And there is Allah Most High’s statement in the Quran:

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

[Surah al-Baqarah 286]

Allah Most High said, “I have done so” (1). He made no distinction between an error known with certainty and one judged probable (2). Indeed, something can be declared an error only when the person has (3) certainly erred.

They said: Whoever maintains that a person who errs on a definitive or probabilistic question (4) incurs sin has contradicted the Book, the sunnah, and the early consensus.

They also said: Whether a question is definitive or probabilistic is a matter (5) relative to the condition of those who hold the belief; it is not an intrinsic attribute of the position itself. A person may be certain of things he knows by necessity or through a transmitted report whose truth he knows, while someone else has neither certain nor probable knowledge of them. A person may also be intelligent, mentally acute, and quick to grasp matters with either certainty or probability (6), and thus recognize and be certain of truths that another person cannot even conceive of or apprehend with either certainty or probability. Certainty and probability therefore depend on the evidence that has reached a person and on his ability to reason from it.

People differ in both respects. Thus, whether a question is definitive or probabilistic is not an inseparable attribute of the disputed position, such that it could be said that everyone who disagrees with it has contradicted something definitive. Rather, it describes the condition of the person who examines the matter, reasons from the evidence, and forms a belief—and people differ in this respect. It is therefore clear that this distinction holds neither universally nor conversely.

Others drew a third distinction and said: “Questions concerning fundamentals are those known