The Meaning of the Prohibition of Saying: “O Allah, forgive me if You will”

The questioner : Our Shaykh, if you please, it is common, especially in conversation between people, to make du'a for one another. For example, they say: “May Allah forgive us, if Allah wills,” or “May Allah have mercy on us, if Allah wills.” I would like you to draw attention to this. May Allah reward you with good. Please clarify for us the meaning of the hadith regarding the prohibition of a person saying, “O Allah, forgive me if You will.” May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : No. I am now trying to relax and for you to benefit.Those present : In your home and your gathering, you should not. No, no, allow me, because the issue does not require much attention to the matter, as it is clear, and you will be recorded as having conveyed the call to Islam.

The questioner : I want to know what you have regarding the meaning of the hadith.

The Shaykh : If something is unclear to you, we will cooperate with you, we will cooperate with you.

The questioner : The truth is, my request is for an explanation of the hadith, perhaps in your explanation of the hadith, the difficulty will be resolved for me.

The Shaykh : This is what I have; nothing is abnormal. If you have a difficulty, what is the difficulty?

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good. I wanted to draw attention to what happens, first, among many of the brothers, like what came from some of our brothers here in their du'a for you, where they included “if Allah wills.” And I think this happened, meaning...

The Shaykh : Dwell on this point so that it is firmly established in the mind and in the memory, then bring what you have of difficulty after that.

The questioner : We learned from you, may Allah reward you with good. Now, a person in his etiquette with his Lord, Blessed and Exalted is He, in du'a, should not condition Allah, the Exalted and Sublime. He says: “O Allah, have mercy on us,” “O Allah, turn to us in mercy,” or the like, without conditioning Allah, the Exalted and Sublime. He does not say: “O Allah, have mercy on us if You will,” “May Allah have mercy on us if He wills,” or the like. For Allah, the Exalted and Sublime, has no one who compels Him. So conditioning contains a type of, it appears, bad etiquette with Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. This is what appears. If you have something.

The Shaykh : The Exalted and Sublime, no doubt. So what is the difficulty?

The questioner : Now, if the hadith regarding du'a is authentic, where it says: “O Allah, there is no ease except what You have made easy, for You are the One who makes grief, if You will, easy,” we say, if this is authentic, is there a contradiction?

The Shaykh : It is correct.

The questioner : It is correct.

The Shaykh : Yes, indeed.

The questioner : Is there a contradiction here between “O Allah, there is no ease except what You have made easy, for You are the One who makes grief, if You will, easy”?

The Shaykh : There is no contradiction. This is like many verses that come regarding entering Paradise, “except what Allah wills.” So this attributes the will to Allah, because if He wills, He makes grief easy. But he does not make a du'a saying, “If You will, forgive me,” “If You will.” There is a difference between informing about Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, that He is the Doer of what He wills, and when one makes a request to Allah, that Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, couples this request with the phrase “if You will.” Because the hadith, as I mentioned, focused on the servant asking his Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, and in this case, not to say “If You will, forgive me,” or “Provide for me,” or the like. “O Allah, there is no ease except what You have made easy, and You make grief, if You will, easy” does not appear to be of the type that contradicts the first hadith at all.

The questioner : And even if it contains a du'a, it is an informing. May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : And you are like that.

The questioner : Our Shaykh, do you see the Farewell Tawaf for one who is not performing Hajj?

The Shaykh : No.

The questioner : You do not see it.

The questioner : Do you know anyone who conditioned purity for Sa'y?

The Shaykh : I do not recall the number of schools of jurisprudence right now, but the hadith on the matter is sufficient.

The questioner : And he

The Shaykh: .

The questioner : Yes, and is Sa'y called Tawaf?

The Shaykh : That is how I see it.
Al-Halabi : Our Shaykh, in the issue of the Farewell Tawaf, if some people bring to us the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), “Let your last farewell to the House be Tawaf,” the answer to it would be with the principle you always remind us of, which is the issue of the understanding and application of this generality by the Salaf. Then another thing is that this hadith was reported in the mention of Hajj without 'Umrah, or is there something else?

The Shaykh : No, it is for the Salaf reported here; because it is not the custom that everyone who performs 'Umrah makes his last farewell to the House Tawaf. As for the text from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), it is not except specific to Hajj, not in wording but in expression: “Let it be that the last farewell of any of you to the House is Tawaf,” because such an address is usually in Hajj. And it came in a narration mentioning 'Umrah with Hajj. And if this were authentic, it would be a decisive proof against the disagreement in the issue. But the addition of 'Umrah with Hajj in this hadith is a denounced addition. Therefore, I mentioned the hadith with this addition in Da'if al-Jami' al-Saghir.
Al-Halabi : May Allah reward you with good, O Professor.

The Shaykh : And you as well.