The second is that it is impossible to ascribe to Allah, Most High, the notion of something becoming apparent to Him after having been unknown to Him. One indication that the Torah has been corrupted is that it states that it occurred to God to create the heavens and the earth! For this reason, al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar went to the trouble of figuratively reinterpreting this objectionable statement, saying:

“It means that it was already known to Allah, and He willed to make it manifest. It does not mean that it became apparent to Him after having been hidden from Him, for that is impossible with regard to Allah, Most High. Muslim also transmitted it from Shayban ibn Farrukh, from Hammam, through this chain of transmission, with the wording: ‘Allah wished to test them.’ Perhaps the alteration came from the narrators.”

I say: We say to al-Hafiz: Keep your “perhaps” for yonder star! You already know that the two trustworthy narrators agreed upon the first wording: “Allah wished.” Thus, the contradiction of Abd Allah ibn Raja is, at the very least, outweighed—especially since al-Hafiz himself said in his entry on him in al-Taqrib:

“Truthful; he makes occasional errors.”

One of al-Hafiz’s remarkable statements—stemming from his Ash‘arism—is that he figuratively reinterpreted the first narration, after the foregoing words quoted from him, by saying:

“Moreover, there is a problem with the narration, since He has always been willing!”

I say: How I wish to know what al-Hafiz would say about the verses in which will is ascribed to Allah in the Noble Quran, such as His saying: “When Allah wills harm for a people, none can repel it,” and His saying: “So your Lord intended that they reach maturity and extract their treasure,” and the many similar verses! Would he say of them, as he said of the hadith: “There is a problem with them”?!

May Allah condemn speculative theology, which has driven leading scholars to make such statements! *