does not come into being. Nothing was hidden from Him before He created them; He knew what they would do before bringing them into existence; and He commanded them to obey Him and forbade them to disobey Him.

He is, in truth, knowledgeable of all things before they exist; it is not the case that He comes to know them only after they appear. He knew the deeds of His servants before He created them—who among them would be of the people of obedience and who of the people of disobedience.

As He says, “I did not create jinn and humankind except that they should worship Me” (al-Dhāriyāt 51:56). He created them first and then ordered them to worship Him, exalted is He. Thus He commanded them to obey Him even though He already knew what they would do. Yet recompense is not based on foreknowledge; it is based on action. Allah does not punish a servant on account of His knowledge until the servant actually commits the sin, nor does He honor the doer of good until the deed is carried out. Reward and punishment are therefore tied to the act itself, not to divine knowledge or predestination. Hence the distinction between knowledge and requital: Allah issued commands and prohibitions, so whoever obeys the commands and refrains from the prohibitions obtains reward, while whoever contravenes the commands and commits the prohibitions obtains—