The meaning of the saying of Allah the Exalted: "They buy with the verses of Allah a small price"?

Question : The questioner asks: What is the ruling on selling mushafs, and what is meant by the saying of Allah the Exalted:

Answer : Selling mushafs is lawful. Because a person cannot reach the benefit of a mushaf except by buying it or by asking people for it. If a person does not have a mushaf and we said that buying is not permissible, what would he do? He would go begging people: "O so-and-so, lend me the mushaf," "O so-and-so, give me the mushaf." So selling mushafs is lawful, and this is the practice of the Muslim community in the east and west of the earth. As for the saying of Allah the Exalted, "Those who buy with the verses of Allah a small price," the meaning is that they conceal knowledge for the sake of this world. You find one of them issuing a fatwa to this man, and issuing another fatwa to another man on the same issue without a legal cause. This is called a scholar of the community. A scholar of the community. Because scholars are of three categories: a scholar of the religion, a scholar of the community, and a scholar of the state.
Three categories. The scholar of the religion is the one who professes the Shari'ah of Allah and issues rulings for the servants of Allah based on it. This is clear: a man who issues rulings based on the Shari'ah of Allah, whether the farthest or the nearest, the richest or the poorest, all are equal. The second is a scholar of the community, meaning he looks at what is suitable for the people and issues rulings for them, even if it contradicts the truth in his view. This, may Allah protect us from it, is among those who and it is the satisfaction of the common people.
And he is a scholar of misguidance, may Allah protect us from it. The third is a scholar of the state, who looks at what the state wants. If the state wants to do something that is lawful, but it is forbidden in his view, yes, he makes it lawful for them and says there is no harm in it. We call this a scholar of the state. Some scholars, when socialism became widespread in Arab countries, would distort the texts of the Book and the Sunnah in order to tell the rulers of that time that socialism is lawful. So they would bring the Qur'an and the Sunnah and twist their necks in order to make lawful what Allah the Mighty and Majestic has forbidden, to please, to be subservient to whom?
To the rulers, or this scholar follows the dispensations, meaning the easy opinions, even if they are not correct, in order to justify the position of the state. We call this a scholar of the state. Is he among the scholars of misguidance or among the scholars of truth? He is among the scholars of misguidance. So, of the categories of scholars, only the scholar of the religion remains safe for us. I ask Allah the Exalted to make me and you among them, and to guide our brother scholars to what brings the pleasure of Allah the Exalted and the well-being of His servants.