“Thaqulat fī al-samāwāti wa-al-arḍ”
“It weighs heavily in the heavens and earth.” (al-Aʿrāf 7:187, excerpt)
The verse discusses knowledge of the Hour. The verb “thaqulat” literally suggests weightiness. The discussion of the Hour’s unknown timing supports an explanatory sense of something inaccessible, difficult or hidden from created beings.
This is not a rule that “heavy” always means “hidden.” The meaning emerges from the particular topic and the breadth of the Arabic metaphor. The imagery of weight also conveys the gravity of the event, not merely an abstract lack of information.
An interpretive substitution should illuminate the verse without erasing its rhetorical force.