"The flesh of scholars is poisoned, and the habit of Allah in exposing those who belittle them is well known"; could you shed some light on this saying for us?

The questioner : "... poisoned, and the habit of Allah in exposing those who belittle them is well known"; could you shed some light on this saying for us, may Allah reward you?

The Shaykh : There is no doubt that this saying is such that—specifically regarding scholars—speaking about them in a way that people dislike is backbiting. This does not mean that the general Muslim public are not in the same position, but this saying, which has spread—as they say—like the pace of travelers, contains an element of exaggeration. It leads the listeners and users of the saying to assume that it is a transmitted phrase, either from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) or from the righteous predecessors. To our knowledge, nothing of the sort is connected to this phrase. The most that can be said is that it contains a degree of wisdom in its exaggeration of warning against backbiting scholars, because they are the elite 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. However, it is not hidden from anyone that describing a scholar as the heir of Muhammad is a matter that is far from being achieved, except that we ask Allah (Mighty and Majestic) for him.
In any case, if the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said—the 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 who came after them, and consequently, backbiting scholars is more severe than backbiting Muslims below them in status. And so, "the flesh of scholars is poisoned"; meaning: their backbiting is forbidden with the most severe prohibition, due to their status with the Lord of the Worlds. And Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says: . There is no doubt that this does not refer to criticism based on truth and free from personal bias or attacking the criticized person by the critic, but rather it refers to pure advice for the Ummah. In this matter, there is the utmost precision; because the critic, when he criticizes, should not intend anything but the face of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) and advice for the Ummah. As for if he intends by the criticism to attack the criticized person 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: "The love of appearing cuts off the appearance."
As for the precision of the matter; because the original ruling regarding a Muslim mentioning his Muslim brother in what he dislikes is that it is forbidden; because it is of the kind of eating the flesh of people referred to in the Noble Qur'an. But there are types of backbiting that are permissible, and some of it may be obligatory, and here lies the precision in the subject. The Shaytan may justify and whisper to some of those who want to backbite, based on the backbiting that is exempted from prohibition, that he means these exemptions, while in reality he is touching upon what the Muslim dislikes not for the sake of advice. Some of the later scholars collected what is permissible of backbiting, which may be obligatory—as we sometimes said—in two verses of poetry, and memorizing them in reality collects this topic for the student of knowledge so that he does not fall into contradiction between its original ruling being forbidden and some of what is an exception to this original ruling. Their saying is:
"Censure is not backbiting in six cases: *** The complainant, the identifier, and the warn
er, *** The one who openly commits open sinfulness, the one seeking a ruling, and he *** Who seeks assistance in removing a wrong."
And these six exemptions have explicit texts in most of them. He says in six, the first of whom is the complainant, and this is mentioned in the Noble Qur'an in His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He): . So our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) exempted the oppressed person in this Noble verse, so it is permissible for him to backbite his oppressor in the way of removing the oppression from him. And this was confirmed in some authentic hadiths from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), such as 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 in his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): .
Meaning: speaking about him, and this is backbiting like the backbiting of that oppressed person; because this person has been wronged by the one who benefited him by lending to him, then he delayed payment while he was able to pay and did not pay. Meaning: speaking about it; because he is an oppressor, because he delays, and his punishment is with the judge ... or he imprisons 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 "Al-Sunan" from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah that a man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: O Messenger of Allah, my neighbor has wronged me. So he (peace and blessings be upon him) ordered him to put the goods of his house on the side of the road. So when the people passed by him, they would say: What is the matter, so-and-so? He would say: My neighbor has wronged me. So they would not do anything but say: May Allah kill him! May Allah curse him! And his oppressive neighbor would hear. So he went to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to say: O Messenger of Allah, order my neighbor to return his goods to his house; for the people have cursed me. So he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: .
So this is an example of the first of the six exemptions, which is the oppressed person. The hadith for evidence for the remaining six is long; so excuse us, and then permission from the honorableThe Shaykh : to leave.
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