Clarifying the statement: "Nor does He look at them"
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
The Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, asks about the statement "Nor does He look at them." It is well known that nothing, not even the weight of an atom, escapes Allah, the Exalted, on earth or in the sky. How is this statement to be understood?
The Shaykh:
Looking is not the same as knowing. Looking is not the same as knowing. Knowledge is an independent attribute, and looking is another independent attribute.
The Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, asks about the statement "Nor does He look at them." It is well known that nothing, not even the weight of an atom, escapes Allah, the Exalted, on earth or in the sky. How is this statement to be understood?
The Shaykh:
Looking is not the same as knowing. Looking is not the same as knowing. Knowledge is an independent attribute, and looking is another independent attribute.
Source
شرح قرة عيون الموحدين في تحقيق دعوة الأنبياء والمرسلين، باب ما جاء في كثرة الحلف — islamhouse.com (1:11:17)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.