The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page 99
PT. 1 AL-BAQARAH CH. 2 يَادَمُ 34. He said, 'O Adam, tell themÍ MSU JE their names;' and when he had فَلَمَّا أَنْبَاهُمْ بِأَسْمَا بِهِمْ قَالَ أَلَمُ told them their names, He said أَقُل لَّكُمْ اِنّى اَعْلَمُ غَيْبَ السَّمَوتِ Did I not say to you, I know the secrets of the heavens and of وَ الْأَرْضِ وَ اَعْلَمُ مَا تُبْدُونَ the earth, and I know what you وَمَا كُنْتُمْ تَكْتُمُونَ ) reveal and what you conceal?'40 40. Important Words: (you conceal) is derived from meaning, he concealed. They say i. e. he concealed or suppressed كتم الشيء the suppressed his كتم الربوة ;expression the thing. The Arabs use the breath) of a horse who, after running some distance, begins to pant, but having small nostrils, his breath remains, as it were, suppressed or concealed within him (Lane under the act) کتمان So. (عور and of concealing or suppressing) need not be deliberate or the result of a desire or attempt to conceal. It may merely be the result of circumstances or only the outcome of nature without an attempt or desire to that effect. Commentary: When the angels confessed their inability to manifest in themselves all the attributes that Adam could manifest, the latter, in obedience to the Divine will, manifested the different capabilities ingrained in him and showed to the angels the extensiveness of his natural capacities. Thus man proved the necessity of a being who might secure from God the faculty of volition or the power of will by 99 means of which he might voluntarily take to righteousness, (or, for that matter, to sinning) and might thereby reveal to the world the glory and the greatness of God. The words, and I know what you reveal and what you conceal, mean that God knew which divine themselves and which they were attributes the angels manifested in incapable of manifesting. The words, what you conceal, do not mean that the angels had a desire for, or that they made an attempt at concealment; for, as explained under Important Words, the word as (concealing) is also used to denote a state of affairs without there being any attempt or desire on one's part to conceal or suppress anything. The words, what you conceal, therefore, refer to such attributes of God as the angels are unable to reflect in their own being on account of their natural inaptitude. It is a gross error to take the words, what you reveal and what you conceal, as signifying that the angels were not telling the whole truth before God. As already pointed out under 2:31, the conversation between God and angels and Adam, as mentioned in the