the Prophet ﷺ and the Muslims for marching out to confront the enemy. Allah answered them, saying: “Say, ‘Even if you had stayed in your homes, those for whom killing had been decreed would still have gone forth to the very places where they were destined to fall.’” ⦗1⦘ In other words, this is a fixed decree from Allah that must come to pass; hiding in one’s house and fretting will not avert it. To say law (“if”) after a calamity has struck brings nothing but remorse, grief, self-torment, and weakness, while also undermining one’s creed by hinting at a refusal to submit to the divine decree.

The Almighty then recounted another statement of those hypocrites: “Those who said to their brothers, while they themselves stayed behind, ‘Had they obeyed us, they would not have been killed.’” ⦗2⦘ This too was voiced by some hypocrites on the Day of Uhud—reportedly by ʿAbd Allah ibn Ubayy—who challenged the decree, claiming: “Had they heeded our advice to stay back and not go out, they would not have been killed alongside the others.” Allah refuted them, saying: “Say, ‘Then ward off death from yourselves.’” ⦗3⦘ Meaning: if remaining behind truly spares a person from being killed or from dying, then you ought never to die; yet death is certain to reach you wherever you may be—so repel it from yourselves if you are truthful in claiming that whoever obeys you is safe from being killed.

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, after mentioning this remark of Ibn Ubayy, said: “When he withdrew on the Day of Uhud, saying, ‘He dismisses my view and the view of others and follows the opinion of the youngsters’—or words to that effect—many people withdrew with him, a good number of whom had shown no hypocrisy before. Those individuals were Muslims who possessed faith—the light to which Allah gives the parable. Had they died before that trial and before falling into hypocrisy, they would have died upon Islam. Yet they were neither among the true believers who were tested and remained steadfast, nor among the hypocrites who renounced faith when the trial came…” End quote.

The upshot is that constantly uttering the word “if” in the face of calamities is a hallmark of