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What is the difference between "Anseetu Ayah" (أُنسيت آية - a verse was made to be forgotten by me) and "Naseetuha" (نسيتها - I forgot it)?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The meaning of "nasitu" (I forgot) differs from "unsītu" (I was made to forget). The first, "nasitu," means the speaker himself forgot, and it can carry two meanings: deliberate abandonment, which is blameworthy, or ordinary, unintentional forgetfulness. As for "unsītu," it means that Allah Almighty made him forget. It is forbidden to say "I forgot such-and-such a verse," as stated in the noble hadith: "How evil it is for one of them to say: 'I forgot such-and-such a verse,' rather, he was made to forget," this is to avoid the blameworthy meaning of abandonment and negligence, whereas it is not disliked to say "unsītu" because it attributes thefulness to Allah Almighty.

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

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