None of Their Actions Were Concealed From Him

Looking at all of these points from 19 onwards, they relate to some attribute of Allah. All of the attributes have been gone through in detail in the previous chapters, and it is simply a matter of linking each point to the attribute it is speaking about. So wa qaddara lahum aqdārā, wa ḍaraba lahum ājālā, khalaqa al-khalqa bi-ʿilmihi: all of that is part of His knowledge; of irādah, will; His knowledge; His qudrah, His ability; His takwīn, et cetera, et cetera. Then this one:

Wa lam yakhfa ʿalayhi shayʾun qabla an yakhluqahum: none of their actions were concealed from Him before He created them.

That is His ṣifah of ʿilm. It is absolute. Even before He created them, nothing of their actions was unknown to Him. He knew what they would do before He created them. What are we going to have for Him on the Day of Judgement? For us, it is after the fact, whereas He knew before the fact.

And may Allah forgive us, and may Allah conceal us on that day. There is the well-known hadith which speaks of somebody whom Allah (swt) will take and cover, and say: a-taʿrifu dhanba kadhā wa kadhā — do you confess to such and such? And the person says: this one, and this one. And the person just thinks he is dead, he is gone, he is finished. And Allah (swt) says: just the way I concealed you, I conceal you now. May Allah (swt) conceal us on the Day of Judgement.

Because He knew what they would do before He created them. The ṣifah of knowledge is the attribute by which knowable things become revealed; and for Allah, that is everything. Allah (swt) is knowledgeable of everything that takes place.

To give an example: on a rainy day, playing in the garden with little children, someone picks up a stone — a big, nice, flat stone — and there are all these small insects under it which he never knew existed. About twenty of them, on this dark, rainy day, and they are walking. They cannot be heard; they can just about be seen. Allah (swt) knew of those things, and knows of those things, simultaneously, at one time. He can hear them, He can see them, without having any tools or implements or eyes, or any kind of auditory implements to be able to hear. He hears without all of these things.

To put it into perspective: someone listening to one person reading to him or talking to him can concentrate. With two people it can just about be done, because some parts will be missed, but the gaps can more or less be filled in because of other knowledge one has — as when listening to two people reading Qur'an. Try three: it is literally — it is hard to think of anybody who can do three. And imagine four and five; just forget about it. The whole room is talking: how can anyone listen to everybody simultaneously and understand what they are saying? That is the thing about Allah (swt): at any given one time, He knows, and can hear, and can see what people will be saying and what they said. It is just way beyond what we can even imagine. We cannot even get to a fraction of that, not even 1% of that. That is Allah (swt). He is our Creator, and may Allah be pleased with us.

Wa ʿalima mā hum ʿāmilūna qabla an yakhluqahum: He knew what they would do before He created them.