On the issue of whether ignorance is a valid excuse

Praise
be to Allah

Firstly:

What is required
of the Muslim is to understand and believe in Tawheed (the Oneness of Allah)
and to follow the Qur’an and Sunnah according to the understanding of the
righteous early generations (salaf), and to avoid innovation (bid‘ah) and
its people. The Sufi tariqahs (paths) come under the heading of people of
innovation, so the Muslim should keep away from their path and not follow in
their footsteps.

Please see the
answer to question no. 118693.

Secondly:

It is not
permissible to take the issue of calling a Muslim a disbeliever (kaafir) or
an evildoer (faasiq) lightly, because that comes under the heading of
fabricating lies against Allah and fabricating lies against His Muslim
slaves. It is not permissible to call a Muslim a disbeliever or an evildoer
unless he commits that which would support that appellation in word or deed,
based on clear evidence from the Qur’an and Sunnah.

Moreover, it is
not permissible to call him a disbeliever or evildoer until all conditions
required for calling him such are met, and all impediments to that are
absent.

One of those
conditions is that he should be aware that his words and practice contradict
the teachings of Islam, which led to him becoming a disbeliever or evildoer.

One of the
impediments to that is if he bases his action on a misinterpretation, or he
may have some specious argument that he thinks provides evidence for his
practice, or he is in such a situation that he cannot understand the shar‘i
evidence in a proper manner. A person can only be deemed a disbeliever after
there is certainty that he is deliberately going against the teachings of
Islam and he is not ignorant of the issue.

For more
information on the guidelines on whether or not a person may be deemed a
disbeliever, please see the answer to question no. 85102.

Thirdly:

The correct view
with regard to the issue of ignorance and whether ignorance is a valid
excuse is that if a Muslim is proven to be a Muslim, he cannot be stripped
of this description on the basis of mere doubt; rather he cannot be stripped
of this description except on the basis of certainty and after establishing
proof against him in such a way that leaves him with no excuse.

Shaykh Muhammad
ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhaab (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

If we do not
describe as a disbeliever one who worships the idol  on the grave of ‘Abd
al-Qaadir or worships the idol on the grave of Ahmad al-Badawi [the “idols”
in question are structures over the graves, to which some people devote
practices that constitute worship], and the like, because of their ignorance
and because there is no one who ever alerted them to their mistake, then how
could we regard as a disbeliever one who never associated anything with
Allah if he does not migrate to us, or if he does not regard others as
disbelievers and fight them? “Exalted
are You, [O Allah]; this is a great slander”
[an-Noor 24:16].

End quote from
ad-Durar as-Saniyyah (1/104)

it is
well-established that basically these non-Arabs have grown up in countries
and societies where ignorance of many of the rulings and teachings of Islam
is the norm, especially with regard to issues having to do with the Sunnahs
and also the foundations of Tawheed. Rather they believe in general terms,
but are ignorant of many of the details.

Shaykh al-Islam
Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

Regarding
someone as a disbeliever is like a warning of hellfire, even if it is
because the one who is so described is saying something that implies
rejection of what the Messenger taught; that man may be new in Islam, or may
be living in the wilderness, far from centres of teaching.

Such a person
should not be deemed a disbeliever for something he rejected of the
teachings of Islam until proof has been established in his case. A man may
not have heard of some particular text, or he may have heard of it but it
was not proven to him to be sound and correct, or he may have already some
idea established in his mind that contradicts the text and so he
misinterpreted the text.

I always
remember the hadith in as-Saheehayn about the man who said: “…When I die,
burn me then crush (my bones), then scatter me in the wind and in the sea,
for by Allah, if Allah grasps hold of me, He will punish me as He has never
punished anyone. They did that to him, then He said to the land: Return what
you have taken, and he was standing there. Then He said to him: What made
you do what you did? He said: Fear of You, O Lord. And Allah forgave him
because of that.”

This was a man
who doubted the might of Allah, and doubted that He would be able to bring
him back to life after his ashes were scattered; in fact he believed that he
would not be resurrected, which constitutes disbelief according to the
consensus of the Muslims. But he was ignorant and did not know that, yet he
was a believer who feared that Allah would punish him, so Allah forgave him
because of that.

If a person
misinterprets a religious text when he is qualified to engage in ijtihad and
is keen to follow the Messenger, it is more appropriate that he should be
forgiven than someone like the person who is mentioned in the hadith.

End quote from
Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa (3/231).

He also said:

Many people may
grow up in places and times where there is not much left of knowledge of the
revelations of Allah, to the extent that there is no one left who can teach
others that with which Allah sent His Messenger of the Book and wisdom, so
they do not know much of that with which Allah sent His Messenger, and there
is no one there to teach them that. Such people cannot be deemed
disbelievers. Therefore the leading scholars were unanimously agreed that
whoever grew up in the wilderness, far away from people of knowledge and
faith, and is new in Islam, if he rejects some of these well-known,
mutawaatir rulings of Islam, he is not to be deemed a disbeliever until he
learns the message with which the Messenger was sent.

End quote from
Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa (11/407).

Their merely
knowing a translation of the meanings of the Qur’an is not enough; rather
even if they are able to read it in Arabic, that is not enough. How many of
those who speak Arabic and have some knowledge of the language still cannot
understand from reading the texts of the Qur’an and Sunnah that what they
are doing is wrong or invalid, or whether it is shirk or not.

Al-Haafiz Ibn
Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

Al-Ghazaali said
in his book at-Tafriqah bayna al-Eemaan wa’z-Zandaqah: What we must
be very careful not to do is to call people disbelievers, and we should
avoid that as much as possible, for the error in not labelling one thousand
disbelievers as a disbelievers is less grave than the error of shedding the
blood of one Muslim.

End quote from
Fat-h al-Baari (12/300).

What the
questioner in this case should do is strive to call his relatives and
acquaintances by teaching them true Tawheed and Sunnah, and bearing with
patience their offence, rejection and harshness. The greatest attitude that
he can have towards people is as Allah, may He be exalted, says
(interpretation of the meaning):

“And
who is better in speech than one who invites to Allah and does righteousness
and says, “Indeed, I am of the Muslims’?

And not equal
are the good deed and the bad. Repel [evil] by that [deed] which is better;
and thereupon the one whom between you and him is enmity [will become] as
though he was a devoted friend.

But none is
granted it except those who are patient, and none is granted it except one
having a great portion [of good].

And if there
comes to you from Satan an evil suggestion, then seek refuge in Allah .
Indeed, He is the Hearing, the Knowing”

[Fussilat
41:33-36].

See also the
answer to question no. 111362

And Allah knows
best.