Woe to the Antagonist, and Declaring Oneself a Believer

Finally, he says: fa-waylun li-man ṣāra li-Llāhi taʿālā fī al-qadari khaṣīmā, wa aḥḍara li-l-naẓari fīhi qalban saqīmā, laqad iltamasa bi-wahmihi fī faḥṣi al-ghaybi sirran katīmā, wa ʿāda bi-mā qāla fīhi affākan athīmā. Again, simply beautiful prose.

So woe to whomever, on account of the decree, becomes an antagonist with God.

Basically, this is saying that because of the decree, or in regard to the decree, such a person becomes a challenger to Allah, claiming that he is going to find it out, or that he already knows. That is a challenger. A khaṣīm is somebody who is a competitor, somebody who is one's opponent. Woe to such a person.

In his desire to plumb its depths, he summons a morbid heart. In his delusion, he seeks a secret concealed in the unseen, only to end up, in whatever he says concerning it, a wicked forger of lies.

Then Imam al-Ṭaḥāwī begins to speak about the ʿArsh and the Kursī, and other easy matters. But a few more points on this come first.

There is a whole discussion among the ʿulamāʾ here. Because Allah knows from before who is going to be shaqī or saʿīd (though we do not know until we die, and our death is when things will become real and apparent), there is a debate among the ʿulamāʾ: can a person declare that he is a believer? Because nobody really knows what is going to happen at the end. Between the Ashʿarīs and the Māturīdīs, this is a big debate. Some say that one has to say ana muʾmin in shāʾ Allāh. Some say: no, you can say ana muʾmin; you are a muʾmin right now, so be optimistic, and say ana muʾmin. No, no, say the others: you do not know, so you have to say ana muʾmin in shāʾ Allāh. There is that debate as well. Its depths are not gone into here.

But then there is also another discussion. Take ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with him), for example: he was destined to be saʿīd, destined to be the Amīr al-Muʾminīn, beloved of Allah (swt) and His Messenger; but initially he did not start off that way. So there is a whole discussion about whether he was always beloved of Allah, or only became beloved afterwards. Obviously, for Allah (swt), it is the last point that counts.