Saying “What an irony of fate!” is prohibited.

20-7-2011 | IslamWeb

Question:

Is it permissible to say “What an irony of fate!”?
Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu 'alyhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

 

This expression is impermissible to utter for two reasons:

 

1-      It indicates discontent with fate and Divine Decree while the Muslim is required to be content with what Allaah The Almighty has destined, be it sweet or bitter. Anas ibn Maalik may Allaah be pleased with him reported that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam , said: “The more severe the trial the greater the reward. When Allaah loves a people, He tests them; whoever is content  is granted the pleasure (of Allaah) and whoever is discontent is granted the discontentment (of Allaah).” [Ibn Maajah and At-Tirmithi: Hasan Ghareeb (Fair), Al-Albaani: Hasan (Sound)]

 

2-      This expression implies attributing matters to irony to fate, and this is prohibited. Shaykh Bakr Abu Zayd may Allaah have mercy upon him said,

It is impermissible to say, “The wisdom of Allaah The Almighty willed…”, “The power of Allaah The Almighty willed…”, “Fate willed…” or “The protection of Allaah The Almighty willed…” as well as other similar phrases where the verb is attributed to the attributes of Allaah The Almighty; rather, one should say, “Allaah The Almighty willed…” or “The wisdom and protection of Allaah The Almighty entailed such and such.”

 

Consequently, using such expressions is impermissible, because Allaah The Almighty is the One who wills, rather than His wisdom, and He is the One who judges, rather than His will, and so on. Wisdom and will are among the attributes of Allaah The Almighty and actions should be attributed to their doer rather than to his attributes.

 

Note: It is impermissible to attribute being ironic or ridiculing others to Allaah The Exalted, in spite of the fact that He describes Himself as doing so; Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {Those who criticize the contributors among the believers concerning [their] charities and [criticize] the ones who find nothing [to spend] except their effort, so they ridicule them - Allaah will ridicule them, and they will have a painful punishment.} [Quran 9:79]

 

Shaykh  Haafith Ahmad Al-Hakami may Allaah have mercy upon him said,

 

One should know that Allaah The Almighty attributes some acts to Himself in the Quran in the context of recompense, justice and retribution, and they denote perfection and praise in their contexts. Nevertheless, it is prohibited for one to derive names for Allaah The Almighty from such acts, which should be used only in their original contexts, such as the verse in which Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {Indeed, the hypocrites [think to] deceive Allaah, but He is deceiving them.} [Quran 4:142]

 

This also applies to the mentioned verse of Soorat At-Tawbah [9:79]

 

Allaah Knows best.

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