What is the ruling on attributing rumors to scholars and students of knowledge?
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Question:
What is the ruling on attributing rumors to scholars and students of knowledge in order to keep them away from guiding people and directing them, and to keep people away from listening to them?
Answer:
This is injustice and bad faith—may Allah grant us safety. I mean, if people stay away from the scholars, they remain in ignorance. If people are kept away from the scholars, and they do not ask them questions or attend the circles of knowledge, they remain in ignorance. Knowledge comes through the scholars: Allah said, and His Messenger said, and they are its bearers. As the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) explained: the bearers of knowledge are like the rain that settles on the earth until Allah benefits people with it, or people drink from it. So the scholars are the bearers of knowledge; they convey it.
Ignorant people do not convey it, and people do not benefit from them; rather, they mislead people. As in the authentic hadith: he (peace and blessings be upon him) said:Sahih al-Bukhari 100. Some ignorant youth may think that a scholar, if he is in the judiciary, or in issuing fatwas, or a teacher, is not a scholar unless he devotes himself entirely and prays in the mosque, going only from home to the mosque. That is the scholar in his view. As for the one who takes a job to judge between Muslims, or to issue fatwas for Muslims, or to teach in institutes, he is not a scholar!
This is vast ignorance; this is boundless ignorance—may Allah grant us safety. It is obligatory for scholars to take on positions and benefit people. They must judge, they must issue fatwas, they must teach, and they must be governors. They must be ministers, so that they teach people, so that they bear the knowledge, and so that they save people from ignorance. If ignorant people take over, the affairs of the Muslims are lost, and people perish. But ignorance, as Ibn al-Qayyim said:
And ignorance is a deadly disease, and its cure
Is two things in order, agreed upon
A text from the Book or from a Sunnah
And the doctor of that is the divine scholar
So how can one who has no knowledge treat people? He treats people while he himself is sick?
What is the ruling on attributing rumors to scholars and students of knowledge in order to keep them away from guiding people and directing them, and to keep people away from listening to them?
Answer:
This is injustice and bad faith—may Allah grant us safety. I mean, if people stay away from the scholars, they remain in ignorance. If people are kept away from the scholars, and they do not ask them questions or attend the circles of knowledge, they remain in ignorance. Knowledge comes through the scholars: Allah said, and His Messenger said, and they are its bearers. As the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) explained: the bearers of knowledge are like the rain that settles on the earth until Allah benefits people with it, or people drink from it. So the scholars are the bearers of knowledge; they convey it.
Ignorant people do not convey it, and people do not benefit from them; rather, they mislead people. As in the authentic hadith: he (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
till when none of the (religious learned men) remains, people will take as their leaders ignorant persons who when consulted will give their verdict without knowledge. So they will go astray and will lead the people astray.
حتى إذا لم يُبْقِ عالمًا اتَّخذ الناسُ رؤوسًا جُهَّالًا، فسُئلوا، فأفتوا بغير علمٍ؛ فضلُّوا وأضلُّواThis is vast ignorance; this is boundless ignorance—may Allah grant us safety. It is obligatory for scholars to take on positions and benefit people. They must judge, they must issue fatwas, they must teach, and they must be governors. They must be ministers, so that they teach people, so that they bear the knowledge, and so that they save people from ignorance. If ignorant people take over, the affairs of the Muslims are lost, and people perish. But ignorance, as Ibn al-Qayyim said:
And ignorance is a deadly disease, and its cure
Is two things in order, agreed upon
A text from the Book or from a Sunnah
And the doctor of that is the divine scholar
So how can one who has no knowledge treat people? He treats people while he himself is sick?
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.