Ila qadarin maAAloom (surah Mursalat: 22)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(77:22) until an appointed time? *12

Illaa qadrim ma`loom

*12) The words qadar im-malum do not only mean that the term is appointed and fixed but they also contain the sense that it is known to Allah alone. About no child can man know by any means how many months, days, hours, minutes and seconds it will remain in the mothers womb and what will be its exact and precise time of birth. AIlah alone has fixed a specific term for every child and He alone knows it.