Man's knowledge is created Fatwa No: 358864
- Fatwa Date:13-9-2017
Assalaamu alaykum. Sir, I asked you this question before, but I did not get the answer properly; I mean that I did not understand it. Please, tell me in simple wordings whether our attributes, like knowledge etc., are created? The knowledge is from Allah's knowledge, so it cannot be a creation as it is His attribute, so if our knowledge is also from Allah, then our knowledge would be Allah's knowledge? Or is it a creation? Please just tell me in simple wordings so that I can understand it properly, please.
All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
The knowledge of Allah is not the same as the knowledge of the human being; verily, Allah, the Exalted, is far above any resemblance to any created being. The divine knowledge of Allah is not preceded by ignorance and is not followed by forgetfulness. Prophet Moosa (Moses) said to Pharaoh (what means): {The knowledge thereof is with my Lord in a record. My Lord neither errs nor forgets.} [Quran 20:52]
On the contrary, the knowledge of human beings is incidental knowledge that is preceded by ignorance and followed by forgetfulness.
We have already clarified in a previous fatwa that the knowledge of man is created because it is part of his actions, which are created by Allah. The fact that this knowledge is a gift from Allah does not mean that it is not created. Our life is a gift from Allah, and it is created, preceded by non-existence, and followed by death. This is contrary to the life of Allah, the Exalted, which was not preceded by non-existence and is not followed by death; He is the Ever-Living, while mankind, the jinn, and all created beings eventually die. All that Allah has subjected to us in the heavens and earth is created and is a gift from Him; Allah, the Exalted, says (what means): {And He has subjected to you whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth - all from Him. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought.} [Quran 45:13]
Allah knows best.