The Criterion for Excuse Due to Ignorance in Islamic Legal Rulings
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Your Eminence! We often hear that a person is excused due to ignorance. If there is an excuse based on ignorance, what is the criterion for this ignorance in Islamic legal rulings?
Ignorance—may Allah bless you—He is: is the lack of knowledge. However, a person is sometimes excused for ignorance regarding what happened in the past, but not for what is present.An example of that is: This is based on the hadith of Abu Hurayrah in the two Sahihs: (That a man came and prayed a prayer without settling in its positions, then he came and greeted the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him),So he said to him: and he said: "Go back and pray, for you have not prayed." He repeated this three times,So he said to him: and the man said: "By Him who sent you with the truth, I do not know how to do anything other than this, so teach me." So he taught him, but he did not order him to make up what had passed, because he was ignorant. He only ordered him to repeat the present prayer.
So if a person did not pray—for example—in the past based on the belief that prayer was not obligatory upon him, and he was in a remote place where he had no one to ask from among the scholars, then we do not order him to make up what he missed; because he is excused. But if he was in a country where there are scholars, but he was negligent, then he is not excused by ignorance. This happens often with a woman who menstruates while she is young, so she thinks she has not reached puberty based on the idea that puberty does not occur until the completion of fifteen years. So you find her leaving off fasting based on the belief that she has not reached puberty,Then you come after that and ask, saying: when in fact she has reached puberty; because she menstruated—for example—and remained for two or three years without fasting Ramadan. Does she make it up? We look at the situation: if she was in a country with scholars and she could ask the scholars, then she is negligent, and we oblige her to make it up. And if she was in a place far from scholars, like the people of the desert, then we do not oblige her to make it up; because she is ignorant and excused, she has no one to ask, and Islamic knowledge is not circulated in the desert.
So whatever a person is excused for, he is forgiven for;For Allah the Exalted said: [Al-Isra: 15] and He said: [Al-Qasas: 59] .
Ignorance—may Allah bless you—He is: is the lack of knowledge. However, a person is sometimes excused for ignorance regarding what happened in the past, but not for what is present.An example of that is: This is based on the hadith of Abu Hurayrah in the two Sahihs: (That a man came and prayed a prayer without settling in its positions, then he came and greeted the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him),So he said to him: and he said: "Go back and pray, for you have not prayed." He repeated this three times,So he said to him: and the man said: "By Him who sent you with the truth, I do not know how to do anything other than this, so teach me." So he taught him, but he did not order him to make up what had passed, because he was ignorant. He only ordered him to repeat the present prayer.
So if a person did not pray—for example—in the past based on the belief that prayer was not obligatory upon him, and he was in a remote place where he had no one to ask from among the scholars, then we do not order him to make up what he missed; because he is excused. But if he was in a country where there are scholars, but he was negligent, then he is not excused by ignorance. This happens often with a woman who menstruates while she is young, so she thinks she has not reached puberty based on the idea that puberty does not occur until the completion of fifteen years. So you find her leaving off fasting based on the belief that she has not reached puberty,Then you come after that and ask, saying: when in fact she has reached puberty; because she menstruated—for example—and remained for two or three years without fasting Ramadan. Does she make it up? We look at the situation: if she was in a country with scholars and she could ask the scholars, then she is negligent, and we oblige her to make it up. And if she was in a place far from scholars, like the people of the desert, then we do not oblige her to make it up; because she is ignorant and excused, she has no one to ask, and Islamic knowledge is not circulated in the desert.
So whatever a person is excused for, he is forgiven for;For Allah the Exalted said: