Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. To proceed:
There are two aspects to the divine will: the will is ancient in terms of its kind, while individual wills related to particular things are renewed at their appointed times. Allah has never ceased to will, so when He decrees and records something, He knows that it will occur at its appointed time; then, when the time for its occurrence arrives, He wills to bring it into existence and creates it.
Allah has never ceased to will, but this does not mean that every particular thing is actually willed by Him in the sense of being brought into existence eternally.
When Allah knows a thing, decrees it, and records it, He wills that it occur in the future, but He does not will its actual existence at a time before its appointed time.
When the time Allah has decreed for that thing to exist arrives, His will becomes related to it in the sense of bringing it into existence, and it occurs as He wills.
Allah تعالى says:
{His command, when He intends a thing, is only that He says to it, “Be,” and it is.} [Yasin: 82]
And He says:
{So your Lord intended that they should reach maturity and extract their treasure.} [Al-Kahf: 82]
And He says:
{Say, “Have you considered what you invoke besides Allah? If Allah intended harm for me, could they remove His harm? Or if He intended mercy for me, could they withhold His mercy?”} [Az-Zumar: 38]
Thus, the will related to a particular thing when it is brought into existence occurs when that thing takes place.
If it were said that Allah’s will concerning particular things is only an eternal will, without a renewed will when each thing occurs, this would lead to one of two conclusions:
The particular thing would have to exist eternally, which is false, because created things have specific times at which they come into existence.
Or the thing would come into existence at the time it did without anything specifying that particular time, meaning that its existence at that time rather than another would have no determiner.
For this reason, scholars discussed the issue of how the will relates to particular things. They explained that saying only that the relation is renewed does not resolve the problem if this relation is considered something existent, because this would then entail that something originated occurs in the divine attribute. But if the relation is said to be something non-existent or merely conceptual, then nothing has occurred that specifies the existence of the created thing at its particular time.
Ar-Razi discussed this issue and explained that if the eternal will is related to preferring the existence of something at a particular time, then this relation does not remain exactly the same after the intended thing has actually come into existence, because preferring the occurrence of something that has already occurred is not the same as the prior preference.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, mentioned several positions held by scholars concerning this issue, including:
The view that the will is one eternal will, and only its relation and attachment to the things willed are renewed. This was the view of Ibn Kullab, al-Ash‘ari, and those who agreed with them.
The view that there is an eternal will together with newly occurring wills when actions are renewed, as attributed to al-Karramiyyah and others.
The view of the Jahmiyyah and Mu‘tazilah, who denied that will exists in Allah in the manner affirmed by Ahl as-Sunnah.
The view that Allah has always been willing through successive wills: the kind of will is eternal, while the will concerning a particular thing occurs at its appointed time.
Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, explained that Allah decrees and records things and then creates them. When He decrees them, He knows what He will do and wills that He will do it at the future time, but He does not will its actual occurrence at a time before its appointed time.
When that time arrives, the will becomes related to the particular action, and the action occurs as Allah decreed.
No. Saying that the will related to actions is renewed does not necessarily imply deficiency or change in Allah Himself. Rather, what is meant is that Allah, Glorified and Exalted, does whatever He wills, whenever He wills, and that His actions related to created things occur one after another according to His wisdom and will.
Just as He creates one creation after another and speaks one speech after another, His actions and wills related to particular things occur according to their appointed times.
The conclusion is that Allah knows a thing before it exists, decrees and records it, and wills that it occur at the time He has decreed for it. When that time arrives, He wills to bring it into existence, and creates it as He wills.
The will is related to what Allah already knows. He knows the thing before it exists and knows its attributes and details; then His will is related to what He has chosen to bring into existence at its appointed time.
For this reason, Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, said at the conclusion of his discussion of this issue:
“The will follows knowledge.”
The precedence of knowledge and writing does not mean that the particular thing exists eternally or that the will to bring it into existence is related to it in the same manner eternally. Rather, it means that Allah knew it, decreed it, recorded its occurrence, and knew when it would occur. Then, when its appointed time arrives, His will becomes related to bringing it into existence, and it occurs according to His decree.
Allah has never ceased to will; the kind of will is eternal, while the will concerning a particular thing is renewed when the time comes for it to be brought into existence.
The precedence of knowledge and writing does not mean that the action occurs eternally, nor that the will to actually bring it into existence is related to it in the same manner from eternity. Rather, Allah knew what would occur, decreed it, recorded it, and willed that it occur at its appointed time. When that time arrives, He wills to bring it into existence and creates it.
Therefore, there is no contradiction between Allah having always been willing and His will related to particular things being renewed when their appointed times of occurrence arrive.
And Allah knows best.