A FULL MOON over the rest of the stars.

The Messenger of Allāh, (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said: 

“The virtue of a scholar over a worshiper is like the virtue of a FULL MOON over the rest of the stars.” ⁽¹⁾

 

 [The Worth of a Scholar]

Here are some beautiful words by al-Imām Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal [d. 241 AH]², may Allāh have mercy on him, highlighting the value of the scholars:

All praise belongs to Allāh, He who has allowed people of knowledge to remain in times when there are no messengers. They invite those who have strayed back to guidance. They are patient with those who harm them. They bring back to life, with the Book of Allāh, the lifeless. And they give sight, with the light of Allāh, to the blind.
The number of massacred souls by Iblīs (i.e. the devil) they have brought back to life are countless. And the number of misguided and lost [individuals]  they have returned to guidance are innumerable. So, there isn’t anything more beautiful than their effects on the people, and there isn’t anything more repugnant than the effects of the people on them… ⁽³⁾

[Some Basic Manners of Sitting with a Scholar]

Noble reader, may Allāh have mercy on you, here a few basics manners to implement when sitting with the scholars. They have been taken from Ibn Ḥajr’s [d. 852 AH] ⁽⁴⁾, may Allāh have mercy on him, famous work “Nuzah al-Nathr.” He wrote:

Here is some important etiquette a student should have with his Shaykh:

1.     That he corrects his intention;

2.     That he purifies his intention from desiring worldly gains by learning;

3.     That he beautifies his manners;

4.     That he has the upmost respect for the Shaykh;

5.     That he doesn’t irritate the Shaykh;

6.     That he shares what he learns from the Shaykh with others;

7.     That he doesn’t leave off seeking a benefit due to shyness or pride;

8.     That he writes in longhand;

9.     That he writes clearly, [and if he is writing in Arabic], he places vowels where vowels need to be placed;

10.             That he reviews what he has written so that the information becomes firm in his mind; ⁽⁵⁾

Translation and Footnotes by:
Abū Ādam Jamīl Finch
Umm al-Qurā University, College of Sharī’ah
Makkah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
9th of Ṣafar, 1433/January 3, 2012

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(1) Authenticated by al-Albānī. See al-Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jam’ī al-Ṣaghīr, 1/776/#4212.

(2) The Imām of the Ahlus-Sunnah.

(3) Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, A Refutation of the Jahmiyyah and the Heretics, 170

(4) A famous scholar of ḥadith, he is the author of Fath al-Barī and Bulūgh al-Marām.

(5) [Slightly Edited], Ibn Ḥajr, Nuzah al-Nathr, 179-180 [Dār al-M’athūr]

(Footnote numbering has been altered from the original article.)