Is ignorance an excuse in matters of tawhid (the oneness of Allah)?

The questioner : There is also a question that is a digression on this same topic, and we need to answer it: Is ignorance an excuse in matters of tawhid (the oneness of Allah)?

The Shaykh : We have been asked this question repeatedly from many Islamic countries, and our answer—then and now—is that being held accountable or not being held accountable for ignorance, or whether ignorance is an excuse, varies depending on the country on one hand, and varies depending on the rulings on the other hand. The criterion is that if a Muslim lives in an Islamic country that is Islamic in name, knowledge, and practice, and the matter he is ignorant of is one of the well-known matters in that Islamic society, and we assume that a Muslim in this Islamic society is ignorant of something that is known in that society, then in this case he is not excused. But—and this is a sad fact—most Islamic countries do not have Islamic awareness, Islamic education, or Islamic culture that encompasses the entire country, with no difference between the capital and a town, and no difference between a town and a village. This is because awareness has spread and encompassed all these countries. These countries today are not like that. The correct knowledge, derived from the Book of Allah and the Hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), is, as they used to say in the past, "rarer than red sulfur," because the known sulfur is black, whereas red sulfur is rare; therefore, they used it as a proverb. The students of knowledge among our Salafi brothers, the people of the Sunnah, or the supporters of the Sunnah, or the people of Hadith, under whatever names they are known in different countries, are the people who know this reality best. Therefore, it is not permissible for us to say that the ignorant person is not excused for his ignorance unless he lives in an Islamic society where correct Islamic awareness has spread.
The Shaykh: I will give an example to clarify the difference between an aware Islamic society and an unaware Islamic society, if that expression is correct, which is our society today. Today, if the scholars in most Islamic countries were asked the noble Prophetic question: , they would reject it with the strongest rejection, and when they hear the answer, they would go to extremes in their rejection. Yet the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked the slave girl who was tending the sheep—and I mean by this example a slave girl tending sheep, who is not expected to be a scholar—she was a slave girl tending sheep. He asked her this question, and she gave the correct answer, upon which the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) based his testimony that she was a believer, and he ordered her master to set her free.
The Shaykh: Today, if you ask the senior scholars of Al-Azhar or others, I seek refuge in Allah, they will say to you, "What is this question?" "This is not permissible, O Shaykh. This is a hadith in Sahih Muslim." How can you say this question is not permissible when the Messenger is the one who asked it? Yes, he asked it because it was a slave girl. They bring you excuses for which Allah has sent no authority! This is the difference between an Islamic society and a non-Islamic society. How did this woman, a slave girl tending sheep, know the correct answer with this creed? Because she lived in an Islamic society; meaning, wherever she sat in any gathering with her master, his son, his wife, and so on, she would hear such talk without intending to study jurisprudence. I am now giving you a real example with the common people today. There is no common person who does not know the famous hadith, which is his saying (peace be upon him): . This hadith is known even among the common people. But when the common people hear a lesson, they hear a figurative interpretation of this hadith, just as they have heard a figurative interpretation of His saying (Glorified and Exalted is He): , meaning the angels. This is the society in which these people live, from whom we hear deviant ideas from the Book and the Sunnah. We say: These people are not excused because they are ignorant. We say: No, they are not excused. We say they are excused. They are not excused because there is no excuse for ignorance? We say: They are excused because they live in a non-Islamic society culturally, because they are taught the opposite of correct Islam!

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : So they are excused. Then, who among these ignorant people has been reached by the proof from the Book of Allah and the Hadith of the Messenger of Allah
The Shaykh: , and then he persists in his ignorance and misguidance? In this case, it is said: He is not excused. As for one who lives in an atmosphere of total ignorance, even from those who are supposed to be guides to good, but they are guides to evil, and I seek refuge in Allah. Therefore, we say: Sometimes it is an excuse, and sometimes it is not an excuse. It is an excuse if he lives in a non-Islamic society. We distinguish, for example, between a European Muslim, a Muslim in Europe who heard a virtue of Islam and said: I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and he continued to drink intoxicants. We say: Do you think he is excused or not excused? We say: If he heard a Muslim scholar recite some verses to him and explain them in his language that intoxicants are forbidden, and then he persisted in drinking intoxicants, he is not excused. And so you can infer the rest, whether it relates to creed or to a ruling from the Islamic legal or jurisprudential rulings.
Other than that?