Note: His statement, “But I have power over whatever I will”—or, “But I am fully able to do whatever I will”—proves that it is permissible to use the expression: “Indeed, Allah Most High has power over whatever He wills.” I had previously hesitated over this expression when, in commenting on al-Ṭaḥāwī’s statement in al-ʿAqīdah (p. 20), “That is because He has power over all things,” I cited a remark by Shaykh Ibn Māniʿ—may Allah have mercy on him—to the effect that this was incorrect, and that the correct wording is that found in the Quran and the sunnah: “And He has power over all things,” because of the all-encompassing nature of Allah’s will and power—end of his remarks.

Later, however, I came across this expression in this hadith in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim. Influenced by the Shaykh’s remarks, I feared that it might be an anomalous wording in the hadith, or an error on the part of one of its narrators. I therefore waited until I could trace its sources and examine its chain of transmission and narrators.

Then, on one of the nights at the beginning of the month of Dhū al-Ḥijjah, I delivered a talk in one of the camps in Amman on the obligation to return to the Quran and the sunnah according to the methodology of the righteous predecessors, and on the obligation to couple this with action. When I had finished, we opened the floor for questions. One of the brothers present—who appeared to possess a degree of knowledge and learning—asked about this expression, referring to my aforementioned comment on al-ʿAqīdah al-Ṭaḥāwiyyah. May Allah reward him, he cited the verse: “And He has power, whenever He wills, to gather them together” [al-Shūrā 42:29].

I replied that the hadith required source-tracing and verification, pointing out that its original wording might possibly have been, “And I have power over all things,” or something similar. I then promptly traced the hadith and found that the narrators reporting from Ḥammād ibn Salamah were unanimous upon the wording cited above.

I then continued my research and investigation, and found another route for the hadith from Ibn Masʿūd. It is transmitted by Yazīd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Abū Khālid al-Dālānī: al-Minhal ibn ʿAmr narrated to us, from Abū ʿUbaydah, from Masrūq, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd, in a very lengthy report attributed to the Prophet, but with the wording:

“But I have power over that.”