ABSTRACT

GHABA Ghaba is the root of a word that means

to be absent. The present tense is yaghib,

to be away, distant, remote or beyond

reach. The noun ghayb signifies the

unseen, invisible or unapparent; it signifies

anything unperceivable or beyond the

range of perception physically by the

senses, or mentally by the intellect.( Alama al-ghayb therefore is the unseen

world or the invisible world. The Qur ) an

was revealed to the Prophet to tell the

people in this life about the hereafter,

which is the unseen world. The Prophet’s job was to make people

aware of elements of the unseen such as

the resurrection after death, the Day of

Judgement and everlasting abodes such

as Paradise and Hell. This was not an

easy task: he had to convince the people

to believe in an invisible and yet-to-be-

experienced future. In the sura al-Baqara, the Qur

) an was

introduced as the book ‘whereof there is

no doubt, a guidance to the believers

who are pious and who believe in the

ghayb (the unseen world)’ (2.3). This

term is of great importance in the

Qur ) an because of the vast significance

of what it refers to: belief in Allah, angels,

holy books, Allah’s Messengers, the Day

of Resurrection and al-qadar (divine

necessity). It also includes what Allah

and his Messenger told people about

matters in the past, present and future.