Can Allaah be described as hesitating?
Question

                What is the meaning of the words “I do not hesitate about anything …” in the hadeeth qudsi? Does our Lord, may He be glorified and exalted, hesitate? How can we answer those who say that it cannot be true that Allaah hesitates?.
Praise be to Allah.Al-Bukhaari (6502) narrated 
    that Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of 
    Allaah  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: 
    “Whosoever shows enmity to someone 
    devoted to Me, I shall be at war with him. My slave draws not near to Me 
    with anything more loved by Me than the religious duties I have enjoined 
    upon him, and My slave continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory 
    works so that I shall love him. When I love him I am his hearing with which 
    he hears, his seeing with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes and 
    his foot with which he walks. Were he to ask [something] of Me, I would 
    surely give it to him, and were he to ask Me for refuge, I would surely 
    grant him it. I do not hesitate about anything as much as I hesitate about 
    [seizing] the soul of My faithful slave: he hates death and I hate hurting 
    him.”
The hesitation mentioned in 
    the hadeeth is hesitation in taking the soul of the believer, out of mercy 
    and compassion towards him, and out of love for him, because he hates death 
    and his Lord, may He be exalted, hates hurting him. 
This is not like the 
    hesitation of created beings, which stems from doubt about one's ability or 
    the rightness of the action. 
Hence we must clearly 
    define the way in which Allaah hesitates, which is that He hesitates to take 
    the soul of the believer, which is what is mentioned in the text, but Allaah 
    cannot be described as hesitating in general terms, which would include all 
    kinds of hesitation due to inability and imperfection, which cannot be 
    attributed to Allaah. 
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may 
    Allaah have mercy on him) was asked: In the hadeeth “Whosoever 
    shows enmity to someone devoted to Me…”, at the end of the hadeeth 
    Allaah, may He be glorified and exalted, says “I 
    do not hesitate about anything as much as I hesitate about [seizing] the 
    soul of My faithful slave”. Does this mean that Allaah may be 
    described as hesitant? How can we understand this issue? 
He replied: It is not 
    permissible to describe Allaah as hesitant in general terms, because Allaah 
    has mentioned hesitation with regard to this matter: “I 
    do not hesitate about anything as much as I hesitate about [seizing] the 
    soul of My faithful slave”. This hesitation is not due to uncertainty 
    as to whether this thing is right or not, or uncertainty as to whether He is 
    able to do this thing; rather it is because of mercy and compassion towards 
    this believing slave. Hence He says in the same hadeeth: “he 
    hates death and I hate hurting him.” This does not mean that Allaah 
    can be described as being hesitant about His power or His knowledge, unlike 
    the human being who hesitates when he wants to do something, either because 
    he is uncertain about the outcome or whether it is right, or because he is 
    uncertain about his ability to do it. But this does not apply to the Lord, 
    may He be glorified and exalted. End quote from Liqaa’aat al-Baab 
    il-Maftooh (59/12). 
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn 
    Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him) was asked about what is meant by 
    Allaah hesitating in this hadeeth. 
He replied: This hadeeth 
    was narrated by al-Bukhaari from Abu Hurayrah, and it is one of the noblest 
    hadeeth that has been narrated concerning the attributes of the awliya’ 
    (close friends of Allaah). One group rejected this word and said that Allaah 
    cannot be described as hesitating, and it is only the one who does not know 
    the consequences who hesitates, and Allaah knows best about the 
    consequences. And some of them said: It probably means that His action may 
    be described as hesitant but He is not hesitant. 
But in fact the words of 
    His Messenger are true and no one knows Allaah better than His Messenger or 
    was more sincere towards his ummah than him, or more eloquent or better at 
    explaining things. Once this is understood, we may say that those who try to 
    be clever and who deny it are among those who have gone farthest astray, and 
    they among the most ignorant of people and the most lacking in proper 
    etiquette. Indeed, they should be rebuked and punished, and the words of the 
    Messenger of Allaah  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) should 
    be protected from false interpretations and corrupt beliefs. But if one of 
    us hesitates because he does not know what the consequences will be, then 
    hesitation in the case of Allaah is different to this type of hesitation, 
    because there is nothing like unto Allaah, either in His Essence or His 
    attributes or His actions. Moreover, hesitation is not only because one does 
    not know what the consequences will be, because one of us may hesitate 
    because he is unsure of the consequences or because of weighing the pros and 
    cons when choosing one of two options, so he may want to do something 
    because of the interests it serves, but he may not want to do it because of 
    its negative consequences, not because he is unaware of the pros and cons of 
    a particular action.  
This is like when a sick 
    person wants to take his bitter medicine, and when the believer wants to do 
    righteous deeds that one may dislike. In al-Saheeh it says: “Hell has 
    been surrounded with desirable things, and Paradise has been surrounded with 
    unpleasant things.” And Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): 
    “Jihaad(holy fighting in Allaah’s Cause) is ordained for 
    you (Muslims) though you dislike it…” [al-Baqarah 2:216]. 
Thus we may understand the 
    word hesitate that is mentioned in this hadeeth qudsi. Allaah says “My 
    slave continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory works so that I shall 
    love him.” Such a person becomes beloved to Allaah and loves Him, and 
    he draws closer to Him first of all by doing obligatory deeds which Allaah 
    loves, then he strives to do naafil deeds that Allaah loves and loves those 
    who do them, so he does all that he can of what Allaah loves, therefore 
    Allaah loves him. 
The Lord does not like to 
    harm His slave and beloved one. … But Allaah, may He be glorified and 
    exalted, has decreed death, and everything that He has decreed He wills and 
    it must inevitably come to pass. So the Lord wills that he should die 
    because of His decree, yet He still dislikes hurting His slave, which refers 
    to the pain involved in death. So death becomes something which Allaah wants 
    for one reason and dislikes for another reason, which is what is meant by 
    hesitating, when a thing is wanted for one reason and disliked for another. 
    One of the two will inevitably prevail, just as the divine decree that death 
    must occur will prevail, although Allaah dislikes hurting His slave, and His 
    will that the believer whom He loves and dislikes hurting must die is not 
    like His will that the kaafir whom He hates and wants to hurt must die. End 
    quote from Majmoo’ al-Fataawa (18/129). 
And Allaah knows best.