it, in their bid to negate, to the very point they had just conceded was possible for Him. Yet anyone who affirms a matter in substance and then rejects it in words gains nothing by the mere motion of his tongue. In fact, they used these very verses to argue that Allah, in His own Self, is present within every single thing; then they stripped their assertion of all meaning, saying, “Not in the manner of one thing residing inside another.”

Abū ʿAbd Allāh said: As for His words, “until We know” (47:31), “and Allah will see,” and “Indeed, We are with you, listening,” their import is: until the event actually occurs—so that He knows it as an existing reality, hears it as something audible, and sees it as something visible—without His acquiring any new knowledge, hearing, or sight.