Undermining the Dignity of Scholars and Citing Their Disagreements
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
This questioner says: Many corrupters, whether from those who go to extremes or those who are harsh, seek to undermine the dignity of scholars in the hearts of people. They cite the abundance of disagreements among them and their mistakes. What is your guidance?
Answer:
My brother, this is the work of the hypocrites from of old. The hypocrites used to speak about the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), disparage him, and say what they say about him. They spoke about the Companions and the Caliphs. This is the work of the hypocrites. So those who live among us now and engage in this work are practicing hypocrisy, may Allah protect us from that. They are the heirs of the predecessors, so we should not pay attention to them.
Disagreement among scholars is a natural matter. Each has his own independent legal reasoning, and there are matters that do not admit of disagreement, such as matters of creed. Matters where the Lawgiver has explicitly prohibited them, such as the prohibition of intoxicants, the prohibition of unlawful sexual intercourse, the prohibition of riba (usury or interest), and the prohibition of carrion. These are matters where the Lawgiver has explicitly prohibited them. There are matters where the Lawgiver has explicitly permitted them.
[Al-Baqarah 2:275], and He has made lawful for you the hunting of land game, [Al-Ma'idah 5:2] These are matters. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Sunan Abi Dawud 3329Sahih (Al-Albani)
Until its status becomes clear. It is not permissible for anyone to disparage scholars if a disagreement occurs between them regarding a matter that is not clearly forbidden nor clearly lawful, but is rather a matter of probability. The scholars have their independent legal reasoning; they used to exercise independent legal reasoning in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and they disagreed. The Messenger did not rebuke any of them regarding matters that admit of independent legal reasoning. Yes.
This questioner says: Many corrupters, whether from those who go to extremes or those who are harsh, seek to undermine the dignity of scholars in the hearts of people. They cite the abundance of disagreements among them and their mistakes. What is your guidance?
Answer:
My brother, this is the work of the hypocrites from of old. The hypocrites used to speak about the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), disparage him, and say what they say about him. They spoke about the Companions and the Caliphs. This is the work of the hypocrites. So those who live among us now and engage in this work are practicing hypocrisy, may Allah protect us from that. They are the heirs of the predecessors, so we should not pay attention to them.
Disagreement among scholars is a natural matter. Each has his own independent legal reasoning, and there are matters that do not admit of disagreement, such as matters of creed. Matters where the Lawgiver has explicitly prohibited them, such as the prohibition of intoxicants, the prohibition of unlawful sexual intercourse, the prohibition of riba (usury or interest), and the prohibition of carrion. These are matters where the Lawgiver has explicitly prohibited them. There are matters where the Lawgiver has explicitly permitted them.
But Allah has permitted trade
وَأَحَلَّ اللَّهُ الْبَيْعَBut when you come out of ihram, then [you may] hunt.
وَإِذَا حَلَلْتُمْ فَاصْطَادُواWhat is lawful is clear and what is unlawful is clear, but between them are certain doubtful things
إن الحلال بين، وإن الحرام بين، وبينهما أمور مشتبهاتUntil its status becomes clear. It is not permissible for anyone to disparage scholars if a disagreement occurs between them regarding a matter that is not clearly forbidden nor clearly lawful, but is rather a matter of probability. The scholars have their independent legal reasoning; they used to exercise independent legal reasoning in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and they disagreed. The Messenger did not rebuke any of them regarding matters that admit of independent legal reasoning. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، محاضرات في العقيدة والدعوة-19-العلماء ورثة الأنبياء|صالح الفوزان|العام|كبار العلماء — youtube.com (51:35)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.