The Shaykh’s remarks on beneficial knowledge and scholars, and who are the scholars?

The Shaykh : What is the knowledge that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, mentions in more than one verse, and that the Messenger, peace be upon him, praises for its virtue in many hadiths? Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says, for example: The Messenger, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, says, for example: And there are many, many hadiths on this, among them his saying, peace be upon him: So what is this knowledge that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, praised its people, and then His Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, confirmed that in the many hadiths? Is it merely hearing a statement from a scholar, whatever his status, that explains a verse or explains a hadith with an interpretation that preceded none of the scholars of the righteous Salaf or those who came after them, or from among the mujtahid imams and their followers who followed the path of the predecessors? Is this any part of knowledge? We hear the answer from the words of Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, for he says: "Knowledge is what Allah said, what His Messenger said, *** what the Companions said; it is not deception
Knowledge is not: you setting up foolish disagreement *** Between the Messenger and the opinion of a jurist
nor denial of the attributes and their negation *** out of fear of ta'til (denial of the divine attributes) and tashbih (likening Allah to creation)" What is knowledge? It is clear, explicit Arabic speech. Knowledge is what Allah said; that is the first rank. Then what the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, said. Then what the Companions said. And this, of course, when they agree on something, their agreement is a proof, as we clarified in a previous word, recently, by citing, for example, His saying, Blessed and Exalted is He: So the path of the believers is the path of the noble Companions, and it is not permissible to contradict them. So knowledge, then, is only taken from the saying of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, then from the saying of His Prophet, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, then from what came to us from his noble Companions. So if an exegete comes to a verse like this verse and expands the meaning to include spending zakah funds on building mosques, spending zakah funds on building schools, and so on, we should not submit to such an expansion or such an interpretation, because it is an interpretation by opinion that contradicts the interpretation of the righteous Salaf. If we return to the books of tafsir, especially those that are the mother books and the basic references relied upon by all exegetes who came after them, such as the tafsir of Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, the famous exegete, hadith scholar, and historian, or if we return to the tafsir of al-Hafiz Ibn Kathir al-Dimashqi, also the exegete, hadith scholar, and historian, we will not find such an interpretation of the phrase to mean the general, comprehensive sense of all paths of good. Rather, we found in them and in other books of tafsir, and even books of fiqh, that "in the cause of Allah" means jihad and pilgrimage to the House of Allah, the Sacred. So when we find such an expansion, we should not accept it, because it is contrary to what our righteous Salaf were upon. We have mentioned more than once that when we call people to follow the Book of Allah and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, our following of these two sources should be in accordance with what our righteous Salaf were upon in their understanding of them and their application of them in their blessed lives. So when we review the tafsir of this verse, we do not find this expansion, and thus this interpretation contains a deviation from what the righteous Salaf were upon. And this alone is sufficient for us to discern the error of such an interpretation. We also often hear fatwas that contradict what the righteous Salaf and the four Imams and others were upon, which some Islamic writers today claim in the name of making things easy and expanding for people. You must have heard someone explicitly declaring the permissibility of musical instruments, even though the scholars of old, and those who followed them recently, interpret His saying, Exalted is He: They interpreted "idle talk" as singing that distracts those who engage in this singing from performing many Islamic obligations, which may include maintaining the prayer. So when some people interpret this interpretation as speech that contradicts the Shari'ah, for example, or that incites commotion and noise over the speech of Allah, and do not also interpret it as singing, despite the many hadiths from the Prophet, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, regarding the prohibition of musical instruments, which supports this interpretation that came from the Salaf, that what is singing. From those hadiths, for example, and I am not listing them all, is what al-Bukhari narrated in his Sahih as a munqati' (a report with a broken chain), and a large group of hadith scholars connected it with a sound chain from the Prophet, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, that he said: Meaning zina (unlawful sexual intercourse). Meaning animal silk, called in some countries "local," meaning non-vegetable. We hear today many people declaring explicitly, either in writing or in lectures, that musical instruments are permissible, given the many and very many instruments that the European disbelievers have invented today, which, when heard, cause the listener's strength to collapse and his Islamic nobility and Islamic honor to vanish, and he no longer cares about the open sinfulness or lewdness that occurs there.
When we hear such fatwas, we must stand before them questioning, and it is not permissible to stand before them taking them lightly, saying to them: How do you expand the meaning of such that it includes building mosques? Then no rich person remains who would donate from his abundant wealth beyond what Allah the Mighty and Majestic has obligated upon him in zakah. He does no good except within the limits of the obligation, while he has prevented himself from voluntary acts because these scholars have created for him a path where any good you spend can be considered part of the obligatory zakah. And so the examples multiply in interpreting texts from the Book and texts from the Sunnah, contrary to how the scholars of the Muslims were in the past. So what is knowledge? Until when we are told something, we do not say, "By Allah, so-and-so the scholar issued this fatwa." We must understand knowledge in its reality. What is it? And by that, we know who the scholars are. You have just heard "Knowledge is: Allah said, the Messenger of Allah said, the Companions said" . And knowledge is not what you hear explicitly from some of these who bring you new fatwas, who say to you, "This is my opinion, and you are free." In Islam, it is not "This is my opinion, and you are free." Rather, you must issue a ruling based on what Allah said, what the Messenger of Allah said, and what our righteous predecessors were upon. If there is no opinion from the scholars who passed away regarding a new issue, then by Allah, here independent legal reasoning (ijtihad) is necessary, and expressing an opinion is necessary. But the opinion must be based on those three sources: the Book, the Sunnah, and scholarly consensus. As for a person setting himself up to issue a fatwa that contradicts those before us from the Salaf, and even contradicts the texts of the Book and the Sunnah by interpreting these texts in a way that agrees with his opinion, and finally saying, "This is my opinion." The scholars of knowledge say: "When the report (athar) comes, reasoning (nazar) is invalid" , "When the report comes from Allah and His Messenger or His Companions, there is no room for reasoning" . And they say in another phrase: "There is no ijtihad where there is an explicit text" , and "When the river of Allah comes" . They also say in old Arabic: "The river of Maqil is invalid" . So this opinion can only have validity and acceptance if it does not contradict either a verse, a hadith, or what the Salaf were upon in interpreting a verse or interpreting an authentic hadith. Therefore, we must know how to study jurisprudence and how to learn. We do not claim, as some people imagine, and some may even state explicitly, that we do not want every person to become a scholar and a jurist in the Book of Allah and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). For this is not an easy matter for most people, even for many of those who have appointed themselves to express opinions that contradict the Book and the Sunnah. It is not easy for such people to perform the ijtihad that relies on the Book and the Sunnah. Relying on the Book requires that the one relying on it returns to the books of tafsir we mentioned. And relying on the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) requires relying on what is authentic from the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). And so, when he wants to perform ijtihad and express his opinion on an issue that has occurred, he must have relied on the general evidences from the Book of Allah and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Otherwise, whoever is not of this caliber is not a scholar, because all scholars agreed that the scholar is the one who says for everything he goes to: "Allah said, the Messenger of Allah said." The one who follows a scholar without knowing his evidence (mقلid) is not a scholar by the consensus of scholars. The mقلid who says, "So-and-so the shaykh said, or so-and-so the shaykh issued a fatwa about such-and-such," this is not of knowledge at all. Rather, this is of the ignorance that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) referred to in the authentic hadith, which the two Shaykhs (al-Bukhari and Muslim) narrated in their Sahihs from the hadith of Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As (may Allah be pleased with them both). He said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: This is an authentic hadith, and in it the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) explicitly stated that knowledge will disappear little by little, and knowledge is not taken away by our Lord being plucked from the people of knowledge and virtue. Rather, the people of knowledge die, which is the Sunnah of Allah in His creation. Then there remain people who do not know anything of knowledge. And I return to remind you: "Knowledge is: Allah said, the Messenger of Allah said, and it is not: So-and-so said and so-and-so issued a fatwa" . And this is our reality in the present age. Therefore, we advise all our Muslim brothers, especially those who are with us on this path and the straight way in following the Book of Allah and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah, to ask these muftis. I do not say that they should perform ijtihad themselves, for they are not qualified for ijtihad. Rather, they should ask the muftis when they issue a fatwa with an opinion on an issue: "Where did you get this from?" If it is from the language of the present age, today there is precision in what concerns the gathering of wealth, and they draw attention to the fact that it is part of the Islamic system that rulers and governors who become rich and wealthy after taking up their positions are to be held accountable and asked: "Where did you get this money from?" So it is even more fitting for knowledge than for money to be asked of them: "Where did you get this by which you issue fatwas to the people?" If they say, "Allah said," we say to them: "Interpret for us the saying of Allah as the Salaf interpreted it, not as you see it and as others of the people of opinion in this age see it." And if they say to us, "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said," we ask them: "Is this hadith authentic or not?" If they say, "This is an authentic hadith," then we hold them responsible for it, and the responsibility is not on us, because it is supposed that they are people of trust. If they issue a fatwa with a weak hadith, and the reality is that it is a hadith, they bring a hadith whose reality is weak and say it is authentic. Because they are responsible for delivering the trust to the people. So let us not forget that all people are two groups, explicitly stated in the Qur'an, where He the Exalted said: The people of knowledge (Ahl al-Dhikr) are the people of the Qur'an, because "Dhikr" (remembrance) has been mentioned in other verses than this one, and the scholars agreed for that reason that the intended meaning of "Dhikr" here and there is the Qur'an. So when Allah the Exalted said: the intended meaning of this "Dhikr" is the Noble Qur'an. Likewise, when he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the previous verse that divided people into scholars and non-scholars, when he said: the intended meaning of "Dhikr" in this verse is also the same as the intended meaning in the previous verse, which is the Qur'an. If we ask the people of the Qur'an, and it is also self-evident in its place that it is not, the intended meaning of "people of the Qur'an" here is not those who recite the Qur'an and memorize its letters and the rules related to the science of tajwid, and they may be delighted with it in an impermissible way, but they do not understand anything of the meanings of what they recite. The intended meaning of "people of the Qur'an" is not those who memorize its letters without its meanings. Rather, the intended meaning of the Qur'an is the people of knowledge, meaning the people of understanding of the Book of Allah the Exalted and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). It is not possible, if we do not say it is not permissible, for a Muslim to imagine a scholar of the Qur'an, its tafsir, and its meanings, while he is ignorant of the Sunnah.