The Shaykh’s advice to students of knowledge to respect scholars and be well-mannered with them, and his mention of the story of Abu Musa al-Ash’ari with Abdullah ibn Mas’ud regarding this.

The Shaykh : ... The hadith has many branches, and the time has passed more than what is prescribed, but in this story is what I wanted to derive regarding the etiquette of the student of knowledge. Imam al-Darimi narrated in his Sunan, known as al-Musnad, with a valid chain, that Abu Musa al-Ash’ari (may Allah be pleased with him) came to the house of Ibn Mas’ud in Kufa one morning and found his companions waiting for him. He said, "Has Abu Abd al-Rahman come out?" They said, "No." So he sat and waited for him until he came out. Abu Musa said, "O Abu Abd al-Rahman, I just saw something in the mosque that I disapproved of, and yet, praise be to Allah, I saw nothing but good." I hope you pay attention to the combination of these two opposites in appearance; there is no contradiction. He said, "I saw something I disapproved of, and I saw nothing but good." How is that? The explanation will come in the details of the story. He said, "What did you see?" He said, "If I live, you will see it. I saw people in circles in the mosque, and in the middle of each circle was a man saying to those around him, 'Say Subhan Allah (Glory be to Allah) so many times, Alhamdulillah (Praise be to Allah) so many times, Allahu Akbar (Allah is the Greatest) so many times.' And with each of them was a pebble counter used to count the glorification, praise, and magnification." Ibn Mas’ud said, "Did you disapprove of them?" Here is the point. He said, "No, I was waiting for your command or waiting for your opinion." This is the most precise point. Abu Musa was one of the great Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and one of their scholars, but he knew that he was not in the position of Ibn Mas’ud in jurisprudence based on the Book and the Sunnah. So he said, "No, I did not disapprove of them; I was waiting for your command or waiting for your opinion." He said, "Did you not disapprove of them and order them to count their sins, and did you not guarantee for them that nothing of their good deeds would be lost?" Then he entered his house and came out veiled and wearing a mask until he entered the mosque and saw those circles as Abu Musa had described them to him. He uncovered his face and said, "Woe to you! What is this you are doing? I am Abdullah ibn Mas’ud, a Companion of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)." They said, "O Abu Abd al-Rahman, and this is the tongue of every innovator, the tongue of every innovator, that they say, as you will hear." They said, "By Allah, O Abu Abd al-Rahman, we did not intend anything but good." He said, "And this is our answer to all the innovators. How many are those who intend good but do not hit the mark, and how many are those who intend good but do not hit the mark. Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) told us: . The witness of this story said, "We certainly saw those people, the people of the circles, the people of the unlegislated dhikr. And we certainly saw those people fighting us on the Day of Nahrawan, meaning they became among the Khawarij who rebelled against the Commander of the Faithful, Ali ibn Abi Talib, and fought him, and he fought them until he uprooted their roots, and only a few of them were saved." This is the story, and the lesson from it is that Abu Musa did not step in front of Ibn Mas’ud to disapprove of that disapproved matter which he described as having seen nothing but good. Why? Because it was glorification, praise, and magnification, and this is good. But the disapproval came because of the additions and extras that were joined to this dhikr, which made this dhikr a religious innovation, as Imam Abu Ishaq al-Shatibi says, an additional innovation. So because of these additions, Abu Musa disapproved of it, but he feared that he might be mistaken or wrong, so he went to Abu Mas’ud and took his opinion, and his opinion agreed with his. Then Ibn Mas’ud went and took upon himself the disapproval of that. So I hope our brothers, the students of knowledge, will appreciate the status, effort, and position of the people of knowledge, and not step in front of them. And I know that in many gatherings, a question is directed, but the gathering is usually one of unity of state, meaning there is no pretense, there is no formality, so the question is directed to one of the shaykhs, and one of them stands up and says, "The answer is such." This is a lack of etiquette, so it is not permissible for students of knowledge to fall into such a thing, because we saw Abu Musa, while he was far from Abu Mas’ud, how did it occur to him that there was someone close to him, someone more knowledgeable and more learned than him? So it is necessary for him to take his opinion in such a matter that has occurred, because it is not a matter known by its disapproval or that it is known in the Shari'ah. So be well-mannered with such etiquette. And when Ibn Mas’ud said to him, "Did you disapprove of them?" he said, "No, I was waiting for your command or waiting for your opinion." This is etiquette. I strongly advise my brothers, the students, to always keep this before their eyes and to be well-mannered with their scholars. And this is what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) indicated in the authentic hadith:
And may Allah send prayers and abundant peace upon Muhammad, the unlettered Prophet, and upon his family and his Companions.