Swearing by Allah without an oath and testifying that a specific person is in the Fire
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Question:
The questioner asks: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, does the category of swearing by Allah include the one who says what the man mentioned in the hadith said, but without making an oath?
Answer:
What? He means, for example, saying “May Allah not forgive so-and-so” without an oath. It is not permissible. Even specifying a person is not permissible; you cannot say “So-and-so is in the Fire,” because you do not know how his life will end. But you can say “The disbelievers are in the Fire and the Muslims are in Paradise” in a general sense. As for saying “So-and-so is in the Fire” or “So-and-so is in Paradise” without evidence, we do not testify for anyone except for those for whom the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) testified. Do we not assert this? Yes. And this does not prevent us from treating the disbeliever in this world as a disbeliever; we treat him as a disbeliever. But in the Hereafter, we do not assert his fate; we do not know how his life will end. In this world, we rule that he is a disbeliever based on his actions, words, and beliefs; we rule that he is a disbeliever. But his ultimate fate in the Hereafter, we refer to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), because we do not know how lives end. Yes.
Sahih Muslim 2643a. So the outcomes of affairs are in the hand of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Yes.
The questioner asks: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, does the category of swearing by Allah include the one who says what the man mentioned in the hadith said, but without making an oath?
Answer:
What? He means, for example, saying “May Allah not forgive so-and-so” without an oath. It is not permissible. Even specifying a person is not permissible; you cannot say “So-and-so is in the Fire,” because you do not know how his life will end. But you can say “The disbelievers are in the Fire and the Muslims are in Paradise” in a general sense. As for saying “So-and-so is in the Fire” or “So-and-so is in Paradise” without evidence, we do not testify for anyone except for those for whom the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) testified. Do we not assert this? Yes. And this does not prevent us from treating the disbeliever in this world as a disbeliever; we treat him as a disbeliever. But in the Hereafter, we do not assert his fate; we do not know how his life will end. In this world, we rule that he is a disbeliever based on his actions, words, and beliefs; we rule that he is a disbeliever. But his ultimate fate in the Hereafter, we refer to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), because we do not know how lives end. Yes.
that one amongst you acts like the people deserving Paradise until between him and Paradise there remains but the distance of a cubit, when suddenly the writing of destiny overcomes him and he begins to act like the denizens of Hell and thus enters Hell, and another one acts in the way of the denizens of Hell, until there remains between him and Hell a distance of a cubit that the writing of destiny overcomes him and then he begins to act like the people of Paradise and enters Paradise.
إن أحدكم ليعمل بعمل أهل الجنة كما يكون بينه وبينها إلا ذراع فيسبق عليه الكتاب فيعمل بعمل أهل النار فيدخلها وإن أحدكم ليعمل بعمل أهل النار حتى ما يكون بينه وبينها إلا ذراع فيسبق عليه الكتاب فيعمل بعمل أهل الجنة فيدخلها
Source
شرح قرة عيون الموحدين في تحقيق دعوة الأنبياء والمرسلين، باب ما جاء في الإقسام على الله إلى باب ما جاء في حماية النبي - صلى الله عليه وسلم - حمى التوحيد وسده طرق الشرك — islamhouse.com (58:25)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.