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Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Dear brother in Islam, we are really pleased to have your question and to have the chance to convey some of the teachings of our religion to our Muslim brothers. In fact, it adds to our happiness to find guidance being disseminated and the word of truth being highly elevated.
Scholars are the heirs of prophets (peace and blessings be upon them all), so they shoulder a heavy responsibility to show the Islamic stance on the various issues that face Muslims. Therefore, refraining from giving Shari` advice on some urgent issues is a form of hiding knowledge, for which they will be held accountable before Almighty Allah.
In Islam, scholars have a great role to play and a mission to carry out. It is their role to declare and convey the truth to people, to enjoin what is good and forbid what is evil, and it is their mission to show them the straight path. In fact, this is the role of all Muslims, as there is no place for clergy in Islam in the sense of a theocratic authority. However, this role and duty is stressed in respect to scholars, as they are the experts in Islamic Shari`ah who know the Islamic rulings, principles and norms better than anyone else.
Responding to your question, Sheikh `Abdul-Hamid Ibn Mubarak Aal Ash-Sheikh Mubarak, Lecturer of Maliki Fiqh at al-Ihsa’, Saudi Arabia, states:
“Almighty Allah says: “And (remember) when Allah laid a charge on those who had received the Scripture (He said): Ye are to expound it to mankind and not to hide it. But they flung it behind their backs and bought thereby a little gain. Verily evil is that which they have gained thereby.” (Al `Imran:187)
He also says: “Those who hide the proofs and the guidance which We revealed, after We had made it clear in the Scripture: such are accursed of Allah and accursed of those who have the power to curse. Except such of them as repent and amend and make manifest (the truth). These it is toward whom I relent. I am the Relenting, the Merciful.” (Al-Baqarah: 159-160)
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “If one is asked about something he knows but he hides it, he will be reined with bridles of fire (on the Day of Judgment).” (Reported by at-Tirmidhi and Abu Dawud)
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is also reported to have said: “Scholars are the heirs of prophets.”
The prophets (peace and blessings be upon them) were sent for guidance; they never left their nations in chaos and confusion without showing them the right way. In the same way, it is the duty of the Muslim scholars, one and all, to clarify the truth to the masses and to issue the Islamic rulings regarding the occupying armies that invade a Muslim country.
It is stressed that those Muslim scholars who keep silent regarding these serious issues that interest the whole Ummah will be held accountable before Allah for their silence and for not playing the role entrusted them. Actually, scholars’ abstention from imparting their knowledge and clarifying the truth to the masses is the essence of hiding knowledge. A scholar is not like a scientist or a pharmacist, i.e., they are not to answer only if they are asked and keep silent if they are not. Rather, it is their duty to guide people and show them the right path with full sincerity to Allah.
In fact, I’m fearful for those who refrain from imparting their knowledge, lest they would be accursed as stated in the above-mentioned Qur’anic verse of surat Al-Baqarah. They would be reined with bridles of fire on the Day of Judgment, the day when no wealth, sons, power, sovereignty, nor anyone will avail a person. The only thing that will avail a person is to meet Allah with a pure heart.
I implore Allah to uproot fears from the hearts of the scholars and guide them to prefer the welfare of the Muslim Ummah to any other worldly or tribal “benefit”. Such benefits are imaginary in the face of actual harm.
I remind them of the Qur’anic verse that reads: “Who delivered the messages of Allah and feared Him, and feared none save Allah. Allah keepeth good account.” (Al-Ahzab: 39)”
For more information, you can read:
The Iraqi Crisis: Muslim Scholars’ Role
Do keep in touch. If you have any other question, don't hesitate to write to us.
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