Many people are speaking about the excuse of ignorance and people
also speak about the one who was given the excuse of mistake and error
and so on. But we should always remember that the mistake and error that
we are speaking about, is not theoretic issues, it is those issues that
are not known by necessity; those issues that are matters of Ijtihaad.
It is for this reason, that when people speak about the excuse of
Khata' (mistake) or the excuse of ignorance (Al 'Udhr bil Jahl), they do
not understand that that is only given to the one who made a mistake
about an issue that was not known by necessity or was an issue of
Ijtihaad.
And it is for this reason that we will speak about those
who love Allah and all the Messengers and the Sahabah, those who
understand the meaning of laa ilaaha illallah and the meaning of al-Kuffr
bit-Taghout, Al-Walaa and Al-Baraa, the true Muslims who believe in
Allah and Loves Allah and the Messenger and he follows the path of the
Sahabah. He will be decisive and he will never stop declaring Takfeer on
the one who makes Du’a to something other than Allah, seeking help in
something that nobody can help except Allah. That is a big issue and
many people are misguided and fall into that.
Many people speak
about the Khata and ignorance but when it comes to seeking help from the
graves, or the rock or idol or USA they look for excuses for their
Kuffr; but they are the Kaafir. Allah says,
"The one who supplicates to any lord besides Allah, he will be accounted they are the kafireen."
And so Allah declared Kaafir those who seek help from other than Allah,
who seek help from the dead people or from the tree or the mountain, Allah says, "Do not supplicate to anything instead of Allah, to what cannot benefit
you nor harm you, and if you did that you are those who do injustice"
Allah called them Kaafir, "The call of the Kaafir is falsehood"
And Allah says in Surah Ra'd, "The supplication to the Haqq is for Allah, and those who supplicate to
other than Allah, they will never respond to them, like the one who puts
his hand in the water to reach his mouth, but it reaches him not, and
the invocation of the disbelievers is nothing but falsehood.” [13:14]
And the Prophet Muhammad (saws) Ibn ‘Abdillah, the Imaam of the Muwahhideen said, "Whoever died and he supplicated to other than Allah, he will enter hellfire."
And the main foundation and root of this Deen is to worship Allah
exclusively and reject and declare disbelief in anything that has been
worshipped instead of Allah and the Prophet (saws) said, "I have
been ordered to fight people until they say that there is no one worthy
to be worshipped except Allah, if they say it, they preserve from me
their life and wealth except the Haqq of Islam."
And the greatest
Haqq of Islam is to worship Allah exclusively and the greatest arrogance
is the one who worships instead of Allah something else and that is the
Mushrik Kaafir.
However some people will say, "Where is
the evidence to call someone who says the kalimah Kaafir?" But it is well
known how the greatest a'immah of the salaf, Imam Abu Hanifah, Imaam
Shafi'i, Imaam Laith bin Sa'd on the chapter of the Murtad listed many
things that if you do it, you will become Kaafir even if you said the
kalimah.
IS THE JAHIL EXCUSED IF HE WAS TAGHOUT?
Allah says, “And wherever you differ, the verdict is with Allah. “Such is Allah, my
Lord: in Him have I placed my trust, and unto Him do I always turn!”
[42:10]
Allah says, “Have you seen those (hypocrites) who claim
that they believe in that which has been sent down to you, and that
which was sent down before you, and they wish to go for judgement (in
their disputes) to the Taghout (false judges, etc.) while they have been
ordered to reject them. But Shaytaan (Satan) wishes to lead them far
astray.” [4:60]
So the ayah is clear and is understood from the ayah that we cannot associate with Allah in his Hukm anybody. Allah says, “He does not associate with his Hukm anybody." [18:26]
Allah says, "Do not eat from anything that Allah’s name was not mentioned, that is
sin, but the Shayateen whisper to his awliyaa to debate it with you, if
you obey them you are Mushrikeen.” [6:121]
This is shirk in
obedience to the legislation that Allah never legislated is what is
called "worshipping Shaytaan", Allah says, "Didn't I ask you O children of Adam, not to worship Shaytaan? He is your clear enemy." [36:60]
And this is what Ibraheem (as) said, "O my father, do not worship the Shaytaan, verily the Shaytaan was disobedient to Allah." [19:44]
Those who worship the Shaytaan are those who accept the legislation of anybody who had no right to legislate, Allah says, “And so to
many of the Mushrikeen their "partners" have made fair-seeming the
killing of their children, in order to lead them to their own
destruction and cause confusion in their religion. And if Allah had
willed they would not have done so. So leave them alone with their
fabrications.” [6:137]
So even if he did not accept it, he is
Kaafir because he sought that arbitration or legislation from them
instead of Allah. However some people still try to justify the existing
rulers saying that those who arbitrate to the Taghout are not Kaafir. All
of their argument is only that they are seeking some benefit and some
rights (Huquq), but we know that the power of ruling is for none but
Allah.
The legislators are different divisions or types,
(i)
there is the legislator that judges by whatever Allah revealed and does
not go out of it and that is the one that we refer to.
(ii) And
then there is the one who rules by the Shari’ah of Allah but he does not
rule by what Allah revealed in some matters of Ijtihaad by mistake.
(iii) And then there is the one who rules by Shari'ah but he does not
rule by Islam in some matters out of Hawaa (rational desires).
(iv) and then there is the one who rules by different than the Shari’ah
of Islam and that is one of two:
- either he is a ruler that he claims
that wrong Shari'ah is the Shari’ah of Allah,
- or the other that
admits that he is the one who made his own system differing with the
Shari'ah.
We find that the ruler who rules by other than the
Shari’ah of Allah i.e. a different Shari’ah, we must explain it to him
but the reason why we must call him Kafir for that is because of the
ayah, "whoever rules by other than what Allah revealed, he is Kafir".
Allah (swt) says,
Verily, We did send down the Taurât (Torah)
[to Musa (Moses)]; therein was guidance and light, by which the
Prophets, who submitted themselves to Allah’s Will, judged the Jews. And
the rabbis and the priests [too judged the Jews by the Taurât (Torah)
after those Prophets] for to them was entrusted the protection of
Allah’s Book, and they were witnesses thereto. Therefore fear not men
but fear Me (O Jews) and sell not My Verses for a miserable price. And
whosoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed, such are the
Kafirun.” [5:44]
The other ruler is the one who says, he rules by
what he believes is the best and while that was not the Shari'ah of
Allah, and this is the reality of most of the rulers today, Allah
ordered us to reject these people, to believe they are Kafir and to have
baraa'ah from them.
But what about those people who judge by
other than what Allah revealed but they still pray and fast and do the
good deeds and say the kalimah?
Can we say that they are not Muslim?
The answer to that is that we know how the one who is ignorant about
Laa ilaha illallah, cannot be excused when he committed an act of Shirk
Akbar by his ignorance.
Similarly ruling by other than what
Allah revealed is known by necessity that it is Kuffr Akbar that will
take you out of the fold of Islam.
The excuse of ignorance cannot
be given in matters that are known by necessity, matters that people
cannot be called a Muslim without believing in it. Otherwise, nobody
will be called Kaafir from the Jews and Christians because they are
ignorant!
We know that there was a group of Jews and Christians
who confessed that Muhammad was the messenger and that he came with Wahi
but they said that he was only sent to the Arabs, these people will
still be Kaafir despite their ignorance.
Just like if a Jew or
Christian said, "I am a Muslim" or says " I believe in Islam" you cannot
call him Muslim just because of his claim, the Muslim is the one who
believes in Islam and he fulfils it, The rulers do believe in Islam but
they are still Kaafir.
Now some people will rise and speak about
those people who will commit Kuffr and they are Jahil. We know that by
the excuse of ignorance they mean, because of the ignorance of a person,
although he did an act of Kuffr he will not be Kaafir, because he did not
know that what he did was Kuffr.
Indeed the Ulemaa when they spoke about it they spoke about it from different angles.
Firstly, what is ignorance?
There is ignorance on Usul ul Deen and that ignorance is no excuse for these matters, the matters of Al Masaa'il Al Jaliyyah.
The Jahil must be one of two types for the excuse to be granted to him, Either he is a new Muslim, such that he was living with the non-Muslims and he embraced Islam.
In contrast, the one who was dhimmi living between the Muslims and he
embraced Islam, he will not be given an excuse of ignorance in matters
known by necessity.
Or the one who the knowledge never reached
him because he was living far away from anybody and so there was an
obstacle between him and the knowledge reaching him.
The
circumstances of the ignorance also has certain doubts or conjecture,
from the angle of “if it is a matter of Dunya” or from the angle of
“what is the ruling?” etc.
E.g. the circumstances of ignorance,
we will look to the Dunya matters, we know that in the Dunya the child
will be attributed to the parents, accordingly he will be attributed to
the Kuffaar if his parents were Kuffaar. If he was from a Muslim family,
we call him Muslim until proven otherwise.
In relation to the
akhirah (the hereafter), what is the ruling of the child of the Kaafir in
the akhirah? The child in the hereafter will be from Ahl Al Jannah even
though in the Dunya, he is attributed to be from the people of the
Kuffaar.
So the Ahkaam of the child in the Dunya is different to
the Ahkaam of the child in the akhirah, similarly the same is true for
the Mushrik who was ignorant in the Dunya, we will look to his
ignorance, if he was ignorant about Asl Al Deen he is still Kafir, but
if it was a matter not clear cut (e.g. to believe in the angels and in
Mikaa'eel) we will look to the excuse of ignorance for him because he is
Mushrik Jahil and embraced Islam and was still a new Muslim.
However in the akhirah, if he died in that situation, he will be tested by Allah.
So the topic is related to the ignorance and the topic of Islam in
relation to him e.g. the child of the Mushrikeen, in the war, we cannot
kill him and we do not kill Kuffaar that the Da'wah never reached them
and we cannot punish the apostate until we gave him the offer to repent,
we give him a period to return from his apostasy. That is not because
his ignorance is an excuse but in order to remove the ignorance.
So the ignorance can only be an excuse in matters that are not known
from the Deen by necessity unless someone was a new Muslim living far
away from the Muslims or there was an obstacle between him and
knowledge.
But even for the new Muslim or the one living in the
jungle, ignorance will never be an excuse in matters of Usul ul Deen
i.e. those matters that explicit and clear like denying that Muhammad is
the Messenger, or ruling or arbitrating to a Shari’ah other than that
of Allah, or worshipping Shaytaan by obeying a legislation other than
Allah’s legislation.
[BY USTAADH ABU WALEED]
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