The Meaning of the Hadith: “If I Had Said Yes, It Would Have Been Obligatory”
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. A questioner says: Regarding the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) when the man asked him, “Every year, O Messenger of Allah?”Sunan an-Nasa'i 2620Sahih (Darussalam). Does this mean that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) may legislate on his own? Or must he wait for the revelation?
Answer:
We ask Allah for well-being. He legislated on his own; he is a messenger conveying from Allah (Mighty and Majestic),[An-Najm 53:3-4]. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. A questioner says: Regarding the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) when the man asked him, “Every year, O Messenger of Allah?”
If I said yes, it would become obligatory
قال لو قلت نعم لوجبتAnswer:
We ask Allah for well-being. He legislated on his own; he is a messenger conveying from Allah (Mighty and Majestic),
(3) Nor does he speak from [his own] inclination. (4) It is not but a revelation revealed,
وَمَا يَنطِقُ عَنِ الْهَوَىٰ إِنْ هُوَ إِلَّا وَحْيٌ يُوحَىٰ
Source
شرح كتاب المنتقى من أخبار المصطفى صلى الله عليه وسلم، أول كتاب المناسك — islamhouse.com (53:20)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.