What is your comment on the saying of some of the Salaf: "The flesh of scholars is poisoned, and the habit of Allah with those who belittle them is known"?

The questioner :"The flesh of scholars is poisoned, and the habit of Allah with those who belittle them is known" Have you shed light on this phrase, may Allah reward you?

The Shaykh : There is no doubt that this phrase, in that it specifically mentions scholars, is a prohibition for the general public from speaking about them in ways they dislike, which is backbiting. It does not mean that the general Muslims are not in the same position.
But this phrase, which has spread as they say, "like the pace of the riders", contains some exaggeration such that the listeners and users of it imagine that it is a transmitted saying, either from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) or from the righteous Salaf. But we know that nothing of the sort is connected to this phrase. The most it contains is some wisdom in hastening to warn against backbiting scholars, for they are the specific ones of this Ummah, and it is expected of them that they are the heirs of the Prophets, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said. But it is not hidden from everyone that the attribute of a scholar being the Muhammadan heir is a matter "harder than grinding thorns", as it is said, except for the one for whom Allah (Mighty and Majestic) makes it easy.
In any case, if the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) says, as a general rule, then there is no doubt that this backbiting is multiplied when it is said about a person who has a higher status in the Shari'ah than another person. There is no doubt that backbiting the Companions is greater than backbiting those after them, and consequently, backbiting scholars is more severe than.
Backbiting scholars is more severe than backbiting those below them among the Muslims, and so on. "The flesh of scholars is poisoned" means that their backbiting is forbidden with the most severe prohibition, considering their status with the Lord of the Worlds. And Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says: .
And there is no doubt that this does not include criticism by truth and with detachment from desire and from attacking the criticized by the critic. Rather, what is intended by it is merely advising the Ummah. In this matter, there is the utmost precision, for the critic, when he criticizes, should not intend anything but the face of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) and advising the Ummah. But if the intention of the criticism is to attack the criticized or to appear before people as one who has knowledge, then at that time it is said, as some said, and this is also wisdom: "Love of showing off cuts off showing off" "Love of showing off cuts off showing off". As for the precision of the matter, it is because the original ruling for a Muslim mentioning his Muslim brother in what he dislikes is that it is forbidden, because it is from the category of eating the flesh of people, which is referred to in the Noble Qur'an. But there are types of backbiting that are permissible, and some of it may be obligatory. Here lies the precision in the subject. And Satan may lead and whisper to some who want to backbite based on the backbiting that is exempted from prohibition, meaning these exemptions, while in reality he is touching with his backbiting what the Muslim dislikes, not for the sake of advice.
Some of the later scholars have gathered what is permissible of backbiting, which may be obligatory as we said sometimes, in two verses of poetry. Memorizing them actually gathers this topic for the student of knowledge, so he does not fall into contradiction between what is originally forbidden and some of what is an exception to this original ruling. Their saying is:
"Censure is not backbiting in six cases: *** The aggrieved, the known, and the one who warns,
and one who openly commits open sinfulness, and one who seeks a ruling, and *** one who seeks assistance in removing what is wrong.
And these six exemptions have explicit texts in most of them, so he says "in six cases."
The first of them is the aggrieved, and this is mentioned in the Noble Qur'an in the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He): . So our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) has exempted the oppressed in this Noble verse, and it is permissible for him to backbite his oppressor in the way of removing the oppression from him.
And this is confirmed in some of the authentic hadiths from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Among them is the hadith agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim, his saying (peace be upon him): This is the wording of the hadith in al-Bukhari and Muslim. And it came in another wording in some of the Sunan, his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . It is permissible to mention his character, meaning to speak about him, and this is the backbiting of that oppressed person, because this one has oppressed him by lending to him and then delaying him, while he is able to pay and does not. Meaning to speak about him and that he is an oppressor and I am delaying. From the ruler, for he has the right to imprison him until he returns the right to its owner. And among the curiosities of what happened regarding this characteristic is what Imam al-Bukhari narrated in al-Adab al-Mufrad and Abu Dawud in the Sunan, from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah: . This is the example of the first of the six exemptions, which is the oppressed. And the hadith in arguing for the rest of the six is long, so I apologize to you, either by asking the permission of the honorable Shaykh to leave.