“Should one make this qualification when professing faith?”

He replied:

“Yes. I say, ‘I am a believer, if Allah wills.’ I make this qualification with certainty, not doubt.”

He then said:

“Allah says, ‘You will surely enter the Sacred Mosque, if Allah wills, in safety.’ Allah Most High has thus declared that they will enter the Sacred Mosque.”

Ahmad thus made clear in his statement that he makes this qualification while remaining certain of the faith he presently possesses: he affirms it with his tongue, and his heart has no doubt about it. He makes the qualification because deeds are part of faith, and he is not certain that he has performed them fully; rather, he doubts this. Thus, he denied doubt and affirmed certainty regarding what he knows with certainty about himself, while affirming doubt regarding what he does not know to be present. He explained that this qualification is recommended concerning the latter—what a person does not know whether he has fulfilled or not—and is also permissible concerning what he knows with certainty.

Thus, even if he made the qualification concerning the very faith present in his heart, it would be permissible, as in the Prophet’s words, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“By Allah, I do indeed hope to be the most fearful of Allah among you.”

This concerns something present, not future: his being the most fearful of Allah among us. He does not hope to become the most fearful of Allah among us; rather, he hopes that, at the time of making this statement, he is the most fearful of Allah among us. Similarly, when a believer performs a deed, he hopes that Allah has accepted it from him and fears that He has not accepted it from him.

As Allah Most High says:

“And those who give what they give while their hearts tremble, knowing that they will return to their Lord.”

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“It is the man who prays, fasts, and gives charity, yet fears that it will not be accepted from him.”

Acceptance is a present or past matter, yet he entertains both hope and fear concerning it. This is because, when something has a future outcome, whether praiseworthy or blameworthy, and a person considers it possible that it has or has not occurred, he may be said to hope for it or to fear it. Hope and fear thus relate to the present and the past because the desired or dreaded outcome lies in the future. He hopes that Allah has accepted his deed, so that He will reward him for it and show him mercy in the future. And he fears that He may not have