The ruling on the excuse of one who prostrates to an idol out of ignorance
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you. Honorable Shaykh, this is a questioner from Algeria via the internet. In his question he says: Some young people say that if someone prostrates to an idol or commits an act of disbelief, we rule that he is ignorant by default until we establish the proof against him. Is this correct? And may Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
The one who lives in a distant land and does not hear the Qur'an or anything else is excused due to ignorance. But the one who hears the Qur'an, reads the Qur'an, and perhaps memorizes the Qur'an with the ten recitations and recites it, yet he associates partners with Allah, is not excused due to ignorance, because the proof has reached him. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says to His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)[Al-An'am 6:19] So, if the Qur'an reaches him and he is an Arab, the proof is established against him.
Because the Qur'an contains prohibitions against shirk (associating partners with Allah) in many verses, from the very first surah, the first surah, Surat al-Fatihah[Al-Fatihah 1:5] Surat al-Baqarah [Al-Baqarah 2:21] the first command in the mushaf [Al-Baqarah 2:21] So how can it be said that this person is ignorant, when he hears the Qur'an, or memorizes the Qur'an, recites the Qur'an, hears the words of the scholars, reads the books, and lives among Muslims? How can it be said that he is ignorant? He is not ignorant, but he does not care; he is indifferent, or rather, he intentionally commits shirk. In truth, he is not ignorant. The ignorant one is the one who is cut off from Islam, far away, or a disbeliever who recently converted to Islam and something happened to him; such a person is excused due to ignorance.
He is excused due to ignorance because he recently embraced Islam. But a person who grew up from childhood in Islam, was born to Muslim parents, hears the Qur'an, hears the sermons and the Friday khutbah every Friday, and you say this one is ignorant? No, he is not ignorant. Yes.
May Allah reward you. Honorable Shaykh, this is a questioner from Algeria via the internet. In his question he says: Some young people say that if someone prostrates to an idol or commits an act of disbelief, we rule that he is ignorant by default until we establish the proof against him. Is this correct? And may Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
The one who lives in a distant land and does not hear the Qur'an or anything else is excused due to ignorance. But the one who hears the Qur'an, reads the Qur'an, and perhaps memorizes the Qur'an with the ten recitations and recites it, yet he associates partners with Allah, is not excused due to ignorance, because the proof has reached him. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says to His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)
And this Qur'an was revealed to me that I may warn you thereby and whomever it reaches.
وَأُوحِيَ إِلَيَّ هَٰذَا الْقُرْآنُ لِأُنذِرَكُم بِهِ وَمَن بَلَغَBecause the Qur'an contains prohibitions against shirk (associating partners with Allah) in many verses, from the very first surah, the first surah, Surat al-Fatihah
It is You we worship and You we ask for help.
إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُO mankind, worship your Lord
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اعْبُدُوا رَبَّكُمُO mankind, worship your Lord, who created you and those before you
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اعْبُدُوا رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ وَالَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْHe is excused due to ignorance because he recently embraced Islam. But a person who grew up from childhood in Islam, was born to Muslim parents, hears the Qur'an, hears the sermons and the Friday khutbah every Friday, and you say this one is ignorant? No, he is not ignorant. Yes.
Source
من فعل الكفر — alfawzan.live
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.