Ending a Letter or Lesson with "Allahu A'lam"

Question

Zayd has a habit: when he writes a letter, and likewise when he writes the answer to a masala, at the end of the letter he adds the words "وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ" ("Allah knows best"), writing this phrase as a mark of conclusion — so that on seeing it one understands the matter has ended. What is the ruling of the Sacred Law on this practice of Zayd's? Likewise, at the end of a lesson he says "وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ". Please give the answer with a reference.

Answer

To say and write this phrase with such an intention is makruh. In "al-Durr al-Mukhtar", at the end of "Kitab al-Hazr wal-Ibaha", the following is quoted from the versified poem (manzuma) of Ibn Wahban: [ar]وَقَدْ كَرِهُوا وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ وَنَحْوَهُ لَا إِعْلَامًا خَتْمَ الدَّرْسِ حِينَ يُقْدَرُ[/ar] "[The jurists] held it disliked (makruh)

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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