When the scholars are treated with deference, the Sharia itself is honored, for they are its custodians. But when the scholars are demeaned, the Sharia is demeaned; if scholars are belittled and made to fall in people’s eyes, the Sacred Law they bear likewise falls. It ceases to carry weight among the public, every person begins to look down on it and despise it, and the Sharia is ultimately lost.

In the same way, the leaders—princes and governors—must be respected, esteemed, and obeyed in the manner laid down by the Sharia. Should the people scorn them, humiliate them, and make light of their position, security disappears, the land descends into chaos, and the ruler is left without strength or authority.

Thus these two groups—scholars and rulers—if they are held in contempt before the people, the Sharia is corrupted, public safety collapses, affairs fall into disarray, and everyone imagines himself the scholar while everyone imagines himself the ruler. The Sharia is lost and the country is ruined. For this reason Allah the Exalted commanded obedience to those in authority—both the scholars and the rulers—saying: “O you who believe, obey Allah, obey the Messenger, and those vested with authority among you” (al-Nisāʾ 4:59).

Consider this example: when scholars and rulers are not reverenced, people who hear a scholar’s judgement will say, “It is insignificant; so-and-so said something different.” Or they will say, “It is trivial—he knows and we know.” We have even heard some foolish ignoramuses who, when debated about a point of knowledge and told, “This is the view of Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal,” or “the view of al-Shāfiʿī,” or Mālik, Abū Ḥanīfah, Sufyān, and the like, retort, “Yes, they were men and we are men.” But what a gulf lies between the manhood of those giants and the manhood of these claimants! Who are you that