But they interpreted forgetting Allah as abandoning His command. His command, which is His speech, is not within their power such that they could abandon it; what they abandon is acting upon it. Thus, “command” here means what is commanded.

Unless it is said that by abandoning His command they mean abandoning faith in it: when they abandoned faith, He consequently caused them to abandon acting upon it. This, too, is a weak interpretation. If abandoning faith means only abandoning affirmation of its truth, that alone suffices as disbelief and sin. Abandoning action upon it should not then be regarded as the punishment; rather, the former is more grievous. If abandoning faith means abandoning both affirmation and action, then this is abandoning obedience, as discussed above.

Their error arose from seeking to interpret the servant’s forgetting in light of what has been said about the Lord’s forgetting. Since the latter was interpreted as abandonment, they interpreted the former in the same way. This is unsound, for forgetting, as the opposite of remembering, can undoubtedly occur in a servant. A person turns away from what he has been commanded to do until he forgets it and no longer remembers it. There is therefore no need to interpret his forgetting as abandonment while remaining mindful and aware.

As for the Lord, exalted is He, nothing that contradicts His attributes of perfection can apply to Him—glorified and exalted is He. Yet interpreting His forgetting the disbelievers as mere abandonment is open to question. Moreover, this interpretation was offered concerning His words, exalted is He:

“Thus did Our signs come to you, but you forgot them.”