Kitāb al-ʿIlm / Chapter V
Engagement in crafts that organize and sustain one’s livelihood leads to slackening in such work and dulls the life of the senses. The teacher must act in accordance with his knowledge. That is, he must live what he knows. For knowledge in a person can only be recognized by those with insight. This is because knowledge is not a material possession that can be seen with the eye or held in the hand. Action, however, is among the observable movements, and thus is a state to which people attach value. Therefore, people should look not at a scholar’s knowledge, but at his actions. For this reason, a scholar who does not act upon his knowledge is of no benefit to himself or those around him. How ridiculous it is for a person to prohibit to the public an act which he himself commits. Because of this, it is as destructive as poison.
The public never takes such a person seriously, and even mocks one whose actions contradict his words. Those who hear such words always accuse those who utter them. In fact, those who hear a scholar say something that he himself does not practice will go on to do even worse than his actions. For, with their birdlike brains, they try to console themselves by saying, ‘If this matter were not sweet, would a scholar engage in it?’ The relationship between a guiding teacher and the student he guides is like that between a mold and clay, or between a tree and its shadow. Clay poured into a mold without a pattern will certainly not come out patterned. Nor can the shadow of a crooked tree ever be straight…
A poet has beautifully expressed this meaning: Do not forbid to others an act which you yourself commit! In doing so, there is no great disgrace for you! Allah the Exalted says: "Do you order righteousness to the people and forget yourselves while you recite the Scripture?" (al-Baqara 2:44). This is the wisdom behind the punishment of the scholar being many times greater than that of the ignorant. For when a scholar goes astray, a great mass of humanity may fall into misguidance by following him, deeming his words and actions correct and acting accordingly.
Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn
For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
"Whoever introduces an evil practice, the sin of that practice will be upon him, as well as the sins of those who act upon it."187
ʿAlī (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Two types of people have broken my back: the scholar who does not act upon his knowledge, and the ignorant who is absorbed in worship. For the ignorant deceives the people with his worship, while the scholar does so with his lack of worship."
What a beautiful saying!
187) This hadith was mentioned earlier.
SIXTH CHAPTER The Afflictions of Knowledge, and the Signs of Good and Bad Scholars At the beginning of our book, we mentioned the verses and hadiths concerning knowledge and scholars. There are terrifying threats regarding bad scholars. All these reports inform of the severe punishment that bad scholars will face on the Day of Resurrection and that they will suffer more than anyone else. Therefore, one of the duties incumbent upon Muslims is to learn well the signs that distinguish a bad scholar from a good one. By ‘worldly scholars’ I mean those who are immersed in worldly pleasures and who seek knowledge in order to attain worldly ranks. As the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said regarding bad scholars:
Azjuv <uı <aâ^ ^ ^Jt^* ^*^^ f^ tıl^ ^r^^ -L^ı ö^ On the Day of Resurrection, those who will be subjected to the most severe punishment are the scholars to whom Allah the Exalted did not grant benefit from their knowledge. .'^u uL û^ p □> ip S>^ One who does not act upon what he knows cannot be considered a scholar. İÖJıj <JâİI ^ p^j 5!^ J^ J^* ^ *^“ ^*^ töUJU ^ ^ :ûL*l^ ^^ 188) This hadith was mentioned earlier.) Ibn Ḥibbān, Rawḍat al-ʿUqalāʾ
Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn
Knowledge is of two kinds: a) Knowledge spoken by the tongue. This is considered a proof of Allah over His creation. b) Knowledge that is in the heart, and this is the knowledge that will benefit a person.190
In the end times, there will be ignorant worshippers and sinful scholars.191
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Do not boast against scholars, nor learn knowledge to argue with fools or to win the admiration of the people. For whoever does so is in the Fire.192
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Whoever withholds knowledge from those who deserve it, Allah will bridle him with a bridle of fire!
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I fear for you more than the Dajjāl from others. When the Companions (ṣaḥāba) asked, ‘Who are they?’, the Prophet replied, ‘Leaders (scholars) who lead people into misguidance.’193
190) Ḥākim al-Tirmidhī, al-Nawādir; Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr (with a sound chain from Ḥasan al-Baṣrī)
191) Ḥākim (with a weak chain from Anas)
192) Ibn Mājah (from Jābir)
193) Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal (from Abū Dharr)
Kitāb al-ʿIlm / Chapter VI
Whoever advances in knowledge but not in hudā (guidance), that person becomes increasingly distant from Allah. Jesus (ʿalayhi s-salām) said: ‘How long will you continue to guide those who have lost their way while you yourselves are in confusion?’ Many hadiths like these point to the great dangers of knowledge. Thus, scholars are candidates either for eternal happiness or eternal ruin. If a person does not find happiness through knowledge, he will inevitably encounter ruin. ʿUmar said: ‘Those I fear most for this ummah are the hypocritical scholars.’ When asked, ‘How can a scholar be a hypocrite?’, ʿUmar replied, ‘By being a scholar with his tongue, but ignorant in his heart and actions.’
Ḥasan al-Baṣrī said: ‘Do not be among the fools who learn the knowledge of scholars and the wisdom of sages, but act like the ignorant!’ Someone said to Abū Hurayra: ‘I want to learn knowledge, but I fear losing it.’ Abū Hurayra replied: ‘For mankind, there is no greater loss than not learning knowledge.’ When Ibrāhīm b. ʿUyaynah was asked, ‘Who are the most regretful among people?’, he said: ‘Those whose deeds are not appreciated in this world, and who have knowledge but no action in the Hereafter.’ Khalīl b. Aḥmad193 said: People are divided into four groups: 1. He knows and knows that he knows. This person is a scholar; follow him. 2. He knows, but does not know that he knows.
Such a person is asleep; wake him up.) Daylamī 195) Ḥāṭib, Iqtizāʾ al-ʿIlm wa-l-ʿAmal 196) He was from the Faraʾid district of Baṣra, a great authority in grammar and prosody. Born in H. year, died in H. (or 170-175).
Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn 3. He does not know, but knows that he does not know. Such a person is in need of guidance; guide him. 4. He does not know, and does not know that he does not know. Such a person is utterly ignorant; avoid him. Sufyān al-Thawrī said: ‘Knowledge calls to action; if it comes, so much the better, but if not, knowledge departs.’ Ibn Mubārak said: ‘A person remains a scholar as long as he seeks knowledge. But whoever claims to know everything is ignorant.’ Fudayl b. ʿIyāḍ197 said: I pity three types of people: a) A humiliated leader of a people; b) A rich man who has become poor; c) A scholar who has become a plaything of the world. Ḥasan al-Baṣrī said: ‘The punishment of scholars is the death of their qalb (heart).
The death of the qalb is to seek the world through deeds of the Hereafter.’ A poet said: I am amazed at those who give up guidance and purchase misguidance. But I am even more amazed at those who sell their religion for the world. And more than both, I am astonished at those who sacrifice their religion for someone else’s world. For this is the most astonishing of all. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ‘Such a severe punishment is given to the evil scholar that, due to its severity, all the inhabitants of Hell come to watch.’ By this, the Prophet refers to the lying scholar. Usāma b. Zayd narrates the following hadith from the Prophet: 197) His kunya was Abū ʿAlī.
His grandfather was Manṣūr b. Bishr al-Tamīmī al-Marwazī al-Makkī. He died in Mecca in the H. year and was buried in the cemetery known as Jannat al-Muʿallā. This hadith, though similar in meaning to the following hadith of Usāma, is not transmitted with this wording by the hadith scholars.
Kitāb al-ʿIlm / Chapter VI
On the Day of Resurrection, a (sinful) scholar will be brought and thrown into the Fire. The intensity of the Fire will cause his intestines to spill out, and he will turn around them like a donkey turns a millstone. All the inhabitants of Hell will gather to watch him. When asked, ‘What happened to you, what did you do to deserve such a severe punishment?’, he will reply: ‘I used to enjoin good upon everyone, but I did not do it myself. I used to forbid evil, but I committed it myself.’ Ibn Mubārak said: ‘The greatest sin of a scholar is to knowingly commit sin.’
For this reason, the scholar is subjected to great torment. Indeed, the hypocrites will be in the lowest depths of the Fire, and you will not find for them any helper. (al-Nisāʾ 4:145) The reason why the hypocrites deserve such severe punishment is that they knowingly turn to denial. For this reason, Allah the Exalted describes the Jews as worse than the Christians. Yet, except for those who say ‘Uzayr is the son of Allah,’ no Jew attributes a son to Allah, nor do they fall into such grave kufr (disbelief) as ‘Allah is one of three.’ But what subjects them to these great punishments is that they deny despite knowing. Allah the Exalted says: Those to whom We gave the Scripture recognize the Messenger as they recognize their own sons.
Yet a group among them knowingly conceals the truth. (al-Baqara 2:146) When there came to them a Book from Allah confirming what was with them—though before that they used to pray for victory over those who disbelieved—when there came to them that which they recognized, they disbelieved in it. (al-Baqara 2:89) (O Messenger!) Recite to them the news of the one to whom We gave Our signs, but he detached himself from them, so Satan pursued him, and he became of the deviators. (al-Aʿrāf 7:175) And Allah continues: His example is like that of a dog: if you chase him, he pants, or if you leave him, he [still] pants. (al-Aʿrāf 7:176) The sinful scholar is like this. For Allah gave His Book to Balʿam b. Bāʿūrāʾ, but because he indulged in lust, he was likened to a dog. Whether the sinful scholar is given wisdom or not, he pants with his tongue and plunges into desires.
Jesus (ʿalayhi s-salām) said: ‘The state of evil scholars is like that of a stone fallen into a channel, blocking the flow of water. The stone neither drinks the water itself nor allows it to reach the fields and gardens for their benefit. Again, the state of evil scholars is like the grass in a swamp: its exterior appears bright, but its inside is full of filth. Again, the state of evil scholars is like graves: their exterior is well-maintained, but inside they are filled with dead bones.’ These reports show that the punishment of a scholar who inclines toward the world will be more severe and his state more wretched on the Day of Resurrection than that of ignorant people. It is also understood that those who attain victory and are near to Allah’s mercy are only the scholars of the Hereafter.
These have many signs as well. They do not seek the world with their knowledge. For the lowest degree of a scholar is to know that the world is despicable, base, dark, and transient, while the Hereafter is everlasting, its blessings pure and eternal, and its dominion great. The scholar must also know that the world and the Hereafter are opposites, rivals to each other. If you please one, you anger the other. They are like the two pans of a scale: when one is heavy, the other is light.
Kitāb al-ʿIlm / Chapter VI
They are like east and west: when you approach one, you move away from the other. They are like a full and an empty cup: the more you pour from the full one, the more the empty one fills… A scholar who does not know the impurity and turbidity of the world, that its pleasures are mixed with pain, and that its delights pass away never to return, is a madman who has lost his reason. For experience and observation show a person that this is the nature of the world. Therefore, how can a person without reason be a scholar? One who does not know the greatness and permanence of the Hereafter is not only not a scholar, but is in fact a kāfir (disbeliever). Such a person’s iman (faith) has been taken from him. And one without iman—how can he be an Islamic scholar?
One who does not know that the world is opposed to the Hereafter and that it is impossible to hold both together does not know the religion brought by all the prophets. Such a person is as if he has denied the Qur’an from beginning to end. How then can such a person be counted among the scholars? One who knows Allah’s religion perfectly, yet does not prefer the Hereafter over the world despite all his knowledge, is a captive of Satan. His desires have led him to destruction. The evil within him has overpowered his will. How can such a person be counted among the scholars? In one of the stories narrated from Dāwūd, it is said, attributed to Allah: ‘The least of the punishments I inflict upon a scholar who prefers his desires over love for Me is to deprive him of the sweetness of intimate discourse with Me.
O Dāwūd! Do not ask Me about a scholar who is intoxicated with the world and who has been diverted from the path of love for you! For such people are bandits who block My servants from the path. O Dāwūd! When you see someone seeking Me, serve him! Whoever brings back a runaway to My court, I record him among the ʿārifūn (those with maʿrifa, experiential knowledge of God), and one whom I record among the ʿārifūn will never again be subjected to punishment.’ To express this secret and wisdom, Ḥasan al-Baṣrī said: ‘The punishment of the scholar is the death of his qalb. The qalb is only killed by seeking the world through deeds of the Hereafter.’
Iḥyāʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn To express the same wisdom, Yaḥyā b. Muʿādh said: ‘When knowledge and wisdom are sought for the world, the beauty of knowledge and wisdom fades away.’ Saʿīd b. al-Musayyab said: ‘When you see a scholar frequently entering and leaving the presence of rulers and princes, immediately realize that such a scholar is a thief.’ ʿUmar said: ‘If you see a scholar loving the world, be wary and cautious in religious matters you learn from him. For a person becomes absorbed in what he loves.’ Mālik b. Dīnār said: ‘According to what I have read in the books of previous prophets, Allah the Exalted says: “When a scholar loves the world, the least of the punishments I inflict upon him is to remove the taste of intimate discourse with Me from his qalb.”’
A righteous person once wrote to a friend: ‘You have been given knowledge. Do not darken the light of your knowledge with the darkness of sins, lest you be left in darkness on the Day (of Resurrection) when the light of the scholars’ knowledge allows them to move freely!’ Yaḥyā b. Muʿādh al-Rāzī used to say about scholars immersed in the world: ‘O people of knowledge! Your palaces rival those of Caesar… Your houses are like those of Chosroes… Your clothes are like those of the vizier Ḥusayn ibn Ṭāhir… Your shoes are no different from those of Sultan Jālūt. The utensils and other items in your homes are no less than those of Pharaoh… Your sins resemble those of the people of the Age of Ignorance… In short, your way is exactly that of Satan. So where is the sharia (sacred law) of Muhammad?’ A poet says: The shepherd protects his sheep from the wolf…
But what if the wolf itself becomes the shepherd? Another poet says: O scholars, who are like the salt of the land! I ask you: If the salt becomes corrupt, with what can it be restored? When an ʿārif (one with maʿrifa) was asked, ‘Can a person whose eyes’ light is sins know Allah?’, he replied: ‘I have no doubt that one who values the world more than the Hereafter cannot know Allah. Yet such a person is still better than one who has made sins the very light of his eyes.’ Do not suppose that every scholar who abandons wealth is a scholar of the Hereafter! For the desire for rank damages a person’s iman more than the desire for wealth. To explain this wisdom, Bishr b. Ḥārith al-Ḥāfī said: ‘The phrase “ḥaddathanā” (he told us) is one of the doors to the world. When a person says “ḥaddathanā,” know that he is implicitly saying, “Make way for me and give me leadership.” Bishr b. Ḥārith buried more than ten baskets of his books, saying: “My nafs (lower self) desires to speak.
If I could break this desire of my nafs, I would speak.” Bishr and some scholars of his caliber said: “When your nafs desires to speak, do not speak! Rather, remain silent! But when your nafs no longer desires to speak, then strive to speak! The ability to speak gives a person great pleasure. Being at the level of guiding others gives a person more pleasure than almost all worldly blessings… Therefore, one who speaks following the desire of his nafs is among those attached to the world. Sufyān al-Thawrī also indicated this meaning: ‘The tribulation that comes to a person from his speech is more severe than that which comes from his wealth and children.’ How can you not fear the tribulation that comes from speech, when Allah the Exalted says to the master of the messengers: If We had not made you stand firm, you would have inclined to them a little.
Then We would have made you taste double [punishment] in life and double after death. Then you would not find for yourself against Us a helper. (al-Isrāʾ 17:74-75) Sahl200 said: ‘All knowledge pertains to the world. The part of knowledge that pertains to the Hereafter is to act upon it. All action is like dust before a whirlwind, except for that which is done with ikhlas (sincerity).’ (He was a student of Dhū al-Nūn al-Miṣrī. He died in H. year.)