Allah's Knowledge and Will

Divine knowledge (al-'ilm al-ilahi) and divine will (al-irada al-ilahiyyah) are among the most significant of Allah's attributes and the most fundamental to understanding qadar. Al-Ashqar's treatment of these two attributes draws on Quranic evidence and the careful distinctions developed by Ahl us-Sunnah to navigate the profound theological territory they occupy.

Allah's knowledge is described in the Quran as encompassing everything without exception. 'And with Him are the keys of the unseen; none knows them except Him. And He knows what is on the land and in the sea. Not a leaf falls but that He knows it. And no grain is there within the darkness of the earth and no moist or dry thing but that it is recorded in a clear book.' This verse illustrates the absolute and total nature of divine knowledge: not a leaf, not a grain, not a thought, not an intention escapes it. Allah knew every action every person would ever take from before the creation of time.

Scholars distinguish between two dimensions of divine will: Al-Irada Al-Kawniyyah (the universal will) and Al-Irada Ash-Shar'iyyah (the legislative will). The universal will is Allah's decree that determines what actually occurs in the universe — this encompasses everything, including the sinful actions of created beings. When a person commits a sin, that sin occurs within the framework of Allah's universal will in the sense that He permitted it to occur. The legislative will refers to what Allah commands and approves — what He loves and is pleased with. This encompasses obedience and righteousness.

The crucial distinction: what Allah universally wills does not necessarily coincide with what He legislatively approves. He universally wills (permits to occur) the disbelief of the disbeliever, but He legislatively does not approve it. This distinction is essential for understanding how divine sovereignty and divine displeasure with sin can coexist without contradiction. Allah does not desire sin in the legislative sense, yet He permits it to occur in the universal sense — because the test of human free will requires that choices be real choices with real consequences.

This distinction also provides the theological answer to the common objection: 'If Allah decreed everything, why would He punish people for what He decreed?' The answer lies in the distinction between the universal decree (which encompasses all events) and the legislative command (which establishes the standard of right and wrong). A person is punished not for the mere fact that their actions were known and decreed in divine foreknowledge, but for the fact that they chose those actions despite having been given free will, reason, revealed guidance, and the choice to do otherwise. Divine knowledge does not remove human choice; it comprehends it completely.