This ḥadith yields many lessons.

1. Ignorance is a valid excuse. A person who is unaware of the rulings is not treated like one who knows them, for the knowledgeable offender acts willfully, whereas the ignorant wishes to learn and is therefore excused. Thus the Prophet ﷺ forgave the Bedouin and dealt with him gently.

2. The Sacred Law requires that, when two evils are unavoidable, the lesser be chosen to ward off the greater. In this incident two evils confronted us:
   • Allowing the Bedouin to continue urinating in the mosque—an undeniable harm.
   • Stopping him, which is also harmful but far graver, because it would lead to:
   a) Physical harm to the man; preventing urine that is already on its way out can damage the urinary tract.
   b) Should he rise, he would either lift his garment to avoid the splatter—scattering drops around the mosque, soiling his thighs, and exposing his private parts before those present—or he would drop his garment, in which case both his clothes and body would be contaminated. This, too, is an evil.

For that reason the Prophet ﷺ let the man finish and then ordered that a bucket of water be poured over the spot.

Hence the juristic maxim: when two evils coincide and one must be endured, the lighter and easier is adopted to repel the greater—just as it