An Unforgivable Error

AN UNFORGIVABLE ERROR A hadith reports that once, during a journey, a companion of the Prophet suffered a head injury. While he was still badly wounded, he needed to perform ghusl, a full ritual bath required in certain religious situations, the next morning. Pouring water over his head was extremely dangerous. He asked his fellow Muslims about the ruling, but they told him that since water was available, there was no allowance for him to avoid it. Seeing no other option, the wounded man performed the ritual bath in that condition. As a result, his condition worsened, and he died. When the Messenger of God  was informed of this incident, he was deeply distressed. He said very strongly, “They caused his death—may God deal with them accordingly.” (Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith No. 336) This issue was clearly a matter of ijtihad. Even so, the Prophet  used such severe words about them. This shows that there is a limit to excusing mistakes made in ijtihad. Under normal circumstances, an error in ijtihad is not held against a person. But when the matter is extremely serious—when it involves