Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: “Our Lord, do not hold us accountable if we forget or make a mistake.”

The Shaykh : So Allah said: meaning, He will not hold you accountable if you forget or make a mistake? So what is forgetting and what is making a mistake?
As for forgetting, it is: the heart’s distraction from a known matter. This is forgetting: the heart’s distraction from a known matter, meaning that a person knows the thing, then becomes distracted and forgets. As for making a mistake, it is: ignorance, that a person commits what he is blamed for without intention. This is making a mistake: that a person commits what he is blamed for without intention. So if a person does something while forgetting or making a mistake, then Allah the Exalted will not hold him accountable for it, due to His saying: . This applies in all acts of worship, in all transactions, and in all actions; whatever issues from ignorance or forgetting, Allah will not hold one accountable for it.
Examples of this have come in the Sunnah, so let us take examples from prayer, examples from charity, examples from fasting, and examples from Hajj.
The examples in prayer: It is established in the authentic collections that Mu'awiyah ibn al-Hakim (may Allah be pleased with him) came to the prayer and entered with the people to pray. A man from the group sneezed and said, “Praise be to Allah,” because it is a recommended practice (sunnah) that when you sneeze, you say “Praise be to Allah,” and whoever hears you is obligated to say, “May Allah have mercy on you.” So when the man said “Praise be to Allah” while praying, Mu'awiyah said to him, “May Allah have mercy on you. May Allah have mercy on you.” Based on what? Based on the fact that whoever hears a sneezer praise Allah should say to him, “May Allah have mercy on you.” So the people cast their eyes at him, meaning the praying people looked at him with a look of disapproval. Why? Because he spoke during the prayer. So Mu'awiyah said, “Wathakl ummih, wathakl ummih,” meaning he was invoking a curse upon himself that his mother would lose him. This is a phrase the Arabs say without intending its meaning. So he added to the mud, what? He made it stick, because he spoke twice, but the first time he prayed for his brother and the second time he prayed against himself. But he said, “Wathakl ummih,” so his companions began hitting their thighs to silence him, and he became silent. When he finished his prayer, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) called him. Mu'awiyah said: . Or as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said.
Did he order him to repeat the prayer? Answer: No. Why? Because he was ignorant; if he had known, he would not have spoken.
So we take from this that if a man speaks during his prayer out of ignorance, he does not have to repeat it, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not order him to repeat it. Now, what if he spoke out of forgetfulness?
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : Also, nothing is required of him. If his companion stood over him while he was praying and said, “O so-and-so, where did you put the key?” and he said, “On the shelf to your right when you enter,” while he was praying, but he was forgetful, does his prayer become invalid? No. If someone asked permission to enter while he was praying, and he said to the questioner, “Please come in,” out of forgetfulness? Nothing is required of him, due to His saying:
If someone asks: What is the difference between the hadith of Mu'awiyah ibn al-Hakim and the hadith that scholars call the hadith of the one who prays poorly? It is what is established in the two authentic collections from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him): that a man entered the mosque and prayed, but he prayed a prayer in which he did not settle; he bowed quickly and prostrated quickly. Then he came and greeted the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he said to him: . What did he say to him, my brother? What did he say to him?
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : You have done well; rest. May Allah reward you with good. The man returned and prayed as he had prayed the first time, then he came back and greeted the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and he said: . He prayed as the first time, then came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and greeted him, then returned and prayed. In the third time, he said, “By Him who sent you with the truth, I do not know how to do anything other than this; teach me.” So he taught him.
And he said to him: . He ordered him to repeat the prayer, even though he was, what? Ignorant. And he did not order Mu'awiyah to repeat the prayer because he was ignorant.
And the question is: What is the difference between this and that?
The scholars said: The difference is that the story of Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) is regarding a prohibited act. And the story of the man who did not complete his prayer is regarding the omission of an obligatory act. The omission of an obligatory act is not excused by ignorance as long as the demand remains. Pay attention: as long as the demand remains. It is excused by ignorance in what the demand has fallen away from. As for a prohibited act, it is dropped by ignorance in all cases. This is the difference, and it is the principle among the majority of scholars to distinguish between, what? Between the obligatory act and the prohibited act.
The obligatory act is not dropped by ignorance as long as the demand remains, by the person knowing its danger at the time of the demand. But what has passed is dropped by ignorance. The evidence for this is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not order this man to repeat, what? To repeat his past prayer, because the demand had ended.
As for repeating the current prayer, because the demand has not ceased. This is the example in prayer.
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : The demand, the demand.
The example of charity: A man went out with his charity. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) told us about a man who gave charity and placed his charity in the hands of its rightful people. One day he went out and gave charity, and the charity fell into the hand of a rich man, and the rich man was not among the people of charity. When morning came, the people began talking, saying, “Charity was given to a rich man last night.” So the man said, “Praise be to Allah.” He praised Allah in all circumstances, saying, “Praise be to Allah in all circumstances,” and it seemed as if he regretted it. Then he gave charity on the second night, and the charity fell into the hand of a thief. So the people began talking in the morning, saying, “Charity was given to a thief last night.” So he said, “Praise be to Allah on a thief,” and it seemed as if he regretted it. Then he gave charity on the third night, and the charity fell into the hand of a woman who commits unlawful sexual intercourse. So the people began talking, saying, “Charity was given to a woman who commits unlawful sexual intercourse last night.” So he said, “Praise be to Allah on a rich man, on a thief, and on a woman who commits unlawful sexual intercourse.”
He thought that his charity would not be accepted, so it was said to him: “As for your charity, it has been accepted. Perhaps the rich man will take an example from it and give charity. And as for the thief, perhaps he will take sufficiency from it and not steal. And as for the woman who commits unlawful sexual intercourse, perhaps it will satisfy her need and she will not commit unlawful sexual intercourse.”
A good intention made the bad deed good, because the man intended the face of Allah with his charity. From this, the scholars took a great benefit from this hadith, which is that if a man pays his zakah to a person he thinks is eligible for zakah, and then it becomes clear to him that he is not eligible, then the zakah is sufficient. Meaning, if you gave charity to a person, paying him your zakah thinking he was eligible for it, and then it became clear that he is rich, then your zakah is accepted based on what happened...
This is an example of, what? Charity.
An example in fasting: A'ishah bint Abi Bakr (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: . And this implies that they broke their fast, what? Before the time, meaning before the sun set. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not order them to make up the fast. If making up the fast had been obligatory, what? He would have ordered them to do so, because if it were obligatory, it would be part of the Shari'ah, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is obligated to convey the Shari'ah of Allah. And if he had ordered it, it would have been transmitted to us, because the Shari'ah is preserved. So when it was not transmitted to us that he ordered them to make up the fast, we knew that he did not order them to do so, and that if a person ate at night and it became clear that it was daytime, then he does not have to make up the fast. Similarly, if a person gets up at night and eats suhur thinking that the night is still remaining, and then it becomes clear that the dawn has risen before he finished suhur, then his fast is valid, and he does not have to make it up, and there is no sin on him.
And 'Adi ibn Hatim wanted to fast, and he had read the saying of Allah the Exalted: . So what did 'Adi do? He placed two cords under his pillow, and the cord is the rope with which the hand of a camel is tied. One of them was black and the other was white. And he kept eating, and every time he ate, he looked at the black and white cords until the black cord became distinct from the white cord, then he abstained. When morning came, he went to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and told him that he kept eating until, what? The black cord became distinct from the white cord. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . That the white thread and the black thread . And he did not order him to repeat it because he was ignorant.
Is he ignorant of the situation or ignorant of the ruling?
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : Wrong. He is ignorant of the ruling; he thinks that this is what Allah the Mighty and Majestic intends, and it is not what Allah intends. But the hadith of A'ishah, they were ignorant of the situation. Now.
And as for the example in fasting: It is authentic from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah that he said: . And based on this, if you forget and drink, or forget and eat while you are fasting, then complete the fast, for Allah has fed you and given you drink. But when you remember that you are fasting, it is obligatory for you to abstain. And similarly, when you know, it is obligatory for you to abstain.
Prayer, charity, fasting.
The Hajj: Likewise, if a person commits a prohibited act during the Hajj, there is no sin on him, no expiation, and nothing else. The evidence for this is the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He: . His saying "intentionally" indicates that if a person kills it unintentionally, there is nothing on him. Likewise, all the prohibitions of the state of consecration (ihram), if a person commits them while ignorant, forgetful, or coerced, there is nothing on him. All the prohibitions: if a person shaves some of his head while ignorant or forgetful, or applies perfume while ignorant or forgetful, or has intercourse with his wife while ignorant or forgetful while in the state of consecration, there is nothing on him and his Hajj is valid.
This matter makes it clear, may Allah bless you, that ignorance and forgetfulness are not held against a person in any act of worship.
Now, in transactions as well, if a person deals in a forbidden thing while ignorant, there is nothing on him, but it is obligatory for him to correct the contract.
An example of this is: a man sold one dirham for two dirhams, and selling a dirham for two dirhams is usury (riba), but he did not know. We say this man is not sinful, but it is obligatory for him to return the dirham.
The evidence for this is that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) because he (peace and blessings be upon him) knew that the dates of Khaybar were of poor quality . But he did not rebuke them for what they did. Why? Because they were ignorant. But he returned the sale in order to correct the contract, because this can be avoided. Therefore, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered him to return it so that the contract would be established in a valid manner. .
What remains for us from what excuses a person is coercion. If a person is coerced into something, there is no sin on him, but what is the evidence?
The evidence is His saying, the Exalted: . If Allah has lifted the ruling from one who is coerced into disbelief, then what is less than disbelief is even more so. Based on this, if a man coerces a person to eat while he is fasting, and he eats, his fast is not invalidated by that. And from that, if a man coerces his wife to have intercourse while she is fasting, and he has intercourse with her, her fast is not invalidated by that because she is coerced. The coerced person is lifted from the ruling. That is regarding coercion, because if Allah has lifted the ruling in coercion into disbelief, then what is less than that is even more so. And it indicates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: .