The ruling on saying, “You are in the face of Allah, then in my face”

Question:
It is common for the general public, when they bind themselves to fulfill a matter of importance, to say, "You are in the face of Allah, then in my face." What is the ruling on this statement?

Answer:
It is sufficient to say, "But..." Even saying "in the face of Allah" is not permissible. It is not permissible for a person to commit to the idea that these people are in the face of Allah. He is not allowed to commit in this way, just as mentioned at the end of the book *Tawhid*, where the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) instructed his commanders that if they besieged a fortress or asked them to surrender to the judgment of Allah, they should only make them surrender to their own judgment. This is because they do not know whether they will correctly apply the judgment of Allah to them or not.
That is, they say, “We will judge you by our ruling and our ijtihad (independent legal reasoning), but as for the ruling of Allah, we do not know what its share is, or whether it is included in our ijtihad.” So the bottom line is: he does not say to you, “You are in the face of Allah” or “You are in the face of Allah, then in my face.” He does not say that. Rather, he says, for example, “You are in the safety of Allah,” or “You are in my safety from Allah,” or “You are safe,” or something similar, like “Do not be afraid” or something similar. As for giving them the face of Allah, that is not done, because he may betray them in this, and he has given them the face of Allah. If he betrays them after having given them the face of Allah, he has diminished Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . His saying, “You are in the face of Allah, then in my face,” means that he has given them the guarantee of Allah. If he betrays them, it means that he has betrayed Allah (Mighty and Majestic).