Likewise, al-Ash'arī and his followers based their position on that principle, for all of these were Kullābīs who say:

“Allah has not spoken by His will and power; He does not become pleased with anyone after he believes, or angry with anyone after he disbelieves; nor does He rejoice in a person’s repentance after he repents.”

Thus, they agreed with the early generations that the Quran is the uncreated speech of Allah. They then said that it is eternal and that He did not speak it by His will and power. They subsequently disagreed about this eternal speech: is it a single meaning, or eternal letters despite their occurring in succession? Their views and those of others have been discussed at length elsewhere.

This later group objects to saying “with certainty” about anything. Their excessive use of the qualification “if Allah wills” has led them to reject this expression, even when they are certain of the substance of what they say. Thus, they firmly affirm that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah and that Allah is their Lord, yet they will not say “with certainty.” A group of them met with me, and I reproached them for this and refused to do what they requested until they said “with certainty.” They brought me a book containing hadiths claiming that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, forbade a person to say “with certainty.” These are fabricated, invented hadiths forged by some later individuals.

The point here is that, when qualifying one’s profession of faith with “if Allah wills” was justified on such grounds, some people extended that rationale to matters in which, by the consensus of the Muslims, such qualification is impermissible. They reasoned that, if Allah knows that things existing now will change their conditions, their present attributes should be qualified with “if Allah wills.” Thus, they say, “This is small, if Allah wills,” because Allah may make it large. They say, “This person is insane, if Allah wills,” because Allah may make him sane. And concerning an apostate they say: