The natural product of absolutely forgetting anything is...

The natural product of absolutely forgetting anything is complete ignorance of it. Something that baffles the mind is how ‘Umar came to the conclusion that he could issue rulings in the Shari’ah with his personal opinions simply because he had forgotten, or did not know, the correct positions. Is ignorance an excuse for the adoption of personal opinions in the Law of Allah?

The Qur’an answers: ومن لم يحكم بما أنزل الله فأولئك هم الكافرون Whosoever does NOT give rulings, verdicts, judgments, or commands based upon what Allah has revealed, such people are the infidels .[^2] Therefore, giving a ruling by personal opinion amounts to disbelief ( kufr ), according to Allah. Why did ‘Umar take such an extreme risk?

He should have simply remained silent, or sought the advice of superior jurists like Amir al-Muminin, ‘alaihi al-salam , Ibn ‘Abbas, radhiyallahu ‘anhu , and others. His reliance upon personal opinion in issuing a ruling in the Shari’ah of Allah was a very wrong step. It saved neither him, nor the man who came to him for judgment.

Perhaps, the most disturbing part is that the ruling of tayammum is explicitly stated at two different places in the Book of Allah: وإن كنتم مرضى أو على سفر أو جاء أحد منكم من الغائط أو لامستم النساء فلم تجدوا ماء فتيمموا صعيدا طيبا فامسحوا بوجوهكم وأيديكم And if you are ill, or on a journey, or one of you comes after answering the call of nature, or you have had sexual intercourse with women and you cannot find water, perform tayammum with clean soil and rub therewith your faces and hands.[^3] It is apparent.

Despite the double presence of the ruling of tayammum in the Qur’an, ‘Umar did NOT know it. This raises a blood-red flag on ‘Umar’s knowledge of the Book of Allah. Obviously, he was not a hafiz (memorizer) of the Qur’an. Secondly, his knowledge of its verses, and of al-Fiqh , must have been extremely deficient, as tayammum is only one of the beginner’s courses in Islamic jurisprudence! ‘Umar’s controversial judgment expectedly split the Ummah .

There were his loyalists who thought that his clearly invalid ruling was more correct than the Qur’an and Sunnah! There were also his opponents who sided with Allah and His Messenger. One of the staunchest loyalists of ‘Umar was ‘Abd Allah b. Mas’ud, a very senior Sahabi.