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It is not easy for the rulers to commit to the superiority of the example and to accuse the enemies. Alas, the destruction of the science of religion occurred because the corrupt scholars concealed the truth. Our only helper is Allah the Almighty. For protection from this deception, which causes the compassionate to weep and the ignorant to laugh, we take refuge in Him.
The outward scholars, the possessors of vera‘ [those who abstain from haram], acknowledge the superiority of the inner scholars and the possessors of insight.
Imam Safi (RA) would kneel before Shaybān al-Rā’i like a child going to school and would ask him about the matters he was to perform. When asked, «Would a person like you seek knowledge from a Bedouin like this man?», he would reply, «This man knows what we do not know.»
Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Yahya ibn Ma’in would go to Ma’raf al-Kerhi and ask him questions. How could they not ask him? When our beloved Prophet (peace be upon him) was asked, «What should we do if we encounter an event not found in the Quran or Sunnah?», he said:
«Ask it from righteous people and refer it to them for consultation.»
Because of this, it was said: Those who are scholars in exoteric knowledge are the adornment of the world and the earth, while those who are scholars in esoteric knowledge are the adornment of the heavens and the unseen world [the angels]. Cüneyd al-Bağdādī said: «When I separated from my teacher, Seriyy al-Sakati, he asked me who I was sitting with. I said, «I sit with Al-Muhasibi.» Seriyy said, «Then sit with him, take his etiquette and knowledge, but do not pay attention to his words about the issue of speech, and refer him to the theologians.» Then, when I turned away, I heard him say, «May Allah make you an expert in hadith (and other sciences) first, and then a Sufi, not a Sufi first and then an expert.» With this statement, he indicated that those who engage in Sufism after studying the science of hadith will find salvation, while those who enter Sufism without knowledge will be destroyed.
Eker, in the classification of knowledge, if you ask why he did not explain the philosophical and the accepted or rejected views in this field: Know that the beneficial proofs that the science of theology has adopted are found in the Quran and hadith. Those outside of these are either the baseless fabrications, which, as will be explained later, are innovations, or they are the musgaqabah, the words that spread between the schools, the transmitted statements, and the loud noises. Most of these are the things that the heart dislikes,
Taberani from Ibn Abbas.
on
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and the things the ears do not want to hear. Another part of them is «things unrelated to religion.» Indeed, none of these existed in the time of the Companions and the Successors. Engaging with these is entirely an innovation. Not now has the ruling changed. Because the innovations that have deviated from the rulings derived from the Quran and hadith have increased. Groups that write such works and raise doubts have emerged. Therefore, it is necessary to avoid these, and a permission was given with an essential ruling.
Even if they do not exceed the limits, those who try to confuse people