The Ruling on the Murji'ah and the One Excused by Ignorance
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What is the ruling on the Murji'ah? And what is the ruling on the one who describes those who are excused by ignorance as having entered with the Murji'ah in their methodology?
First: We must know who the Murji'ah are?The Murji'ah are those who say: Faith is the action of the heart, but their statement is false without doubt; because the texts indicate that when a person disobeys Allah (Mighty and Majestic), his faith decreases. As for the excuse by ignorance, this is the implication of the generality of the texts, and no one can bring evidence indicating that a person is not excused by ignorance.Allah the Exalted said: [Al-Isra: 15] And Allah the Exalted said: [An-Nisa: 165] And were it not for the excuse by ignorance, the messengers would have had no benefit, and people would have been bound by the implication of the fitrah (innate natural disposition) with no need to send the messengers. So the excuse by ignorance is the implication of the evidence of the Book and the Sunnah.And the scholars of knowledge have explicitly stated this: Like Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him), and Shaykh al-Islam Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (may Allah have mercy on him), but a person may be negligent in seeking knowledge and thus sin from this aspect, meaning: that it may be easy for him to learn; but he does not care.Or it is said to him: This is forbidden; but he does not care, so here he is negligent from this aspect, and he sins thereby.
As for a man who lived among people who commit sin,And they do not see it as anything but permissible, then we say: This is a sin, and it is far-fetched that the message did not reach him. And in reality, my brothers, we do not rule based on our emotions, but we rule based on what the Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law) requires.And Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says: (My mercy precedes My wrath) So how do we hold a person accountable for his ignorance when it did not occur to him that this is forbidden? Indeed, Shaykh al-Islam Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (may Allah have mercy on him) said: We do not declare disbelievers those who placed an idol on the grave of 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani and on the grave of al-Badawi due to their ignorance and the fact that they were not reminded.
And I have not known that anyone has expelled the Murji'ah from Islam, and they are without doubt mistaken, and that deeds are included in the term of faith, as indicated by many texts, and that not doing righteous deeds decreases faith.
First: We must know who the Murji'ah are?The Murji'ah are those who say: Faith is the action of the heart, but their statement is false without doubt; because the texts indicate that when a person disobeys Allah (Mighty and Majestic), his faith decreases. As for the excuse by ignorance, this is the implication of the generality of the texts, and no one can bring evidence indicating that a person is not excused by ignorance.Allah the Exalted said:
And never would We punish until We sent a messenger.
وَمَا كُنَّا مُعَذِّبِينَ حَتَّى نَبْعَثَ رَسُولاً[We sent] messengers as bringers of good tidings and warners so that mankind will have no argument against Allah after the messengers
رُسُلاً مُبَشِّرِينَ وَمُنْذِرِينَ لِئَلَّا يَكُونَ لِلنَّاسِ عَلَى اللَّهِ حُجَّةٌ بَعْدَ الرُّسُلِAs for a man who lived among people who commit sin,And they do not see it as anything but permissible, then we say: This is a sin, and it is far-fetched that the message did not reach him. And in reality, my brothers, we do not rule based on our emotions, but we rule based on what the Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law) requires.And Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says: (My mercy precedes My wrath) So how do we hold a person accountable for his ignorance when it did not occur to him that this is forbidden? Indeed, Shaykh al-Islam Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (may Allah have mercy on him) said: We do not declare disbelievers those who placed an idol on the grave of 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani and on the grave of al-Badawi due to their ignorance and the fact that they were not reminded.
And I have not known that anyone has expelled the Murji'ah from Islam, and they are without doubt mistaken, and that deeds are included in the term of faith, as indicated by many texts, and that not doing righteous deeds decreases faith.