The scholars of the Salaf—both the earliest pioneers and those Successors who came after them, people of virtue and transmitted tradition, people of jurisprudence and sound reasoning—are to be mentioned only in laudatory terms; anyone who maligns them has veered from the straight path.

After completing his discussion of the rights owed to the Companions and the Prophet’s Household—the love, loyalty, and avoidance of all disparagement due to each of them—the author now turns to the next rank in merit: the scholars. The scholars of this ummah hold a station of honor second only to the Companions, for they are the heirs of the prophets, as the Prophet ﷺ said: “The scholars are the heirs of the prophets.” (1) By this he intends the scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamaʿah: people of knowledge, reflection, and jurisprudence; people of transmitted reports, namely the hadith specialists.

Scholars fall into two divisions:

1. The scholars of transmitted tradition (athar), the muḥaddithūn who devoted themselves to the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. They preserved it, defended it, and presented it to the ummah in a state of pristine purity, exactly as it was spoken by the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. They kept every foreign element and every fabrication at bay, exposing and isolating forged reports. These are known as the scholars of transmission.