Discussion of the Scholars and Clarification of the Status of Those Who Speak About Them

Question:
The professor said that the people of this nation have done well in [regarding] the ash and supplication. So when you correct [the view] that this is a necessary consequence of the prevalence of education, what is your assessment of this matter?

Answer:
Yes, and this is a matter of al-jarh wa al-ta'dil (the critique and vindication of narrators), and this is a critique of absence. The one who speaks about the scholars is one of two types. Either he is from among the people of desires and eclipses, from among the people of forbidden desires and eclipses and sins, and he hates the scholars because they warn him against that and prevent him from it, for they have authority over him, so he hates them because of his sins of forbidden desires.
Because they stood between him and them, or prevented him from consuming them. The second man is a man whose inclination is toward deviated, distorted directions, and the scholars do not agree with him on them, so he seeks them out for that reason, because they do not agree with him on his deviation in his thought, his deviation in his madhhab (school of jurisprudence), his deviation in his directions, and they warn against division and warn against partisanship, while he loves partisanship and division, so he hates them for this.
So the result is that the one who hates the scholars and speaks about them has no good in him, no good in him, because if there were any good in him, he would have loved the people of knowledge and loved the believers and the awliya (close friends of Allah) (Glorified and Exalted is He). Yes.