Its okay to Say " I Don't Know"

Don’t Speak Without Knowledge

Say “Allaahu A’lam”



قال أبو بكر - رضي الله تعالى عنه -




أي سماء تظلني؟ وأي أرض تقلني؟ إذا قلت في كتاب الله ما لا أعلم؟!





Aboo Bakr - radiyallaahu ‘anhu - said:


Which sky would shade me and which earth would carry me (i.e. let me live upon it) if I were to say about the Book of Allaah that which I do not know (about)?!

Narrated by Ibn Maajah in his Sunan in the book of Zakaat #1791; also mentioned by Ibn Qayyim – rahimahullaah – in ‘I’laam al-Muwaqqi’een. The narration is Maqtoo’ but strengthened by all its ways as mentioned here.



Shaikh Ibn Uthaymeen (rahimahullaah) mentions in one of his Khutab (plural of Khutbah) several examples that exhort one from speaking without knowledge. Some of what he has mentioned is as follows:



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(2) Saying of Ibn Mas’ood – radiyallaahu ‘anhu -



‏يا أيها الناس من علم شيئا فليقل به ومن لم يعلم فليقل ‏الله أعلم فإن من العلم أن يقول لما لا يعلم الله أعلم

“O People! Whoever knows something then let him say it (speak of it), and whoever doesn’t know then let him say ‘Allaahu ‘A’lam’ (Allaah knows best), for it is a sign of having knowledge to say about that which one doesn’t know ‘Allaahu ‘A’lam’”

[Saheeh al-Bukhaaree #4435. English Translation Online #4481 in Book of Exegesis of the Qur’aan. Also found in Saheeh Muslim #5007; English Translation Online Book 39, Ch. 8, #6720 – Sh. Ibn Uthaymeen’s site provides more references.]



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(3) ash-Sha’bee – rahimahullaah -



وسئل الشعبي عن مسألة فقال لا أحسنها فقال له أصحابه قد استحيينا لك فقال لكن الملائكة لم تستحي حين قالت: لا علم لنا إلا ما علمتنا


Ash-Sha’bee was asked about an issue, so he said “I am not good/well versed at it” (i.e. I don’t know). His friends then said to him “We felt embarrassed on your behalf” (i.e. being one who knows so much, how could you say that you do not know about the matter), so he said “But the angels did not feel embarrassed when they said: we have no knowledge except what you have taught us.“

[Mentioned by Ibn al-Qayyim – rahimahullaah – in the book “I’laam al-Muwaqqi’een” pg. 218; aayah with saying of angels is #32 of Soorat al-Baqarah]

Source: http://thikraa.wordpress.com/2007/05...out-knowledge