WHY ALLAH IS NOT ALL KNOWING
Allah claims to be all knowing, for example,
“…Surely Allah is All-Encompassing, All-Knowing.”
(Surah 2:115)
In fact one of Allah’s 99 names is “Al’ Aleem” which means “The All knowing one”. So it is curious this Allah does not know a number of things.
First, Allah does not know what Christians believe. Over and over again in the Quran, Allah gets the definition of the trinity wrong,
“And ˹on Judgment Day˺ Allah will say, “O Jesus, son of Mary! Did you ever ask the people to worship you and your mother as gods besides Allah?” He will answer, “Glory be to You! How could I ever say what I had no right to say? If I had said such a thing, you would have certainly known it. You know what is ˹hidden˺ within me, but I do not know what is within You. Indeed, You ˹alone˺ are the Knower of all unseen.”
(Surah 5:116)
And again,
“The Messiah, son of Mary, was no more than a messenger. ˹Many˺ messengers had ˹come and˺ gone before him. His mother was a woman of truth. They both ate food. See how We make the signs clear to them, yet see how they are deluded ˹from the truth˺!”
(Surah 5:75)
Allah seems to think the Christian trinity is composed of God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Mother (Mary). Funny enough, any Muslim apologist on the planet debunks the trinity and fully identifies it as the Father, the Son and the Spirit. This would mean Muslims are actually more knowledgeable than the very God they worship.
Secondly, Allah does not seem to know what Jews believe,
“The Jews say, “Ezra is the son of Allah,” while the Christians say, “The Messiah is the son of Allah.” Such are their baseless assertions, only parroting the words of earlier disbelievers. May Allah condemn them! How can they be deluded ˹from the truth˺?”
(Surah 9:30)
The Jews believe Ezra is the son of God? Any one who has a basic kindergarten knowledge of the Jewish Old Testament fully appreciates this is nonsense. There has been no Jew in the history of forever who believes this. Some Muslim scholars have said there was a Jew somewhere who believes this but again the context of the above verse is an order to,
“Fight those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day, nor comply with what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden, nor embrace the religion of truth from among those who were given the Scripture, until they pay the tax, willingly submitting, fully humbled.”
(Surah 9:29)
The command is to fight Jews and Christians for associating partners with Allah. The Christians are to be fought and subdued for saying Jesus is the Son of God but Jews are to be fought because they allegedly say Ezra is the son of God. If just one Jew somewhere believed this then should that be a basis for subduing and fighting all Jews?
Third, Allah does not seem to know the lineage of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
“O sister of Aaron! Your father was not an indecent man, nor was your mother unchaste.”
(Surah 19:28)
It refers to Mary, mother of Jesus as the sister of Aaron. This is an obvious mix up with Miriam, the sister of Aaron and Moses in the Torah. Mary, the mother of Jesus has nothing to do with Aaron or Moses, in fact they are not of the same tribe! Aaron and Moses were Levites but Mary was of the tribe of Judah.
Again, Muslim scholars say women were addressed by the key prophets of their lineage hence Mary is associated with Aaron. However, this is again false because we have no other example in the Quran or Jewish history of this happening and again, would David not be a more relevant prophet to associate Mary with? Even going by that logic, would Moses not be a more relevant prophet than Aaron?
Fourth, Allah does not seem to know how conception works, it is described as such in the Quran,
“Thereafter We made him (the offspring of Adam) as a Nutfah (mixed drops of the male and female sexual discharge and lodged it) in a safe lodging (womb of the woman).
Then We made the Nutfah into a clot (a piece of thick coagulated blood), then We made the clot into a little lump of flesh, then We made out of that little lump of flesh bones, then We clothed the bones with flesh, and then We brought it forth as another creation. So Blessed is Allâh, the Best of creators.”
(Surah 23:13–14)
Clearly, the “female discharge” has nothing to do with conception. It is the female Egg that is fertilised by the male discharge. There is also no concept of “Congealed blood” in the process, rather the Sperm and the fertilised egg start forming a new baby. Again, the error of the embryology is apparent, from blood to flesh then from flesh, bones, then flesh clothes the bones but we know this is not how a baby develops in the womb, cells begin to generate within the fertilised egg and sperm, these become various body parts and organs of the baby, until it is ready to be birthed.
The prophet, who alongside Allah knows best, also says this about conception,
“The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “Allah has appointed an angel in the womb, and the angel says, ‘O Lord! A drop of discharge (i.e. of semen), O Lord! a clot, O Lord! a piece of flesh.’ And then, if Allah wishes to complete the child’s creation, the angel will say. ‘O Lord! A male or a female? O Lord! wretched or blessed (in religion)? What will his livelihood be? What will his age be?’ The angel writes all this while the child is in the womb of its mother.”
(Sahih Bukhari, Book 60 Hadith 8)
An angel in the womb (the vaginal regions of a woman) is apparently driving the whole conception process. I leave you to draw your own conclusions. One more revelation from the prophet on conception,
“The creation of any one of you is like this that (semen) is collected in the womb of the mother for forty nights,” and in the hadith transmitted on the authority of Shu’ba (the words are):” Forty nights and forty days.” And in the hadith transmitted on the authority of Jarir and ‘Isa (the words are):” Forty days.”
(Sahih Muslim, Book 46 Hadith 2)
According to the best knowledge of Allah and Muhammad His messenger, sperm is capable of staying in the woman’s womb for 40 days but the scientific research is clear that it can only survive within the womb for a maximum of 3 days if it does not find an egg to fertilise.
Finally, and this is not the last of it but we have to stop somewhere, Allah has no idea how the sun works,
“Until, when he reached the setting place of the sun, he found it setting in a spring of black muddy (or hot) water…”
(Surah 18:86)
Muhammad also in the Hadith says,
“I was sitting behind the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) who was riding a donkey while the sun was setting. He asked: Do you know where this sets ? I replied: Allah and his Apostle know best. He said: It sets in a spring of warm water (Hamiyah).”
(Sunan Abi Dawd Book 32 Hadith 34)
And again,
“Narrated Abu Dharr:
Once I was with the Prophet (ﷺ) in the mosque at the time of sunset. The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “O Abu Dharr! Do you know where the sun sets?” I replied, “Allah and His Apostle know best.” He said, “It goes and prostrates underneath (Allah’s) Throne; and that is Allah’s Statement: — ‘And the sun runs on its fixed course for a term (decreed). And that is the decree of All-Mighty, the All-Knowing….’ (36.38)”
(Sahih Bukhari Book 65, Hadith 324)
Fortunately, for a number of centuries now, we know the sun does not move. It does not go to prostrate to Allah’s throne. It does not set anywhere or rise from anywhere, it in fact does not move. We would expect Allah to be conversant with the workings of the Sun He created if He indeed is all knowing.
We could talk about Allah’s allusions to the seven heavens which is scientifically wrong, we could talk about Allah causing people to forget verses so He can reveal something “similar or better” (Surah 2:106) implying something He earlier revealed could be “bettered” thus implying He has perhaps “Learnt more” meaning there was something previously lacking in His knowledge.
In conclusion, Allah really does not know much of anything. He has no idea of something as basic as the trinity, He has no idea how conception or cosmology works. If Muslims know what the trinity is but Allah does not, it begs the question, is Allah worth worshipping?
