that Allah—glorified be He—does not know a thing until it actually occurs. This is patently false, for Allah knows all things before they take place, as He says: “Do you not know that Allah knows whatever is in the heavens and the earth? Indeed, that is in a Record; and that is easy for Allah” (al-Hajj: 70).

Whoever alleges that Allah only comes to know of something after it happens has denied this verse and others like it that affirm His prior knowledge of everything before it comes to pass.

The knowledge referred to in the verse “until We know those who strive” is therefore the kind of knowledge upon which recompense is based.

Some scholars have explained the phrase “until We know those who strive” as meaning “manifest knowledge,” that is, until the matter becomes outwardly apparent. Allah’s knowledge of a thing before it exists is knowledge that it will be, whereas His knowledge after it exists is knowledge that it was; and the two kinds differ.

The first is knowledge that it will come to be; the second is knowledge that it has come to be.

You can see the distinction by imagining someone telling you, “Tomorrow I will do such-and-such.” At that moment you have knowledge of what he has informed you, yet when tomorrow arrives and he actually does it, you acquire a second kind of knowledge—namely, that the thing he promised to do, he has indeed done. These, then, are the two interpretive angles for the Almighty’s words “until We know.”

The first angle understands it as the knowledge that entails reward or punishment, and that only comes into play after the ordeal—after Allah has tried and tested His servant.