Do not say: What Allah wills and what so-and-so wills; rather say: What Allah wills then what so-and-so wills

Arabic text

عَنْ حُذَيْفَةَ رضي الله عنه أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ قَالَ: «لَا تَقُولُوا: مَا شَاءَ اللهُ وَشَاءَ فُلَانٌ، وَلَكِنْ قُولُوا: مَا شَاءَ اللهُ ثُمَّ شَاءَ فُلَانٌ».

Translation

Hudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Do not say: What Allah wills and what so-and-so wills; rather say: What Allah wills then what so-and-so wills."

Explanation

The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) forbids Muslims from saying: "What Allah wills and what so-and-so wills" in their speech, or saying: "What Allah wills and so-and-so". This is because Allah's will and determination are absolute and none shares them with Him. but using the conjunctive "and" denotes associating someone with Allah and regarding them as equals. However, one should say: What Allah wills, then what so-and-so wills; thus, making the slave's will subordinate to Allah's will by saying "then" instead of "and", since "then" denotes sequence with a gap in time between the two things in sequence.

Benefits

• The prohibition of saying: "What Allah wills and what you will" and similar phrases where the conjunctive "and" is used to join something with the name of Allah, as this is deemed from the verbal Shirk.
• The permissibility of saying: "What Allah wills, then what you will" and similar phrases where the conjunctive "then" is used to join something with the name of Allah, as this does not involve any prohibition.
• Establishing will for Allah and for the slave and the fact that the slave's will follows the will of Allah Almighty.
• The prohibition of associating partners to Allah in His will even verbally.
• If the sayer believes that the slave's will is equal to the will of Allah Almighty in terms of comprehensiveness and absoluteness, or believes that the slave has an independent will, then, this constitutes major Shirk (polytheism). However, if he believes that he comes in a lower rank, then, this is minor Shirk.

Topics

• The Creed
• Belief in Allah the Mighty and Majestic
• Oneness of Allah's Worship