Part 1: Importance of The Scholars
This post is dedicated to those who preserve our religion, and there is only one class in society that does so. And they are the muhaddithun, the fuquha, the mutakallimun, the mufassirun and the nahwiyyun. They are the scholars of Islam, whatever their knowledge of expertise may be. They are the living chain that brings us back to the religion our Prophet, peace be upon him, taught. They carry the responsibility of transmitting al-Islam, protecting it; a source of guidance and refuter of doubts for the masses. When they die, part of our religion dies with them.
'Abdullah b. 'Amr b. al-'As reported:
The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said, "Verily, Allah does not take away knowledge by snatching it from the people but He takes away knowledge by taking away the scholars, so that when He leaves no learned person, people turn to the ignorant as their leaders; then they are asked to deliver religious verdicts and they deliver them without knowledge, they go astray, and lead others astray."
Sahih Muslim 2673a
We live in a time of knowledge, but unfortunately also of ignorance and pride. There are those who wish to discredit our scholars - in one way or another, accusing them of corrupting the religion from its true meaning. Our scholars' works are not important they say, we only need to refer to the Qur'an ourselves. Yet they merely deceived by their own selves. Every attempt at interpreting the Qur'an and hadith are human attempts, prone to mistakes, and not infallible. Yes, this is true for even the scholars. But it is even true for themselves! So who's opinion will be more valid: a scholar's or a layman's!?
Some use the following verse to support the claim that scholars and other intermediaries (of knowledge) are not needed:
"... for We have sent the Scripture down to you explaining everything, and as guidance and mercy and good news to those who devote themselves to God."
Translation of the Quran, Surah An-Nahl : Ayah 89
and
"These are the verses of the Clear Book."
Translation of the Quran, Surah Ash-Shu'ara : Ayah 2
But even from these verses it is clear that the Qur'an does not literally explain "everything", nor is the Qur'an clear in all verses. And the following verse is plain refutation of that:
"It is He who has sent down to you, [O Muḥammad], the Book; in it are verses [that are] clear- they are the foundation of the Book - and others ambiguous. As for those in whose hearts is deviation [from truth], they will follow that of it which is ambiguous, seeking discord and seeking an interpretation [suitable to them]. And no one knows its [true] interpretation except Allāh. But those firm in knowledge say, "We believe in it. All [of it] is from our Lord." And no one will be remided except those of understanding."
Translation of the Quran, Surah Ali 'Imran : Ayah 7
Therefore, to claim one is able to directly interpret the Qur'an without any help is disingenuity on one's part as the verses above has already shown that some knowledge is required for proper interpretation. What is referred to when the Qur'an says it explains "everything"? What are the "clear" and "ambiguous" verses? To use the Qur'an (or hadith) as a medium for reflection (tadabbur), symbolism, guidance, healing, beauty etc. is one thing. In fact they are all encouraged upon every person. But it is another to use it to step into the formal sciences such as fiqh and aqidah. Such things must be dealt with rigour and meticulousness. Before one can come to come to a formal conclusion that is a part of Islam, one must be aware of all knowledge that is related to it. And those who have studied are, the scholars!
Here even Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, is commanded to refer to people of knowledge (ie. scholars) of the earlier scriptures.
"... So ask the people of the Reminder [earlier Scriptures] if you do not know."
Translation of the Quran, Surah An-Nahl : Ayah 43
And in the following verse, Allah has commanded him to teach us regarding the scripture he was sent (ie. the Qur'an).
"[We sent them] with clear proofs and divine Books. And We revealed to you the Reminder [i.e., the Qur’ān] that you may make clear to the people what was sent down to them and that they might reflect."
Translation of the Quran, Surah An-Nahl : Ayah 44
Therefore if even our prophet was commanded to seek knowledge from scholars (who were not even prophet themselves), and Allah has told us that He sent Prophet Muhammad to teach us, how is it possible to reject learning from our scholars, who are the inheritors of the Prophet?
"... Indeed, the scholars are the heirs of the Prophets ..."
Jami' at-Tirmidhi 2682
So just as the Qur'an does not teach you to fix a car, we need to refer to those who are knowledgeable in such fields. And to start one's journey in studying Islam, is to be a Student of Knowledge, ie. on the path to be a scholar. But as you know, to be questioned and peer reviewed by other scholars is part of the tradition. That is why for all of Islam's history out of the hundreds of thousands of scholars only a few have been remembered, and that is because of their comprehensiveness in interpreting the religion. Do you see now their importance and why they are to be respected? And here the layman, who barely memorised a small portion of the Qur'an, has no grasp of Arabic, drowning in sin and desires, trying to dismiss them?
Part 2: The Hadith-Rejectors
One of the most deviant groups of today are those who completely reject all hadith. They call themselves the "Quranists", "Quraniyoon" or "Quran-only" (positive terms), but it is more befitting for them to be called "hadith-rejectors" (a negative term). If one were to unfairly reject a few hadith you could say he is just following his desires (not accepting hadith that he dislikes), but there are many now who reject all hadith. They have complete mistrust of the hadith preservation process and the scholars who preserve them. But a simple study into the lives and works of the muhaddithin will easily show that such a statement can only be born of ignorance. Their high level of meticulousness can only be attributed to being sincere in the religion and in conveying Prophet Muhammad's (peace be upon him) words and actions. There exists nothing like it when in to documenting and verifying history.
Yes, hadith science is not foolproof and hadiths are not 100% reliable. And as Muslims we accept that. Well, if one were to consider himself a skeptic, then nothing on Earth is ever a "100%". But it will be insensible and lazy to say that hadiths in it's entirety should be rejected. In fact, to accept hadith is part of our religion.
They quote the following verse (and those like it) as proof that the Qur'an is perfectly preserved:
"Indeed it is We who sent down the reminder [ie. the Qur'an], and indeed, We will be its guardian."
Translation of the Quran, Surah Al-Hijr : Ayah 9
But the biggest refutation of this ideology is that the Qur'an was also preserved by people. The only difference is that one (the Qur'an) was codified earlier. If one were to doubt hadith science in its entirety for the virtue of it being a human endeavour, then they should also doubt the Qur'an in its entirety (including the verse mentioned) because its preservation was a human endeavour as well!
On top of that, who would translate and make tafsir of the Qur'an if not the scholars? For example this simple verse contains the word الذِّكۡرَ (the reminder), and if not for the scholars, who would correctly mean that this refers to the Qur'an? And for لَهٗ لَحٰـفِظُوۡنَ (its guardian), who would correctly mean that this refers that the Qur'an will be preserved by Allah? And if such can be said for a simple verse, what more for verses that are "heavier" or more complex? If not for the scholars the Qur'an will be misinterpreted left right and center by the layman, following his whims and desires.
As for those who reject hadith based on their desires, then they should know that it can backfire as well. As time goes on only truth prevails. And what if the truth resides in the hadith that they rejected? Islam has existed for more than 1400 years. And even now, we are finding beauty and reason in certain hadiths. At the same time, it is also up to use to defend or reason out the hadiths which may seem problematic for our current society. But feeling comfortable because a hadith doesn't align with our limited, temporal worldview does not qualify for it to be false or fabricated.
Rejecting something without truly understanding it is just foolishness.
Part 3: A Matter of Misunderstanding
A scholar's role is to merely interpret Islam for the benefit of the masses. And although they may differ, they all aim to do this by trying to stay true to the Qur'an and sunnah: the religion that was brought to us by Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.
True scholars never claim to be absolutely correct, especially in matters of dispute. And it has never been the desire of any true scholar for anyone to be a muqallid (blind follower) to them - rather their only desire is to convey the religion to the masses to the best of their abilities. All four imams of the great schools of fiqh has said something to the effect that discourage others from taking from them blindly without any evaluation or if it contradicts the source (ie. the Qur'an and sunnah). While it is recommended for the layman to follow a madhab, this just shows that great scholars do not wish to even come close to competing with God for authority over His religion (God-forbid), but are instead, humble in the opinions of themselves... and sometimes their humility is far greater than that of those who barely has a tenth of their knowledge.
When a scholar's opinion is quoted (by ustadh, du'at etc.), it is not to merely give precedence of a person's opinion over Islam. Rather, it is only logical that an opinion from a knowledgeable source should be used rather than one that is not. Matters of the religion should not be taken lightly as we will all be held accountable for what our hands have done, our tongues have uttered and our hearts have believed in. And Allah knows best.
The preserve our religion, so may Allah preserve them.
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