unknown, for there is no need to question them when Allah’s knowledge is perfect, encompassing their outward and inward states, the great and the small alike.

The questioning that is affirmed, by contrast, is meant to make them acknowledge their deeds, rebuke them, and demonstrate that Allah has judged those deeds with absolute justice and wisdom.

Another example is the Qur’anic information that, in some verses, there will be no familial bonds among people on the Day of Resurrection, while in other verses such bonds are affirmed. The affirmation concerns the actual, objective relationships that do exist, as in His words: “The Day when a man will flee from his brother, and his mother and his father” (80:34-35) and the verses that follow. What is negated is any benefit that might be gained from those ties, for the unbelievers claim that their lineages will help them on that Day. Yet Allah says: “The Day when neither wealth nor children will be of any avail, except for one who comes to Allah with a sound heart” (26:88-89).

Similarly, other verses state that kinship will in fact be of benefit on the Day of Resurrection—such as the verse that joins the descendants of the believers to their forefathers in the same ranks even if they did not reach their level, and that promises the people of Paradise and the lofty degrees that Allah will reunite them with their righteous parents, spouses, and offspring. Because they shared in faith and foundational righteousness, He increased them out of His bounty and grace without reducing the reward of those who preceded them in the least.

Another case is intercession (shafāʿah). It is affirmed in several passages, denied in others, and in some places restricted by His permission and for those He approves among His servants. Thus the unqualified statements must be understood in the light of the qualified ones: wherever intercession is denied, it refers to intercession sought without His leave and on behalf of those whose beliefs and deeds Allah does not accept; and wherever it is affirmed, it refers to the intercession that takes place by His permission for those whom He is pleased with and for whom He grants leave.

Yet another instance: in many verses Allah states that He does not guide the unbelieving, defiantly sinful, or wrongdoing people, while in other verses He says that He does indeed guide them and grant them success. The negations concern those upon whom the decree of Allah has already fallen, for He says, “Indeed, those upon whom …”