Our Lord, do not take us to task if we forget or make a mistake.”

It is established in Sahīh Muslim that Allah said, “I have done so.” It is likewise established therein, in a hadith narrated by Ibn ʿAbbās, that “the Prophet never recited any passage from these two verses or from Sūrat al-Fātihah without being granted what it asks for.” This makes clear that this supplication has been answered for the Prophet and the believers, and that Allah does not take them to task if they forget or make a mistake.

As for the questioner’s words, “Under these circumstances, does this constitute imposing an obligation beyond one’s capacity?” the answer is:

Although people have disputed this expression extensively, some denying it and others affirming it, it should be understood that the actual disagreement concerns two categories.

The first concerns matters whose permissibility and actual occurrence everyone accepts; they dispute only whether these may be described as beyond one’s capacity.

The second concerns matters that everyone agrees are beyond one’s capacity. They dispute whether commanding them is permissible, but agree that such commands have not actually occurred. There is, however, no case in which the people of knowledge and faith agree that something is beyond one’s capacity yet dispute whether it has actually been commanded.

An example of the first category is the disagreement among dialectical theologians who affirm divine decree and those who deny it concerning “a person’s capacity”—that is, his ability and power. Must it accompany the act without preceding it? Must it precede the act? Or must it accompany the act, even if it also precedes it? Whoever adopts the first view must consequently hold that every person who fails to do what he has been commanded has been charged with something beyond his capacity