then, when he upholds his ties of kinship, He increases the lifespan recorded there. If he does something that entails a reduction, He reduces that recorded lifespan. A similar example is the report in al-Tirmidhī and elsewhere from the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“When Adam asked Allah to show him the forms of the prophets among his descendants, Allah showed them to him. Among them he saw a man with a gleam of light and asked, ‘Who is this, my Lord?’ He replied, ‘Your son David.’ Adam asked, ‘How long will he live?’ He replied, ‘Forty years.’ Adam asked, ‘And how long will I live?’ He replied, ‘A thousand years.’ Adam said, ‘Then I give him sixty years of my lifespan.’ This was put in writing, and the angels bore witness to it. When death came to him, he said, ‘I still have sixty years of my life remaining.’ They said, ‘You gave them to your son David.’ He denied this, so they produced the document. The Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said, ‘Adam forgot, and his descendants forgot; Adam denied, and his descendants denied.’”

It is also reported that He granted both Adam and David their full lifespans.

Thus David’s recorded lifespan was forty years, then He made it sixty. This is the meaning of what is reported from ʿUmar, who said:

“O Allah, if You have recorded me as wretched, erase that and record me as blessed, for You erase whatever You will and confirm.”

Allah, glorified is He, knows what has happened, what will happen, and what has not happened—how it would have happened had it taken place. He therefore knows what He has recorded for His servant and what He will subsequently add to it. The angels know only what Allah has taught them, whereas Allah knows things before and after they come into being;