The ruling on saying: "If I had done such and such, it would have been such and such"
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Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. The questioner asks about the saying "If I had done such and such, it would have been such and such." Is this minor shirk (associating partners with Allah) and an objection to the divine decree and destiny?
Answer:
The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade this. He said (peace and blessings be upon him):Sunan Ibn Majah 4168Sahih (Darussalam). He said at the beginning of the hadith: Sahih Muslim 2664. If you were to open the door to Satan's work, do not say "if." The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade saying "if." Is this not impermissible? Because you open the door for Satan's whispers to the person, and the person regrets that he missed this thing because he did not do such and such. This means a lack of faith in the divine decree and destiny.
Or a weakness of faith in the divine decree and destiny. If something is missed from you, say: "This is the decree of Allah and His destiny. If Allah had decreed it for me, it would have happened. The fact that it was missed is proof that Allah did not decree it for me, and praise be to Allah, I am content with the decree of Allah. And you do not know what is better; perhaps the good is in the fact that I did not obtain it." And this is minor shirk (associating partners with Allah) without doubt, it is minor shirk, yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. The questioner asks about the saying "If I had done such and such, it would have been such and such." Is this minor shirk (associating partners with Allah) and an objection to the divine decree and destiny?
Answer:
The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade this. He said (peace and blessings be upon him):
Strive to seek that which will benefit you
احرص على ما ينفعكA strong believer is better and is more lovable to Allah than a weak believer, and there is good in everyone, (but) cherish that which gives you benefit (in the Hereafter) and seek help from Allah and do not lose heart, and if anything (in the form of trouble) comes to you, don't say: If I had not done that, it would not have happened so and so, but say: Allah did that
المؤمن القوي خير وأحب إلى الله من المؤمن الضعيف، وفي كل خير، احرص على ما ينفعك، واستعن بالله، ولا تعجزن، فإن أصابك شيء فلا تقل لو أني فعلت كذا لكان كذا وكذا، ولكن قل قدر اللهOr a weakness of faith in the divine decree and destiny. If something is missed from you, say: "This is the decree of Allah and His destiny. If Allah had decreed it for me, it would have happened. The fact that it was missed is proof that Allah did not decree it for me, and praise be to Allah, I am content with the decree of Allah. And you do not know what is better; perhaps the good is in the fact that I did not obtain it." And this is minor shirk (associating partners with Allah) without doubt, it is minor shirk, yes.
Source
شرح قرة عيون الموحدين [3] — alfawzan.live (46:08)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.