سورة الزخرف

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Hannan ibn Sadir said: Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) said: Allah has a general knowledge and a special knowledge. As for the special knowledge, it is the knowledge which He has not disclosed to any near angel or sent prophet. As for the general knowledge, it is the knowledge which He has disclosed to the near angels and the sent prophets. All of that knowledge has reached us. Then he said: "Have you not read that He says: وَ عِنْدَهُ عِلْمُ السَّاعَة [And with Him is the knowledge of the hour]?"

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): One of his companions said to him: "O Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him), knowledge of the unseen has been given to you?" The Imam (peace be upon him) laughed and said to that man, who was from the tribe of Banu Kalb: "O brother of Kalb! This information which I convey is not knowledge of the unseen; it is knowledge which I have learned from the possessor of the knowledge of the unseen (the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family)). Indeed, knowledge of the unseen is the knowledge of the Hour, and what Allah has mentioned in His words: the knowledge of the Hour is with Allah, He has sent down the rain, and He knows what is in the wombs of mothers, and no one knows what he will do tomorrow, and in which land he will die (Luqman/34). So Allah the Glorified is aware of what is in the wombs of the mothers — whether male or female, ugly or beautiful, generous or miserly, blessed or wretched — and of the one who is fuel for the fire of Hell, or in Paradise a neighbour and friend of the prophets (peace be upon them); He is aware of all of these. This is the (essential) knowledge of the unseen which none knows but Allah. Other than these are sciences which Allah has taught to His Prophet (acquired knowledge of the unseen), and he has taught them to me. The Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) prayed for me that Allah should place this category of sciences and reports in my breast and that the limbs and organs of my body should be filled with it."