Is it permissible to seek nearness to Allah through the love of scholars and the righteous? And what is the ruling on specifying a particular scholar, for example?

The student: Seeking nearness to Allah through the love of the righteous and scholars?

The Shaykh : Is it permissible to seek nearness to Allah through the love of the righteous and scholars? Is the love of the righteous and scholars a form of worship that brings one closer to Allah, or is it not? Yes, so it is a righteous deed that falls under seeking nearness to Allah through righteous deeds.
The student: Specifying a particular scholar by name?

The Shaykh : No, it is better not to specify, because regarding a specific scholar—may Allah the Exalted protect us and you, and make our outward appearance like our inward state, or make our inward state better than our outward appearance—you do not know the truth of the matter. You may be deceived by a person, but he may not be as you think. However, generalize it: “O Allah, by my love for the scholars of the Shari'ah, gather me with them; by my love for the righteous, make me among them,” and the like of that.