Allah. Neither category has a greater entitlement than the other; both are indispensable.
Second:
The corrupt intentions alleged against many who serve public interests through jihad, public office, and scholarship are counterbalanced by the sinfulness and heresy found among many of those in need. Just as some of those in need are righteous friends of Allah, so too are some fighters and scholars. Allah’s friends are the believers who fear Him, whatever category they belong to. Those friends of Allah who engage in jihad and scholarship are superior to those who do not, for the foremost friends of Allah among the Emigrants and the Helpers were such people.
As for the claim:
“Nowadays, many fighters and scholars merely use jihad, fighting, and scholarly pursuits as a worldly livelihood through which they protect their status and wealth. They sin through their fighting and scholarly pursuits, besides committing other sins and evils that there is no room to recount here. A fighter striving to make Allah’s word supreme, or a teacher whose aim is that learning should serve purely to draw near to Allah, is rarely found, if at all. Undoubtedly, sincerity and adherence to the Sunnah are more prevalent among those who do not consume people’s wealth than among those who take money through such activities; indeed, even heresy…”
We counter this with a truer statement: many residents of religious lodges and retreats, and those who make an outward show of poverty before people, merely use this as a worldly livelihood. This is accompanied by unbelief, sinfulness, and evils that there is no room to recount here, such as claims of divine indwelling and union among