Some people cite the saying of the Exalted: "They said, 'O Shu'ayb, we do not understand much of what you say,'" as evidence that ignorance is not an excuse. Do they have a valid argument in this verse?
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The questioner : Your Eminence, may Allah preserve you, some of them cite...
The Shaykh : Yes?
The questioner : Some of them.
The Shaykh : Some of what?
The questioner : Some of them.
The Shaykh : Some of the scholars or some of the people?
The questioner : Some of the people cite the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He:[Hud 11:91] as evidence that ignorance is not an excuse. Do they have a valid argument in this verse?
The Shaykh : First: May Allah bless you. You must know that the legal and faith-based principle is: "that a person must interpret the ambiguous texts in light of the clear ones". All the clear texts indicate that a person is excused by ignorance,[Al-Isra 17:15], [An-Nisa 4:165], [At-Tawbah 9:115]. There are many verses on this point. If ignorance were an excuse, we would not have needed the messengers.
And this verse you mentioned:[Hud 11:91] They did not say: "We do not understand what you say." They said: [Hud 11:91]. Furthermore, they may have been truthful in their statement: , or they may have been lying, but they were defiant. So the verse now: it does not contain evidence that they do not understand everything he says, but rather that they do not understand much of what he says.
And secondly: they may have been defiant and not truthful in their statement:. Therefore, it is not permissible to oppose the explicit verses with such an ambiguous verse.
The questioner : The messengers have come, and there is no other messenger after them. So we are obligated to... meaning: we hear the verse from them, and once they hear the verse, the argument is established against them.
The Shaykh : That is not sufficient. Have you seen if you read the entire Qur'an from beginning to end to a man who does not know Arabic, would he understand?
He does not understand, and the truth is the same; he does not understand.
For this reason, Allah the Exalted said:[Ibrahim 14:4].
The Shaykh : Yes?
The questioner : Some of them.
The Shaykh : Some of what?
The questioner : Some of them.
The Shaykh : Some of the scholars or some of the people?
The questioner : Some of the people cite the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He:
They said, "O Shu'ayb, we do not understand much of what you say
قَالُوا يَا شُعَيْبُ مَا نَفْقَهُ كَثِيراً مِمَّا تَقُولُThe Shaykh : First: May Allah bless you. You must know that the legal and faith-based principle is: "that a person must interpret the ambiguous texts in light of the clear ones". All the clear texts indicate that a person is excused by ignorance,
And never would We punish until We sent a messenger.
وما كُنَّا مُعَذِّبِينَ حَتَّى نَبْعَثَ رَسُولاً[We sent] messengers as bringers of good tidings and warners so that mankind will have no argument against Allah after the messengers
رُسُلاً مُبَشِّرِينَ وَمُنْذِرِينَ لِئَلَّا يَكُونَ لِلنَّاسِ عَلَى اللَّهِ حُجَّةٌ بَعْدَ الرُّسُلِAnd Allah would not let a people stray after He has guided them until He makes clear to them what they should avoid
وَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ لِيُضِلَّ قَوْماً بَعْدَ إِذْ هَدَاهُمْ حَتَّى يُبَيِّنَ لَهُمْ مَا يَتَّقُونَAnd this verse you mentioned:
we do not understand much of what you say
مَا نَفْقَهُ كَثِيراً مِمَّا تَقُولُmuch of what you say
كَثِيراً مِمَّا تَقُولُWe do not understand
ما نفقهAnd secondly: they may have been defiant and not truthful in their statement:
We do not understand
ما نفقهThe questioner : The messengers have come, and there is no other messenger after them. So we are obligated to... meaning: we hear the verse from them, and once they hear the verse, the argument is established against them.
The Shaykh : That is not sufficient. Have you seen if you read the entire Qur'an from beginning to end to a man who does not know Arabic, would he understand?
He does not understand, and the truth is the same; he does not understand.
For this reason, Allah the Exalted said: