A man may also say, “By Allah, such-and-such will certainly happen, if Allah wills,” while being certain that it will happen. What is made conditional is the action itself, as in His words:

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

Allah knows that they will enter it. A person may also say, “I will certainly do such-and-such, if Allah wills,” without being certain that it will happen, but hoping that it will. Thus he says, “It will happen, if Allah wills.” His resolve to do it may be firm, although he is not certain that what he has resolved upon will occur. His resolve may also be hesitant and itself conditional upon Allah’s will. Yet whenever the intended action is conditional, the continuation of the resolve must also be conditional. For, on this assumption, the resolve is conditional in such a case, whether at its inception or in its continuation. Hence, a man who makes his pronouncement of divorce conditional does not break his oath. The particle in (“if”) does not preserve the resolve; thus, when it precedes a past-tense verb, that verb necessarily takes on a future meaning. You say, “If Zayd comes, it will be so.”

“If they believe in the same as you believe in, then they are rightly guided; but if they turn away, they are only in dissension.”

When the past is intended, the particle in (“if”) is used, as in His words:

“If you love Allah, then follow me.”

A distinction is therefore made between saying, “I am a believer, if Allah wills,” and saying, “If Allah has willed my faith.”

The same applies if what he means is, “I do not know in what state my life will end.” It was said to Ibn Mas'ūd, “So-and-so testifies that he is a believer.” He replied, “Then let him testify that he is among the people of Paradise.” What he meant was this: to testify that one is a believer in Allah’s sight is to testify that one will die in faith. The same applies if he means, “My faith has come about through Allah’s will.” As for someone who does not add this qualification and says, “I do not doubt the faith in my heart,” there is no blame upon him if