الفصل التاسع: في حالة العلماءBab 01 Fasl 09 — Classes and Conditions of Scholars

Chapter Nine: On the Condition of Scholars

Know that knowledge has linguistic realities: it is the opposite of ignorance; conventional realities, as it has been said, consist in combining rational and transmitted knowledge, and, as it has also been said, in being able to establish questions through their proofs with knowledge and certainty; and customary realities, which encompass everyone occupied with acquiring knowledge, whether by way of imitation or by beginning its acquisition. Thus, in common usage, “scholar” may be applied to one who has learned grammar and morphology, jurisprudence, or all of these. My purpose, however, is only one who is able to establish questions through their proofs with knowledge and certainty. This includes one who knows all the instruments and knows the Qur'an and Sunnah, for he is able to establish them in that manner.

The rational sciences have no place in the Sharee'ah, and one who knows them does not fall within the meaning of “the scholars are the heirs of the prophets.” God Most High has made us independent of the earlier books sent down to the prophets—peace be upon them—through what He sent down to His Messenger—God bless him and grant him peace—which gathered every good and contained every virtue, in wording and meaning, knowledge and wisdom, and other things besides. How, then, should we return to the books of the philosophers when we do not know whether what is attributed to them came from themselves or from revelation to a messenger among them? The first time this appeared was during the rule of

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the 'Abbaasid dynasty. The one who brought the most of it forth was al-Ma'moon. People became occupied with it, and trials and seditions arose on its account; a group perished through it, being driven into unbelief and heresy. al-Ma'moon became so occupied with it that he sent to the king of the Franks, telling him that he wanted the books in his possession, and they translated them for him. He even opened the grave of Kisraa because he had been told that there was in it a coffin containing some books of the ancients. Yet if it were indispensable to knowledge, none of the Companions would be scholars, since they did not know the rational sciences; nor would those after them among the Successors and those who followed them. No one in the world makes such a claim. The Messenger of God—God bless him and grant him peace—said: “We are an unlettered community: we neither write nor calculate.”

As for customary usage, it is not operative here. When someone occupies himself with and masters a particular discipline, custom calls him a scholar, but he has no share in knowledge by that fact, since it brings him no benefit in religion whatsoever, nor can he act upon any subsidiary ruling of the Sharee'ah through that discipline alone, as with grammar and the like. Those disciplines are only instruments for the Qur'an and Sunnah. Whoever occupies himself with them without using them to reach those matters is like one who has mastered a ladder but has not climbed it to a high place; there is no benefit for him in it.

The same applies to the imitator. He does not know what is correct in the question, who holds it, or whether the one he imitates has stated what is correct or erroneous. It is therefore not valid to apply the name “scholar” to him. al-Nawawee¹ even said that this is a matter of consensus. In the principles of jurisprudence they say that the imitator has no consideration in the consensus of scholars, because he is not a scholar: they define him as one who accepts the statement of the person who gives him a legal opinion without requiring proof. The distinguished shaykh 'Alee ibn Muhammad,² the son of our shaykh al-Shawkaanee—may God have mercy on him—made this clear beyond any need for addition in *al-Qawl al-Sadeed fee Nash al-Muqallid wa-Irshaad al-Mustafeed*.

As for one who is occupied with study, this designation is not established for him unless he has acquired mastery of the instruments and is able to know the Qur'an and Sunnah as he ought. When he begins, he seeks to acquire that by which he may reach knowledge—the person who possesses it being called a scholar. If the name is applied to him at the beginning, it is only metaphorical, by the relation of what comes first and by the contextual indication present.

Once you understand this, you know that knowledge is among the noblest pursuits: no equal can equal it, no attainment reaches its end, and no virtue is its peer. The one who said it spoke truly: “What has one who missed knowledge attained, and what has one who attained knowledge missed?”

Al-Shaafi'ee said: “If the practicing scholar is not a saint, then God has no saint.” The correct position is that the scholar possesses a lofty rank: he is an heir of the prophets—peace be upon them—and one of those concerning whom the Prophet—God bless him and grant him peace—said: “For God to guide one man through you is better for you than the sun has risen upon.” He is also one to whom the words of the Most High apply: {Only those of His servants who possess knowledge fear God}. And His words: {Say: Are those who know equal to those who do not know?} And His words: {And when God took the covenant of those who were given the Book, you shall make it clear to the people}.

Knowledge also has benefits, among them that one is rewarded for learning it, teaching it, issuing legal opinions through it, judging according to what it indicates, composing works, and guiding people. It is among the things that continue after death, as he—God bless him and grant him peace—said: “Or knowledge from which benefit is derived.” He also said: “The scholars will be upon pulpits of light on the Day of Resurrection.” He also said: “One of the prophets of the Children of Israel would wish to be like the scholars of this community.” And as he

¹ He is Muhyee al-Deen Yahyaa ibn Sharaf ibn Muree al-Nawawee al-Dimashqee al-Shaafi'ee, a jurist, traditionist, haafidh, and linguist, author of many well-known books: 631–677 AH = 1233–1278 CE.

² The Yemeni San'aanee Hanbalee, known as Ibn al-Shawkaanee; he died in 1250 CE = 1834 CE.

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said: “When God wills good for someone, He grants him understanding of religion.” Jurisprudence is understanding the Qur'an and Sunnah. He also said: “The best of you in the Age of Ignorance are the best of you in Islam, when they acquire understanding,” thereby affirming for them an absolute excellence.

These are some of the proofs concerning them. The virtues recorded in the books are many and excellent; were it not for fear of prolongation, they would require a volume. One of the scholars of Mecca gathered what had been transmitted concerning them and their virtues in a volume and called it *Knowledge*. It is therefore established that scholars possess the most exalted station. When God Most High taught Adam the names and gave him that condition, He raised him above the angels. He gave him authority over the angels when he informed them, like the condition established for a shaykh in relation to a student. When Adam acquired that virtue and reached that rank, it became a matter of honor for the angels, and God Most High commanded them to prostrate before him, because he had acquired the right of shaykhship. Although the essence of the angels is nobler and their qualities higher and more excellent than human qualities, this was a particular condition. There is no impediment to God Most High commanding some of His creatures to prostrate before others. There is no benefit in forced interpretations, for the prohibition of prostrating to other than God Most High in the Sharee'ah of His Messenger—God bless him and grant him peace—arose because it had occurred in the law of those before him, as Jacob and his wife prostrated before Joseph—peace be upon them—when they entered before him, as God Most High related. Even if we conceded that it is prohibited in every law, this case is particular because the one commanding it was God Most High, the One who sent the messengers and instituted the laws; He related it of Himself. There is no benefit in saying that Adam was made their direction of prayer, for this is contradicted by His words: {Prostrate before Adam}. Had that been the case, He would have said to them, “Prostrate toward Adam.” Likewise, they were commanded to prostrate to God, but the act was ascribed to Adam; the wording also contradicts this. In short, their prostration before him—peace be upon him—was apparently in honor of his knowledge.

There has been disagreement about how Adam was taught. Some said it was through preparedness and God's casting knowledge into him; others said it was through inspiration. This is supported by His words concerning David: {And We taught him the making of armor for you}, for He inspired it to him rather than teaching it in the ordinary sense. It appears to me that God Most High disclosed to him the Preserved Tablet, because it contains everything that has been and will be: all names and things, their attributes and conditions. He matched the forms he saw on the Tablet to the things named. The Most High said: {He reveals His unseen to no one, except a messenger whom He has chosen}. Alternatively, He may have created in him a power by which he could express those matters when commanded to inform the angels; the meaning of “He taught” would then be “He empowered.” This is the clearest possible indication that God's knowledge bears no proportion to the knowledge of His creatures, and that created knowledge, however far it reaches, cannot grasp the essence of things or fully disclose their benefits. Through this you can recognize the rank of the shaykh: when he acquired the virtue of knowledge, the recompense was prostration before him. Even if the student is noble in lineage, the nobility of being taught is greater than his lineage, as Ibn 'Abbaas would hold the stirrup of his shaykh and sleep at his door, waiting for him to come out, until the wind blew dust from his garment. Imaam Ahmad likewise held al-Shaafi'ee's stirrup. The student must therefore honor and venerate the shaykh for what he has given him, and must not deny his benefaction, lest he perish, as Iblees perished when he sinned. The least consequence of the student's ruin is the loss of the luster of his knowledge and the refusal of its benefit, along with the changing conditions of this world. We have witnessed much of this, and this is sufficient proof: when the angels recognized the names, Adam—peace be upon him—acquired that right over them, after they had considered him unfit for vicegerency; he became fit to impart benefit. The accursed one refused, and this caused his ruin and the ruin of his offspring and followers, because he persisted in what appeared correct to him. Although Iblees was not of the same essence as the angels but was one of the jinn, that name was applied to him and he entered within its designation. He was punished for failing to comply because he had acquired the conditions of the angels,

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having drawn near as they had and having been endowed with light that made him resemble the angels. When he persisted and grew arrogant, returning to his original essence, he received what he received and was punished as he was punished. This is the best interpretation of the noble verse, although other interpretations have been offered, all of them diverting the wording from its apparent meaning without contextual evidence or a determining preference. Their claim that the angels did not actually object, but merely presented a question, is rejected by their categorical statement that Adam and his descendants would cause corruption and shed blood. This shows that every creature must err. God has related this matter of the angels, and the same applies to the prophets. All of this occurred in matters of judgment, not in commands and legislation. When such things occurred from them despite their established protection from error, they were alerted to the error. It occurred to the master of the children of Adam, the best of creation, and the one nearest to God—God bless him and grant him peace—and he was alerted; it occurred likewise to the angels. This is sufficient deterrent and warning to scholars against establishing the Sharee'ah through opinion and weak analogies, except where the effective cause is expressly stated or indicated. The implication of the Book and a fortiori reasoning fall within the meaning of the wording; they are not analogy in the technical sense. The prohibited analogy is that which relies on the other analogies into which they expanded, such as examination and division, conjectural attribution, and the like. If someone believes such a conclusion to be law and obliges others to follow it, or issues a legal opinion or judgment upon it, he has spoken of God Most High what He did not say. Keep this in mind, for it is among the gravest causes of ruin. How deserving, then, is the scholar, when he finds no expressly stated or indicated cause, of leaving legislation aside. The one who reasons by opinion has only made the Sharee'ah difficult, whereas the Prophet—God bless him and grant him peace—made it easy. This is my counsel to anyone for whom God wills good; it is prompted only by love for my brothers among the Muslim scholars who follow the revealed guidance.

As for the imitator or the adherent to a school's independent reasoning, he is not part of our subject and is not included in our counsel. He is barred from speaking and restrained from undertaking such matters until the name “scholar” properly applies to him, as you have learned. Whoever wants to investigate this should consult the books of our shaykh al-Shawkaanee and the books of the Sunnah's imams: Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn al-Qayyim, Ibn al-Wazeer, al-Sayyid al-Ameer, and those who followed their path, as well as *Takmeel al-Hujjah wa-al-Bayaan* and the commentary on the two verses of the imaam of the age. They contain what suffices and satisfies. The pen addressed this matter here, although the subject under discussion is something else, because it bears upon it.

When I considered this virtue that Adam acquired by virtue of knowledge, I turned to these scholars whom I have identified as intended here. God distributed virtues among them and made them into classes.

The first class: the Companions who preserved the Sharee'ah, transmitted it from the Messenger of God—God bless him and grant him peace—taught those who entered the religion, stood up to disseminate it, and strove against those who opposed it.

The second class: those who followed these virtues, tracing the path of the early generations; traveling to the lands to implement them; and transmitting them to those who came after them. Their rank is below that of the first class.

The third class: the Successors of the Successors. They followed their path in this care and followed them in virtue and nobility, so that they succeeded them in carrying out that office and did as they had done in attaining that aim. After them, reports multiplied and spread throughout the regions as the lands were opened; fabrication became widespread, and imitation became pervasive, despite the prohibition of the independent jurists and the warnings of the righteous early generations.

The fourth class: scholars who reached the rank of absolute independent reasoning. They were numerous besides the four famous imams, as the authors of biographical and classificatory works explicitly state.

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They imitated no one, did not ascribe themselves to anyone, and did not belong to a legal school, contrary to the claim of those who have no knowledge of the conditions of scholars.

The fifth class: those who occupied themselves with collecting hadeeths until they memorized amounts beyond the estimation of our faculties and the conception of our senses. Some memorized a thousand thousand—that is, ten lakhs in customary usage. Some memorized ten thousand thousand, meaning one hundred lakhs. Some memorized camel-loads, from one hundred and less or more. They traveled in pursuit of them to the east and west, south and north. This was because God, Blessed and Exalted, created for the purified Sunnah people such as these. They sought it, sacrificing themselves and their pleasures to acquire it; they traversed the regions, joined night to day, secured it, and disseminated it among people. They fulfilled what was incumbent upon them, while what remained for them remained with God. May God reward them on behalf of Islam with a complete and excellent reward. The Sunnah is the twin of the Noble Qur'an; it differs from it only in that the Qur'an is used as a challenge, while the Sunnah shares with it in legislation. God has undertaken to preserve the Book, which necessarily entails preservation of the Sunnah, since it was established that it is revelation. After them came

The sixth class: when additions multiplied in the Sunnah, falsehood spread, and fabricators and liars against the Messenger of God—God bless him and grant him peace—appeared, increasing at every moment and in every period, they devised ways to insert fabricated and false hadeeths into the chains of trustworthy, established transmitters. God brought forth this class for it. They restrained those reports, distinguished the sound from the unsound, explained what was fabricated and false, and investigated the matter. They traversed the regions, questioned the great authorities, extracted what the wicked had concealed, and clarified it with the clearest signposts. They identified every transmitter by name, title, town, kunya, profession, teachers, students, sessions, who was present, who became inattentive while dictating to them in that session, and the extent of his inattention. They explained the causes of criticism: fabrication, lying, tadlees, ambiguity, poor memory, weakness, mental confusion, truthfulness, shaykhship, and other matters. They developed technical terms for this, known to anyone who knows the science of the Sunnah; knowledge of them is indispensable. They then compiled books on the transmitters, recording their conditions, the reasons for criticizing them, what was accepted from them and what was not when their circumstances varied, what affected them, from whom they transmitted, and who transmitted from them. They also compiled books on false, fabricated, weak, good, and sound reports; some gathered all these matters together. Since, after their centuries, it could not be guaranteed that those books or statements would continue to be attributed to their authors, God Most High brought forth after them, in every age, scholars who were

The seventh class: they explained their books, clarified their intentions, and made their purposes known to people. They established the authenticity of their attribution by securing their chains of transmission, with every later generation known and documented back to the author. They produced disciplines that delight the minds and devised methods helpful to students. Among these were works arranged according to the chapters of jurisprudence, in which they transmitted from those compilations everything suitable as proof, discussed its chain, and brought it within the reach of students with the fullest approximation. They removed its difficulty and gave it the fullest share of benefit. They also produced, from their sound thoughts and upright understandings, wondrous benefits, unusual insights, and excellent methods. They did not rush into opinion or follow anything not transmitted from the Messenger of God—God bless him and grant him peace. If they transmitted statements of the adherents of legal schools that did not agree with the proof, and recorded the extraordinary matters related from them, this was either to clarify the issue and show that the contrary to the statement was correct—that is the covenant God took from the People of the Book—or it was like the saying:

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“I learned evil—not for evil's sake, but to avoid it;

Whoever does not know evil falls into it.”

Some mention what those authorities said so that, when they know that the writer knows what they held and has cited the proof or preferred an alternative, they will not suppose that he did so out of ignorance of their position. Such a person is rewarded. If his purpose is merely that they should know he is a scholar, however, then he is self-admiring. Others display this to the people of their school to show that they have not opposed them and remain in accord with their imam's statement. This action contradicts the covenant, the scholars' command to explain, their fear of God, and their status as heirs of the prophets.

This discussion has further benefit in *al-Qawl al-Sadeed*. It is God's customary practice that the person who does this remains oppressed, fearful, and deprived of knowledge, and that it benefits him nothing in this world or the next. The one who acts upon the truth, follows it, openly supports it, undertakes its service, explains what opposes it, and refutes its proponent is in the highest ranks of honor and the loftiest degrees of perfection, covered with dignity, honored, and revered. He is the individual regarded with the eye of knowledge; his speech is taken as truth and correctness, followed among people, and acted upon, even if he was opposed during his lifetime, as happened with some great scholars. Look at him after his death: his speech is accepted by opponent and supporter alike, and everyone cites it as evidence. Look again: whenever a historian mentions him, he makes his biography among the greatest biographies, and mentions such virtue and nobility as to shake the hearts of his opponents. No one can deny his virtues or conceal his merits; even opponents testify to them, as with Ibn Hazm, Ibn Taymiyyah, and others in every age.

They have other virtues as well, including speaking the truth openly, supporting it, repelling falsehood, and making what is obligatory manifest. For this reason many Companions would say: “Were it not that I heard the Messenger of God—God bless him and grant him peace—say, 'Whoever conceals knowledge …'”—the hadeeth—and heard the words of God Most High, {Whoever conceals it, his heart is sinful}, I would not have told you. How many positions scholars have taken before unjust rulers and tyrannical sultans, in which the truth shone forth, and they spoke in accord with the law, fearing no reproach from any reproacher in God's religion. Nothing deterred them from making the truth manifest. Hence consider the immense reward and noble recompense promised in his saying—God bless him and grant him peace: “The best of all that is a word of truth before a tyrannical ruler.” The speaker of truth is seen to have credible speech, honored worth, and an exalted standing in their eyes. But the person who flatters them or agrees with their wishes, hoping for proximity and affection, is rejected, condemned, and despised by them; his knowledge becomes an object of ridicule and laughter, a toy in people's hands, cast aside with utter contempt and subjected to the utmost humiliation. There have been many such people in every age. The first succeeds and belongs to the people of felicity in both abodes; the second perishes and belongs to the people of misery in both conditions. He is included in his saying—God bless him and grant him peace—that he is “one of the three for whom the Fire will be stoked, and the first to enter it.” We ask God Most High for guidance, soundness, and the means of grace that bring success and felicity.

Another virtue is patience in teaching and cultivating those who come to them, spending their time training them, and exerting themselves to offer sincere counsel in benefiting them.

Another is benefiting people in what they need of legal opinions, resolving disputes, making truth manifest, repelling falsehood, standing against the oppressor, supporting the oppressed, and delivering to each litigant what he deserves from his opponent.

Another is that they are the safeguard of the inhabitants of the earth when the Hour arrives and draws near, for the disappearance of knowledge is one of its signs. The Prophet made clear that what is meant is not the disappearance of knowledge itself, but the taking away of its bearers, until people spur their camels across the land concerning a question and find no one to issue a legal opinion about it.

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Since the scholar and knowledge possess these virtues and conditions, whoever fulfills them as he ought belongs to the people of felicity, while whoever abandons what befits him and follows what is contrary to knowledge and its intended purpose belongs to the people of trial and misery. This has causes. First: he must intend through learning and exertion nothing but God Most High and what accords with His will.

Second: after acquiring knowledge, his only purpose must be to act, serve, establish what is soundly transmitted from the Prophet—God bless him and grant him peace—and reject whatever conflicts with his Sunnah, whatever it may be.

Third: he must neither act nor refrain from acting without a proof for the act or omission from the Qur'an and Sunnah, or a clear deduction from them. He must not give his opinion a role in establishing the Sharee'ah, nor burden people merely with what occurs to his mind when he has no proof by which he could be saved if asked on what he established that ruling and what he imposed upon God's servants.

Fourth: he must abandon all forms of partisanship. They are of several kinds, and our imaam-shaykh has examined them in *Aadaab al-Talab*. Whoever wishes to learn about them should consult it. The scholar has no license to legislate, and not everything he says is correct; error and correctness are both possible for him. How, then, can he be partisan toward the statement of a scholar or toward a statement that issued from him?

Fifth: he must not regard himself as having any right, and must not be seized by self-admiration or arrogance, for he is a locus of weakness, slips, and error. How many scholars resemble him, and how high a rank has he reached? When he looks at the people of every age, including his own, he will find among them those who do not reach his measure or possess his share of fortune and knowledge. Indeed, when he looks at one whom he considers lower than himself, he finds in that person benefits absent from him. No individual among creation reaches perfection: even if he reaches the furthest limit, someone above him has a higher rank and greater distinction. Moreover, if he reflects, he will know that such pride does not befit him: he shares essence and all other attributes with the human species, yet God Most High favored him and opened knowledge to him, even though he, the common person, and the ignorant person are alike in their humanity. Would this be a reason to claim a right for himself, boast, and become self-admiring? Should such a gift be answered in this way?

Sixth: he must protect knowledge from whatever stains it. Knowledge is a transparent, luminous jewel; the slightest impurity clouds it, and the easiest thing removes its luster. This is only because of its nobility. Hence it has been said: “The fault of the noble is remembered, while the fault of the ignorant is concealed.” The scholar becomes a source of ridicule and mockery to every observer and hearer. What, then, of one who knows that wine, fornication, usury, consuming people's wealth wrongfully, and bribery are prohibited, then commits one of them? Does his knowledge have any benefit? Does it bear fruit for him? Is it anything but a punishment, a burden, and a cause of his ruin, encouraging the idle not to desist from such acts and leading them to persist in corruption because they looked to him as a scholar? His burden and their burdens then fall upon him. What if he adds to his action permitting these things for them, or prohibiting them only through indulgence and conformity in opposing the Sharee'ah? This is worse than every calamity and greater than every trial, for God has led him astray despite his knowledge, and he was not content until he led others astray; thus he belongs to the people of misery.

Seventh: he must issue legal opinions only on the basis of firm knowledge. If he gives an opinion without such knowledge, the sin of the person to whom he gave it falls upon him, as does the sin of undertaking to give a legal opinion without knowledge. He is like a judge who judges correctly without knowing it, and is among the people of the Fire, as the Messenger—God bless him and grant him peace—ruled.

Eighth: he must not issue a legal opinion from his own self by his own opinion. This is prohibited to him, because he is an independent jurist, and an independent jurist is one who expends his utmost effort to obtain a probable view of a probable ruling. If he gives an opinion without deduction or knowledge of what this individual case belongs to,

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then he is speaking of God what He did not say.

Ninth: he must honor all scholars, despise none of them, and venerate them. If their statements agree with what is correct, they possess both the rank of knowledge and the rank of agreement. If he disagrees, then, if it is through ignorance and failure to expend effort, he has erred and bears the burden of error; if it is through confusion, he is mistaken but excused and rewarded, and he should point out the other person's error.

Tenth: he must devote himself, his effort, and his time to whoever wishes to learn from him. He must advise the student, impart the benefits and insights incumbent upon him if he is qualified to do so, and make clear what is true and correct and what must be followed or avoided. What benefit could knowledge and teaching have besides this? We were commanded to seek knowledge only so that we might benefit the one who seeks it. The scholar is like a witness because he knows, while the student is like one absent. The Messenger of God—God bless him and grant him peace—said: “Let the present convey it to the absent.” He also receives an immense reward and a noble station for teaching.

Eleventh: he must not conceal the truth but speak it openly, fear no reproach from any reproacher, and make it for God Most High, who supports and protects him. This is incumbent upon every scholar.

Twelfth: he must resemble the Messenger and the Companions in good character, noble disposition, gentleness as his emblem, and piety as his garment, never leaving him. He cannot be a scholar except through this, for knowledge is an honor that can be borne only by one who is honorable.

This is the condition of the scholar: he must undertake it and adorn himself with it. These matters are causes of felicity, and their opposites are causes of misery.

The student is required to observe the following matters:

First: sound intention in seeking knowledge. He must not intend thereby one of the worldly professions, such as becoming a teacher, issuing legal opinions, becoming a judge, disputing with scholars, seeking honor, or any other motive inconsistent with making the act for God Most High.

Second: he must turn toward it with the resolve to seek knowledge that leads to Paradise, causes felicity, and gains the pleasure of the Lord Most High.

Third: he must seek the Lord's door, asking Him to open for him beneficial knowledge, enable him to attain it, grant him the utmost earnestness and kindness in seeking it, and turn away from him the devils among humans and jinn.

Fourth: his object must be knowledge such that, after knowing it, he may truly be counted among the heirs of the prophets.

Fifth: he must investigate and perfect his acquisition and attainment of meanings, make this his greatest occupation and highest aim, and abandon everything else for its sake.

Sixth: if he needs to uncover the truth of a question, he must be satisfied only with what is supported by proof, if he has acquired the ability to do so; otherwise, he must ask senior scholars about what is soundly transmitted from the Messenger—God bless him and grant him peace.

Seventh: he must not be content with a little knowledge or satisfied with a small amount, until he reaches whatever lies within his ability and capacity.

Eighth: he must honor scholars, humble himself before them, venerate them, and grant them their full due without qualification. Once he becomes qualified to criticize, he should recognize the rank appropriate to each one of them.

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Ninth: he must venerate and honor his shaykhs and be to them as a servant. It has been said that the shaykh's right is like the father's, indeed greater, because the shaykh is the cause of life in this world and the next, whereas the father is only the cause of worldly life. Knowledge is life and ignorance is death. It has also been said in interpreting the verse {He brings the living out of the dead and brings the dead out of the living} that it means: He brings the scholar out of the ignorant and the ignorant out of the scholar.

Tenth: when he has approached his first benefit and come near to knowing the lowest rank, he must not form presumptions about himself or imagine that he has won the highest prize and reached the furthest limit. Knowledge requires consolidation and firm grounding; otherwise he has persuaded himself into ignorance without realizing it, and has become attached to feeble understanding. Even if he persists in gathering the sciences, 1 / 151, that belief remains in him. His knowledge will show no benefit, and his pursuit will bring him no return; rather, it will remain stripped of blessing and lose its luster. How many such people we have witnessed among those before us and in our own time, and how often the histories of scholars have recorded it.

Eleventh: his questioning and speech should be limited to four kinds:

Either because he does not understand the matter;

or because he has noticed an inconsistency in the author's wording, but not through rashness or fanciful conjecture;

or because he does not know the foundation of the discussion;

or because it has become apparent to him that something other than what the author's words indicate has first occurred to the shaykh's mind. These are the student's conditions. Both scholar and student have other conditions, but these are the most important, most necessary, and most urgent. When the scholar fulfills these conditions and the student fulfills his, they become a cause of felicity and success.

There are many extensive proofs for the excellence of knowledge and scholars, which I have omitted for the sake of brevity.

Know that scholars differ in rank and condition, even when the name of knowledge truly applies to them and they have secured these matters. Their difference lies in the strength of deduction and the soundness of the aptitude for independent reasoning. Independent reasoning is a capacity that arises in a scholar when he gathers these sciences, but it may not arise. Its acquisition depends upon gathering the sciences, yet gathering them does not necessarily produce it. It is like an instrument: a carpenter's instrument, for example. A person may know the method of carpentry, conceive it, and assemble its tools, yet be unable to perfect the craft completely. Similarly, a scholar may gather all the sciences and acquire the capacity that is the faculty of independent reasoning, yet be unable to operate through that faculty; or he may be able to use it in some matters but not to work completely. For this reason a group of the Companions—may God be pleased with them—knew everything expressed by the Arabic tongue and knew the Sunnah and the Book, yet could not do this, as with Aboo Hurayrah and his like. You see Ibn 'Abbaas, one of the younger Companions, become the ocean of the community, possessing the greatest reach and highest share. In every age the matter is likewise: these are gifts and allotments. A later scholar may discover proofs at which the earlier scholars were unable to arrive, and produce in his works what eminent predecessors could not produce. That is God's bounty, which He gives to whom He wills.

The causes of ruin are also many.

Among them is that he desires, through this knowledge, elevation and standing, so that people will look upon him in that light and say of him that he is a scholar, a master, or an outstanding expert who cannot be matched.

Among them is that he supports innovation, whether knowingly and persistently, out of arrogance, or after recognizing the truth but refusing to heed it;

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or he supports a position he had previously held against the truth, after the truth has become clear to him, or refuses to listen to the person who identifies the truth for him; or he assumes leadership and seeks to compel people to adopt his view. Even if his view is correct, the one who disagrees with him may possess a proof, and opposition to his statement should not lead to disciplining or punishing that person.

Among them is that he receives an opening after previously imitating one of the great authorities, yet continues to show partisanship for him after learning deliberately and obstinately that the truth is contrary to his view.

Among them is that he is occupied with knowledge but lacks the strongest capacity, then begins to branch out and attach imagined questions, completing the Sharee'ah and declaring things obligatory, permissible, or prohibited.

These matters, together with what has preceded in the course of discussing this subject in detail, are such that whoever seeks success and follows them will attain felicity; otherwise he will ruin himself and become one of the party of the Fire. We seek refuge in God from that.

The distinguished, learned shaykh 'Alee ibn Muhammad ibn 'Alee al-Shawkaanee—may God have mercy on him—has treated these matters at length in his book *al-Durar al-Faakhirah al-Shaamilah li-Sa'aadat al-Dunyaa wa-al-Aakhirah*. Whoever wishes to learn about them should consult it.

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Part: 1 ¦ page: 89

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