Some people divide knowledge into knowledge of issues for scholars and knowledge of virtues for the common people. What is your opinion of this division?

The Shaykh: Go ahead.

The questioner : There are some people who divide knowledge into knowledge of issues and knowledge of virtues; as for knowledge of issues, it is for scholars, and as for the other, it is for the common Muslims. What is your opinion of this division?

The Shaykh : I say that this distinction is a modern philosophy intended to justify the reality of a group that does not proceed based on the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), especially the authentic parts thereof. They do not proceed from the authentic Sunnah, but from whatever comes to mind. A scholar does not dispense with virtues, and a common person does not dispense with knowing the ruling in issues; so each of them needs both. The hadiths of virtues, especially those that encourage good deeds and warn against evil deeds, are matters that concern the rectification of hearts and motivating them to rush to act according to what came in the Book and the Sunnah, and turning them away from what contradicts the Book and the Sunnah. Who is the one who can say, "I am not in need of virtues"? All Muslims are in need of virtues. And the reverse is also the case, meaning that the common people must know the issues and know their rulings. But here we say that there is no doubt that issues differ first in terms of their fewness and multitude; and second, they differ in terms of their relevance to individual Muslims. So this vast multitude of numerous issues, composed in the hundreds, without a doubt, is specialized in by scholars. But that does not mean that the common Muslims are not in need of knowing the issues that concern each one of them. And there is no doubt that some of these issues are shared in the obligation of knowing them by all accountable Muslims. Because there are, for example, from the obligations, what you know: the five prayers in every day and night. In them are conditions, pillars, obligations, recommended practices, desirable acts, etiquettes, remembrances, and so on. So in these, all accountable adults share, with no difference between women and men. And there are other issues that may be obligatory for Zayd and not obligatory for Bakr, for example, and other issues may be obligatory for Bakr and not obligatory for Zayd, and so on. For example, one who is a farmer must know what he plants and what is obligatory regarding what he plants. Does he have to pay zakah on everything he plants, or is zakah obligatory on some of it and not on some? And for what is obligatory to pay zakah on, what is the rate? Similarly, the merchant must know the rulings of buying and selling and the like. So what is obligatory for this one is not obligatory for that one, and vice versa. And they are from the common people. So we cannot say that knowing the issues is a specialty of scholars and knowing the virtues is a specialty of the common Muslims. Rather, this second category is shared by scholars and the common people, because as we said earlier, we say that these virtues are like motivators and drivers, which the Wise Lawgiver legislated on the tongue of His Noble Prophet so that Muslims would be active and rush to act according to the Shari'ah. So there is no difference in this between the scholar and the non-scholar, unlike the issues, as per the detailed explanation mentioned above. Yes.