Mawlana Muhammad Yusaf al-Kanadi [1]
1. If Allah ﷻ knows everything, then why does He put humans through tests and difficulties only to punish or reward them for actions that He already knows they will commit?
True, Allah ﷻ already knows what His creatures will do before He creates them, but still He wishes to actualise that. While His knowledge before the fact is the same as His knowledge after the fact, a change has taken place in what is known. He created to make actual what was potential. Allah ﷻ states in His Book,
وَمَا كَانَ لَهُ عَلَيْهِمْ مِنْ سُلْطَانٍ إِلَّا لِنَعْلَمَ مَنْ يُؤْمِنُ بِالْآخِرَةِ مِمَّنْ هُوَ مِنْهَا فِي شَكٍّ