Who is the scholar?

 

This is a vastly important matter, so we give those rights to the proper group and not give them to others undeservingly or falsely equate vastly different groups of people. First, it helps greatly to know and understand what students of knowledge study in the academic sense. Without knowing that, one can be taken around in circles, and they might magnify small matters or belittle larger ones. I’ve sometimes seen people being called a “scholar” after merely authoring some pamphlets addressing non-Muslims. Other times, unfortunately, I’ve seen that title denied those who deserve it, for no reason other than that they were from or living in the West.

There are many others who develop ambiguous definitions of the scholar, making it harder to pin down.^[1]See http://www.alukah.net/sharia/1087/49247/ and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOHSMDFV_rM and http://fatwa.islamweb.net/fatwa/index.php?page=showfatwa&Option=FatwaId&lang=A&Id=19384.

 

What do students of knowledge learn on the road to scholarship?

 

Here we’ll get a better idea of what it is they do for so many years, and whether or not it’s a path we might consider taking a few steps in ourselves—as a pit-stop or side adventure in life—or for our children.

If someone from America gets accepted to the University of Medinah or Riyadh or packs their bags to go to al-Azhar or Jaamiyat Umm Darmaan in Sudan, or even sits in a more traditional circle in Mauritania or elsewhere, what should we expect they’ll be learning?

Most of the scholars of Islam divide fields of Islamic study into two major categories. I strongly believe it’s more complicated than that and I’ve found scholars who agree, but to keep things simple, most say there is “goal-oriented” knowledge, and “knowledge tools” called [علوم الآلة]. Although, one shouldn’t assume that because one is a tool, it should necessarily be studied first. After all, even in construction, you learn about the materials (steel, wood, concrete, plastic,…) in order to know whether it will work best with glue, nails, welding, screws, etc.

Uloom al-Aalah / al-Wasaa’il

Arabic, specifically, nahw (grammar—primarily focused on how the signs at the end of the words as well as their order affect the meaning), sarf (word morphology—how a single root, like kha-ra-ja can give way to other derivatives that all modify the original root meaning), balaaghah (rhetoric, styles of speech and eloquence), and fiqh al-lughah (some theory and understanding behind the language, which is a lot of what ibn Jinni wrote about in al-Khasaa’is) and of course general vocabularly. There are other fields of Arabic study, like adab (literature), poetry pattern (علم العروض والقوافي), although less important, behooves a student to learn about them.^[2]Ignorance of this could lead a student to think “وذكر بيتاً من بحر الطويل” means “he mentioned a house in the tall sea.” No. Just no.

Sciences of Hadeeth, specifically, classification terminology of the hadeeth grades, the strengths of narrators, and the types of chains; and then how to look up narrators, determine their strength in the chain of narrators before you, and then to compare that with all the similar chains and narrations of the matn—this is the science of takhrīj, the goal of the hadeeth sciences. This kind of field is one that, generally speaking, if a person becomes great in it, there will be little opportunity for them to excel in other fields of Islamic studies, just because of how demanding the research is to grade a hadeeth. Although it has become easier thanks to numerous software programs that scholars have helped create, none of those programs are foolproof. All in all, there are probably close to 25,000 unique statements or actions of the Prophet ﷺ that have been narrated, and each one has dozens of chains of narration that need to be compiled and compared one by one to scrutinize any discrepancies—totaling to at least a million different chains and texts. Of the 30k unique narrations, it may be around 20k are at least hasan.

Usool al-Fiqh, understanding exactly how a fiqh ruling is derived from the Quran and Sunnah, which I’ve explained elsewhere.

‘Uloom al-Qur’aan, the sciences of the Quran, like the history of the mushaf, how to properly give tafseer of the Quran, understanding the 7 ahruf, the 10 prophetic modes of recitation, and of course, tajweed—proper recitation of the Quran.

Lastly, many will add mantiq, Aristotelian logic, to the list, since it strongly shaped the development of grammar and Usool al-fiqh, but, as Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah said in his refutation of the logicians, the smart person doesn’t need it, and the idiot won’t benefit by it. [لا يحتاج إليه الذكي ولا ينتفع به البليد]

As for those sciences, called “knowledge tools” I heard a shaykh in Mecca, Ahmad ibn Umar al-Haazimee, who is one of the few experts in them that teaches them rigorously, say that a good hardworking full-time student of knowledge could master them in seven years. Although, to be a muhaqqiq in some of those fields [like a veritable scholar in the western sense of the word, contributing to these fields and not simply following what we read or heard], like the modes of Quranic recitation, and the hadeeth grading, is truly a lifelong endeavor, which is why there exist so few on earth today.

What most scholars possess is a level of “working knowledge” of these fields that is referential so they know how to research an issue through those fields, just as one of us looks up words in a dictionary or has a working knowledge of how to read and write but has not memorized the dictionary!

 

‘ilm al-ghaaya (علوم الغاية) the knowledge goals

So then we come to what those knowledge tools are actually used on: the Quran and Sunnah, called “علم الغاية” or the true subject that the knowledge tools are applied to. This is tafseer and hadeeth authentication and commentary. We could also add fiqh and ‘aqeedah, i.e. how to believe and work righteousness, since that’s the real goal of this life and the criterion for paradise. And we could toss in history as well and the science of da’wah to the knowledge goals.

Rather, studying all these fields properly is tricky, and it should be done all together, gradually. One traditionally studies basic texts of each field, and then studies a more detailed one afterward, and so on. A student of knowledge not only studies these things—some of it in more detail than others, depending on their program, the time allotted, and their personal preference—but even knowing how to study, how much of it and at what pace is an art in of itself over which many books have been written—how to seek knowledge properly.

Considering all this, and considering that it’s the goal of any serious student of knowledge to become a scholar, it’s no wonder that seeking Islamic knowledge is a long and daunting road. Many people give up. Many others spent years along the path but because the methodology they were pursuing yielded no results, they started back at the basics with a personal mentor or “shaykh”. Many others, because a LOT of these curriculums and programs do not include ANYTHING for tazkiyatun-nafs, they feel their iman decrease, and their hearts harden, and they fall into sins they never would have imagined doing before seeking knowledge. And this is a huge trial that befalls some students of knowledge that forgot to give proper attention to their hearts.

Even though we look at āyāt and aḥādīth all day long, but because it’s not for our own sake, but instead, to search for a mas’alah, or the like, the benefit doesn’t reach the heart. It is as Imam Maalik used to say, that he used to sit with his shaykh Rabee’ah, who was purely academic, but then when he felt his heart less soft, he would sit with his other shaykh, although less intellectually stimulating, ibn Hurmuz. Thus, a student of knowledge has to keep constant balance and watch over what he learns and at what pace and, like imam Maalik, watch out for his own self, and not be tied to any specific shaykh or curriculum, but while gaining analytical knowledge, take time out to receive that knowledge from someone with the style of a murabbī (a cultivator of goodness) or find a way to constantly keep their imam strong, or else it will decrease. After all, Iblees doesn’t waste his time with drug addicts or other people who have become devils themselves, but rather, Iblees’ goal is to mislead scholars of Islam and students of knowledge, because behind the misguidance of a scholar is the misguidance of everyone who loves him and thinks he’s right, and ultimately splitting the Ummah into further division.

Islamic scholarship is no joke. It’s not sitting around the campfire and telling stories—if it were only that simple. As Khaleel ibn Ahmad al-Faraaheedi once said: if I wished, I could have explained everything down to the smallest detail, but I did not—so that there be left a gap between the scholar and the layman.

 

A note about Scriptural definitions of knowledge[able]

 

Like a lot of words, the Quran and Sunnah have more than one specified definition. For example, in one aayah, the ‘ulamaa’, plural of ‘aleem, or having superior knowledge, is defined as fear of Allah…

{ إِنَّمَا يَخْشَى اللَّـهَ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ الْعُلَمَاءُ } ﴿٢٨﴾ سورة فاطر

The only ones fearing Allah of His salves are the scholars

Likewise, another ayah defines its opposite, ignorance, as disobedience to Allah…

{ثُمَّ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ لِلَّذِينَ عَمِلُوا السُّوءَ بِجَهَالَةٍ ثُمَّ تَابُوا مِن بَعْدِ ذَٰلِكَ وَأَصْلَحُوا إِنَّ رَبَّكَ مِن بَعْدِهَا لَغَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ} ﴿١١٩﴾ سورة النحل

Then, your Lord is to those who do bad in ignorance and then repent afterwards and are upright, your Lord is to them, afterwards, Forgiving and Merciful.

And as some of the salaf used to say: everyone who disobeys Allah is ignorant or is an ignoramus, stupid. So one criterion for scholarship is fear and obedience of Allah ﷻ. Although there are some individuals who have great fear of Allah in spite of having only studied Islam a little bit, they would not be references for understanding halaal and haraam, worship, ‘aqeedah, and explaining the Book and Sunnah. Thus, to define an ‘aalim in the academic sense, or who would qualify as being “ahl-dhikr” or those people whom we can take our questions to, then we come up with different criteria, based on what we heard earlier of the sciences of Islamic studies.

Namely, having an intermediate to advanced understanding of tools of knowledge. In addition, memorizing most of the Qur’an, reviewing it frequently and being aware of its contents; and most of the Sunnah, not all of it, but at least a sizeable portion, especially revolving around fiqh and ahkaam. Then, at the very least, being at the lower levels of ijtihaad, being able to weigh between different opinions in fiqh, and even contribute new evidences for those opinions. Also, having a firm grounding in ‘aqeedah, and experience in tafseer and the explanation of the Sunnah. Being a competent and experienced researcher. This process, to become a scholar of Islam, could take as few as ten years if someone works non-stop at it, or perhaps less if they begin and have already memorized the Quran and much of the Sunnah or have an advanced understanding of grammar. But less rigorous or requiring slightly less time would be reaching the scholarly level within a limited field or branch of Islamic studies, such as ‘aqeedah, or fiqh of hajj, for example, but even in those fields, I would be shy to call anyone a “scholar” if they hadn’t studied at least seven good years equivalent in all the respective fields of Islamic studies.

In addition to that, in order to differentiate between a scholar who is insha’Allah, following tradition from merely anyone who simply knows a lot, like even a Jewish professor of Islamic law—but so you know that the shaykh fears Allah and is being guided by Allah, and does believe in the Prophethood of Muhammad ﷺ–is consistently praying the night prayer, waking up long before fajr to do so, as well as enjoining the good and forbidding the evil. These and other aspects, such as great fear of Allah and zuhd (asceticism) are descriptions of a sincere scholar that fulfill every definition of ‘aalim. But even if they have reasons not to go the extra mile in worship and zuhd, being a Muslim believer is a necessity to be counted among those who you can take as a hujjah between you and Allah on the Day of Resurrection.

Scholars will also say that it’s important to 1) receive that knowledge from other scholars, not solely from books, although all scholars read vigorously—as Muhammad Ameen al-Shanqīṭī once told his students: you cannot become an ‘aalim unless you read at least 5 hours a day; and 2) to have some of the scholars give the “go ahead” to speak or write about whatever it is we speak or write about. That is, the tazkiyah, a recommendation and endorsement.

Imam Maalik said that he did not start giving fatwa until seventy of his teachers told him he was qualified and ready. And his teachers were from the greatest scholars of Islam.

To really be a scholar of Islam does not differ too much from being a scholar in any other academic field, such as history, law or psychology: studying intensely for years upon years, publishing dissertations, journal articles and books within one’s field after peer review and critique, and demonstrating an ability to teach it as a professor, in masaajid, as a judge, sharia-compliant consultant, or as member of a research committee, or similar field that requires and gives a stage for the scholar of Islam, whether their expertise is limited or broad.

One point here my readers may learn is that I, Chris Caras, am not a scholar in the broader sense, not by any stretch of the imagination, and to even think that is a travesty and a belittlement of real scholars—even though I and other students of knowledge may be, respectively, ‘aalim in a limited number of issues which we have had the chance to study in depth. Alhamdulillah. If I pursue a doctorate degree, or teach the entire tafseer of the Quran, history of the Muslims and commentary of the Sunnah and review the issues of our Aqeedah, then I may not protest being called a “scholar”. And that may not be for another ten years.

Furthermore, even the major scholars today, with no exception, but consensus among them, are separated by a huge gulf between the likes of the 4 imams, or the hadeeth compilers or even some of the masters of the middle-ages, like ibn Hazm, ibn Qudaama, Imam Al-Nawawi, ibn Taymiyyah and ibnul-Qayyim. So to say that this scholar or that daa’iyah reminds us of Imam Ahmad or Imam al-Bukhaaree should never be taken at face value. As Abdullah ibn Mubaarak once said when comparing Umar ibn Abdil-Azeez to Mu’aaiyah ibn Abi Sufyaan: Umar does not even equal the dust on the nose of Mu’aawiyah. As there is a general understanding that the predecessor always has a certain virtue over their successor, since the predecessor made it easier for the successor to pick up from where he left off. Consider how controversial it was for generations, to say that “faith is word and action, internal and physical, increasing and decreasing.” It took a lot of time and tawfeeq to peruse the texts, when it was not arranged the way it was now, and then define faith itself of all things. Now it’s known, but had it not been for the ijtihaad of previous scholars, pouring over the texts, it would still be a matter of great controversy, and our generation definitely lacks the virtue to unite upon it the way the Salaf did, even though the texts concerning faith’s definition are scattered and each one only offers a piece of the puzzle.

And true knowledge and scholarship is not weighed by the amount of words a person speaks. In fact, the fewer a person can say while getting the point across, the better, as Albert Einstein is known to have said that the true sign of mastery is summarizing in few words. Thus, we see that the earliest scholars, like the companions and their students, spoke very little, but the more you think about their answers and research them, the more you see great depth in their analysis and how they arrived at their conclusion. Even ibn Taymiyyah, a medieval scholar with dozens of volumes to his credit, when he summarizes historical, fiqh or faith issues and summarizes them in a few words in between his own detailed explanation or refutation of something else, we are hard pressed to find the truth contradict his assessment, no matter how brief his words were and how much history they encompassed.

 

Does “ijaazah” make scholars?

Another important issue that comes up when defining who a scholar is, is the issue of ijaazah, as many people believe that possessing an ijaazah is the one true qualifier of being a scholar.

First of all, what is an ijaazah? It is simply a permission to transmit a designated amount of texts, whether or not the student has read or heard them in the presence of the teacher issuing the ijaazah. In the field of hadeeth and books, that’s all it is. Just to give you an example of how that works, sometimes a scholar might say “I have permitted you [أجَزْتُكَ] to read and transmit from me the hadeeths I’ve recorded in this notebook.” If you’re present in the room when he says that, you have an ijaazah. One Shamsud-din al-Dhahabi happened to be a baby or in the womb of his mother when someone gave an ijaazah to him. Little did they know that this baby would someday become a real scholar and historian and even refer to that ijaazah quite often and use it as an authority to transmit some narrations. Does an ijaazah like that make al-Dhahabi or similar individuals contradict the Quran that says we come out of the wombs of our mothers knowing nothing? Of course not. The point is, teachers will be more or less strict on who they give ijaazah to, and upon what conditions.

There are some points to be understood by this: first off, if a student doesn’t have an ijaazah, it’s no deficiency in his knowledge, just that he didn’t go peddling from shaykh to shaykh simply asking for ijaazahs—as a very small number of students do, not many these days. As one of my friends and neighbors once said, “now that I have an ijaazah in almost every important work of Islamic scholarship to date, the only thing remaining is actually reading and studying those books!” End quote, and we all laughed. So don’t get taken for a ride by someone just because they claim to have an ijaazah—they probably do, BUT, it doesn’t mean that they studied the text nor even understand it even if they did listen to it or read it. A lot of mashaayakh don’t talk about ijaazah much because it is not that important in studying. You may study with a shaykh for 10 years and he never mentions giving an ijaazah to you, and you may be his most beloved student. If anything, ijaazah—in books that is—is more symbolic of the continued tradition of passing along knowledge from teacher to student—the key word being symbolic and respect for tradition. Some ijaazah’s, certificates and degrees may be more detailed and qualifying but it just depends on what the one who issued the document made it a condition of, whether it was from an individual or institution. For example, for texts that are usually memorized, the shaykh that gave it may write down in the ijaazah that the student recited it to him from memory. That kind of ijaazah is more valuable to me personally, because it is harder to get, but most people who list ijaazahs in their qualifications do not list the conditions that each one was conferred upon, because it’s rare. Some scholars have collected so many ijaazahs that they even publish books that do nothing more than list all the ijaazahs they’ve received! That’s not common, but it happens and it does not make those scholars any more knowledgeable of fiqh than the rest of us, but it does show how the tradition of isnad is being respected and kept alive even till today alhamdulillah.

As for ijaazah in the Quran, that is a whole different ballgame, and even though it again depends on the conditions of the teacher, but typically, it refers to reciting the Quran completely, from beginning to end, from memory, with perfect execution of every single letter and demonstrative knowledge of the rules of tajweed, and an ability to correct others and teach the Quran’s proper recitation and tajweed. But even with the Quran, there are different kinds of ijaazahs. And many teachers today are innovating different kinds of ijaazahs. So when someone says they have an ijaazah in the Quran, ask what the conditions were to receive it and pass it along, as you may be surprised.

A further type of ijaazah is an ijaazah for fatwa, and that, if anything, is the most important ijaazah to define a scholar or one capable of giving fatwa, and it is usually based on testing.

 

Between a “Scholar” and a western masjid imam

A final important issue worth addressing, that I hinted to earlier is, what does a student of knowledge need to be qualified and prepared, to assume the responsibilities of being a masjid imam in America? As we saw earlier, the actual material he teaches, like heart-softening duroos, admonishing Friday sermons, and duroos suitable for the common Muslim, no matter the topic, are all things he’ll have to prepare from scratch. There will be some things from his past studies he can integrate into those duroos that he learned directly from his teachers, but those are just anecdotes—no dars is pre-prepared.

Based on what I hear from a lot of Islamic university graduates and even those that have studied Islam in more traditional environs, as they compare their studies to being a masjid imam, then there seems to be a general consensus among them that in no way big or small does studying Islam overseas prepare someone for being an imam in America. In fact, I can say that, when I was briefly an imam at Knox College, more than a decade ago, comparing that to what I sometimes do now for when preparing a dars or preparing a khutbah, there’s only a small bit of difference, but I still have to do a lot of research. I’ve heard the same from imams that have grey hair, that in order to deliver a good khutbah, they have to spend nearly 10 hours prepping it throughout their week—15 if they want to make it “life-changing”. And as great presenters will tell you, at least a half hour goes in to every minute of a good speech. So having studied abroad does not make preparing a khutbah, as simple as it may come off, any easier.

But are there other fields that he should study in order to really be qualified for the task? As many Muslims come to America, set up masaajid and then recruit imams—they recognize that a masjid imam overseas generally needs 1 qualification: memorizing the Quran. A second qualification would be having studied sharia if he gives khutab and duroos. If it works back home, why wouldn’t it work here? In the West specifically, because training, expectations and community needs hardly overlap, this causes great friction between most imams and their communities. Indeed, there are overwhelmingly more people who used to be an imam and strongly advise students of knowledge against it, then there are actual imams that love and encourage the position, if you can even count such individuals on more than one hand.

But a truly qualified imam, not only from a sharia perspective, but from the perspective of a typical American-Muslim community’s needs will require training in counseling, social work, education, youth ministry, comparative religion, and non-profit management and finance, as well as a training in public speaking, media relations and equipment—yes, even equipment…how many scandals and controversies have erupted because a politician or religious leader thought that just because he didn’t see a red light on the camera, he thought it was off and his microphone was mute—and there do exist seminars that train people in such things. A legal background wouldn’t hurt either. These are all fields that a daa’iyah can never get enough of. And this is entirely based on what experienced imams have said they wish they knew more about and feel is absolutely necessary training for the job so that an imam doesn’t stumble around blindly in these issues his first several years on the job.

With that said, there is no single institute in the world that prepares someone for all this. Those interested in imaamah have to read books, take extra courses or certificate programs and seminars and workshops here and there whenever they become available. Others who do not want to rise up to the challenge or deal with employers who have no experience in the field of their employees .,k,usually pursue another field where they can benefit the Muslim community in a subtler fashion.

 

The payoff of pursuing this career

 

A masjid imam in Jeddah was once greeted by a man after salaah who said: “I have a gift for you if you’d lead me to your home.” So when the two returned to his house, the imam asked, “where’s the gift?” To which the man responded: “the book Hisnul-Muslim, in your scale of good deeds.”

The most famous and wide-spread book written by a Muslim in the last 100 years, translated in over 30 languages, written by a former soldier in the Saudi National Guard who repented and turned to Allah when an imam came to the army to give them an admonition—with no knowledge himself of who it would inspire and what it would lead to.

The payoff of course is, in this life, love from a lot of people who recognize the true value of such individuals in the Muslim community as a whole.

This love even becomes fame for many individuals. There are some du’aat that receive marriage proposals daily, from around the world, and lesser ones, weekly—if that is a measure for fame. So it is also a position fraught with temptation. But the greatest reward, for those who perform all these acts for the sake of Allah is in the Hereafter when they meet Allah ﷻ, and see their Lord, with Mu’aath ibn Jabal in front from them by a stone’s throw, and also see all those individuals whose lives were saved from the Fire because of a word they spoke, an admonition they wrote, or even a warm smile the imam offered that filled them with a desire to live for Allah again and repent and work righteousness. Such individuals will carry their own good deeds as well as the good deeds of all who were inspired by them.