Islam for Muslims
- THE FAITH OF MUSLIMS
- GOOD DEEDS IN PERSONAL LIFE
- GOOD DEEDS IN SOCIAL LIFE
God as the all-knowing
Introduction: God is the Omniscient, the All-knowing. Fitting with this title, He commands boundless knowledge, “covering everything” by His senses (4:126). He holds the “keys of the Unseen, the treasures that are known only to Him” (6:59). He has “full knowledge” about all open and “hidden things of the heavens and the earth” (4:17; 35:38). His ability to “hear and see (all things)” (42:11) is not impaired by any types of human weaknesses like "sleep" (2:255), drowsiness, inattention or “forgetfulness” (19:64) etc. that could create a momentary lapse in knowledge. Described below are some uniqueness of His knowledge, by way of comparison with human knowledge.
(1) Original Knowledge: People are born with only zero knowledge (16:78) and thereafter they start gaining it through their five senses, from various sources including parents, teachers, environment etc. In this process, whatever they learn with enormous gaps and errors, they cannot remember for long and by old age, their memory is almost totally gone due to problems like Alzheimer, dementia etc. By contrast, God had always been and will always be an original source of never-ending knowledge. He did never learn anything from others nor does He have anything yet to learn from them. Instead, by discharging a micro fraction from His infinite knowledge, He makes some people famous as learned scholars like Aristotle, Newton, Einstein and so on. Modern branches of science covering DNA, nuclear, rocket etc. had always been part of His Knowledge. By contrast, you are always in the dark about info He never shares e.g. timing of death or Dooms Day, mysterious words of the Quran like Ya Sin, Alif Lam Mim etc.
(2) Complete Knowledge: Human knowledge can never be complete. Man cannot know anything beyond what God “has taught us” (2:32). Their access to knowledge is restricted by learning through the five senses. By contrast, God, being the Creator of everything, “knows full well of everything” including every details of their composition (6:101). Beyond His Knowledge, nothing happens --nor even petty matters like “the fall of tree leaves”, “growth of date-fruits” or “women’s conception” of a baby etc. (6:59; 41:47). He knows “how you move about and dwell in your houses” (47:19). He “hears and knows” “(every) word (spoken)” by people, “either you pronounce the word loud” or not (21:4; 20:7). He watches “from above over (all) His servants” in addition to setting “guardians (recording angels)” over them (6:61).
Knowledge of “hidden” or “open” matters is both same to Him (23:92). Within His plain sight remains your secret computer password, location of your lost or stolen things, exam questionnaire secured in teacher’s iron safe until test date, identity of actual criminals unknown to the police detectives and so on. To Him is “not hidden even the smallest atom” on the earth or "a grain in the darkness” of earth (34:3; 6:59). He claims to have “grasp of forelock” “for every “living creature” (11:56). This metaphorically means He has complete information about billions of mankind and trillions of animals that He has been creating since day one.
God has full grasp of personal details about each of the creatures (ranging from birds, fish to animals etc.), including their birthdate, parental identity, personal features etc. With Him lies info about the exact number of raindrops that fell at a remote place, at a particular point of time in the distant past, as an example. He can show different set of dreams every night (without repetition) to billions of people like you. This type of examples can be multiplied but are needless to demonstrate that He can miraculously pay quality attention to infinite number of matters all at the same time. By contrast, human mind can barely process two serious matters (like driving and texting) at the same time without degrading quality.
(3) Unconditional Knowledge: Human access to knowledge depends upon favorable conditions or necessary instrumental aids. You need light, sometimes eye glasses as well, to be able to see an object; a telescope to see the farthest thing; a microscope to view the smallest (in details) and so on. You cannot see anything beyond any solid barrier like wall unless aided by a mirror, periscope etc. You cannot see your face without a mirror or you cannot see your backside without turning back your face or body. You cannot see the condition of a “(fetus) in mother's womb” without x-ray, sonogram etc. (31:34).
By contrast, God knows “what every female bears in womb" (13:8) without any aid like x-ray or sonogram. He can watch your “nightly (conspiracy)” without the help of searchlight or videotaping and hear your “private counsels” without audiotaping (4:81; 43:80).Thus He “clearly sees, finely hears” (18:26) and fully knows everything without being impaired by any conditions.
(4) Perfect Knowledge: Human knowledge tends to be faulty, as recognized by the proverb: "To err is human". This may be due to factors like inaccurate source of information or gap in communication etc. God, however, knows everything perfectly well and it is quite unrealistic for Him to know anything wrongly. In fact, He is always at the center of knowledge. There is not a single piece of news that is generated without His sense or a minor event ever takes place without His awareness. He is not “unmindful of anything you do” and everyone and everything is crystal clear in His “eyes” (11:123; 52:48). He alone knows the “finest mysteries” of the Universe (33:34). The words like mystery (e.g. UFO), puzzle, riddle, maze, trick, magic etc. are irrelevant for Him.
(5) Mental Knowledge: God is well aware about the “secrets of your heart” and He knows “best all that is in the hearts of all creations” (3:154; 29:10) and thus His vision of your inside is absolutely clearer than an x-ray of your heart and mind. He understands whatever languages you speak and it is all the same if you “conceal speech or declare it openly" (13:10). Accordingly, the infidels of Arabia got surprised at the disclosure about their “secret (thoughts) and their secret conspiracy” against Islam (9:78). God revealed there is nothing like a “secret consultation between three” as He makes the “4th among them” and He is “in their midst, wherever they be” (58:7). God claims to be close to us as our "jugular vein" (50:16). This virtually means He is the closest “with you wherever you may be” and He is “well aware of all that you do” (57:4; 4:94). This contrasts with the occasional inability of the well-trained police detectives to prove a crime and therefore makes the ‘benefit of doubt' a relevant matter for their judge.
(6) Eternal Knowledge: Man knows some of the present, a little of the nearby past and almost nothing about the future. The knowledge of God is, however, not confined to any particular age; rather it equally spreads over all phases of time: past, present and future. He knows “what appears to His creatures before or behind them" (2:255). He revealed in His scriptures like Torah, Bible or Quran about things of such distant past that the historians have no way to know them for sure. Similarly, He can foresee clearly what is coming up like your future spouse, “(future) income” or “place of your death” (31:34). He foretold to the Prophet that he would soon "enter the sacred mosque (of Mecca) (victorious)" and “they will make many gains (as spoils of war)” (48:27; 48:19) and these two predictions exactly came true before long.
God claims He holds “the keys of the unseen” and therefore “the unseen is only for God” to know in exact form as He does “not disclose the secrets of the unknown (to anybody)” (6:59; 10:20; 3:179). What the foretellers, soothsayers, palmists or weathermen forecast on the basis of guesswork or imperfect observation does not tend to be 100% accurate. For examples, the weather scientists, using computer models, forecast the path of hurricane which shifts hundred miles away in reality or their rain forecast sometimes turns into golden sunshine on the ground. Human predictions often diverge from independent actions of God, as He does not follow anyone but he is to be followed by everyone. God has the monopoly of perfect knowledge into the future, sometimes much to human advantage. For example, if a person would have prescience about the hour of his death, he could have mental death long before his physical one. God therefore does not share His knowledge about when and “what land (you) will die” (31:34). No person including even a talented scientist or a beloved Prophet of God has the power to know about the future “except as He wills” (2:255).
Conclusion: The above analysis establishes God as the Omniscient as He knows everything across time and place.