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Is a forbidden act considered forbidden for a specific person only if they are aware of it, or does ignorance of the ruling not prevent it from being forbidden?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

That which is forbidden (haram) is what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited for His servants. Scholars have defined it as: that which the Lawgiver has prohibited with a definitive prohibition. As Al-Tufi said: That which is forbidden is definitively prohibited; one is rewarded for abandoning it and punished for committing it. There are various linguistic styles in the Qur’an and Sunnah that indicate prohibition, including: explicit declaration with the word "tahrim" (prohibition), the imperative form of prohibition (nahy), the command to avoid an action, the use of the phrase "it is not lawful" (la yahill), the consequence of punishment for an action, and any word that indicates strong disapproval of an action. If a person commits a forbidden act out of ignorance, necessity, or compulsion, the act remains forbidden, but the person may not incur sin or punishment, due to the absence of the conditions for punishment or blame. For a ruling is only established when one is able to know it.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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