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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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Discussion of the saying of Allah the Exalted: "Our Lord, do not hold us accountable if we forget or make a mistake," and the difference between forgetting and making a mistake

Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : In the verse that follows in the same verse
Our Lord, do not impose blame upon us if we have forgotten or erred. ربنا لا تؤاخذنا إن نسينا أو أخطأنا
[Al-Baqarah 2:286]
What is the difference between forgetting and making a mistake? Come on, brothers, the difference is that forgetting is when a person has knowledge and then forgets, whereas making a mistake is when a person has no knowledge at all. Do you understand? In making a mistake, a person does something without having knowledge, thinking it is lawful when it is forbidden. In forgetting, he knows that the thing is forbidden but forgets and does it. So forgetting is preceded by what? By knowledge, but then distraction of the heart occurred regarding it. As for making a mistake, it was not preceded by knowledge; he was ignorant. And both are equal in the ruling of Allah, because Allah the Exalted said:
I have done it, I have done it قد فعلت قد فعلت
Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah 22:306
meaning, I do not hold you accountable for forgetting or ignorance. Now, who can give us an example? The Sunnah established this great ruling that a person is not held accountable for his ignorance. It is as if we have not read this, brothers, nor explained it. Now, first let us take forgetting. A man forgot the first tashahhud in prayer. Is his prayer invalid? No, but he compensates for it with sujud al-sahw. A fasting man forgot and ate and drank. Is his fast invalid? No, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
If anyone forgets that he is fasting and eats or drinks he should complete his fast من نسي وهو صائم فأكل اوشرب فليتم صومه
Sahih Muslim 1155
In his saying:
Let him complete his fast فليتم صومه
there is evidence that the fast is not diminished even if he ate until full or drank until satisfied. So the fast is complete because he said:
then he should complete his fast, for what he has eaten or drunk, has been given to him by Allah. فليتم صومه فإنما أطعمه الله وسقاه أطعمه الله وسقاه
Sahih al-Bukhari 1933
because it was without his intention; Allah provided it to him. Now, regarding ignorance, the non-accountability for ignorance, we need an example from the Sunnah to which the verse applies. From the Sunnah, please.
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : No, let me rest.
The student: A man spoke while in prayer, forgetting.

The Shaykh : We are not talking about ignorance now. We need an example from the Sunnah, my brother. From the Sunnah.
The student: ... Mu'awiyah ibn al-Hakam ...

The Shaykh : al-Sulami.
The student: ... when he sneezed ... he responded to him saying, "May Allah have mercy on you."

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you. This is Mu'awiyah ibn al-Hakam al-Sulami, not Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan.
He was praying with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), so a man from the people sneezed and the sneezer said, "Praise be to Allah," and Mu'awiyah heard it كان يصلي مع النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم فعطس رجل من القوم فقال العاطس الحمد لله فسمعه معاوية
And it was obligatory for a person, when he heard his brother praise Allah after sneezing, to respond to him by saying: "May Allah have mercy on you."
So Mu'awiyah said to him: "May Allah have mercy on you" فقال له معاوية : يرحمك الله
by custom.
So the people threw their glances at him فرماه الناس بأبصارهم
meaning, they looked at him with their eyes in disapproval of his saying.
So he said: "May my mother be bereaved of me" فقال : واثكل أمياه
May my mother be bereaved of me واثكل أمياه
meaning, he was lamenting the loss of his mother. This is a phrase said in times of grief or the like.
So they began hitting their thighs to silence him. The Companions, so he was silent. When he finished the prayer, the Prophet (may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him) called him. Mu'awiyah said: "By my father and my mother, I have never seen a teacher who taught better than him" فجعلوا يضربون على أفخاذهم يسكتونه الصحابة فسكت لما انتهى من الصلاة دعاه النبي صلوات الله وسلامه عليه قال معاوية : فبأمي هو وأمي ما رأيت معلما أحسن تعليما منه
May the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him.
He neither remonstrated me, nor beat me, nor abused me والله ما كهرني ولا نهرني
Riyad as-Salihin 700
He did not frown at him, nor was harsh with him in his words, but rather he said:
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, even though he had spoken. Why did he not order him? Because he was ignorant.
Source alathar.net

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

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