Is a Muslim excused for his ignorance in matters of belief?

The Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta

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Fatwa number ( 11043 ):

Q: We have the spread of the phenomenon of worshipping graves, and at the same time the presence of
people who defend these people and say: They are Muslims excused by their ignorance, so there is no harm in marrying our girls to them, praying behind them, and granting them all the rights of a Muslim over a Muslim. They do not stop there, but they label the one who declares these people disbelievers as one who holds to an innovation and is treated as an innovator. They even claim that Your Eminence excuses those who worship graves due to their ignorance, where you issued a memorandum for a person called al-Ghashashi excusing those who worship graves. Therefore, we ask Your Eminence to send a comprehensive and sufficient research clarifying the matters in which ignorance is an excuse and those in which it is not, as well as identifying the references that can be consulted on this matter. We thank you greatly.
A: The ruling on a person regarding whether he is excused by ignorance in religious matters or not varies depending on the presence or absence of the message being conveyed, and depending on the clarity or obscurity of the matter itself and the variation in people’s understanding, from strong to weak. If one calls upon the people of graves for the removal of harm or the relief of distress, it is explained to him that this is shirk (associating partners with Allah), and the proof is established against him; this is the fulfillment of the obligation to convey the message. If he persists after the explanation, he is a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah) and is treated in this world as disbelievers are treated, and he deserves the painful punishment in the Hereafter if he dies upon that. Allah the Exalted said:

[We sent] messengers as bringers of good tidings and warners so that mankind will have no argument against Allah after the messengers. And ever is Allah Exalted in Might and Wise.

رُسُلا مُبَشِّرِينَ وَمُنْذِرِينَ لِئَلا يَكُونَ لِلنَّاسِ عَلَى اللَّهِ حُجَّةٌ بَعْدَ الرُّسُلِ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَزِيزًا حَكِيمًا

[An-Nisa 4:165]

And He the Exalted said:

And never would We punish until We sent a messenger.

وَمَا كُنَّا مُعَذِّبِينَ حَتَّى نَبْعَثَ رَسُولا

[Al-Isra 17:15]

And His the Exalted saying:

And this Qur'an was revealed to me that I may warn you thereby and whomever it reaches.

وَأُوحِيَ إِلَيَّ هَذَا الْقُرْآنُ لأُنْذِرَكُمْ بِهِ وَمَنْ بَلَغَ

[Al-An'am 6:19]

It is also established from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

By Him in Whose hand is the life of Muhammad, he who amongst the community of Jews or Christians hears about me, but does not affirm his belief in that with which I have been sent and dies in this state (of disbelief), he shall be but one of the denizens of Hell-Fire.

والذي نفس محمد بيده لا يسمع بي أحد من هذه الأمة يهودي ولا نصراني ثم يموت ولم يؤمن بالذي أرسلت به إلاَّ كان من أصحاب النار

Sahih Muslim 153

Narrated by Muslim, among other verses and hadiths indicating the obligation of clarification and establishing the proof before holding someone accountable. And whoever lives in lands where the call to Islam and other matters are heard, yet does not believe and does not seek the truth from its people, is in the ruling of one to whom the Islamic call has reached and who persisted in disbelief. This is witnessed by the generality of the hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) mentioned above, as is witnessed by what Allah the Exalted related of the news of the people of Moses when al-Samiri misled them and they worshipped the calf, after he had left his brother Harun in their charge when he went to converse with Allah. When he rebuked them for worshipping the calf, they said: We will not cease to be devoted to it until Moses returns to us. So they responded to the caller of shirk and refused to respond to the caller of tawhid (the oneness of Allah). Allah did not excuse them in their response to the call of shirk and their being deluded therein, because the call to tawhid was present alongside it, and the time was close to the call of Moses to tawhid.
This is because the call to tawhid (the oneness of Allah) existed alongside it, given the proximity of the era to the call of Musa (Moses) to tawhid. Also testifying to this is what Allah related regarding the discussion of the people of the Fire with Shaytan, his disavowal of them, and his dissociation from them. Allah the Exalted said:

And Satan will say when the matter has been concluded, "Indeed, Allah had promised you the promise of truth. And I promised you, but I betrayed you. But I had no authority over you except that I invited you, and you responded to me. So do not blame me; but blame yourselves. I cannot be called to your aid, nor can you be called to my aid. Indeed, I deny your association of me [with Allah] before. Indeed, for the wrongdoers is a painful punishment."

وَقَالَ الشَّيْطَانُ لَمَّا قُضِيَ الأَمْرُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَعَدَكُمْ وَعْدَ الْحَقِّ وَوَعَدْتُكُمْ فَأَخْلَفْتُكُمْ وَمَا كَانَ لِي عَلَيْكُمْ مِنْ سُلْطَانٍ إِلا أَنْ دَعَوْتُكُمْ فَاسْتَجَبْتُمْ لِي فَلا تَلُومُونِي وَلُومُوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ مَا أَنَا بِمُصْرِخِكُمْ وَمَا أَنْتُمْ بِمُصْرِخِيَّ إِنِّي كَفَرْتُ بِمَا أَشْرَكْتُمُونِي مِنْ قَبْلُ إِنَّ الظَّالِمِينَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ

[Ibrahim 14:22]

They were not excused by their belief in Shaytan's promise, despite his further deception and adornment of shirk (associating partners with Allah), and their following of what he suggested to them of shirk, because this occurred alongside Allah's true promise of great reward for those who believe in His promise, respond to His legislation, and follow His straight path. Whoever looks at the lands where Islam has spread finds people living in them being pulled by two groups: one group calls to bid'ah (religious innovation) in its various forms, whether shirk-related or not, and confuses people and adorns its innovations for them with whatever it can of unauthentic hadiths and strange, peculiar stories, presenting them in an engaging and attractive style. The other group calls to the truth and guidance, establishes evidence for this from the Book and the Sunnah, and clarifies the invalidity of what the other group called for, and what
is in it of falsehood. The clarity and explanation of this group were sufficient to establish the proof, even if their number was small, for the criterion is the clarification of the truth with its evidence, not the multitude of numbers. So whoever is of sound mind, lives in such lands, and is able to know the truth from its people if he strives in seeking it, and is saved from desire and tribalism, and is not deceived by the wealth of the rich, the dominance of the leaders, or the prestige of the notables, and his scale of thinking is not unbalanced and his intellect not negated, and he is among those about whom Allah said:

⁽⁶⁴⁾ Indeed, Allah has cursed the disbelievers and prepared for them a Blaze. ⁽⁶⁵⁾ Abiding therein forever, they will not find a protector or a helper. ⁽⁶⁶⁾ The Day their faces will be turned about in the Fire, they will say, "How we wish we had obeyed Allah and obeyed the Messenger." ⁽⁶⁷⁾ And they will say, "Our Lord, indeed we obeyed our masters and our dignitaries, and they led us astray from the [right] way. ⁽⁶⁸⁾ Our Lord, give them double the punishment and curse them with a great curse."

إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَعَنَ الْكَافِرِينَ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُمْ سَعِيرًا (64) خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أَبَدًا لاَ يَجِدُونَ وَلِيًّا وَلاَ نَصِيرًا (65) يَوْمَ تُقَلَّبُ وُجُوهُهُمْ فِي النَّارِ يَقُولُونَ يَا لَيْتَنَا أَطَعْنَا اللَّهَ وَأَطَعْنَا الرَّسُولا (66) وَقَالُوا رَبَّنَا إِنَّا أَطَعْنَا سَادَتَنَا وَكُبَرَاءَنَا فَأَضَلُّونَا السَّبِيلا (67) رَبَّنَا آتِهِمْ ضِعْفَيْنِ مِنَ الْعَذَابِ وَالْعَنْهُمْ لَعْنًا كَبِيرًا

[Al-Ahzab 33:64-68]

. As for whoever lives in non-Muslim lands and has not heard of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), nor of the Qur'an and Islam, then this person—if his existence is assumed—his ruling is the ruling of the people of al-fatra (the period of no messenger). It is obligatory upon the scholars of the Muslims to convey to him the Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law), its principles and branches, to establish the proof and to excuse him. On the Day of Resurrection, he will be treated as one who was not obligated in this world due to his insanity, idiocy, or youth and non-obligation. As for what is hidden of the rulings of the Shari'ah, either due to the indication or the contradiction and pulling of the evidences, it is not said to one who differed in it: "He believed and disbelieved," but rather it is said: "He was correct and he erred." So the one who erred in it is excused, and the one who hit the truth in it is rewarded.
And by this it is known that it is not permissible for the group of monotheists who believe in the disbelief of those who worship graves to declare their monotheist brothers disbelievers who hesitated in declaring them disbelievers until the proof is established against them; because their hesitation in declaring them disbelievers has a shubhah (doubt), which is their belief that it is necessary to establish the proof against those grave-worshippers before declaring them disbelievers. This is unlike one in whose disbelief there is no shubhah, such as the Jews and the Christians and the communists and their like. For these, there is no shubhah in their disbelief, nor in the disbelief of one who did not declare them disbelievers. And Allah is the Guardian of success, and we ask Him, the Exalted, to rectify the conditions of the Muslims, and to grant them understanding in the religion, and to protect us and them from the evils of our souls and from the badness of our deeds, and from speaking about Allah the Exalted and His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) without knowledge. Indeed, He is the Guardian of that and the One capable of it. And success is from Allah. And may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.

Source www.alifta.gov.sa

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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