We Begin the name of Allah all praise and glory be to Allah and may his finest peace and blessings be upon his messenger Muhammad and his family and his companions and all those who adhere to his guidance we ask Allah to grant us and you a life upon a upon his guidance
And a death while closely adhering to his guidance and a reunion around him and I drink from his blessed hand sallallah alai wasam on the day of judgment the day of thirst Allah may Allah illuminate our minds and purify our hearts and better our character uh and strengthen our fraternity our
Brotherhood and Sisterhood Allah a so we welcome everyone back to our running series regarding the manners of the salaf the manners of the early Muslims in particular with regards to their interpersonal relations with regards to their uh dealings with one another and in our last session session we spoke
About how the Sala had such high esteem for the scholars how the Sala had very high regard for the bearers of sacred knowledge how they would celebrate the scholars uh as they should so inshallah this session will be somewhat complementary to that uh it will be the other side of that coin
Which is how they dealt with those on route to scholarship the the students of the Sacred Sciences but mostly on how they dealt with the scholars with regards to their humanness their imperfection their mistakes there uh even at times uh conflicts with one another a little bit of that inshallah
As well so first and foremost the author says that they honor the students of the Sacred sciences and they are very gentle and kind and hospitable to them and this was the instructions of our Noble Prophet sallam you know he begins with this narration this authentic narration where in AB a young
Studious companion of the Prophet later on in his life when he met the students uh and he became the teacher and he met the students that would come from every corner of the world to collect what he committed to memory of the prophetic tradition the prophet’s tradition sallallahu alaihi
Wasallam whenever he would see these students Enter he would say he would say welcome oh entrustment oh you who we’ve been entrusted about by the messenger of Allah Sall alaihi wasallam he told us that people when they come to you so that you may relate
To them what I left with you honor them greatly you know how last week or the week before we spoke about the scholars being our Lifeline back to the prophet Alat wasam now it is the reverse now these students also deserve a degree of honoring because they are our potential
Line of extending the prophetic Legacy to those after us and it was well known that Abu hanifah would give extended uh time with his students and honor them in a very special way and even spend on them from his own finances and when someone tells you that Abu would spend a
Lot of time with his students there’s a there’s a uh a subtlety here that Abu was known to be stingy with his time protective very keen on every moment of his time he valued time in a remarkable way to the point that some people Mis would misunderstand or maybe they wanted to
Misunderstand there’s this kind and that kind of people always and they would accuse him of being arrogant and prideful because he wouldn’t socialize much with people he wouldn’t sit with people that much why perhaps if if he did he wouldn’t have become Abu right I
Got into my study time and I have my sort of my devotional prayers in private time but when it came to his students they were the exception this was not in the way this was part of Paving the way for the future of sacred scholarship and before him even
Abdah and you know thei is founded in Al kufa and so much of its uh its colors were determined its identity was shaped around the of Al right particularly andd and anybody who are the scholars of Al kufa from the med right that’s your homework for
Next week but those two are fine because we were about to read for Abdullah even in their legal opinions of the Hani you will often find them traced back to one of those two sahab right those are the primary 2 why because they had settled in Alfa and the hanfi maab
Was founded in the in Al KFA and so himself uh he used to he one time he he walked out on his uh colleagues students really uh while they were studying rehearsing reviewing with each other among them was and and and others great to be of the of the
Generation after the sahaba and so he stood over them in admiration so pleased with how hard they were working and he said may my mother and my father be ransomed for the scholars this is an expression in the Arabic language that means you hear it a lot even the prophet
S wasallam said it about certain people it means oh I wish I could you know show you how much you mean to me I if I had to trade off my parents for you I would this is not meant literally but it is an expression of endearment so he would
Say may my mother and father be ransomed for the scholars it was in and around the spirit of God right the spirit of Allah that you uh got together and the Book of God you recited and the house of God you populated you got together for God
Reciting the book of God spending your hours long hours in the house of God and the mercy of God you awaited and so after that I must say may God himself love you uh and may those and may he love those who love you uh very beautiful Dua he made for them and
Muhamed narrates from that said that the famous and Sultan of the early Muslims would write to his governors make sure those who are preoccupied with the sacred Sciences get an automatic sponsorship from the state so they may be dedicated entirely to this Pursuit no distractions clear their way and it was said that
Abdah another great hanfi scholar he used to make on average he was a great Trader as well he was a great entrepreneur businessman he used to make about 50,000 every year and they say he never paid zaka in his life never pay charity in his life someone might jump to conclusion say
Like that’s horrible why he’s never paying zaka it’s because he would never hoard the money or sort of keep it he would always spend it in the path of Allah for the sake for charitable causes and in particular he would love and understand the value of sponsoring Scholars so there was six
Scholars in particular very famous names that many of you know uh hammad Sal and hammad Zade and sufyan and sufyan uh and is six names you hear them in all the time we’re always citing them for their great wisdom and the likes he says were
It not for these six I would never have done business meaning my intention when I go into business is to keep making money to keep sponsoring these great Scholars to free them up to serve this um and he says that my father reported to
Me that when he first went to alul is a famous city of scholarship inq mul in English uh in the year 459 he arrived at he finally reached the Gatherings of abui ABI was in his age called Islam he was called the number one Sheikh scholar
Elder of all of Islam uh he says the father of says and then when I got there he welcomed me very warmly and he said to me where are you from he’s inquiring making me feel at home showing his interest in me he said where are you from so I said me
I’m from mus I’m from Iraq uh so he said to me welcome we’re from the same place so I said yes like respected teacher you’re from F you’re not from Iraq complete different part of the world uh and so he said back to me weren’t we together in the ark of Noah
We came from the same place our ancestors were on the Ark of no the Ark of Noah he said so I realized that this was a man of exemplary this man had great he was looking for any way to make me feel at home as I Here I Am A Stranger in a
Strange Land he said on top of his Z his great disinterest an austere lifestyle uh and that’s why I stayed by his side and did not leave his Gatherings until he died I couldn’t separate from a man like this and says I once got together with the
Students of Hadith the students of the prophetic tradition uh in the presence of who’s a great Hadith scholar that bukari and others took from and he was most famously known as the uh one of the leading teachers and influences for IM shaf the great Im
So we came to him and others are saying and he was wearing uh a very clean crisp white thobe white shirt and so the ink pot that we’re using they’re writing not him keep that in mind it’s their ink pot pot the ink pot spills on his white
Thobe and so he fell silent for a minute and then he said black looks really nice on white hey this kind of looks good to try to make them feel better they’re of course like so embarrassed that you know we we cross the Earth to get to this man we
Get to sit in front of him we still we spill our ink Cup on his clothes white clothes of all clothes right uh andat Muslim uh he had a gathering in the Masjid of halab the Masjid of Aleppo in Syria and all of the uh students of the Islamic Sciences would sit there
Uh and among those that used to come at times that sit in his Gathering was a local uh seller from the market outside the Masjid so there was a guy he’s on the he’s on the cuff you know I get him sort of become you know like a scholar
Or I’m just going to do what my parents did right continue to sell in this little canteen or shop outside the Masjid and so whenever uh he would uh come to the gathering this great scholar he would say to the students senior students veteran students make room for this man you see
What he’s doing right he’s telling him you can also be a torch bearer of this religion he’s honoring him and saying make room for your brother and then once that he would come close he would sit him down and he would ask him how are the prices today you
Know how’s the merchandise has it arrived from out of town and just basically make small talk with him uh and then he would go back to teaching his classes that was just a little bit of how they would honor their students uh now let me speak about the issue of
How to deal with the mistakes of the scholars the slips of the scholars because at the end of the day we are talking about Scholars being an extension in a sense of prophethood we’ve said that over and over again the says the scholars are The Heirs of the
Prophets but in a certain sense sense also they are not now it’s time to speak about that other side that we have to differentiate between ourselves and the scholars because they are our conduit our channel to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and the proper understanding of Allah’s book but on the
Other hand we have to now differentiate not between us and the scholar but between all of us us and the scholars and between the prophet himself sallallah alai Ali wasallam so some people they are too idealistic and so as a result of that they dismiss the scholar and sort of disqualify their rank
Because they commit a mistake and they are too critical of the scholars and soak is great historian uh he has a it is actually a very well-known it should be more welln but a very well-known uh cautioning he gives regarding this pattern of being too critical of the
Scholars because just as one form of excess is to assume them infallible and they never make mistakes the other form is to Define them by their mistakes and demonize them because of their mistakes so he’s speaking about this other excess here and he says no my brother no meaning
Have knowledge be certain no my brother That it’s very poetic he says know that the Flesh of the scholars is poisonous what does he mean yeah you know backbiting is referred to as eating someone’s flesh right in our texts and so especially the Flesh of the scholar don’t you dare he’s saying know that the Flesh of The Scholar is
Poisonous and the pattern of Allah what Allah always does regarding the exposing of those who those who disparage them those who disrespect them is welln meaning it’s very well known historically what Allah always does he always it’s his pattern unchanging pattern of God to expose ose and humiliate those who disrespect them
And then it’s a longer passage about half a page but he says at the very end of it and whomever unleashes their tongue against the scholars negatively Allah the mighty and Majestic afflicts them before their own death with the death of their hearts which is worse right
Because if a person dies they may go to paradise they may go to the fire may Allah grant us the first and protect us from the second but if your heart dies what do you meet Allah with and then he narrated from Hussein who said that some of
Our fellow uh Scholars used to say that they mentioned uh in the presence of alass a man in a bad light he mentioned some other scholar and sort of just like uh made a derisive disrespectful comments about them and so Hassan heard them saying this and he said stop right there don’t do
That this is dangerous territory he’s telling him don’t make such mention of a scholar lest Allah dead in your heart you meet and then he continued to say and know that it is feared that those who enjoy backbiting the scholars are those most likely to find themselves facing SU
Means having a a bad end to your life ending your life in a way that would put you in very perilous standing with Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala may Allah protect us and you and he gives one example he says there is the very famous and and jurist
Great grand famous judge and jurist from the shaf whose name was Muhammad abdah Zu he was born in the year 710 after Hijra so about 700 years ago he said he wrote a commentary on the book at this uh scholarly work he wrote a commentary on it that Spann 24 volumes
Just to give you a feel of the caliber of this man and he taught everywhere he educated so many people and he was well known for his fwa prowess to give you know customized Rel religious edicts fwa fatwa and his students became so plenty in the lands of Yemen and his
Popularity uh circled the globe and then Jam says I saw him as he was dying his tongue was hanging outside of his mouth blackened and swollen his tongue was was blackened and swollen hanging outside of his mouth and people used to say that this the reason for this was because of
How much he used to condemn a so perhaps they were both sort of tier one shaf Scholars and some sort of Envy got between them at least one-sided envy and so he used to constantly uh wrong IM we constantly speak bad about him constantly try to trivialize him in people’s eyes and so
Perhaps this was the reason uh why he was afflicted in this way at his death and Allah of course knows best and IM he says a person must remain keenly committed to adab to proper etiquette and know their place when it comes to the previous imams the previous leading Scholars of This
Dean and to not pay any attention he says not pay any attention to their criticisms of each other why why not could be valid criticism right so why not pay attention to it because you have no way of confirming this is valid criticism it’s you know like imagine you
Know two uh world class boxers sort of going off at each other and you’re trying to break it up you’re trying to get in the middle you have no place in that ring yes you don’t even understand understand what’s happening so don’t put yourself under the impression that you understand
And then you go and take sides and then they are both forgiven by Allah for being sincere in their disagreement or whatever else and you’re the one who is the only loser in the equation this is of the major reasons why you should never do
That he said and if you do happen to discover it you come across it like you’re not looking for it but then it just forces itself your way if you are able to just interpret it in a uh in a positive light in a charitable way then do that
Otherwise say there’s probably an explanation I don’t know about just ignore it and keep it moving because you were not created to be the judge between Scholars so busy yourself with what benefits you and mind your own business essentially is what he’s saying I’m translating it in a 2024 paraphrase uh
And then he says and don’t you dare sit there and try to appraise what happened between Abu hanifah and sufyan there was a little bit of something there right he says or between Malik and there was some harsh words there right he says or between or between
Ahed and so on and so forth until this very day of age of out this they in age of ours because if you allow yourself into that space you will be the most likely to be destroyed of all of these names you’re going to be the one who is the casualty
Here he said in many a times uh these were due to Justified disagreements and sincere conclusions that they uh found themselves making intellectual honest objective conclusions that if they’re right get two rewards for right and if they’re wrong they still get a reward for trying he says and the statements of the
Scholars what they’re saying and the Lang the technical language you’re using much of it is not to be understood right it is understood by Specialists and Specialists that understand the language of that particular generation because the language itself evolves and so on and so forth so he’s trying to give you
Many many many reasons to get off your high horse and just duck don’t get involved in this he said so just your job is just to pray for them and pray that Allah be pleased with all of them and to keep silent regarding whatever may have occurred between them
In moments of anger in moments of misunderstanding in moments even of Envy uh the same way we are commanded to keep silent regarding the dispute that took place between may Allah be pleased with them and uh when he was you know imabi is like a a historic biographer he has his his work
Called the the biographies of the most noble the most noble Scholars so this is something like 38 volumes or 24 volumes I forget uh obviously I haven’t read it uh and he says in his biography that he makes of ahedd who’s another great chronicler and historian he says he’s he’s the author
Albani is the author of very well-known reference in Islamic history he says he says he’s an honest man he’s a reliable narrator when things come through him they are uh to be trusted even if some people criticized him without any evidence the people that criticize him didn’t provide any evidence and this is
He means probably a punishment from Allah because he once he used to speak about IA another great scholara based Bas on his bias there was a bias a little bit of a Prejudice between andani and you know the scholars of had they often used to say that the statements of peers when
There’s two people on the same level in the same era it is it’s to be folded away it should not be circulated because you know they say there’s a conflict of interest and even a scholar at times may fall a little weak to this conflict of interest you’re
Not from my sort of M you’re not from my uh my ideology right you’re and so you know when you like someone it is natural you could be the smartest person on earth the greatest scholar on earth when you like someone you just you have this leaning to defend
Them even when the evidence against them is strong right and when you don’t like someone you want to find something against them them and so you drop your filter right you kind of accept because you’re quick to accept here something that isn’t even well established that’s
Why they say when you hate someone a rumor about them is certainty and when you love someone a rumor about uh certainty about them is just the rumor right so even the scholars at times momentarily could have been sutible to this could have been susceptible to this
And of course they never the early Muslims the righteous predecessors were not in the business of looking for uh the mistakes of their Scholars or holding these mistakes against them imabi again he says in his uh biography of Muhammad a very early scholar he says if every time a scholar is going to
Make a mistake we’re going to hold it against them we’re going to Define them by their mistake especially when this is a mistake based onad scholarly discretion then we will not have even the likes ofi even the likes OFA and even Scholars bigger than them and you know the the recent
Uh scholar uh Saudi scholar uh Bak uh he has uh a book about the sanctity of the people of knowledge and he says there that if you come across some oversight for a scholar ask yourself are you happy about that like did it make you happy that you
Caught something right he’s saying and if you’re happy then are you happy because you found some way to distinguish yourself above this giant or are you happy genuinely just to correct for the world something and out of love for that scholar because you know when you when you step away objectively right honestly
If you’re qualified and you sort of correct something you are actually serving the legacy of the scholar himself he was in Pursuit Of Truth and so it’s out of your love for him that you may sort of identify an oversight in his work if we’re actually able to do that
And they defend the scholars when others are criticizing them there’s a few beautiful citations here very wonderful uh so he begins with the Hadith not even about a scholar there’s a Hadith about you know when the prophet marched with the to Mecca and the meccans came out and they said
You’re not coming in for umra what happened between that summary of a uh of a timeline is that outside of Mecca the camel of the Prophet Alat Al the name of this particular camel is alwa it stopped and it refused to move forward and so the sahabah started sort
Of like chastising this Al and saying so stubborn so nasty you know this is the messenger of Allah on you what’s wrong with you right they’re just like and so the prophet defended and he said is not being stubborn and this is not one of the character traits
Of rather what happened is that the one that held back the elephant has held her back who’s the one that held back the elephant Allah when the Abra came with the Army of Elephants decades prior to destroy the Kaa Allah did not allow the ele elephants to continue marching
Forward so right now Allah for some reason we’re about to find out is the one that is uh holding back this animal and so how do we look if we are the types of people that allow ourselves to brother can you turn off your phone it’s distracting whoever his phone that
Is oh maybe it’s in the back my apologies forgive me whoever is device that is please help them turn it off I’m sure it’s distracting others way more than it’s distracting me so if this is if this is the sort of the defense of the prophet sallallahu
Alaihi wasallam of a camel because this is the track record of the camel so what do we say now about a scholar whose track record is serving the umah right traveling the world spending time away from family you know getting you know misunderstood left and right spending
Out of his own pocket uh losing sleep over it you know like people even think traveling nowadays is like traveling a long time ago traveling a long time ago is a complete different monster right like you know we got on a golden PL we have like
Has this one line where he says you know one time uh I was sort of on a trip and I woke up and I found a scorpion sort of plunging its venom into me and then I was like how could this happen and I remembered that I went to
Sleep that night I guess he was really tired or something and he didn’t get to say his he didn’t say you know in the name of Allah does doesn’t allow any harm to to uh to touch something alongside his name or any harm to take place alongside his name this is
Like you know the travel of the past Muhammed he uh the great student of Abu hanifah one of his two greatest students there was and there was muham may Allah bestow Mercy on them it’s he used to like stay up long nights till he couldn’t keep his eyes up and he
Used to keep a bucket next to him every time he’d fall asleep he’d grab the bucket and so like throw water on his face he’s continuing to work through his his his his research on you know what if this issue happens hypotheticals then the ruling would be that what if this
Happens the ruling would be that okay this Hadith but like what about that narrator but so and so said about him different than what he said he’s working through right research and he keeps throwing freezing water on his face and people are telling him you’re crazy like
What are you doing like get some rest you’re killing yourself he says how can I the Muslims say that if if sort of we get stuck on an issue Muhammad Hassan is going to help us they’re depending on me so how can I let them down right
Or IM when he says you know when I first finally got my big break he left Noah and he was relocated to the the stronghold of the scholars Damascus of Syria he said I spent two years uh not laying my side on the ground every time so sleep would
Overtake him he’d lean over on a pile of books then he would come to again right uh and himself is the one that uh testifies that he entered his his room his quarters and he found him this way uh you know IM they say about him it’ll be the last
Quick example I give but the IM they said that he would sit after F and teach all of his classes and he was like a polymyth he was a man that was a master of like every science that was uh pursued by the scholars and so like the
Hadith Scholars would come and he would sort of teach them what he had for the day then they would leave and the garans would come and he teach them the Arabic grammar as it was before sort of the cross contamination that happens between societies and then they would leave and then the people
Of like legal Theory would come and he would teach them the narration says until the sun is high in the sky so imagine like f he’s going to 10 11: a.m. he said and then he would get on his riding animal to get to wherever he
Needs to be and by that time his shoe had filled like a cup with blood like he wasn’t just sitting on a couch or sort of no he he actually had a hemorrhoidal condition right and so he was bleeding out as he was teaching and there are similar stories about IM Malik
Orar muham the sort of the The Scribe uh who IM bukari would dictate to he says bukari every time he would think of something like a light bul moment he would wake up you know not wake up and like turn on your phone no put it in
Your notes no no you have to of go make sparks to turn on your Lantern he would wake up turn on his Lantern write that down so he doesn’t forget it go make wo again and go back to sleep so you sleep upon W because that’s the Sunnah muham
Says IMI used to do that like 20 times a night like I got I got to capture this I got to capture that and so if this is their uh their Norm right this is their this is uh how they operate imagine someone find something to
Detract from them and then they use it the prophet would not let them do that with the camel the is usually not stubborn I will not let you call her stubborn how about the great of our Dean whose mistakes or whose oversights uh drown in the ocean of the knowledge
They taught the world and the in their ocean of virtue and then also in the sight of Allah now you become the reason for the world being discouraged or doubtful about taking from this great scholar and one of the ancient words of wisdom they include here uh is that they say
If only we could have been of those that were as right as they were if only we could be right as many times as they were right that’s one he says and two if only we were able to actually discern when they were wrong like you’ll never
Be right as much as them and the times you say they’re wrong you actually don’t say that because you know it you say that cuz you think it and you know when you say this because you think you’re assuming that means even if you’re correct in identifying a Scholar’s
Mistake you’re still incorrect because you don’t have proof and reason enough to know you are right does that make sense and so now let’s pick think of the big picture this scholar says something wrong okay he already got the reward for trying his best and we got the sin for
Detracting from this Scholar’s dignity by highlighting this mistake of theirs right and for something Allah will reward them for right and for keeping people away from them right and then this scholar may show up on the day of judgment not just with the reward of trying his best but
The reward of all of this that you’ve done against him and then later on the scholar may have corrected himself which means he’ll get that reward as well and you’ll get none of it and I read to you prior the statement ofd who said whever belittles the scholars jeopardizes their Hereafter and
Whomever belittle s the rulers jeopardizes their worldly life meaning they’ll execute you and whomever underestimates looks down upon their brothers they uh do away with their own self-respect or their manliness and Ja used to say we’re closing out here inshallah here ja said I heard Malik may Allah have mercy on him
Say it’s enough evil that has gathered within a person that they are not righteous and they attack those who are righteous and then finally he says this uh this is at like a half page here just to finish our discussion on on scholarship Al together he says and if they’re going to correct
Them they make their intentions clear to the people as to why they’re doing that so people don’t misunderstand they don’t think this is a personal attack said it was said to are you not afraid that these people whom you said are not worthy of accepting their Hadith worthy as transmitters of Hadith
Narrators in the chain will dispute with you in front of Allah and so he said that is more beloved to me than the messenger of Allah being my opponent and saying why are you narrating about me something that you believe to be incorrect meaning the only reason I
Would put myself on opposite sides disagree with the scholar is that I don’t want to be in disagreement with who with the messenger of Allah sallallah alaihi Al wasallam and some of the Sufi Scholars said to Mubarak after he had criticized they said to him are you backbiting this you know
Our and he said be silent if you don’t clarify things for people how will they ever know what’s correct from what’s Incorrect and a shaf is saying that a shaf used to say this is not backbiting you know it is reported that U I’m drawing a blank not the lifelong friendi scholar Ahmed
He used to say there is nothing more difficult on me than criticizing people I mean he means as narrators like qualified not qualified it’s not a personal attack he’s saying there’s nothing I hate more than having to criticize someone that could have already taken his seat in Jenna like
This person could already be in Jenna and I’m down here saying don’t take from him like nothing hard harder on me he’s saying but this is an am this is not about righteous or not righteous this is about how accurate you know how strong the memory how precise that sort of
Thing when it comes to the of the Prophet Alat oh yes I promise you this is the last one last AI uh said from that I mentioned to Y uh from something about theith regarding the end times and and so he said to me y said to Me he says these narrations don’t add up these resemble the narrations of this other guy meaning throw them out and so they said to YB was very close to just to give you a feel they said to like just throw all out like dismiss the guy altoe you’re not afraid this is
Backbiting the scholars so he said to me you fool why would you think that why would you say something like this this is so wonderful I’m doing a greater service to these people than their own mothers and fathers remember we said moms and dads take care of you in this
World I’m I’m protecting him my is I’m protecting him from being a transmitter of something not to be attributed to the prophet s wasallam he’s saying I am better for the for them than their mothers and fathers I’m doing a better service for them than their moms and
Dads I am preventing the people from acting upon these things that have no basis in their religion that would cause these people to carry those sins I’m doing him a favor and the people that told them to casually transmit these things are the ones that hurt them not me I’m helping
Them not hurting them so these were their intentions and it’s one thing to claim it but it’s another thing to actually do it correctly and sincerely so when we speak of our Scholars we speak with reverence we speak with love it will be critical if we’re qualified
To criticize but it will never be without love loving lead and critically for those that are equipped with the instruments to engage in this intellectual discourse objectively and Sincerely
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