What is the meaning of the prohibition against saying: “O Allah, forgive me if You will”?

The questioner : The question is on the paper. Honorable Shaykh, peace be upon you and Allah’s mercy and blessings.

The Shaykh : Peace, and the mercy and blessings of Allah, be upon you.

The questioner : I hope you will clarify the meaning of “there is no compeller for Allah” in the hadith of supplication, , “O Allah, have mercy on me if You will.” How do you reconcile this with the hadith?

The Shaykh : “and the veins were pierced and the medicine took effect, if Allah wills,” and may Allah reward you with good. Yes. The authentic hadith is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said , and in another wording “He gives it to him.” Consider this formulation: “O Allah, forgive me if You will.”
It evokes corrupt meanings, among which is that it makes it seem as if the supplicant thinks someone is compelling Allah, saying, “If You will, agree with the one who compelled You and forgive me and have mercy on me; if not, then not.” It also testifies to the other meaning that Allah’s forgiveness for you and His mercy toward you is a great matter. A great matter that Allah does not consider too great to give, for He said, “Indeed, Allah does not consider it too great to give.” It is as if you asked a person from among the people, “Give me a million riyals if you will.” Does the million seem too great to him or not? Tell me, he would give it to you easily, yes? There is no doubt it seems too great, so you say “if Allah wills” because the matter is great with him. It also carries an empty meaning.
That is that the person who says to someone, “Give me such-and-such if you will,” this expression makes it seem that the supplicant is independent of the giver’s gift, saying, “If you will, give it to me, and if not, I do not care?” Is that not so? Yes, for this reason the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited saying “O Allah, forgive me if You will” or “O Allah, have mercy on me if You will.” Rather, you should be cautious with “if You will.” You say, “O Allah, forgive me,” “O Allah, have mercy on me.”
As for the phrase “if Allah wills,” it is lighter in impact than saying “if You will,” because the one saying it may only intend thereby to seek blessing, not pure conditionality. For this reason, the one who says “O Allah, forgive me if Allah wills” or “I ask Allah to forgive me if Allah wills” is in a lighter position than the one who says “O Allah, forgive me if You will” or “O Allah, have mercy on me if You will.” On this basis, the way to reconcile the two is that the expression “if Allah wills” is lighter than the expression “if You will.” However, this is answered by the fact that it implies that saying “if Allah wills” is prohibited, though less so than saying “if You will.” How can it be prohibited when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said it? He said it in this hadith that the questioner referred to, even though there is a consideration regarding its authenticity. He also said it in the authentic hadith that when he visited a sick person, . And although this phrase is declarative, its meaning is a request and an act of creation, and the answer to that is:
Either we say that this expression is a declarative sentence based on hope, not on request, meaning, “I hope that it will be pure and that there will be no harm from the illness,” and “I hope that the reward will be established as the piercing of the veins and the quenching of thirst were established.”