The scholars of the Shari'ah are the ones concerned with the speech of Allah and His Messenger

The following message was received from the listener Abdullah Salam al-'Umrani from the northern district of the city of al-Bada'. Brother Abdullah says in his message:
Does the statement of Allah the Exalted: [Surah al-Zumar: 9] and His saying (peace and blessings be upon him): refer to scholars of medicine, chemistry, or others, or does it refer only to scholars of the Shari'ah? Please inform us, may Allah preserve you and protect you?
Answer: The intended meaning of the verses regarding knowledge, or the hadiths regarding knowledge, all of them, according to the people of knowledge, are the books of the Shari'ah; the sciences of the Book and the Sunnah are those in which there is great virtue and much good. As for what relates to the sciences of medicine, engineering, invention, geology, and the like, these are sciences that have their own people, and their ruling is according to their intentions. So, whoever learns engineering or medicine to benefit the Muslims and to make them independent of their enemies, he is rewarded according to his intention. Likewise, whoever learns to invent something from the weapons of war to benefit the Muslims, or learns geology or the like to benefit the Muslims, his intention being to benefit the Muslims, then he has his reward. However, his ruling is not the ruling of the scholars of the Shari'ah, but he has a reward according to his intention. As for whoever learns it for the sake of this world and the purposes of this world; to eat, to get a job, to live, then it is permissible, neither for him nor against him, because he is commanded to earn and commanded to seek provision. But it is not like the one who learns it to eat lawfully and be independent of the need for people, or to benefit the Muslims to make them independent of their enemies. This intention differs. So, whoever learns it to benefit the Muslims has a reward, and whoever learns it to become independent of it from haram and to earn lawfully has a reward. And whoever learns it with no purpose except merely to live, eat, and drink, and his concern is not whether it is halal or otherwise, and his concern is not to benefit the Muslims or otherwise, but he learns it only for his worldly interests, only his worldly interests, then this is ...... that it is merely permissible. Yes.