…except that We might know’—imagine that this statement negates His prior knowledge of what will occur. Such a notion is sheer ignorance, for the Quran has repeatedly declared that He knows what is yet to be. Indeed, it goes further: He ordained the measures of all creatures and inscribed them before creating them. Thus He possessed detailed, comprehensive knowledge of everything He would bring into existence, recorded it, and disclosed some of it before it came to pass. He proclaimed His pre-existing knowledge of those things; then, once He created them, He knew them as actualized, in perfect accord with the knowledge that had preceded their existence. This is true perfection, and the Quran affirms it in many passages—adding even the affirmation that the Lord will behold those deeds once they exist, as He says:

“Say: ‘Act, for Allah will see your deeds, and so will His Messenger and the believers.’”

He therefore informed them that He will see their works.

The Book, the Sunnah, the unanimous agreement of the early generations, and rational proofs all attest that He is All-Hearing, All-Seeing; and hearing and sight do not pertain to non-existent things. When He creates things He sees them, exalted is He, and when His servants call upon Him He hears their supplications and their whispered conversations, as He says:

“Allah has indeed heard the statement of her who disputes with you concerning her husband and complains to Allah; and Allah hears the dialogue between you both.”

That is, she is complaining to Him while He hears the exchange—the term ḥiwār (dialogue) refers to the back-and-forth conversation between her and the Messenger. ʿĀʾishah said, “Glory be to Him whose hearing encompasses all sounds! The woman who pled her case was speaking to the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—in a corner of the house, and I could not discern some of her words, yet Allah revealed: ‘Allah has indeed heard the statement of her who disputes with you concerning her husband and complains to Allah; and Allah hears the dialogue between you both.’”

Likewise, Allah the Exalted said to Moses and Aaron:

“Do not fear; indeed, I am with you both—hearing and seeing.”

And He said:

“Do they think that We do not hear their secrets and their private conversations? Yes indeed; Our messengers are with them, recording.”

Allah has mentioned His knowledge of what will take place after it occurs in more than a dozen places in the Quran, while in even more verses He affirms that He knows what will be before it happens. In the Quran He foretold, according to His will, future events that had not yet occurred, and He informed His Prophet—and others—of them…