Excuse by Ignorance in Matters of Knowledge and Practice
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you. The questioner says: It has become apparent to us that some people do not excuse the one who errs due to ignorance, and they have confused us regarding this issue. We ask you to clarify in what matters a person is excused in matters of knowledge and practice?
Answer:
We answered you in the question before this one. We said that the apparent matters, the apparent matters that are established by the Book and the Sunnah, such as shirk (associating partners with Allah), such as tawhid (the oneness of Allah), such as maintaining the prayer, these are apparent matters; when a person hears them, he understands them. As for the hidden matters that only the scholars know, a person is excused for them due to ignorance until it is clarified to him. So the matters are not all on the same level. They are matters apparent in the Book and the Sunnah, such as the warning against shirk, the warning against zina (unlawful sexual intercourse), the warning against theft, the warning against consuming people's wealth unjustly, the warning against riba (usury or interest); these are apparent. As for the hidden matters that require the people of knowledge and their clarification, these are few. These are few. And these are the ones for which a person is excused due to ignorance until it is clarified to him. So the matters are not all on the same level. One is not excused due to ignorance in everything all the time. No. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you,
May Allah reward you. The questioner says: It has become apparent to us that some people do not excuse the one who errs due to ignorance, and they have confused us regarding this issue. We ask you to clarify in what matters a person is excused in matters of knowledge and practice?
Answer:
We answered you in the question before this one. We said that the apparent matters, the apparent matters that are established by the Book and the Sunnah, such as shirk (associating partners with Allah), such as tawhid (the oneness of Allah), such as maintaining the prayer, these are apparent matters; when a person hears them, he understands them. As for the hidden matters that only the scholars know, a person is excused for them due to ignorance until it is clarified to him. So the matters are not all on the same level. They are matters apparent in the Book and the Sunnah, such as the warning against shirk, the warning against zina (unlawful sexual intercourse), the warning against theft, the warning against consuming people's wealth unjustly, the warning against riba (usury or interest); these are apparent. As for the hidden matters that require the people of knowledge and their clarification, these are few. These are few. And these are the ones for which a person is excused due to ignorance until it is clarified to him. So the matters are not all on the same level. One is not excused due to ignorance in everything all the time. No. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you,
Source
شرح كتاب التوحيد [ صالح الفوزان ]، تتمة باب ما جاء أن بعض هذه الأمة يعبد الأوثان — islamhouse.com (39:11)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.