How do we reconcile the fact that ignorance is not an excuse in matters of shirk (associating partners with Allah) and creed with the hadith regarding those who recently embraced Islam?
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Question:
The questioner says: If ignorance is not an excuse in matters of shirk (associating partners with Allah) and creed, how do we reconcile this report with the hadith regarding those who recently embraced Islam, since the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not declare them disbelievers?
Answer:
What did they do, my brother? If they had done it, they would have been disbelievers, but what did they do? They asked the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to return to the Messenger and said, "Make for us a tree of Anat, just as they have their tree of Anat." They did not commit shirk (associating partners with Allah). If they had committed it, they would not have been excused. I mean, this is a fallacy on the part of some of them. Yes.
The questioner says: If ignorance is not an excuse in matters of shirk (associating partners with Allah) and creed, how do we reconcile this report with the hadith regarding those who recently embraced Islam, since the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not declare them disbelievers?
Answer:
What did they do, my brother? If they had done it, they would have been disbelievers, but what did they do? They asked the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to return to the Messenger and said, "Make for us a tree of Anat, just as they have their tree of Anat." They did not commit shirk (associating partners with Allah). If they had committed it, they would not have been excused. I mean, this is a fallacy on the part of some of them. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، كيف نجمع بين أن لا عذر بالجهل في أمور الشرك والعقيدة وبين حديث حدثاء العهد بالإسلام ؟ — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.