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Shaykh Rabīʿ bin Hādī: I Am Ready to Accept Advice and Correction From a High School Student


Shaykh Rabīʿ bin Hādī (رحمه الله) said:[1]

وإذا وجدتموني مُخطئًا ظالمًا في شيء؛ أنا مستعدٌّ والله أقبل من طالب في الثانوية، وفي المتوسط، أقبل منه النصيحة، وقد والله جاءتني ملاحظة -ولعلَّ الناس اطَّلعوا عليها- بالتلفون انظر الصفحة الفلانية، انظر كذا وكذا؛ هذا كلام مستقيم؟ نظرت وقلت: لا، غلط، جزاك الله خيرًا، إن وجدت شيئًا من هذا؛ فأخبرني يا ولدي، نحن ننشد الحق ونطلب الحق.

And if you find me errant or unjust in anything, I am prepared, by Allāh, to accept advice from a high school student or a middle school student. By, Allāh, an observation came to me (from someone)—and maybe people have seen it—by telephone, “Look at such-and-such page, is this speech correct?” I looked and I said: “No, its an error. May Allāh reward you. If you find anything like this, then inform me, my son, we search for the truth and we seek the truth.”

Notes

This is a sign of true scholarship: humility in the search for truth. To the extent that a seventy or eighty year old scholar is ready to humble himself to someone in his teens, if he was to point out an error or something of injustice.

Ibn Taymiyyah (رحمه الله) said:

وكثير من المنتسبين إلى العلم يُبتلى بالكِبْر كما يُبتلى كثير من أهل العبادة بالشرك، ولهذا فإن آفة العلم الكِبْر، وآفة العبادة الرياء، وهؤلاء يُحرَمون حقيقة العلم.

Many of those who ascribe to knowledge are put to trial with arrogance, just like many of the people given to worship are put to trial with shirk. Hence, the calamity of knowledge is arrogance and the calamity of worship is showing off, and those [who are arrogant] are deprived of the reality of knowledge.[2]

From the signs of arrogance is scoffing at others and being puffed up with pride just because someone—let alone a person much younger or lesser in knowledge—pointed out an error or an injustice. This is a sign that a person is not searching for truth, but is motivated by something else, and often that returns to affairs of pride, hatred of others, seeking highness over others, maintaining position, or envy and so on.

Footnotes
1. Al-Taḥdhīr min al-Fitan (p. 90)
2. Al-Radd ʿalā al-Shādhilī (p. 207).




© Abu Iyaad — Benefits in dīn and dunyā

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