Garden of Paradise) and Jannatul Naeem (Garden of Bliss) (or Delight) are names for the seven paradises which have been ...

Popular