Excuse of Ignorance in Shirk | Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan

1,681 views·Aug 23, 2026

📌 In this clip, Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan addresses the Murjiah who distort the issue of the excuse of ignorance in matters of major shirk by using it to affirm Islam for grave worshippers, claiming that they remain Muslims rather than being regarded as mushrikin from Ahlul Fatrah. ⚠️ This is a false understanding of the issue! 1️⃣ If a person commits shirk while living among Muslims, then he is a kafir. 2️⃣ If he commits shirk in remote lands where the message has not reached him, then he is a mushrik from Ahl al-Fatrah - meaning outwardly a mushrik, while his inward affair is left to Allah. ⚠️ In both cases, he is NOT ruled to be a Muslim. ✅ We rule by what is outwardly apparent. ❌ Suspending the outward ruling based on assumed inward factors, or requiring verification of their absence, is an innovation of the Murjiah used to falsely affirm Islam for those who commit shirk and kufr. 📌 Source: [812 -939] هل يعذر بعض طلبة العلم الذين يعذرون القبوريين بالجهل!؟ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2GcfqS2fAQ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ✍️ STATEMENT: Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta' - KSA 🇸🇦 Fatwah no. 4400: فالبيان وإقامة الحجة للإعذار إليه قبل إنزال العقوبة به لا ليسمى كافرا بعد البيان فإنه يسمى كافرا بما حدث منه من سجود لغير اللّٰه أو نذره قربة أو ذبحه شاة مثلاً لغير اللّٰه 👉 (❗) "So clarifying the matter and establishing the proof (Iqāmat al-hujjah) is for the purpose of removing any excuse before carrying out the PUNISHMENT upon him, NOT in order for him to be called a disbeliever only after the clarification. 👉 (❗) Rather, he IS CALLED a kafir based on the outward act he committed. such as prostrating to other than Allah, vowing as an act of worship to other than Him, or slaughtering an animal, like a sheep, for other than Allah...” End Quote 📚 SOURCE: Kitāb Fatāwā al-Lajnah al-Dāʾimah – First Collection, vol. 1, p. 220 https://shamela.ws/book/8381/396#p1 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ✍️ STATEMENT: Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta' - KSA 🇸🇦 The first question of Fatwa no. 17626 س ١ : هل يعذر جاهل التوحيد؟ ج١ : يعذر بالجهل من لم تقم عليه الحجة، وهو من لم يبلغه شيء عن النبي ، ويكون حكمه حكم أهل الفترة، يمتحن يوم القيامة، فإن نجح نجا، وإن لم ينجح هلك. أما من بلغه بعثة الرسول أو سمع شيئاً من الكتاب والسنة، فإنه لا يعذر بالجهل. ❓Question 1: Is a person who is ignorant of Tawhid (monotheism) excused? 💬 Answer 1: A person is excused if they are not aware of the proofs or not informed with anything from the Prophet (peace be upon him). 👉 (❗) They take the same ruling as Ahl-ul-Fatrah (those to whom Da wah has not reached in an uncorrupted manner); they are tested on the Day of Resurrection. If they pass, they will be safe. If they do not, they will be doomed. As for those who were informed of the Prophet (peace be upon him) or heard anything of the Qur'an and the Sunnah, they CANNOT be excused for ignorance. 📚 SOURCE: The Permanent Committee Fatwas - Second Collection, vol. 1, p. 420. https://shamela.ws/book/21772/643 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ✅ The methodology of Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Jamaah: The outward ruling is based exclusively on statements and actions. Matters of the heart are only considered in punishment and the final judgment, in this world by the judge and in the Hereafter by Allah. ✍️ Al-Hafidh Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (d. 852H) in Fath al-Bari (12/272), transmitting consensus: وكلهم أجمعوا على أن أحكام الدنيا على الظاهر، والله يتولى السرائر “THEY ALL UNANIMOUSLY AGREED that worldly rulings are based upon what is outwardly apparent, while Allah alone takes charge of what lies within.” End Quote ✍️ Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728H) said in As-Sarim al-Maslul (2/339): فمن قال أو فعل ما هو كفر, كفر بذلك، وإن لم يقصد أن يكون كافرًا، إذ لا بقصد الكفر أحدّ إلًّا ما شاء الله. “Whoever says or does that which is kufr, then he becomes a kafir by that itself, even if he did not intend to become a disbeliever, for no one intends kufr except whom Allah wills.” End