Hell with you and all those among them who follow you.” He also says:
“Were it not for a word that had already gone forth from your Lord and an appointed term, punishment would have been inevitable.”
And He, Most High, says:
“Our word has already gone forth to Our servants, the messengers: they will surely be given victory, and Our forces will surely prevail.”
And He, Most High, says:
“We certainly gave Moses the Scripture, but differences arose concerning it. Were it not for a word that had already gone forth from your Lord, judgment would have been passed between them.”
He, glorified be He, has also recorded what He decrees in that in which He records it, as He says:
“Do you not know that Allah knows whatever is in heaven and earth? All of that is in a Record. That is surely easy for Allah.”
Ibn ‘Abbās said: “Allah created creation and knew what they would do. Then He said to His knowledge, ‘Become a record,’ and it became a record. He then revealed confirmation of this in His words:
‘Do you not know that Allah knows whatever is in heaven and earth? All of that is in a Record. That is surely easy for Allah.’”
And He, Most High, says:
“No calamity befalls the earth or yourselves without being in a Record before We bring it into being. That is surely easy for Allah.”
And He says:
“We have already written in the Psalms, after the Reminder, that My righteous servants shall inherit the earth.”
And He says:
“Allah erases whatever He wills and confirms whatever He wills, and with Him is the Mother of the Book.”
And He said to the angels:
“I am placing a successor on earth.” They said, “Will You place there someone who will spread corruption and shed blood, while we glorify You with praise and sanctify You?” He said, “I know what you do not know.”
The angels thus knew of the corruption and bloodshed that the children of Adam would commit. How, then, could Allah not know it? This holds whether they knew it because Allah had informed them—as most commentators have stated, in which case He has greater knowledge of what He taught them—or whether they said it by analogy with those who came before them, as some commentators have stated, or knew it by some other means.
Allah has greater knowledge of what will happen than His creatures do, for they know only what He has taught them. Whatever He has revealed to His prophets and others concerning what will happen, He knows it better than they do, for they encompass nothing of His knowledge except what He wills.