it indicates neither ordering nor direct consequence; and equating a creature with the Creator is polytheism. The Messenger ﷺ did, however, allow a creature to be linked to the Creator with thumma (then), because that conjunction implies a delay, making what follows it subsidiary to what precedes it, and thus unobjectionable. The report transmitted from al-Nakhaʿī conveys the very same meaning as the ḥadīth.

This ruling—seeking protection in a created being—applies solely to living creatures who possess the ability to act; it does not extend to the dead or to those who are powerless, for nothing may be ascribed to them.

Relevance of the ḥadīth and the athar to this chapter: both indicate the prohibition of saying, “Whatever Allah wills and whatever so-and-so wills,” and the like, because such expressions amount to adopting rivals to Allah—exactly what the verse cited at the beginning of the chapter forbids, as Ibn ʿAbbās explained.

Benefits derived from the ḥadīth:

1. The prohibition of saying, “Whatever Allah wills and you will,” or any similar wording in which the conjunction wāw links a created being to Allah, for that constitutes setting up partners with Him.
2. The permissibility of saying, “Whatever Allah wills, then you will,” and similar phrases that employ thumma, since the objectionable equivalence is absent.
3. Affirmation of Allah’s will and of the servant’s will, with the latter remaining subordinate to the former.