Is Allah described as the Knower?

The Shaykh : Well, regarding the question: Is Allah described as the Knower, or as the All-Knowing? He is described as the All-Knowing. Why? They say: Allah is not described as the Knower for two reasons. The first reason is that knowledge (ma'rifah) encompasses both certainty and conjecture. Therefore, the scholars said in their definition of Islamic jurisprudence: "Knowledge of the rulings of the Shari'ah, whether by certainty or conjecture." Is conjecture permissible regarding Allah, or is it impossible? It is impossible.
The second reason is that knowledge (ma'rifah) is the removal of obscurity after it has existed, so knowledge would imply a prior state of ignorance, which is also not befitting for Allah (Mighty and Majestic). For this reason, the author of Mukhtasar al-Tahrir said, "And Allah is not described as the Knower." If someone asks, "What is the answer to the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): How many people have been saved from their hardship by nothing other than their knowledge of their Lord (the Exalted) in times of ease! And one whom we trust told us that in the era when goods were transported on camels, before the existence of cars, his journey was cut off in al-Dahna. Al-Dahna had no water at that time. He slept in a state of severe thirst and hunger, and he saw in a dream that a man came to him with a cup of milk, so he drank it. He woke up energetic, full, and satisfied. He said that the cup brought to him in the dream was like the cup with which he used to give water to an old woman who was one of our neighbors. Subhan Allah, he always says it is the same one. And this is the verification of the hadith: So the conclusion is that the knowledge (ma'rifah) in the hadith is not the knowledge that means certainty, but what is intended is its necessary consequence, that Allah shows mercy to him and reminds him until He removes his hardship.

The questioner : May Allah bless you. Why do we not call Allah al-Basit (The Expander) and call Allah al-Muhsin (The Doer of Good)?

The Shaykh : There is a hadith regarding al-Muhsin that Allah is al-Muhsin. Some scholars say it is not among the names of Allah, but rather a description, because it did not come with the definite article "al," so it is a description. But Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) counted it among the names and said: "Indeed, al-Muhsin is among the names of Allah." For this reason, the scholars approved it. So some of our ancestors were named 'Abd al-Muhsin, meaning that he (may Allah have mercy on him) saw it as one of the names, and people still say 'Abd al-Muhsin, 'Abd al-Bari, 'Abd al-Khaliq.