Is every instance of ignorance an excuse for its owner?
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The questioner:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, I hope you will clarify for us the issue of excuse by ignorance. Is every person who is ignorant excused? Is every type of ignorance an excuse for its owner? Is there a difference between ignorance due to the argument not reaching them and ignorance resulting from negligence? I see that they want to excuse the worshippers of graves and the worshippers of shrines.
The Shaykh:
This is a fallacy, for they have no excuse. The ignorance that serves as an excuse is that which cannot be removed. That is, when a person is in a place where nothing has reached him and he has no one to convey it to him or to ask. This is excused by ignorance until it becomes easy for him to learn and ask the people of knowledge.
As for the Muslim world today, no one is excused by ignorance among them because of the existence of the Qur'an, the existence of the Sunnah, the existence of scholars, and the existence of books. So no one is excused by this, because the argument has reached them. Yes. So the ignorance that serves as an excuse is that which cannot be removed.
As for the ignorance that does not serve as an excuse, it is that which can be removed, but its owner does not ask and does not care. This is what most of these people are like: they do not care and do not ask. Rather, they do not even accept it when it is conveyed to them. They do not accept it and they mock the one who conveys it to them, saying, "This is an extremist, this is a radical, this is an extremist, this is a takfiri, this is a Wahhabi," and so on, until they finish what they say. And they do not accept the truth. These people are not excused by ignorance. They are not excused by ignorance, because the argument has reached them, but they rejected it. The argument has reached them and they rejected it. Yes.
The questioner:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, is there a reliable reference that you would recommend in this issue?
The Shaykh:
The Qur'an and the Sunnah. The reference is the Book and the Sunnah. Yes.
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, I hope you will clarify for us the issue of excuse by ignorance. Is every person who is ignorant excused? Is every type of ignorance an excuse for its owner? Is there a difference between ignorance due to the argument not reaching them and ignorance resulting from negligence? I see that they want to excuse the worshippers of graves and the worshippers of shrines.
The Shaykh:
This is a fallacy, for they have no excuse. The ignorance that serves as an excuse is that which cannot be removed. That is, when a person is in a place where nothing has reached him and he has no one to convey it to him or to ask. This is excused by ignorance until it becomes easy for him to learn and ask the people of knowledge.
As for the Muslim world today, no one is excused by ignorance among them because of the existence of the Qur'an, the existence of the Sunnah, the existence of scholars, and the existence of books. So no one is excused by this, because the argument has reached them. Yes. So the ignorance that serves as an excuse is that which cannot be removed.
As for the ignorance that does not serve as an excuse, it is that which can be removed, but its owner does not ask and does not care. This is what most of these people are like: they do not care and do not ask. Rather, they do not even accept it when it is conveyed to them. They do not accept it and they mock the one who conveys it to them, saying, "This is an extremist, this is a radical, this is an extremist, this is a takfiri, this is a Wahhabi," and so on, until they finish what they say. And they do not accept the truth. These people are not excused by ignorance. They are not excused by ignorance, because the argument has reached them, but they rejected it. The argument has reached them and they rejected it. Yes.
The questioner:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, is there a reliable reference that you would recommend in this issue?
The Shaykh:
The Qur'an and the Sunnah. The reference is the Book and the Sunnah. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [1301 /1350]هل كل جهل يعذر به صاحبه؟ وهل هناك فرق بين جهل عدم بلوغ الحجة والجهل الناتج عن الإعراض.. — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.