“Until you know what you are saying.”

This indicates that he does not know what he is saying. The heart is the sovereign from which words and deeds proceed. If he does not know what he is saying, his words do not proceed from his heart; rather, they are treated as unintentional speech. The Lawgiver has made accountability depend only on what the heart earns through outward words and deeds, as He says:

“But He holds you accountable for what your hearts have earned.”

He does not hold people accountable for words and deeds of which their hearts were unaware and which they did not intend. Likewise, a person is not held accountable for his inner thoughts unless he speaks or acts upon them.

Some have said that Allah has affirmed that the heart earns deeds, saying:

“For what your hearts have earned.”

According to them, no servant of Allah conceals or openly performs any deed—whether a movement of his limbs or a thought within his heart—without Allah informing him of it and calling him to account for it. Then He forgives whom He wills and punishes whom He wills. They cited as evidence His saying, Most High:

“Indeed, the hearing, the sight and the heart—each of these will be questioned.”

This view is weak and anomalous. His words:

“He holds you accountable for what your hearts have earned”

were mentioned only to explain that accountability for deeds depends on what the heart has earned. He does not hold people accountable for unintentional oaths, as He says:

“For the oaths you have deliberately sworn.”

Thus, accountability arises only when what the heart earns is combined with an action of the limbs. As for what occurs within the soul, Allah has pardoned it so long as a person neither speaks of it nor acts upon it. Nor does He hold a person accountable for any utterance or movement made without the heart’s intention and awareness.

Furthermore, if an intoxicated person’s divorce is invalid, whereas a discerning child can validly