A Critical Study of the prima facie Contradiction between Divine Foreknowledge and the Narration “knower when nothing known there was” in the light of Transcendent Theosophy

God’s foreknowledge of creature is one of the philosophical and theological concerns. It has always been drawing the attention of theologians and scholars. Since a reasonable and due explanation of the issue demands close rational scrutiny, not all have been able to acquire sound understanding of it. Some went to deny it and some despite their belief in it failed to come up with a reasonable justification for it. The main problem is that viewing the binary relation between the knower and what is known, every knowledge of the knower demands something known; so, were the knowledge of a knower actual, then the known thing had to be there in actu. In the case of divine foreknowledge, how is it possible for things, which had not been created yet, to be known by divine foreknowledge? Nonetheless, such foreknowledge before the creation of creatures is mentioned and emphasized in various phrases in the Islamic sources such as a narration from Imam Sadiq (PBUH) who said about God Almighty: “He was knower when there was no creature”. Since there is no contradiction between faith and reason, there must be a reasonable and acceptable explanation for divine foreknowledge. In their article, the authors having adopted an intellectual-analytic method, try to demonstrate that God is the highest being with the perfections of all contingent beings. In their demonstration, they have made use of principles of transcendent theosophy such as “simple in nature” and “the union of the intellect, the intelligent, and the intelligible”. It is thus known that the object of divine foreknowledge must be there in the very divine Essence. As a result, the divine foreknowledge of creatures before their creation goes justified.