Dear Good logic,
Greetings to you too.
Actually, you ask a very important question and a very popular one and thus I thank you for giving me another opportunity to discuss this briefly as I feel it is a common reason for many misunderstandings.
You are absolutely correct with your statement that
"GOD has asked us to ponder Qoran and reason by what is taught in it" and that is God willing, what we all must be prepared to do.
Thus, the first thing that is easily deduced from the Quran is the fact that God is
not part of His creation, nor is He comparable in any way with His creation. Arguably then, not being
restricted by His created realm, God is also thus
not subject to
time or space nor does He operate within the confines of his created realm
[1]. We (as created beings) are subject to 'linear' time and space,
and not God.Therefore, whether we make a prayer before one's death, or afterwards, for God, His knowledge of that prayer was not subject to the point at which the prayer was made.
To elaborate this concept of
linear time which
does not restrict God, I share a humble example.
When prophet Moses came with his people to a juncture where the seas needed to be parted (26:63), God knew that this situation would occur in advance and thus did not set the geology in motion at that particular point but arguably, allowed for nature to take its cause (possibly eons earlier) so that the net effect would occur at the point it needed to happen.
Furthermore, God does not force our choices either. Rather He has
knowledge of those choices due to His nature, such as His omnipotence and more importantly,
omnipresence (state of being everywhere at once). (2:115, 57:3; 6:103). Free will (the ability to make choices) and God's 'knowledge' of those choices are very different concepts and oft confused by many Muslims.
Similarly, if I pray for my deceased great-grandfather, the prayer
is known to God before He created the Universe. For God, prayer is not
'linear' in time. Time is
only linear for 'created' beings. Hence our prayer is heard by an entity that is not bound by our concept of time. Therefore, how our prayer will affect the deceased is beyond our knowledge.
Now in the little that I have written, I trust that both your kind self and other interested readers have captured a concept (if not appreciated already) that may God willing, provide a perspective of thought with regards questions such as you have asked in your last post, entitled 1-3.
I hope that helps, God willing.
Regards,
Joseph.
REFERENCES[1] TIME, SPACE AND DIVINE PRESENCEhttp://quransmessage.com/charts%20and%20illustrations/time%20and%20space/timespace%20FM2.htm