Is it permissible to mention the faults of a professor or doctor if a person consults me about him?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
We ask for your permission to take these calls, and we take the call from our brother 'Abd al-Rahman from al-Ta'if. Go ahead, my brother 'Abd al-Rahman. Hello, peace be upon you and Allah's mercy. And upon you peace. Raise your voice a little, 'Abd al-Rahman. Peace be upon you and Allah's mercy. And upon you peace and Allah's mercy. The first question: I want to study at the university? And they applied the specific one. Yes, raise your voice. They consult me, so the university professor, the doctor, they say: What is your opinion of this? I say: This one is of bad character, his explanation is not good, because the one consulted is trusted. And Fatimah bint Qays, I mean Fatimah bint Qays. Is this permissible for me to follow the professor, because the students consult me? The one consulted is trusted? Okay, go ahead, Shaykh Salih. Shaykh Salih, I heard the microphone.
The Shaykh:
We give the question.
The questioner:
He says: O Shaykh Salih, he studies at the university and asks, for example, about this lecturer or this professor, and he says: This one is good and this one is bad. Is this part of trustworthiness? Yes. He says: He studies at the university, and he is asked by the students, O Shaykh Salih, about the lecturer or the teacher, and he says: This one is good, and this one means he is negligent. Is this part of backbiting or what?
The Shaykh:
Yes, the student should conduct himself properly with the teacher in order to benefit from him, and not let his concern be talking about the teachers, saying: This one is good, and this one is negligent. Rather, he should conduct himself properly with the teachers to benefit from their knowledge. And if something in the lesson is difficult for him, he asks the teacher about it. That is the student's affair with his teacher. He should not lack proper conduct with his teachers, and he should not...
...merely weigh one person against another, praising this one and criticizing that one. This is not permissible regarding Muslims in general, so how about teachers and guides? And if you look down on the teacher, you will not benefit from him. The teacher has a benefit no matter who he is; he has a benefit, so you benefit from him. And you conduct yourself properly with him. And you ask him about what is unclear. And you do not flatter him by saying: I understood, when you did not understand. Rather, review it with him. There is no harm in this. Rather, this indicates your desire and your acceptance of knowledge.
We ask for your permission to take these calls, and we take the call from our brother 'Abd al-Rahman from al-Ta'if. Go ahead, my brother 'Abd al-Rahman. Hello, peace be upon you and Allah's mercy. And upon you peace. Raise your voice a little, 'Abd al-Rahman. Peace be upon you and Allah's mercy. And upon you peace and Allah's mercy. The first question: I want to study at the university? And they applied the specific one. Yes, raise your voice. They consult me, so the university professor, the doctor, they say: What is your opinion of this? I say: This one is of bad character, his explanation is not good, because the one consulted is trusted. And Fatimah bint Qays, I mean Fatimah bint Qays. Is this permissible for me to follow the professor, because the students consult me? The one consulted is trusted? Okay, go ahead, Shaykh Salih. Shaykh Salih, I heard the microphone.
The Shaykh:
We give the question.
The questioner:
He says: O Shaykh Salih, he studies at the university and asks, for example, about this lecturer or this professor, and he says: This one is good and this one is bad. Is this part of trustworthiness? Yes. He says: He studies at the university, and he is asked by the students, O Shaykh Salih, about the lecturer or the teacher, and he says: This one is good, and this one means he is negligent. Is this part of backbiting or what?
The Shaykh:
Yes, the student should conduct himself properly with the teacher in order to benefit from him, and not let his concern be talking about the teachers, saying: This one is good, and this one is negligent. Rather, he should conduct himself properly with the teachers to benefit from their knowledge. And if something in the lesson is difficult for him, he asks the teacher about it. That is the student's affair with his teacher. He should not lack proper conduct with his teachers, and he should not...
...merely weigh one person against another, praising this one and criticizing that one. This is not permissible regarding Muslims in general, so how about teachers and guides? And if you look down on the teacher, you will not benefit from him. The teacher has a benefit no matter who he is; he has a benefit, so you benefit from him. And you conduct yourself properly with him. And you ask him about what is unclear. And you do not flatter him by saying: I understood, when you did not understand. Rather, review it with him. There is no harm in this. Rather, this indicates your desire and your acceptance of knowledge.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، هل يجوز ذكر معايب أستاذ أو دكتور إذا استشارني شخص عنه؟ الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.