30. INDEPENDENCE OF A SCHOLAR FROM PEOPLE’S WEALTH IS AN HONOUR TO THE SACRED KNOWLEDGE AND ITS PEOPLE
We attended a few invitations of wealthy people and we found that the scholars (‘ulama) were the most humiliated people in their presence. They degrade in places of their greed for them, whereas the wealthy do not have any regard for them for they know that it is they who need them.
I saw this as a defect (’ayb) in both parties:
As in the case of the worldly men (ahl al-dunya), the cause of defect is that they were ought to magnify the knowledge (tazeem al-‘ilm), but unfortunately, due to their ignorance (Jahl) of its worth, they missed out on that opportunity. They ended up giving preference of earning wealth to acquiring knowledge (ilm). Therefore, ultimately, there is no reason to seek their regard for that which they do not even acknowledge its worth.
In conclusion, I turn my criticism to the scholars and tell them, It is important to protect yourselves, who have been endowed with knowledge, from being humiliating (dhul) before these scoundrels. If you are truly independent from them, then your servility to them and begging from them would be prohibited for you.
And if you are self-subsistent, then why do you not prefer refraining from humiliation, by showing satisfaction and independence from acquiring favours and degrading oneself.
Otherwise, I think I have acknowledged the self s impatience (sabr al-nafs) with becoming self-subsistent and disinclination from luxuries. If this attitude is found in the self at a time, then it is not found in it continuously.
It is therefore better for the scholar to try his best in acquiring wealth and earning his living, even if this makes him lose plenty of time that would otherwise be spent in acquiring knowledge.
This will eventually help him protect his honour and integrity through his wealth.
Sa’id Ibn al-Musayyib used to trade in olive oil and he left behind wealth.
Sufyan al-Thawri left wealth behind and used to say: ‘If it were not for you [oh wealth], they would use me as a handkerchief.’
It has already been mentioned in one of the chapters of my book about the privilege of having wealth (sharf a I-mat) and the accounts of scholars and the Companions (radiy Allahu ’anhum) acquiring it. The secret (sirr) in this and in my encouragement for my students in doing so, is that the self cannot remain steadfast on abstinence (ta’affaf) and remain patient on renunciation (tazahhud) for too long.
How many times have we seen someone whose confidence has been strengthened in seeking the Hereafter. He used up his wealth, then after his strength weakened he resorted to earning wealth in a more humiliating manner.
It is better then, to save wealth and become independent from people. Greed will be removed from the heart and the spreading of knowledge becomes purer from the defect of desire.
One who ponders over the lives of the best among the learned, will find them on this path.
Only the one who has a lacklustre approach to earning has not considered the importance of saving the nobility of his religion and honour. So he sought comfort—which in a way— turned out to be exhaustion, just as some ignorant Sufis did by spending what they possessed and then claiming reliance on Allah. They did not realise that earning does not conflict with true reliance on Allah. They sought thereby only to obtain comfort and they ultimately took to begging as a means of earning.
This way comprises two things: decrease in self-esteem and knowledge.
(Source: al-Hafiz Abu’l-Faraj ibn al-jawzl [d. 597AH] “CAPTURED THOUGHTS being” a translation of his masterpiece ‘Sayd al-K hatir)
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