How to Identify the Most Knowledgeable Scholar
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
This questioner says: How do I identify the most knowledgeable scholar? What is the criterion for seeking out a scholar? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
A scholar is not unknown; he is known to the people, known to the people, he is not hidden. So whoever is famous among the people and known to them for his knowledge, you take from him and ask him for a ruling. And whoever is unknown and nothing is known about him, you do not ask him and you do not take knowledge from him, because you do not know him and he is not known to the people. Yes, perhaps he is in error, or in ignorance, or on an incorrect methodology. Yes, scholars are not hidden in every community; scholars in every community are not hidden; they are apparent and the people know them. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you.
This questioner says: How do I identify the most knowledgeable scholar? What is the criterion for seeking out a scholar? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
A scholar is not unknown; he is known to the people, known to the people, he is not hidden. So whoever is famous among the people and known to them for his knowledge, you take from him and ask him for a ruling. And whoever is unknown and nothing is known about him, you do not ask him and you do not take knowledge from him, because you do not know him and he is not known to the people. Yes, perhaps he is in error, or in ignorance, or on an incorrect methodology. Yes, scholars are not hidden in every community; scholars in every community are not hidden; they are apparent and the people know them. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 13 من 15 / شرح أصول الإيمان / طلب العلم وكيفيته/ صالح الفوزان / العقيدة/ كبار العلماء — youtube.com (1:14:58)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.