#EverdayArabic August 31st 2023

From "Ignorance" to "Ignoring"

Here’s our passage for today:

يَمْكِنُ لِلجاهِلِ أن يَتَجاهَلَ الواقِعَ مَدَّةً يَرْغَبُ فيها، وَلَكِنْ يَمْكِنُهُ فَقَطْ تَجاهُلُ عَواقِبِ تَجاهُلِ الواقِعِ لِفَتْرَةٍ زَمْنِيَّةٍ قَصِيرَةٍ جِدًا.

“An ignorant person may ignore reality as long as he desires, however, one can only ignore the consequences of ignoring reality for a very short time.”

Notes:

See how the noun جاهِل and the verb تَجَاهَلَ share a common root (جَذْر/أَصْل), the letters ج+ه+ل. This demonstrates that there is a relation between being ignorant and being neglectful. A blameworthy one. In the 11th Chapter of the Qur’ān, Sūrah Hūd, Allāh describes a passage involving Prophet Nūḥ (Noah) speaking to his people and how they behave ignorantly:

وَيا قَومِ لا أَسأَلُكُم عَلَيهِ مالًا ۖ إِن أَجرِيَ إِلّا عَلَى اللَّهِ ۚ وَما أَنا بِطارِدِ الَّذينَ آمَنوا ۚ إِنَّهُم مُلاقو رَبِّهِم وَلٰكِنّي أَراكُم قَومًا تَجهَلونَ

And o’ my people, I do not ask you for any money for preaching; my wages come only from Allāh. Nor am I driving away those who have believed: they will be meeting their Lord anyhow. Yet I do see you are a folk who react out of ignorance!

In essence, ignorance in the context of Islām is always highlighting something very important that should not only not be forgotten but should also be reflected upon quite often. We can see this echoed in the statement of Ḥudhayfah, may Allāh be pleased with him, when he said,

لَقَدْ خَطَبَنَا النَّبِيُّ ‎ﷺ خُطْبَةً، مَا تَرَكَ فِيهَا شَيْئًا إِلَى قِيَامِ السَّاعَةِ إِلاَّ ذَكَرَهُ، عَلِمَهُ مَنْ عَلِمَهُ، وَجَهِلَهُ مَنْ جَهِلَهُ، إِنْ كُنْتُ لأَرَى الشَّىْءَ قَدْ نَسِيتُ، فَأَعْرِفُ مَا يَعْرِفُ الرَّجُلُ إِذَا غَابَ عَنْهُ فَرَآهُ فَعَرَفَهُ

“The Prophet ‎ﷺ delivered a sermon in which he did not leave out anything that would happen until the Day of Judgment. Whoever remembered it, remembered it, and whoever forgot it, forgot it. I used to see something that I had forgotten, and I would recognize it just as a man recognizes another man when he has been absent and then sees him and recognizes him.”

By “forgot it” in the first instance (مَن جَهِلَهُ), the implication is that they forgot something of critical importance on several grounds:

1. They forgot what the Prophet ‎ﷺ said;

2. They did not pay sufficient attention during the khuṭbah;

3. They did not take the warning about the Day of Judgment (an enormous affair) seriously enough to remember what was mentioned in the sermon;

This root (جهل) differs from “forgetfulness” (نَسَى) which Ḥudhayfah mentions “I had forgotten” in the latter half of the statement, implying that while it is a part of human nature to be forgetful, it is not excused in the same way that negligence is.

That being said, in general, the sharī’ah pardons or overlooks one who inadvertently forgets something as we’ll see if we look to the words of Mūsā (Moses) in Sūrah al-Kahf, verse 73:

قالَ لا تُؤاخِذني بِما نَسيتُ وَلا تُرهِقني مِن أَمري عُسرًا

“Mūsā said, ‘Do not take me to task because I forgot. Do not demand of me something which is too difficult’.”

Today’s takeaways:

• the noun جاهل (an ignorant person).

• the verb تجاهل (to ignore) - this is a Form VI (تَفَاعَلَ/يَتَفَاعِلُ) verb. Normally, Form VI verbs suggest a kind of mutual action or exchange and indeed, this is what is happening here but you have to dig a little deeper: the “exchange” is between a person (الجاهل) and the truth/facts which are being ignored by them willfully.

• the verb جَهِلَ (to be ignorant [of s.th.]).

• the verb نسى (to forget). This differs from جهل in that a person can be pardoned for what they missed due to their forgetfulness (though what they missed may have to be made up, such as missed prayers due to sickness or sleep).