Guidance to Taking Knowledge from the Practicing Scholars in the Time of Tribulations

Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah preserve you, Glorious and Exalted is He. In this time, I truly say, tribulations are sweeping through this Ummah (the Muslim community) from every direction, to the point that people have become confused. I say, your guidance to the general public: do you not see that it is appropriate that they be directed to take knowledge from the practicing scholars and not, truly, to pick up bits and pieces from here and there from the self-taught people who do more harm than good? And they think that they are doing good. Praise and grace belong to Allah, Glorious and Exalted is He, upon the Muslims. And there will always be a group from this Ummah in which good remains until the Hour, scholars who follow the methodology of the Salaf (the earliest generations), taking from the Book of Allah, Glorious and Exalted is He, and the Sunnah (the Prophet's way) of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). And Allah, Glorious and Exalted is He, has guaranteed for whoever holds fast to them safety, success, and joy in this world and the Hereafter. Perhaps Your Eminence, Honorable Shaykh, has guidance on this topic. May Allah grant you success and keep your steps firm on the path of good? Thank you.

Answer:
May Allah bless you, and may Allah thank you for this concern. There is no doubt that when tribulations occur—and they do occur, especially when the time draws near—they occur and multiply. Tribulations like the pieces of the dark night, as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) described them. But Allah, Glorious and Exalted is He, has made for us a way out of them, and that is through the Book and the Sunnah. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) described as being . The Qur'an is described as guidance, as a healing, as light, and as mercy. It is the one to which one holds fast. For this reason, Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) said: The rope of Allah is the Qur'an, or it is said to be Islam, or it is said to be the Messenger, and all of these are true. And He (Exalted and Majestic is He) said: He (Glorified and Exalted is He) mentioned that there will be many paths, but the path of Allah is one, and that this is My straight path.
One path, one way, with no crookedness in it. As for the paths, they are many. And on every one of them, as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: For this reason, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: It is obligatory for the Muslim to be with the group of Muslims. It is obligatory to follow the path of the people of the Sunnah and the community. Allah is the Greatest. And the Imam of the Muslims. And he does not deviate from that if he wants safety. And he does not go with the tribulations and the callers to misguidance. And he does not take from anyone who claims knowledge, whether he is a scholar who is misguided in his error, or he may be ignorant in himself and misguided in himself, so he misguides those who follow him and take his example. So the matter is very serious. But the path is clear, praise be to Allah, and it is the methodology of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and the methodology of his Companions, and the methodology of the righteous Salaf, and the methodology of the Imams who came after them. But this requires two things: knowledge first, and patience. To learn this methodology and its details, and to be patient in following it, because people will hurt you.
People will hurt you, and the people of desires and the people of misguided creeds. But you must be patient as long as you are convinced that you are upon the truth. So do not pay attention to those who discourage you from it and make you disdain it. And you know and read now in many writings of those who want to turn people away from the path of truth.
To the present civilization, to the present modernity, to catching up with the world. We, praise be to Allah, are ahead of the world. We are the leaders if we hold fast to this religion. We are not in the rear. We are the leaders. The world must follow the people of Islam, not that the people of Islam follow the people of misguidance. This is a reversal of the fitrah (the innate natural disposition). And there is no power and no strength except with Allah. May Allah reward you with good. Thank you, O Shaykh.