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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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Examples regarding not being held accountable for forgetfulness, ignorance, and coercion

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The Shaykh : And for this, too, there are many examples: If a person speaks in his prayer while ignorant of the prohibition of speaking, what is the ruling on his prayer? Please.
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : His prayer is valid, if Allah wills. What brought this about?
The student: The saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).

The Shaykh : No, no, that is not my intention. I want to discuss with you the phrase "if Allah wills," because this implies that you are not certain.
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : We remove "if Allah wills." Good. Do you have evidence for this?
The student: The saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):
Allah has accepted my invocation to forgive إن الله تجاوز لي عن أمتي
Sahih al-Bukhari 2528
.

The Shaykh : No, my brother, we need specific evidence for this issue.
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : Well done. May Allah bless you. A man entered prayer and heard another sneeze, so he said: "Praise be to Allah." The other said: "May Allah have mercy on you," until the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to this man who spoke:
It is not permissible to talk during Salat because it consists of glorifying Allah, declaring His Greatness as well as recitation of the Qur'an إن هذه الصلاة لا يصلح فيها شيء من كلام الناس، إنما هي التسبيح والتكبير وقراءة القرآن
Riyad as-Salihin 700
or as he said, and he did not order him to repeat the prayer.
There remains something that the verse did not indicate.
Perhaps it can be derived from the verse, as we will explain, regarding coercion: If a person is coerced into doing a forbidden act, does sin, a ransom payment, or expiation result from this act?
Answer: No, no evidence is established by this. The statement of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, in the Noble Qur'an:
Whoever disbelieves in Allah after his belief... except for one who is forced [to renounce his religion] while his heart is secure in faith. But those who [willingly] open their breasts to disbelief, upon them is wrath from Allah, and for them is a great punishment; مَنْ كَفَرَ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ بَعْدِ إِيمَانِهِ إِلَّا مَنْ أُكْرِهَ وَقَلْبُهُ مُطْمَئِنٌّ بِالْأِيمَانِ وَلَكِنْ مَنْ شَرَحَ بِالْكُفْرِ صَدْراً فَعَلَيْهِمْ غَضَبٌ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ
[An-Nahl 16:106]
If a man is not held accountable for being coerced into disbelief, which is the greatest of sins, then not being held accountable for being coerced into what is less than that is all the more so. Also, it was reported in the hadith from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):
Allah has forgiven for me my nation their mistakes and forgetfulness, and what they are forced to do. إن الله تجاوز عن أمتي الخطأ، والنسيان، وما استكرهوا عليه
Sunan Ibn Majah 2043Sahih (Darussalam)
Based on this third principle, which is that sin, fidyah, and kaffarah are dropped in cases of coercion, if a man coerces his wife while she is fasting and has intercourse with her, does this invalidate her fast?
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : It does not become invalid. And does she owe expiation? Speak the answer clearly.
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : She does not owe expiation. Okay, rest. She does not owe expiation because she was coerced. Likewise, if he coerces her to do so while she is in Hajj or 'Umrah, she does not owe a ransom payment and she does not commit sin, based on the principle we mentioned, which we derived from the words of the Lord, Mighty and Majestic. Perhaps this can be derived, meaning: the dropping of sin, expiation, and ransom payment, from His saying, the Exalted:
Allah does not charge a soul except [with that within] its capacity لا يُكَلِّفُ اللَّهُ نَفْساً إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا
[Al-Baqarah 2:286]
Because the coerced person is unable to escape. Therefore, if he is coerced by someone who is able to repel the coercion, then the ruling applies to him.
What do you say about a man whose wife forced him to divorce her, saying: "Either you divorce me or I will kill myself," and she is capable of carrying this out, with a knife in her hand? He divorced her. Does the divorce take effect or not?
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : The divorce does not take effect because he? Was coerced. Why? If the divorce takes effect when he was not coerced, the divorce takes effect, there is no obstacle. I am asking now: Does the divorce take effect? I said no. Then we wanted to justify this ruling you issued by saying he was coerced. I said she was not coerced... So what do you say now? The ruling and the cause are contradictory, or rather, they are contradictory.
The student: He has authority over her.

The Shaykh : I am not saying he does not have authority over her, but the man now, his wife said to him: "If you do not divorce me, I will kill myself," and she is capable of carrying this out, with a knife in her hand. He divorced her. Does the divorce take effect or not?
The student: It takes effect.

The Shaykh : It takes effect. Rest. Please.
The student: It does not take effect.

The Shaykh : It does not take effect. Why?
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : Because he was coerced, so the divorce does not take effect. May Allah reward you. How was he coerced? Because she wanted to kill herself and she was capable of carrying it out, and this is one of the most severe forms of coercion. Therefore, we say: The divorce does not take effect. And likewise, all rulings do not apply to the coerced person, and we mentioned the evidence for this.
Source alathar.net

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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