If Allah knew that Ibrahim would comply, why did He test him with the command to slaughter?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you, Your Eminence, father. This questioner says: A doubt has confused me. We know that Allah knows, by His prior knowledge, that Ibrahim (peace be upon him) will comply with the command to slaughter. So why did Allah command him, when He, Glorified and Exalted is He, already knew that?
Answer:
O my brothers, this is a strange matter. Allah does not punish for knowledge, nor does He reward for knowledge; He rewards for action. He knows that the disbeliever will be a disbeliever, but He does not punish him until the disbeliever acts. He knows that the Muslim will be a Muslim, but He does not reward him until he acts. So the recompense is for the action, not merely for Allah’s knowledge. So be mindful of that. Yes.
May Allah reward you, Your Eminence, father. This questioner says: A doubt has confused me. We know that Allah knows, by His prior knowledge, that Ibrahim (peace be upon him) will comply with the command to slaughter. So why did Allah command him, when He, Glorified and Exalted is He, already knew that?
Answer:
O my brothers, this is a strange matter. Allah does not punish for knowledge, nor does He reward for knowledge; He rewards for action. He knows that the disbeliever will be a disbeliever, but He does not punish him until the disbeliever acts. He knows that the Muslim will be a Muslim, but He does not reward him until he acts. So the recompense is for the action, not merely for Allah’s knowledge. So be mindful of that. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [3436/1238] إذا كان الله يعلم امتثال إبراهيم، فلماذا ابتلاه بالأمر بالذبح؟ - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.