He is the One Who knows about the unforeseen and what is evidenced by His creation. Nothing on earth or in the heaven is hidden from Him. He knows what is on land and in sea. Not a leaf does fall but He knows about it. There is no grain in the darkness of earth, nor anything which is moist or dry but is inscribed in a clear book. His Knowledge encompasses everything. The count of the numbers of things is known to Him.

• Explanation: Allah, ta^ala, knows about things in totality and in details. He knows what was (what has existed) and what shall be (what will exist). He knows, with His eternal Knowledge, the enjoyments of Paradise that are continual and uninterrupted. He knows as necessary that whose existence is an intellectual necessity; and as permissible that whose existence is an intellectual permissibility; and as impossible that whose existence is an intellectual impossibility. Allah, ta^ala, is knowledgeable of His Self, His Attributes, and His creatures by one eternal and everlasting Knowledge that does not change.
  
   
• Some of the exaggerating Mu^tazilah, and among them Abul-Husayn al-Basriyy, said: "Allah does not know what the slave will do except after he does it." Hisham Ibn al-Hakam agreed with them. This is an obvious blasphemy. May Allah protect us from it.
  
  Allah, ta^ala, revealed the Qur'an with different facets to differentiate between the slaves, in which people are of two groups. One group would interpret and apply those verses (ayahs) correctly and thereby win, and the other group would interpret and apply them incorrectly and thereby lose. An example of that is the saying of Allah in Surat al-'Anfal, 66:

which means: [Now, Allah made it (rule of jihad) lesser for you, for He knew (eternally) that you will encounter a weakness.]

He who interprets the ayah by linking the knowledge of Allah to 'now', to mean that Allah knew 'now' what He did not know before, has severely strayed. He who understands the correct meaning of the ayah is rightful and is guided to the correct path. The correct meaning of the ayah is that Allah now has lessened for you what had been obligatory before (i.e., lessening the obligation of one Muslim to fight ten blasphemers to the obligation of one Muslim to fight two blasphemers), for Allah knew eternally that you will encounter a weakness.

Everything that happens in this world--in the heavens and on the earth, on the land and in the sea, and what is under the ground is inscribed in a clear book which is the Guarded Tablet (al-Lawh al-Mahfudh). It is as at-Tirmidhiyy related about the Messenger of Allah that Allah ordered the Pen to write in this Guarded Tablet what was and what shall be until the Day of Judgment.

The meaning of 'His knowledge encompasses everything' is that He, Subhanahu, knows what has existed and what shall exist by His eternal Knowledge. The meaning of 'the count of the numbers of things are known to Him' is that Allah knew by His eternal Knowledge the numbers of all things. He knew it before the existence of any creature as He, ta^ala, said in Surat al-Jinn, 28:

which means: [He knows the count of all things.]