you would be sinful. Abu Hanifah even said: “Whoever prays while in a state of ritual impurity is a disbeliever,” because he has mocked the verses of Allah.

So we say: Yes, we do not regard the one who forgot or was ignorant as sinful; but we do not eat that over which Allah’s name was not mentioned, because Allah says:

“And do not eat of that over which the name of Allah has not been mentioned…”

For this reason, we say that if someone eats from that over which Allah’s name was not mentioned, having forgotten or being ignorant, then there is no sin upon him, due to His saying, Exalted is He:

“Our Lord, do not impose blame upon us if we forget or make a mistake.”

The explanation of this is that there are two actions involved here: the action of the slaughterer and the action of the eater. The slaughterer who slaughtered without mentioning Allah’s name out of forgetfulness incurs no sin. But when the eater comes to eat, we say: This slaughtered animal was not slaughtered with the name of Allah mentioned over it, so do not eat it, because Allah says:

“And do not eat of that over which the name of Allah has not been mentioned…”

He stated this without qualification; He did not say, “unless the slaughterer forgot.” However, if a person eats from this slaughtered animal, over which Allah’s name was not mentioned, without knowing or out of forgetfulness, then there is no sin upon him, due to His saying, Exalted is He:

“Our Lord, do not impose blame upon us if we forget or make a mistake.”

The second point is the Prophet’s saying, when he was asked about meat brought by people concerning whom it was not known whether they had mentioned Allah’s name over it or not: “Mention Allah’s name yourselves and eat.” (1) If mentioning Allah’s name were a condition, it would be necessary to know that it had occurred, since nothing can be lawful unless the existence of the condition for its lawfulness is known.

The response to this hadith is that the slaughter was performed by one qualified to perform it,