What is the criterion for excusing ignorance?

The questioner : The topic of excusing ignorance: some people say...

The Shaykh : What is the topic?

The questioner : Excusing ignorance, specifically in matters of creed.

The Shaykh : Yes, that is right.

The questioner : Some people say that a person is excused for ignorance, while others say no. Books have been written on this, and we hope for guidance on this topic?

The Shaykh : Yes, I have previously answered a question like this in some detail. I do not like repeating the answer to a recurring question except briefly, so I say: It is not correct to say absolutely that a person is excused for ignorance, nor is it correct to say absolutely that he is not excused for ignorance. Both are wrong. Rather, it is necessary to distinguish. If a person lives in an Islamic environment, and this Islamic environment understands Islam correctly, and then there is a person who is ignorant of the Islamic creed while living in this environment, he is not excused. Conversely, if we imagine another person who lives in a non-Islamic environment, an environment of disbelief and misguidance, such as Europe or America, for example, and then he embraces Islam, he is excused for his ignorance, because he does not find the environment that helps him to learn and not be ignorant. Then we give an example that reverses the first picture. In the first picture, we said: a man lives in an Islamic environment that understands Islam correctly, so he is not excused for his ignorance. Now we reverse the picture and say: A person named Zayd lives in an Islamic society, but this society has deviated, and the majority have deviated in it from the correct creed. This person is also excused, because he does not find the correct Islamic environment that presents to him the correct creed, as they say today, "automatically," meaning he does not need to learn in special circles, because the entire environment is filled with the correct creed. An example of this is the hadith of Mu'awiyah ibn al-Hakam al-Sulami (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: "I prayed one day behind the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), so a man next to me sneezed, and I said to him: May Allah have mercy on you, while he was praying with the worshippers! He said: So they looked at me with the corners of their eyes; I was distressed and said: Woe to my mother! What is wrong with you that you are looking at me? So they began hitting their thighs, telling him to be quiet, that this is not a place for talking and shouting. He said: When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) finished the prayer, he turned to me. By Allah, he did not humiliate me, nor did he overpower me, nor did he hit me, nor did he insult me, but he only said to me: ."
"May Allah have mercy on you, may Allah guide you." This is what is customary, a good legal custom. , this is not permissible in the state of prayer; . He said: I said: O Messenger of Allah, — I imagine the psychology of this noble man that he was newly converted to Islam, and that he had not yet learned what is permissible in prayer and what is not; and therefore this mistake occurred from him — where he said to the one who sneezed: "May Allah have mercy on you." This is speech, and such speech was permissible in the early days of Islam, until Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) revealed in the Qur'an: , so Allah forbade them from speaking. Before the prohibition of speaking was established, a man would enter the mosque and find the people in the row praying behind the imam, so he would stand and say to his companion: Which rak'ah is this? He would say to him: This is the second rak'ah. So he would understand, for example in the Fajr prayer, that he had missed the first rak'ah, so he would intend, say takbir, recite what was easy, and bow alone. Then what? He would join the imam in the second rak'ah, until one day Mu'adh ibn Jabal (may Allah be pleased with him) entered the mosque and found the people standing as usual, so he intended immediately and did not ask that customary question, then he stood and prayed what he had missed of the prayer. So he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ; meaning: a good sunnah. So from that day, the known ruling became established until today, which is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): , whereas the ruling, as you know, was to clarify by speaking to his companion while in prayer, then to pray what he missed alone, and then to join. This man appears to have not been informed of the prohibition of speaking in prayer, especially since this was not the usual speech, like "How are you?" or "How is the market?" and the like, but rather he sneezed, so he praised Allah, and he said to him: "May Allah have mercy on you." He had not yet learned that this is something prohibited in prayer. And therefore he became more angry and furious when he found them disapproving of him strongly, first by looking at him with the corners of their eyes, second by hitting their thighs with their palms. So no doubt you imagine with me that this man did not know how he prayed while he was thinking, he knew that he had made a mistake, but what was his mistake? And so he waited when the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) finished the prayer to come to him and reprimand him and be harsh with him in speech, as is the case with many imams and teachers who cannot tolerate an ordinary question without becoming angry and furious. This is how he imagined that the Messenger would come to him, but his expectation was disappointed — and praise be to Allah — when he expressed his gentleness (peace and blessings be upon him) and his mercy for his Ummah; he said: He turned to me, and by Allah, he did not humiliate me, nor did he overpower me, nor did he hit me, nor did he insult me, but he only said to me: .
When he found this Prophetic gentleness, his memory opened up to ask question after question. He said: "O Messenger of Allah, among us are people who visit fortune-tellers?" He said: . He said: "Among us are people who take omens?" He said: . He said: "Among us are people who draw lines?" — in the sand. He said: . He said: "O Messenger of Allah," — and here is the point —: "I have a slave girl in Uhud who grazes my sheep, so one day a wolf raided my sheep, and I am a human being; I get angry as humans get angry; so I struck her a blow, and upon me is the freeing of a neck" — as if he is saying: Is it sufficient for me to free her as expiation for what is upon me of freeing a neck? He said: . So she came, and he said to her: . She said: "In the sky." He said to her: . She said: "You are the Messenger of Allah." So he turned to his masterThe questioner : — and he is Mu'awiyah ibn al-Hakam al-Sulami — and said: .
The point of this hadith—and it contains many rulings, as you have heard, and many benefits—is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked her about a belief that concerns every Muslim, namely his saying (peace be upon him) . She answered with the correct answer; she said: “In the sky.” He said to her: . She said: “You are the Messenger of Allah.” So he ruled that she was a believer because she answered the two questions correctly. Now look at the differences: this is a slave girl tending sheep who knew the correct belief in the saying of the Exalted: . This is the belief in which Muslims continue to differ greatly, and the majority of them—some Arabs and most non-Arabs—continue to be ignorant of this correct belief, and even fight against it. If we assume an atmosphere like that Prophetic atmosphere, where a slave girl tending sheep knows what the great shaykhs in some lands do not know, then where would the common people in those lands get the correct belief as this slave girl knew it? The scholars in those lands believe the opposite and say and say what is not permissible. For example, if you say to them: “Where is Allah?” they say: “We seek refuge in Allah, this is a question that is not permissible, a question that is not permissible, and it is the Messenger who established it?” That is what they say! This question is not permissible; why? Because the answer is not permissible, and even more so in their view. It is not permissible for a Muslim to say, as the slave girl said: “Allah is in the sky.” Many of these non-Arab scholars—and some Arabs among them, some from the Circassians and some from the Maghreb—tried to cast doubt on the authenticity of this hadith. And that is only because it contains the correct belief regarding the interpretation of the saying of the Exalted: . They rationalize this hadith despite it being in *Sahih Muslim*, and despite it being—Allah is my witness—completely free of any defect. I say this because there may be things in *Sahih Muslim* and elsewhere that might be subject to some criticism, such as *tadlis* (concealment of a defect in a chain) or the like. But as for this hadith, that is a favor from Allah upon us and upon people; there is no criticism of it regarding its chain of narration. However, the people of desires, if the belief is in the Qur'an, try to twist and turn around it by interpreting it figuratively and taking it away from its explicit meaning. And if the belief is in the Sunnah, they try to cast doubt in it by every means, even if it is futile. So, the one who lives, for example, in an atmosphere like Jordan, Syria, or Egypt, where most of the scholars do not know this belief in particular, and the Salafi belief in general; are the Muslims who reside in those lands excused? We say: Yes, but the matter is not so for the foreigners who live in this land that Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) has favored and distinguished with many characteristics, the most important of which is the call to the oneness of Allah, for which Allah has prepared in this land for about two hundred yearsThe Shaykh : Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (may Allah have mercy on him), who revived the call to the oneness of Allah when acts of associating partners with Allah and idolatry had almost spread throughout all the Islamic lands, including this land in the Arabian Peninsula. So Allah saved His servants here through him. Then this awakening spread to the other Islamic lands, but to varying and very small degrees. So, the one who is a foreigner here, whether non-Arab or Arab, hears the belief in the oneness of Allah night and day, that Allah rose above the Throne, that His rising is known linguistically as being above, that the manner is unknown, and that asking about the manner of the rising is a religious innovation. So, he is not excused, because he is in an atmosphere similar to that of the slave girl. Where did the slave girl get the belief? From the society in which she lived. Her master, her mistress, and their children all spoke with the correct belief. So why would her belief not be correct?
And this is what explains his saying (peace and blessings be upon him)—and it is from the news of the unseen: How is this? It is a very great indication from our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to the Islamic conquests that would occur after the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). They would bring the prisoners bound in shackles, and they would live among the Muslims as slaves. But this slavery would turn into a blessing for them, greater than any blessing, because before that, while they were free in their lands, they heard all the bad things about Islam because of the priests, monks, and ignoramuses and the like, who spread evil about Islam and bad ideas and beliefs. So when Allah tested them and they fell into captivity and were led to the lands of Islam in shackles, they lived with the Muslims closely and intimately. They first learned about their beliefs and their worship, then about their behavior and their morals, and they found them to be among the best that can be found on the face of the earth. So that became the reason for their entering Islam by choice and not by compulsion. So they entered Paradise; that is, because of their Islam, and they had been led in shackles before. So, in this land, the foreigners—whether Arabs or non-Arabs—are not excused for their ignorance, because if they persist in their ignorance, it means that they are stubborn and defiant, because the proof has been established against them, as they hear it night and day. As for the one who is in the other lands, he hears the opposite of that, so he is excused for his ignorance.
So now you know three images, or three societies:
The first society: the Islamic society that understood the correct belief. So, the one who lives in this society is not excused for his ignorance.
The second society: the disbelieving society in which an individual or some individuals may become Muslim. So where would they get the correct belief? They are excused for their ignorance.
The third society: a society in between; it is Muslim in appearance, and the signs of Islam are apparent, so the mosques are full of prayer, the call to prayer is raised, and so on. But the leaders of its people are deviated from the correct belief. So where would the individuals of this people receive the correct belief? In this case, they are excused.
This is what is easy for me, this is what is easy for me in answering this question, and this is sufficient, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.
So depart, guided.