Whoever believes in him inwardly and outwardly and strives to follow him is among the blessed believers, even if he has erred or been mistaken regarding some of what he brought because it did not reach him or he did not understand it. Allah Most High says of the believers:

“Our Lord, do not hold us accountable if we forget or make a mistake.”

It is established in the Sahīh, on the authority of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, that Allah said: “I have done so.”

In the Sunan collections, it is reported that he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“The scholars are the heirs of the prophets. The prophets left neither dinars nor dirhams as an inheritance; rather, they left knowledge. Whoever acquires it has acquired an abundant share.”

Allah Most High also says:

“And David and Solomon, when they judged concerning the field into which some people’s sheep had strayed by night, and We were witness to their judgment. We gave Solomon understanding of the case, and to each We gave judgment and knowledge.”

Thus, He singled out one of the two noble prophets for understanding, while praising both for having been granted knowledge and judgment. Likewise, when Allah grants one of two scholars knowledge and understanding of a matter, this does not warrant censuring the scholar who has not attained it. Rather, everyone who fears Allah to the best of his ability is among Allah’s pious allies, even if some aspect of the religion that another understands remains hidden from him.

Wāthilah ibn al-Asqaʿ said—and some narrators trace this back to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace—“Whoever seeks knowledge and attains it has two rewards, and whoever seeks knowledge but does not attain it has one reward.”

This accords with what is reported in the Sahīh from ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀs and Abū Hurayrah, from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“When a judge strives to reach a judgment and is correct, he has two rewards; when he strives to reach a judgment and errs, he has one reward.”

These principles are discussed at length elsewhere. The purpose here is merely to draw attention to this, because an unlawful divorce is among the matters that many people maintain are legally binding. The early generations, the leading jurists, and the majority acknowledge that prohibition entails