nor can one evade this conclusion by saying, “That case applies to the leading figures of the ummah and the most virtuous of the truthful, whereas this one concerns its outskirts and the common masses.” The difference between the two groups in this regard does not prevent them from sharing the same ruling; for just as Allah, exalted is He, forgives the mujtahid when he errs, He likewise forgives the ignorant person when he errs and has no means of learning. Indeed, the harm that follows from a single layman’s committing a forbidden act whose prohibition he neither knew nor could discover is far less than the harm produced when some eminent imams declare lawful what the Lawgiver has forbidden while being unaware of its prohibition and unable to know it.

Hence the saying, “Beware the slip of the scholar, for when he slips, a whole world slips with him.” Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “Woe to the scholar because of (the conduct of) his followers.”

So if that scholar is pardoned—despite the grave harm arising from his action—then it is even more fitting that the layman be pardoned, since the harm resulting from his action is comparatively slight. Admittedly, the two diverge in another respect: the scholar exercised ijtihād and spoke on its basis, and he has to his credit such services in disseminating knowledge and reviving the sunnah that the harm is submerged by them. In this regard Allah has distinguished between them: He rewards the mujtahid for his ijtihād, and He rewards the scholar for his knowledge with a recompense in which the ignorant person has no share. Thus they are alike in pardon yet differ in reward. For punishment to befall one who does not deserve it is impossible, whether the matter be weighty or slight.