As for the scholar of the faith, he is the one who spreads Islam, issues fatwas in light of Islam on the basis of sound knowledge, and pays no heed to whether the ruling indicated by the Sacred Law pleases people’s whims or not.

The scholar of the state, by contrast, first checks what the authorities want and then delivers a ruling that serves that desire—even if it means distorting the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him).

The scholar of the populace is the one who asks what will satisfy people; once he sees them inclined to something, he issues a fatwa that gratifies them and then tries to twist the texts of the Qur’an and Sunnah so they match popular appetites. We ask Allah to make us among the scholars of the faith who live by it.

In short, a person must not gamble with his religion or be beguiled; rather, he should remain at ease until he finds someone whose knowledge and piety he trusts, and then take his religion from him. One of the early Muslims said, “This knowledge is religion, so look carefully to whom you entrust your religion.”

Indeed, this knowledge is religion and a path to Allah. Yet there are those infatuated with the unbelievers and intent on imitating them—Allah’s refuge is sought. You find them copying the disbelievers in dress: as soon as those magazines they call “Burda” and the like arrive, they rush to buy them, bring them home, and say, “Look at these clothes!” Inside are shameless images and garments that violate the shariʿah, and the women