Are the prisoners from the Salvation Group (in Algeria) rewarded?

The questioner : The question, O our Shaykh, is this: This group in our country, which is called the Salvation Group, has had a number of its members imprisoned. Are they rewarded for this imprisonment?

The Shaykh : I thought we had finished with the previous question?

The questioner : We have finished with it.

The Shaykh : Now, is this a new question?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : And what is it?

The questioner : It is this group, the Salvation Group, who were imprisoned in our country. Are they, I mean, rewarded for that imprisonment or not?

The Shaykh : We say: Are they rewarded or not? Knowledge of that is with my Lord. It is like the case of a man from the scholars or from the students of knowledge who exerted effort (ijtihad) in a matter and made a mistake. We cannot say he is rewarded or that he is not rewarded. Rather, we can say what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the famous authentic hadith: If the reward is tied to the exertion of effort (ijtihad) in any matter for one who is qualified for ijtihad, then as for these people you are asking about, or others, knowledge of their state is with my Lord: Did they exert effort or not? Because there is a difference between a person who exerts effort and does his best to know the ruling of the Shari'ah, or to know whether this action should be undertaken or not. This should be preceded by ijtihad. This is the first point. Second, is the one who proceeded to ijtihad actually one of the people qualified for ijtihad? Here there are two conditions: First, did he exert effort or not? The second condition is whether he is one of the people qualified for ijtihad or not. If both conditions are met—that is, he is qualified for ijtihad and he exerted effort but made a mistake—then he is rewarded. If one of the conditions is lacking, then he is blamed and not rewarded. And we cannot generalize the ruling negatively or positively, meaning we cannot say he is rewarded or not rewarded for every individual among those who proceed to issue a fatwa, or perform an action, or engage in jihad, or whatever you wish. Did he exert effort or not? Is he qualified for ijtihad or not? We say this because judging an individual, or a mistake in Islam, especially when it leads to his being blamed and a sin being attributed to him, and we are not certain of that. But in terms of reality, we know that the matters with which the Muslim world is confronted today are a hundred percent wrong. But the issue is not whether this is wrong; rather, the issue is whether the one who exerted effort is rewarded or blamed. Therefore, the detail I mentioned from both aspects must be observed.