Quran Garden

Session 318

Chapter 2

Verse 286

a continuation

Allah does not burden any soul, except with something within its capacity: for it what it earned and against it what it had acquired. - ‘Our Lord, do not take us to task if we have forgotten or erred.  Lord, do not burden us as You burdened those before us. Lord, do not burden us with more than we have the strength to bear. Pardon us, forgive us, and have mercy on us. You are our guardian, so help us against the disbelievers.’ (Chapter 2: Verse 286)

Allah narrates the supplication of the believers: ‘Our Lord, do not take us to task if we have forgotten or erred.’  Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said: "God has absolved my followers from matters of error, forgetfulness, and what they were coerced into doing." 

Here you may ask, why does the Quran talk about something that has already been forgiven? There are two possible answers.  The first answer is that matters of error, forgetfulness, and coercion may not have been forgiven from the very beginning; perhaps forgiveness only took place after the Prophet and the early believers supplicated their Lord and asked for ease.  The second possibility is that if matters of error, forgetfulness, and coercion were forgiven from the very beginning, then the supplication is indicative of the utmost purity of faith.  In other words, it is an acknowledgment from the believers that Allah should not be disobeyed except by inadvertent error or forgetfulness.  Allah should never be disobeyed intentionally.  A true believer values the close connection with Allah so much, that he or she would never disobey Him except out of forgetfulness or error.  God says:

We also commanded Adam before you, but he forgot and We found him lacking in resolve. (20:115)

God referred to Adam’s forgetfulness as a sin, but later, He honored the nation of Muhammad and absolved them from sins that came out of forgetfulness. 

Here we should pause and compare our forgetfulness to that of Adam.  First, Adam, peace be upon him, was created by the hand of God, while we were created by the laws of reproduction.  God says:

He said, ‘satan, what prevented you prostrating to what I created with My own Hands? Were you overcome by arrogance or are you one of the exalted?’ (38:75)

Second, Adam received teachings from God directly and not through a messenger.  Lastly, Adam was tasked with a single obligation: ‘do not to go near a particular tree in paradise.’  So how could he forget? Adams forgetfulness was surely a sin.  It was not appropriate for him to forget this single mandate that was instructed directly by God.  Perhaps Adam was made to forget for wisdom only known by God.  It may have been so that he can reside on earth as God’s successor, or to teach humanity how to repent from mistakes.

We supplicate: ‘Our Lord, do not take us to task if we have forgotten or erred.’ What exactly is an error?  Error is translated from the Arabic origin ‘Akhtana.’  In the Arabic language, there are two words that denote making a mistake.  The first is Akhta –to err-, and the second is Khate’a –to make a mistake-.  A person who errs –Akhta- is a person who does not know the rule, or is not fully aware that what he or she is doing is wrong.  Thus, a person who errs –Akhta- needs education and correction for his or her actions.  On the other hand, a person who makes a mistake -khate’a- is a person who is fully aware of the rules, and deliberately breaks them.  This is sin in its truest sense. 

For example, during a physics class, a student learns that speed is calculated by dividing distance over time.  This rule is taught again and again in the classroom with multiple examples and problems to solve so it sticks in the student’s mind.   During this time, the teacher corrects errors and gives advice.  But would the teacher correct any mistakes as the student is sitting for the final exam? Of course not, the student is now penalized for mistakes by getting a lower grade. 

In the verse under study, the verb Akhta أخطأ  is used.  It means that as a believer, I may make mistakes only unintentionally out of ignorance.  This might be because a specific ruling was not taught to me, or I may have been taught once and forgot; just as a physics student may make mistakes as he or she is learning the subject.  But once the student sits down and studies, he or she develops a strong grip on the subject and stops making errors. 

Take the example of a young girl learning to type on a keyboard.  Initially, she would find it very difficult to look at the screen and strike the correct letters with her fingers.  She knows the rules of typing but makes several errors.  The process of learning may take weeks or months, and may even require scolding a few times from the typing instructor.  But once she learns and practices, typing becomes automatic.  Her speed and accuracy go up.  Now, the young girl can hold a conversation, or watch a video, while typing flawlessly without as much as a glance at the keyboard or the screen.  She has acquired an ingrained skill. 

The same happens for students of Islamic jurisprudence.  If you ask a first-year student at Al-Azhar University a question, he or she would have to take the time to look through the sources and find the correct ruling.  But if you ask the same question to a trained scholar, he or she would know the answer and can tell you the exact references for the rule. 

The supplication continues: ‘Lord, do not burden us as You burdened those before us. Lord, do not burden us with more than we have the strength to bear.’  A burden is something that is heavy to carry around.  For example, after the children of Israel had wronged themselves by worshiping a golden calf, God ordered those who wanted to repent to kill themselves or give away one-fourth of their wealth in almsgiving.  As for the followers of our beloved Muhammad, he, peace be upon him, told us that after the supplication of ‘Lord, do not burden us as You burdened those before us,’ Allah replied: ‘yes, it is done.’  Our Lord blessed Islam with ease and removed difficulty from its teachings.