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Can a man say "In sha' Allah" after a long time of forgetting?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

There are two interpretations of "and remember your Lord when you have forgotten." The first relates to what precedes it, meaning that if you forget to say "in shaa Allah" (God willing) when promising to do something in the future, then say it whenever you remember. This is the more apparent view and the opinion of the majority. The second is that it does not relate to what precedes it, meaning that if forgetfulness afflicts you, then remember Allah, because forgetfulness is from Satan, and the remembrance of Allah expels him.

What is popularly attributed to Ibn Abbas regarding the validity of delaying the exception "in shaa Allah" for a long period is incorrect, for the exception is only valid when it is immediately connected to that from which it is an exception. The intent of Ibn Abbas's statement is that forgetting to qualify with Allah's will necessitates repentance and remembering it whenever one recalls, not that a delayed exception validates an oath.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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