others.’ 1.

Such passages speak of His knowledge of impossibilities and tell of what would follow from them if, hypothetically, they were to exist. He, the Most High, also knows all possibilities—things that may either exist or not exist—both those that exist and those that do not, whose existence His wisdom did not call for. He is the All-Knowing, whose knowledge encompasses the upper and lower worlds. No place or time lies beyond His knowledge. He knows the unseen and the seen, the outward and the inward, the manifest and the hidden. Allah, the Most High, says:

‘Indeed, Allah has knowledge of all things.’ 2.

The scriptural texts describing the all-encompassing knowledge of Allah and detailing the minutest things He knows are far too numerous to count or enumerate. They affirm that not an atom’s weight in the earth or the heavens escapes Him, nor anything smaller or greater, and that He is neither heedless nor forgetful3.

‘Not a leaf falls but that He knows it. And no grain is there within the darknesses of the earth, nor anything moist or dry, but that it is in a clear record.’ 4

‘He knows the secret and what is even more hidden.’ 5 6.

The knowledge of created beings, for all its vastness and diversity, dwindles to nothing when compared with Allah’s knowledge. Likewise, their power bears no comparison whatsoever to Allah’s power. He is the One who taught them what they did not know and enabled them to do what they had been unable to do.