Who is the scholar? For he has placed the worshipper, the preacher, and others in the rank of scholars.
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : What contradicts absolutely...
The questioner : May the Shaykh be honored. Some confusion and mixing has occurred among some of the youth in defining who is a scholar. As a result, they have placed those who are not scholars, such as an ascetic, a worshipper, or a preacher, in the ranks of scholars. Consequently, they have made them a source for receiving knowledge, guidance, and teaching, and so on. May Allah reward you with good. The requirement is to define who is a scholar, meaning, what is the definition of a scholar?
The Shaykh : Yes, yes. Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) defined the scholar with a comprehensive and exclusive definition, saying:
"Knowledge is knowing the guidance with its proof *** That is not the same as taqlid (following a scholar without knowing his evidence), for they are not equal"
This is knowledge. The scholar is the one who knows the true knowledge with its evidence; this is the scholar. Knowledge may be broad, where a person knows most issues, and for what he does not know, he has the ability to know it, and this is called the strength of judgment. Or a person may be a scholar in a single issue, taking books and researching in them, looking at the evidence of the scholars, and becoming a scholar in that issue only. From this came the hadithJami` at-Tirmidhi 2669Sahih (Darussalam) But most preachers bring evidence that has no handle, weak evidence, wanting to strengthen people in the required matters and warn them from the feared matters, and they are lenient in the chapter of encouraging and warning. There is no doubt that there is benefit in them, but they are not a source for Islamic legal knowledge, such that one relies on what they say, unless they say: "We say so because Allah the Exalted said so, or so because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said so," and they bring an authentic hadith. It is known that whoever brings knowledge with its proof is accepted. But Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) warned against reciters without fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). The intended meaning of fiqh is that a person has wisdom to place things in their proper places, and that a person has evidence that serves as a proof for him before Allah (Mighty and Majestic). And I think it is not hidden from people, from the general public, that the scholar is distinct from the student of knowledge. Yes, we are in order.
The questioner : Your Eminence, the Shaykh
The Shaykh : Not in order, my brother. No, it is supposed to be...
The questioner : It goes like this.
The Shaykh : Like this, better, if Allah wills.
The Shaykh : What contradicts absolutely...
The questioner : May the Shaykh be honored. Some confusion and mixing has occurred among some of the youth in defining who is a scholar. As a result, they have placed those who are not scholars, such as an ascetic, a worshipper, or a preacher, in the ranks of scholars. Consequently, they have made them a source for receiving knowledge, guidance, and teaching, and so on. May Allah reward you with good. The requirement is to define who is a scholar, meaning, what is the definition of a scholar?
The Shaykh : Yes, yes. Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) defined the scholar with a comprehensive and exclusive definition, saying:
"Knowledge is knowing the guidance with its proof *** That is not the same as taqlid (following a scholar without knowing his evidence), for they are not equal"
This is knowledge. The scholar is the one who knows the true knowledge with its evidence; this is the scholar. Knowledge may be broad, where a person knows most issues, and for what he does not know, he has the ability to know it, and this is called the strength of judgment. Or a person may be a scholar in a single issue, taking books and researching in them, looking at the evidence of the scholars, and becoming a scholar in that issue only. From this came the hadith
Convey from me, even if it be an Ayah
بلغوا عني ولو آيةThe questioner : Your Eminence, the Shaykh
The Shaykh : Not in order, my brother. No, it is supposed to be...
The questioner : It goes like this.
The Shaykh : Like this, better, if Allah wills.