Explanation of the issue that it is permissible to say, "I am a believer, if Allah wills"

The Shaykh : That is, arising from this disagreement over the term for faith, another disagreement arose: is faith capable of increase and decrease, or is it not capable of increase and decrease? The answer is that the hadiths, some of which we mentioned earlier, are explicit that faith is capable of increase and decrease. The authentic hadith is sufficient, and in another narration it is . Among them is removing harm from the path, and among them is that modesty is part of faith. If faith is capable of increase, it is capable of decrease. It is known from those verses and hadiths that the source of increase is righteous deeds; the cause and source of increase in faith is righteous deeds. Conversely, evil deeds are a cause for the decrease of faith. Arising from this legal reality—that faith increases and decreases—another disagreement arose: is it permissible for a Muslim to say, "I am a believer, if Allah wills," or is it not permissible? There are also two opinions on this issue, and these two opinions branch from the two previous opinions. Their explanation is as follows: The one who says it is not permissible for a believer to say, "I am a believer, if Allah wills," does so because he believes that righteous deeds have no connection to faith; that it is merely affirmation with the tongue and belief in the heart. Here, there is no room to link this faith, of which he speaks, to the will of Allah the Exalted and Majestic, because qualifying the matter with the will implies that he is in doubt about what he is saying. This is the reasoning of those who say it is not permissible to make an exception in faith; it is not permissible for a Muslim to say, "I am a believer, if Allah wills." As for the reasoning of those who say it is permissible, it is very clear: since he believes that the completion of faith includes righteous deeds, there is no doubt that a Muslim, however righteous he is and however extensive his righteous deeds, is in a state of deficiency, without doubt and without exception, because perfection belongs to Allah the Exalted and Majestic. Therefore, it is not strange that it is authentically reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said, and in another narration, . The reason for this is the feeling of the Messenger (peace be upon him), who is the master of mankind, that he is shortcoming in drawing near to Allah Blessed and Exalted is He. If this is the position of the best of all humans, what is the position of other humans? Why is it not permissible for them to say, or for each of them to say, "I am a believer, if Allah wills"? Look at, for example, His saying when He praises the believers: and so on. So when a Muslim says, "I am a believer, if Allah wills," it means that he testifies to himself that these descriptions mentioned in these verses, and in other verses, and in other authentic hadiths from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), have become true and applicable to him. He (peace be upon him) said in the authentic hadith: . So this person is not a believer, meaning he is not a complete believer. The hadiths are many, and very many, such as his saying (peace be upon him): . The hadiths in this area are numerous and very, very numerous. So the sincere believer with Allah Blessed and Exalted is He should not say, "I am a believer," because he testifies to himself that he is a complete believer, and there is no completeness there, because it is not easy, and indeed not possible, for a Muslim to encompass all righteous deeds. So the believer remains deficient in his deeds. On this basis, the majority of scholars said that if a believer is asked, "Are you a believer?" he should say, "I am a believer, if Allah wills." He says, "I am a believer," fearing that he is shortcoming, first in a shortcoming for which he will be held accountable on the Day of Resurrection, meaning he deserves punishment for it. And secondly, this is first and last, and this must occur even in the most perfect of people, as we indicated earlier, that he is shortcoming in the worship of Allah the Exalted and Majestic after fulfilling what Allah Blessed and Exalted is He has obligated upon him. So this is the second disagreement that arose from the first disagreement: does a Muslim say, "I am a Muslim, if Allah wills," or does he not say it? As you heard, there are two opinions. Did the disagreement stop at these two matters, or did the disagreement enter into what they call the branches?