The Ruling on Excusing Ignorance in Matters of Tawhid (the Oneness of Allah)
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
The questioner says: Our Shaykh, we love you for the sake of Allah. The question is: What is the ruling on the issue of excusing ignorance in matters of tawhid (the oneness of Allah) and shirk (associating partners with Allah)? And when is a person excused for ignorance? Please give us a ruling, may Allah reward you.
Answer:
The one who is excused for ignorance is the one to whom the Qur'an has not reached, to whom nothing about Islam has reached, who lives in isolation, to whom the call has not reached, and who has not heard the Qur'an. As for the one who hears the Qur'an, hears the hadiths, and hears the words of the scholars, he is not ignorant. Allah the Exalted said:[Al-An'am 6:19] So, if the Qur'an has reached him and he understands Arabic, the Qur'an contains the prohibition of shirk (associating partners with Allah), the prohibition of kufr (disbelief) in Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and the command for tawhid (the oneness of Allah). The call has reached him, and he has no excuse. We return to proceed with the answer, and we say:
The ignorance that cannot be removed, because he lives in isolation and no one is there to explain it to him, is excused. As for the ignorance that can be removed, because he lives among the scholars and the Muslims, hears the Qur'an, and hears the hadiths, he is not excused for ignorance, because he is the one who is negligent, the one who is careless, and the one who wastes [his duty].
The questioner says: Our Shaykh, we love you for the sake of Allah. The question is: What is the ruling on the issue of excusing ignorance in matters of tawhid (the oneness of Allah) and shirk (associating partners with Allah)? And when is a person excused for ignorance? Please give us a ruling, may Allah reward you.
Answer:
The one who is excused for ignorance is the one to whom the Qur'an has not reached, to whom nothing about Islam has reached, who lives in isolation, to whom the call has not reached, and who has not heard the Qur'an. As for the one who hears the Qur'an, hears the hadiths, and hears the words of the scholars, he is not ignorant. Allah the Exalted said:
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 بَلَغَThe ignorance that cannot be removed, because he lives in isolation and no one is there to explain it to him, is excused. As for the ignorance that can be removed, because he lives among the scholars and the Muslims, hears the Qur'an, and hears the hadiths, he is not excused for ignorance, because he is the one who is negligent, the one who is careless, and the one who wastes [his duty].
Source
العذر بالجهل — alfawzan.live
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.