Is a scholar's fame evidence of his sincerity?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
He asks: Does the fame of a scholar or a person indicate his truthfulness and sincerity, and that he is on the right path?
Answer:
Without a doubt, the people's love for him and their turning to him is evidence of his sincerity; otherwise, if he were not sincere for the sake of Allah, the people would not love him. So Allah (Mighty and Majestic), when He loves a person, He places acceptance for him among the people, and when He hates a person, He places hatred for him among the people[Maryam 19:96] love in the hearts. Yes.
He asks: Does the fame of a scholar or a person indicate his truthfulness and sincerity, and that he is on the right path?
Answer:
Without a doubt, the people's love for him and their turning to him is evidence of his sincerity; otherwise, if he were not sincere for the sake of Allah, the people would not love him. So Allah (Mighty and Majestic), when He loves a person, He places acceptance for him among the people, and when He hates a person, He places hatred for him among the people
Indeed, those who have believed and done righteous deeds - the Most Merciful will appoint for them affection.
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ سَيَجْعَلُ لَهُمُ الرَّحْمَٰنُ وُدًّا
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، هل شهرة العالم دليلا على إخلاصه؟ لمعالي الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.