What is the ruling on speaking ill of the great scholars, such as al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar?
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Question:
He says: There are those who speak ill of al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (may Allah have mercy on him). He says: What is your guidance regarding such a matter?
Answer:
Our guidance is to say: They envied the young man because they did not attain his effort. People are his enemies and opponents, like the jealous rivals of a beautiful woman. We said to her face, when it appeared: "It is indeed ugly." These are envious people toward the scholars of knowledge. Ibn Hajar is a great imam and one of the luminaries of Islam, so no one who has faith, or at least has a mind or a particle of a mind, should belittle him. And if my criticism comes from one who is deficient, it is a testimony in my favor that I am a person of excellence. Yes.
He says: There are those who speak ill of al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (may Allah have mercy on him). He says: What is your guidance regarding such a matter?
Answer:
Our guidance is to say: They envied the young man because they did not attain his effort. People are his enemies and opponents, like the jealous rivals of a beautiful woman. We said to her face, when it appeared: "It is indeed ugly." These are envious people toward the scholars of knowledge. Ibn Hajar is a great imam and one of the luminaries of Islam, so no one who has faith, or at least has a mind or a particle of a mind, should belittle him. And if my criticism comes from one who is deficient, it is a testimony in my favor that I am a person of excellence. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما حكم من يتكلم في كبار العلماء مثل الحافظ ابن حجر؟ لمعالي الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.