He should then be told: “It is certainly a tree now.” But if you say that it has changed, this is like a human being who is first a drop of fluid, then a clinging clot, then a morsel of flesh, then flesh, and then comes to life. Once the spirit has been breathed into him, he is certainly alive; and if Allah wills to cause him to die, He does so. Allah’s ability to transform His creatures from one state to another does not prevent them from actually being, at any given time, in the state in which He has created them. The sky is the sky by Allah’s will, power, and creation; a human being is a human being by Allah’s will, power, and creation; and a horse is a horse by Allah’s will, power, and creation. If Allah wills to change whatever He wishes, He changes it through His will—if He so wills—His power, and His creation.

Neither the Quran nor the Sunnah uses the qualification “if Allah wills” concerning the past, but rather concerning the future, as in His words:

“Never say of anything, ‘I will do that tomorrow,’ unless you add, ‘If Allah wills.’”

And His words:

“You will surely enter the Sacred Mosque, if Allah wills.”

And the words of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“And we, if Allah wills, will join you.”

He also said:

“Solomon said, ‘Tonight I shall go in to seventy women, each of whom will bear a horseman who will fight in Allah’s cause.’ His companion told him, ‘Say: “If Allah wills,”’ but he did not say it. Only one of them gave birth, and she bore half a child.” He said: “Had he said, ‘If Allah wills,’ they would all have fought as horsemen in Allah’s cause.”

He also said, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“Whoever swears an oath and says, ‘If Allah wills,’ may do it if he wishes, or refrain if he wishes.”

This is because a person swears an oath concerning the future: that he or someone else will do something, or that he or someone else will not do something. He therefore says, “If Allah wills,” because whatever Allah wills happens, and whatever He does not will does not happen. If the act occurs, Allah has willed it, so the person has not broken his oath. If it does not occur, Allah has not willed it, so the person has not broken his oath. This is because he only committed himself to it if Allah willed it. Thus, if Allah does not will it, he has not committed himself to it and does not break his oath.