When is a person excused by ignorance in the Shari'ah?
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The questioner : A question about the excuse of ignorance, the excuse of ignorance...?
The Shaykh : Ignorance varies. Yesterday, one of them asked me by phone. The excuse of ignorance sometimes excuses a person and sometimes it does not. There is no difference between the matter being in creed or in the rulings of the Shari'ah. A person may be excused in both, or he may not be excused in both, or he may be excused in one of them but not the other, and so on. The criterion, meaning the operative cause that necessitates being held accountable or does not necessitate it, is observing whether the person we want to say is excused or not excused lives in a known Islamic society where the ruling is known in that society and widespread. Despite that, he has no knowledge of it; this person is not excused. Or, between another person who lives in a society that is either purely non-Islamic, like the societies of disbelief, in which case this person is excused, or he lives in a society that is Islamic in name only. In that case, this person is excused because the proof has not reached him. Do you know the difference?
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Ignorance varies. Yesterday, one of them asked me by phone. The excuse of ignorance sometimes excuses a person and sometimes it does not. There is no difference between the matter being in creed or in the rulings of the Shari'ah. A person may be excused in both, or he may not be excused in both, or he may be excused in one of them but not the other, and so on. The criterion, meaning the operative cause that necessitates being held accountable or does not necessitate it, is observing whether the person we want to say is excused or not excused lives in a known Islamic society where the ruling is known in that society and widespread. Despite that, he has no knowledge of it; this person is not excused. Or, between another person who lives in a society that is either purely non-Islamic, like the societies of disbelief, in which case this person is excused, or he lives in a society that is Islamic in name only. In that case, this person is excused because the proof has not reached him. Do you know the difference?
The questioner: Yes.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.