Is it permissible to make the supplication, "May Allah inquire about your condition"?
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The questioner : O Shaykh, may Allah reward you. Some people, when told that so-and-so is inquiring about you, say, "May Allah inquire about you." Is this like...?
The Shaykh : May Allah reward you. One must look at what people intend when they say, "May Allah inquire about your condition." Do they intend that Allah is ignorant and is searching? Or do they intend that Allah honors you as you honored him? As for the second, praise be to Allah, let people be left to their intention. But if we are in a place or time where they do not intend this meaning and it does not cross their minds, then we prohibit it here.
So the categories are three:
The first: that we know their intention is that Allah honors him. There is no doubt in the permissibility of this.
The second: that we know they believe that Allah is ignorant of the actions of the servants and is inquiring about them. This is forbidden and disbelief.
The third: that there is no custom or intention. We also prohibit this so that people do not fall into the most severe of the prohibited matters, which is claiming that Allah the Exalted is ignorant and needs us to inquire. The time is up.
The Shaykh : May Allah reward you. One must look at what people intend when they say, "May Allah inquire about your condition." Do they intend that Allah is ignorant and is searching? Or do they intend that Allah honors you as you honored him? As for the second, praise be to Allah, let people be left to their intention. But if we are in a place or time where they do not intend this meaning and it does not cross their minds, then we prohibit it here.
So the categories are three:
The first: that we know their intention is that Allah honors him. There is no doubt in the permissibility of this.
The second: that we know they believe that Allah is ignorant of the actions of the servants and is inquiring about them. This is forbidden and disbelief.
The third: that there is no custom or intention. We also prohibit this so that people do not fall into the most severe of the prohibited matters, which is claiming that Allah the Exalted is ignorant and needs us to inquire. The time is up.