Causes of Division Between the Youth and Their Scholars
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
The questioner: May Allah destroy you. Regarding this image of the gap that has arisen between many or some of the youth of the awakening and their scholars, what is its cause? Who is responsible for it? And how do we prevent it? The cause is that these youth, may Allah guide them and reform them, have come to trust these people—these holders of ideas—and they accept from them and listen to them disparaging the scholars, so they were influenced by them. It is obligatory for the youth not to pay attention to these people, not to allow them to enter their ranks, not to sit with them, and not to listen to them. They must turn to seeking beneficial knowledge, seeking knowledge, whether in schools, institutes, or colleges, or seeking knowledge in the mosques under the hands of the scholars. There is no salvation for them from trials except through this matter: returning to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and that is through the people of knowledge who are well-versed in knowledge. Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan, may Allah preserve you, and may He bless you in your knowledge and perfect your deeds. We live in this land, praise be to Allah, under the shadow of this blessed Salafi call. We did not have divisions or groups until recently. The land, from its east to its west, and from its south to its north, did not differ regarding their scholars or their rulers, and they love this blessed call. So what is the secret of this difference that we see today among our youth, until we heard from some of our youth or some of our callers those who attack our call and our scholars and incite against the rulers? What is your view, Honorable Shaykh?
Answer:
In my opinion, this appears to have two causes. The first cause is pretentiousness and dispensing with the scholars, because many of these youth were content with reading books without knowing their contents, so they were content with just reading.
And they were content with sitting with one another, some elevating themselves above others, and they left the scholars and despised them and ignored them, so they were deprived of knowledge. If you despise a scholar, you are deprived of his knowledge. So what about one who despises all the scholars?
Such a person is completely deprived of knowledge. This is one aspect. The second aspect is due to the proximity of countries and the media channels that broadcast every evil, every trial, and every propaganda, which influenced the minds of many of the youth.
The third matter is the callers of evil who infiltrate our society and come from here and there carrying destructive ideas and spreading them among our youth. In my view, these three causes are what led to the isolation of these people, their claim that they possess knowledge and that others are ignorant and know nothing. Is that correct?
The questioner: May Allah destroy you. Regarding this image of the gap that has arisen between many or some of the youth of the awakening and their scholars, what is its cause? Who is responsible for it? And how do we prevent it? The cause is that these youth, may Allah guide them and reform them, have come to trust these people—these holders of ideas—and they accept from them and listen to them disparaging the scholars, so they were influenced by them. It is obligatory for the youth not to pay attention to these people, not to allow them to enter their ranks, not to sit with them, and not to listen to them. They must turn to seeking beneficial knowledge, seeking knowledge, whether in schools, institutes, or colleges, or seeking knowledge in the mosques under the hands of the scholars. There is no salvation for them from trials except through this matter: returning to the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and that is through the people of knowledge who are well-versed in knowledge. Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan, may Allah preserve you, and may He bless you in your knowledge and perfect your deeds. We live in this land, praise be to Allah, under the shadow of this blessed Salafi call. We did not have divisions or groups until recently. The land, from its east to its west, and from its south to its north, did not differ regarding their scholars or their rulers, and they love this blessed call. So what is the secret of this difference that we see today among our youth, until we heard from some of our youth or some of our callers those who attack our call and our scholars and incite against the rulers? What is your view, Honorable Shaykh?
Answer:
In my opinion, this appears to have two causes. The first cause is pretentiousness and dispensing with the scholars, because many of these youth were content with reading books without knowing their contents, so they were content with just reading.
And they were content with sitting with one another, some elevating themselves above others, and they left the scholars and despised them and ignored them, so they were deprived of knowledge. If you despise a scholar, you are deprived of his knowledge. So what about one who despises all the scholars?
Such a person is completely deprived of knowledge. This is one aspect. The second aspect is due to the proximity of countries and the media channels that broadcast every evil, every trial, and every propaganda, which influenced the minds of many of the youth.
The third matter is the callers of evil who infiltrate our society and come from here and there carrying destructive ideas and spreading them among our youth. In my view, these three causes are what led to the isolation of these people, their claim that they possess knowledge and that others are ignorant and know nothing. Is that correct?
Source
الفوزان - أسباب الفجوة بين كبار العلماء والصحوة (فتاوى) — archive.org (0:59)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.