Questioning the Doctrine of Allah’s “Eternal Knowledge”

Muslims are taught that God is All-Knowing, fully aware of the past, present, and future, with nothing hidden from Him. Yet a close reading of the Qur’an reveals passages that appear to sit uneasily with this core attribute.

Consider the following two verses:

Quran 8:65:
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ حَرِّ‌ضِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ عَلَى الْقِتَالِ ۚ إِن يَكُن مِّنكُمْ عِشْرُ‌ونَ صَابِرُ‌ونَ يَغْلِبُوا مِائَتَيْنِ ۚ وَإِن يَكُن مِّنكُم مِّائَةٌ يَغْلِبُوا أَلْفًا مِّنَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُ‌وا بِأَنَّهُمْ قَوْمٌ لَّا يَفْقَهُونَ ﴿٦٥﴾
Translation: “Prophet, urge the believers to fight. If twenty among you are steadfast, they will overcome two hundred; and if a hundred of you are steadfast, they will defeat a thousand of the disbelievers.”

This sets a ratio of 1 believer : 10 opponents, demanding extraordinary resolve.

Quran 8:66:
الْآنَ خَفَّفَ اللَّـهُ عَنكُمْ وَعَلِمَ أَنَّ فِيكُمْ ضَعْفًا ۚ فَإِن يَكُن مِّنكُم مِّائَةٌ صَابِرَ‌ةٌ يَغْلِبُوا مِائَتَيْنِ ۚ وَإِن يَكُن مِّنكُمْ أَلْفٌ يَغْلِبُوا أَلْفَيْنِ بِإِذْنِ اللَّـهِ ۗ وَاللَّـهُ مَعَ الصَّابِرِ‌ينَ ﴿٦٦﴾
Translation (paraphrase): “Now God has lightened your burden, and He has come to know there is weakness in you. So if a hundred of you are steadfast, they will overcome two hundred; and if a thousand of you are steadfast, they will overcome two thousand—by God’s leave. God is with the steadfast.” 

Here the ratio shifts to 1 believer : 2 opponents, a far less demanding standard.

The Qur’anic wording explicitly ties this change of rule to the point at which God “came to know” of the believers’ weakness, implying the adjustment followed that new discovery.

Al-Qurtubi’s exegesis (link) summarizes classical reports as follows:

Abu Dawud transmits from Ibn ’Abbas that the verse “If twenty of you are steadfast, they will overcome two hundred…” was revealed, obligating that one believer should not flee before ten disbelievers. This proved heavy and onerous for the Muslims (the Companions), after which a relieving ruling was revealed (reducing the ratio from 1:10 to 1:2).

What kind of deity first commands a 1:10 standard, then only after the Companions find it unbearable, He greatly relaxes it to 1:2? And what does it say about the Companions that they resisted a divine command until it was eased?

The core of the critique is the verb عَلِمَ, whose sense is “to come to know, to realize, to learn.” It describes the acquisition of knowledge, a decidedly human trait.

By contrast, believers describe the Creator as Knower of the Unseen, fully aware from the dawn of creation of every future event in every detail. His knowledge does not increase; He already knows all things.

The opening of 8:66 is therefore striking: God “lightened your burden” and “came to know” the extent of your weakness. The verse reads as if, when the 1:10 order was first issued, it was not yet apparent that the command would overtax the believers, so, after their protest, God recognized the problem, reversed the first ruling, and issued a new, more achievable standard.

Yet the divine attributes celebrated in Qur’an and Hadith, like All-Wise, All-Aware, First and Last, Knower of the Unseen, seem at odds with this narrative. A being possessing such qualities would not commit an error of judgment requiring later correction. A truly perfect governor would never issue a command so disproportionate to human capacity that it had to be rolled back.

Apologists reply that here “came to know” should be read as “He already knew.” But that defense falters for a text that Muslims themselves call the Pinnacle of Eloquence. If the intent were God’s timeless knowledge, a more fitting phrasing existed, and the Qur’an could have said so with precision and clarity. For example, it could have used: الْآنَ خَفَّفَ اللّٰهُ عَنكُمْ وَكَانَ يَعْلَمُ أَنَّ فِيكُمْ ضَعْفًا --- conveying, “God has lightened your burden, and He already knew your weakness.”

Linguistic analysis: the verb “عَلِمَ”

• The verb عَلِمَ is a فعل ماضٍ (perfect verb / past tense verb). [Please see the famous Muslim website Corpus Quran, which explains grammar of every Quranic word]

• By default, فعل ماضٍ expresses a completed action in the past.

Its core senses are:

• to know, to realize, to become aware

• and specifically, to acquire new knowledge that was not previously possessed

This contrasts with the imperfect يَعْلَمُ, which expresses an ongoing, standing state of knowledge, “He knows.”

If the verse intended to assert eternal omniscience, forms like the following would be expected:

إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ ضَعْفَكُمْ:  “Surely God knows your weakness.”
or
وَكَانَ يَعْلَمُ أَنَّ فِيكُمْ ضَعْفًا:  “He knew there was weakness among you.”

Instead, the text chooses عَلِمَ, which in ordinary usage signals a moment of learning or realization, a language far more at home describing human leaders adjusting policy after observing morale on the ground.

To be clear, the point is not that legal evolution is irrational. In human societies, laws are refined over time; legislatures revise rules as circumstances and understanding develop. But here the lawgiver is claimed to be the transcendent Creator, whose perfect book said to be inscribed on the Preserved Tablet from the dawn of time and sufficient for all humanity, and this book first mandates a standard, then discovers it exceeds human capacity, and subsequently issues a softer rule.

Why, then, was a manifestly unworkable standard decreed at all? And why couch the shift in wording that so plainly reflects human psychology rather than divine omniscience?

In sum:

Read in context and by its plain phrasing, 8:66 suggests a sequence in which God comes to know the believers’ weakness and alters an earlier command accordingly. If the speech were truly that of an all-knowing deity, one would not expect verbs that imply newly acquired awareness, nor a policy reversal premised on it. These features point toward a human voice behind the text, which is fallible, responsive, and adjusting to events as vividly on display in verse 66.

An invitation to reflection for believers and skeptics alike.

Islamic Apologists: It can also be read as "Allah Knew" (i.e. he always knew)

Some Islamic apologists assert that the verb عَلِمَ in Qur'an 8:66, a فعل ماضٍ (past tense verb), can also be translated as "Allah knew," implying that Allah always possessed knowledge of the believers' weakness.

Our Reply: Why did Allah put UNREALISTIC standards for TEST right from the beginning? 

The core issue with this defense is that if Allah’s knowledge of the believers’ weakness was pre-existing and eternal, as the apologists claim, a truly omniscient and rational authority would have established REALISTIC standards from the outset.

Instead, Qur'an 8:65 sets an extraordinarily demanding ratio of 1 believer to 10 opponents, only for Qur'an 8:66 to drastically reduce this to 1:2 after acknowledging the believers’ weakness. This sequence of events undermines the notion of eternal prior knowledge and suggests a reactive adjustment, akin to human improvisation.

If Allah always knew the believers’ limitations, why impose an impractical 10:1 standard initially?

Islamic Apologists respond that this was a "test" for the Companions. However, this explanation raises further questions: Why design a test so unrealistic that it leads to collective failure among all the Companions? The dramatic shift from a 10:1 to a 2:1 ratio does not reflect a reasonable or purposeful test from an all-wise deity. A test in which every participant fails, followed by such a significant revision of standards, suggests not divine wisdom but rather trial-and-error, a hallmark of human decision-making.

This pattern of setting an unworkable TEST, observing its failure, and then issuing a revised, more achievable one points to a human mind behind the text, capable of miscalculation and correction, rather than the flawless omniscience attributed to an all-wise God.

Verse 3:140 and Allah "Learning/Knowing" Again

Quran 3:140:

اِنۡ یَّمۡسَسۡكُمۡ قَرۡحٌ فَقَدۡ مَسَّ الۡقَوۡمَ قَرۡحٌ مِّثۡلُہٗ ۚ وَ تِلۡکَ الۡاَیَّامُ نُدَاوِلُہَا بَیۡنَ النَّاسِ ۚ وَ لِیَعۡلَمَ اللّٰہُ الَّذِیۡنَ اٰمَنُوۡا

Translation: If a wound strikes you (at Uhud), then a similar wound has already struck the people (at Badr) before. These are days that We alternate among people, and the purpose was that Allah may know who the believers are.

The word لِیَعۡلَمَ is used here. Its basic linguistic and grammatical characteristics are:

• لِیَعۡلَمَ is a present/future tense verb (fi‘l mudari‘), but here it comes with لِـ, indicating purpose or intention, meaning: “so that Allah may know…”

• Despite this, the verb is in a human-style form, meaning it depicts Allah as being engaged in the act of knowing, rather than expressing eternal or pre-existing knowledge.

The difference is mainly that in verse 8:66, the verb was past perfect (عَلِمَ), whereas in 3:140 it is present/future (لِیَعۡلَمَ). Grammatically, however, both verbs indicate a human-type process of learning or knowing, not eternal knowledge.

Verse 48:18 and Allah's Learning/Knowing Again

The verse is as under:

Verse 48:18:

لَقَدۡ رَضِیَ اللّٰہُ عَنِ الۡمُؤْمِنِیۡنَ اِذۡ یُبَایِعُوۡنَکَ تَحۡتَ الشَّجَرَۃِ فَعَلِمَ مَا فِیۡ قُلُوۡبِہِمۡ فَاَنۡزَلَ السَّکِیۡنَۃَ عَلَیۡہِمۡ
Translation:
Indeed Allah was pleased with the believers, when they were pledging allegiance to you under the tree, so/then He came to know what was in their hearts, so He sent down tranquility upon them, and rewarded them with a near victory (of Khaibar).

"Faʿalima" grammar can be checked on the Corpus Quran website (link).

• Grammar: The Arabic verb عَلِمَ ('alima) is in the perfect (past) tense. The attached prefix فَـ (fa-) is a conjunction indicating sequence and consequence. It means: "and then He knew" or "and as a result, He came to know."

• This not only shows that the action took place but also indicates that Allah’s "knowing" (either acquiring new information or confirming existing knowledge) occurred after the pledge.

This same principle—conditioning knowledge on an action—is found in other verses as well, for example:

Surah Al-Hadid (57:25):

لِيَعْلَمَ اللَّهُ مَنْ يَنْصُرُهُ 

"So that Allah may know who supports Him"

This verse again illustrates the conditional acquisition of knowledge through an action.