On saying: “If only such and such…”
Allah the Most Exalted said:
“They say: ‘If we had anything to do with the affair, none of us would have been killed here.” (3: 154)
The Almighty Allah said:
“(They are) the ones who said about their killed brethren while they themselves sat (at home): ‘If only they had listened to us, they would not have been killed.” (3: 168)
It is narrated in Sahih (Muslim) from Abu Hurairah (R.A.) the Allah’s Messenger (SAW) said:
“Seek carefully what benefits you (in the Hereafter) and seek help only from Allah and neither lose heart. If any adversity (misfortune) comes to you don’t say: ‘If I had only acted in such and such way, it would have been such and such’ but instead say: ‘Allah has decreed it and what He willed is done.’ Verily ‘If opens the way for the work of Satan.”
Important issues of Chapter
1) Explanation of the two verses in Al-Imran (3: 154 and 3: 168).
2) Clear forbiddance of saying ‘If’ when something adverse happens to you.
3) The reason being that to do so opens the way for the work of Satan.
4) Guidance to the best speech.
5) The exhortation to do good deeds which are beneficial (in the Hereafter) while seeking help only from Allah.
6) Doing the opposite (i.e. seeking help from other than Allah) is prohibited, which is weakness.