The wind blew cold, bushes and trees, field and meadow, all alike said monsoon had come. The moon looked gloomy, she expressed, "O Owl! Indeed the scholar has those that are in the sky and on earth to seek forgiveness for him, even the fish in the depths of the sea." The Owl said, "Make it clear for me, please!" The Moon described, "For the believers in general, Allah has informed in His book about the angels of the sky seeking forgiveness for them. Allah says,As for the scholars, Abu Umamah reported that our Beloved (ﷺ) said, 'اَلَّذِيْنَ يَحْمِلُوْنَ الْعَرْشَ وَمَنْ حَوْلَهٗ يُسَبِّحُوْنَ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّهِمْ وَيُؤْمِنُوْنَ بِهٖ وَيَسْتَغْفِرُوْنَ لِلَّذِيْنَ اٰمَنُوْاۚ رَبَّنَا وَسِعْتَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ رَّحْمَةً وَّعِلْمًا فَاغْفِرْ لِلَّذِيْنَ تَابُوْا وَاتَّبَعُوْا سَبِيْلَكَ وَقِهِمْ عَذَابَ الْجَحِيْمِ'Those (angels) who carry the Throne and those around it exalt (Allah) with praise of their Rabb and believe in Him and ask forgiveness for those who have believed, (saying), 'Our Rabb, You have encompassed all things in mercy and knowledge, so forgive those who have repented and followed Your way and protect them from the punishment of Hellfire.' [QS. Gafir (40):7]فَضْلُ الْعَالِمِ عَلَى الْعَابِدِ كَفَضْلِي عَلَى أَدْنَاكُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ وَأَهْلَ السَّمَوَاتِ وَالْأَرَضِينَ حَتَّى النَّمْلَةَ فِي جُحْرِهَا وَحَتَّى الْحُوتَ لَيُصَلُّونَ عَلَى مُعَلِّمِ النَّاسِ الْخَيْرَThe virtue of the scholar over the worshiper is like my virtue over the least of you. Verily, Allah, his angels, the inhabitants of the heavens and earth, even the ant in his hole and the fish, send blessings upon the one who teaches people what is good.'Fudayl ibn ‘Iyad said, 'A scholar who works in teaching has a high status in the domain of the heavens.' [Jami` at-Tirmidhi; Sahih (authentic) according to At-Tirmidhi]
Citations & References:Abu Darda reported that our beloved Prophet (ﷺ) said,الْعُلَمَاءُ خُلَفَاءُ الأَنْبِيَاءِ إِنَّ الأَنْبِيَاءَ لَمْ يُوَرِّثُوا دِينَارًا وَلا دِرْهَمًا إِنَّمَا وَرَّثُوا الْعِلْمَ'The scholars are the successors of the prophets. Verily, the prophets do not pass on gold and silver coins, but rather they only impart knowledge.' [Musnad al-Bazzār; Salih (good) according to Al-Bazzār]Allah and His angels, send blessings on the people of remembrance, and knowledge is the best type of remembrance. Allah says,يٰٓاَيُّهَا الَّذِيْنَ اٰمَنُوا اذْكُرُوا اللّٰهَ ذِكْرًا كَثِيْرًاۙ وَّسَبِّحُوْهُ بُكْرَةً وَّاَصِيْلًا هُوَ الَّذِيْ يُصَلِّيْ عَلَيْكُمْ وَمَلٰۤىِٕكَتُهٗ لِيُخْرِجَكُمْ مِّنَ الظُّلُمٰتِ اِلَى النُّوْرِۗ وَكَانَ بِالْمُؤْمِنِيْنَ رَحِيْمًا'O you who have believed, remember Allah with much remembrance and exalt Him morning and afternoon. It is He who confers blessing upon you,1 and His angels (ask Him to do so) that He may bring you out from darknesses into the light. And ever is He, to the believers, Merciful.' [QS. Al-Ahzab (33):41-43]Those who obeys Allah and loves the people that obey Him, then Allah loves him, purifies him, praises him, ordering His servants of the sky, the earth, and the rest of creation, to love him and pray for him. This is the seeking of blessings for him, and the love for him is placed in the hearts of the believing servants.This is why the creatures of earth seek forgiveness for the scholars, that is because the scholars order people to show kindness to all of creation, and kindness to animals that can be slaughtered or killed, so their benefit even reaches the animals, and for this reason they seek forgiveness for them.When knowledge appears on earth and is acted upon, blessings start to flow and all types of sustenance descend from the heavens, so that the inhabitants of earth can live, even the ants and other animals with its blessings. The inhabitants of the heavens rejoice at the good actions that rise towards them, and they seek forgiveness for the ones that are responsible for those actions.The opposite of this, is when one hides knowledge from the people which Allah has ordered to be made known. Allah curses the concealer of knowledge, as do the angels and the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth. The one who strives to extinguish the light of Allah on earth, the result of which causes sins to be committed, oppression, hostility and transgression to appear amongst the masses. Indeed, hiding beneficial knowledge is the cause of ignorance and sins appearing. It stops the rain from falling, causes calamities to descend and even affects the creatures who end up being destroyed, because of the sins of the children of Adam.Therefore, the creatures curse those that are responsible—for this corruption—and their loss.'Ali, radhiyallahu anhu, said to Kumayl Ibn Ziyad, radhiyallahu anhu, 'Love of the scholars is part and parcel of the religion.' In the well known saying, we learn, 'Be a scholar, a learner, a listener, or one who loves them. But do not be the fifth type, otherwise you will be destroyed.' Ibn Abi Khaythama reported that 'Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz commented on this saying, 'Subhanallah! Allah has made a way out for them.'This means, whoever does not fall into the four praised categories, falls into the fifth destructive one. That is to say whoever is not: a scholar; a student; a listener or a lover of them, then he is destroyed. Indeed, those who despise the people of knowledge, want them to be destroyed, and to extinguish the light of Allah on earth. As a result, their corruption and sin become rampant.The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), said,مَنْ سَلَكَ طَرِيقًا يَطْلُبُ فِيهِ عِلْمًا سَلَكَ اللَّهُ بِهِ طَرِيقًا مِنْ طُرُقِ الْجَنَّةِ وَإِنَّ الْمَلَائِكَةَ لَتَضَعُ أَجْنِحَتَهَا رِضًا لِطَالِبِ الْعِلْمِ وَإِنَّ الْعَالِمَ لَيَسْتَغْفِرُ لَهُ مَنْ فِي السَّمَوَاتِ وَمَنْ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَالْحِيتَانُ فِي جَوْفِ الْمَاءِ وَإِنَّ فَضْلَ الْعَالِمِ عَلَى الْعَابِدِ كَفَضْلِ الْقَمَرِ لَيْلَةَ الْبَدْرِ عَلَى سَائِرِ الْكَوَاكِبِ وَإِنَّ الْعُلَمَاءَ وَرَثَةُ الْأَنْبِيَاءِ وَإِنَّ الْأَنْبِيَاءَ لَمْ يُوَرِّثُوا دِينَارًا وَلَا دِرْهَمًا وَرَّثُوا الْعِلْمَ فَمَنْ أَخَذَهُ أَخَذَ بِحَظٍّ وَافِرٍ'Whoever travels a path in search of knowledge, Allah will make easy for him the path to Paradise. Verily, the angels lower their wings for the seeker of knowledge. The inhabitants of the heavens and earth, even the fish in the depths of the water, seek forgiveness for the scholar. The virtue of the scholar over the worshiper is like the superiority of the moon over the all the planets. The scholars are the inheritors of the Prophets. They do not leave behind gold or silver coins, but rather they leave behind knowledge. Whoever has taken hold of it has been given an abundant share.' [Sunan Abi Dawud; Sahih (authentic) according to Muhammad Ibn Isma'il]A scholar is a parable to the full moon. The full moon represents the scholar, when the moon is, at its zenith, its beauty and splendour, illuminates with glowing light. The comparison of a worshiper is to the planets. The difference between the virtue of the scholar and worshiper, is like that of the full moon and the other planets. The secret in this is—and Allah knows best—the light of a planet does not go beyond itself. Whereas the light of the full moon sheds on all the inhabitants of the earth, covering them so they may use its light and be guided to find their way. Rather the Prophet (ﷺ) said, “ Over all the planets.” And he (ﷺ) did not say over all the stars, because planets are not used for guidance, so they are on the same level as the worshiper whose benefit is limited to himself only, as for the stars then they are used for guidance. Allah says,وَهُوَ الَّذِيْ جَعَلَ لَكُمُ النُّجُوْمَ لِتَهْتَدُوْا بِهَا فِيْ ظُلُمٰتِ الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِۗ قَدْ فَصَّلْنَا الْاٰيٰتِ لِقَوْمٍ يَّعْلَمُوْنَ'And it is He, Who placed for you the stars, that you may be guided by them, through the darknesses of the land and sea. We have detailed the signs for a people who know.' [QS. Al-An'am (6):97]The moon receive its light from the sun, in the same way the scholars have taken their light from the light of the divine message. The Messenger was the shining bright light and a illuminating moon cast upon the earth.The scholars, are his inheritors and successors, likened to the moon when it is at its complete brightness and full radiance.Amongst the creation of men and jinn, there are those who hate the believer and the scholar. This is because their disobedience to Allah means putting their desires over the love of Allah and his obedience, so they hate Allah’s obedience and its people. Whoever loves Allah, His obedience and love’s its people, especially those who call to His obedience and command people with the same call.Ibn Abbas, radhiyallahu 'anhuma, reported that He was asked, ‘Does the sky and earth ever weep over anyone?’ He said, ‘Yes, for every human there are two doors. One is that through which his deeds ascend and the other is that from which his sustenance descends, so both of these weep upon his death, because they are closed at his death. Similarly, the ground on which he performed Salah and the Dhikr of Allah—also weep, and for the nation of Fir’awn, there were neither any good signs on earth, and nor were there any virtuous deeds of theirs which could go towards the sky. Thus on his coming—i.e. death—neither did the sky nor the earth weep. It is this which is the meaning of Allah’s word,فَمَا بَكَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ السَّمَاۤءُ وَالْاَرْضُۗ ࣖ‘And the sky and earth will not weep over them.’ [QS. Ad-Dukhan (44):29]When a believer dies, the loss is felt by creation beyond the immediate circle of family and friends. The world loses a worshipper of Allah, and the vacuum this creates saddens the Universe. The verse mentioned, is part of a passage where Allah talks about the rejecters of faith and the fact that they left behind all their worldly achievements when they passed on to the next world. Allah says in the mentioned verse, that the Heaven and the Earth did not weep for them. This means that there are times when the Heaven and Earth weep for those who die. They do not weep for everyone, but they mourn the death of a believer who was loved by Allah.Killing a Scholar is like killing a successor of a Prophet. When al-Hajjaj—the governor of the Iraqi provinces during the reign of the Umayyad caliph al-Walid I—killed Sa'id Ibn Jubayr, all of the people were in need of his knowledge. But Hajjaj prevented him from benefiting the people. Thus, Hajjaj was shown in his dream that he was killed by every person he had murdered, and because of his killing of Said Ibn Jubayr alone, Hajjaj was killed seventy times.The most severe in punishment is, the one who kills a Prophet, as a result, he strives to cause corruption on the earth. Whoever kills a scholar, then he has killed a successor of a Prophet. He is like a person striving to cause mischief on earth, for this reason, Allah placed the killing of Prophets and the scholars who enjoin the good, together, as Allah said,اِنَّ الَّذِيْنَ يَكْفُرُوْنَ بِاٰيٰتِ اللّٰهِ وَيَقْتُلُوْنَ النَّبِيّٖنَ بِغَيْرِحَقٍّۖ وَّيَقْتُلُوْنَ الَّذِيْنَ يَأْمُرُوْنَ بِالْقِسْطِ مِنَ النَّاسِۙ فَبَشِّرْهُمْ بِعَذَابٍ اَلِيْمٍ'Those who disbelieve in the signs of Allah and kill the prophets without right, and kill those who order justice from among the people - give them tidings of a painful punishment.' [QS. Ali 'Imran (3):21]Whoever kills a Prophet or an Imam of justice, it is as if he has killed all of mankind, and whoever strengthens a Prophet or an Imam of justice, then it is as if he has saved all of humanity.He who does not honor and respect the scholars, is like he who does not prize a precious thing he desperately need, more than all sorts of worldly materials. Precious things are without value to those who cannot prize them. Take notes of the following sketch,A gallant young Cock, in company with his family, raking upon a dung-hill for something to entertain them with, happened to scratch up a Jewel. He knew what it was well enough, for it sparkled with an exceeding bright lustre; but not knowing what to do with it, he shrugged up his wings, shook his head, and putting on a grimace, expressed himself to this purpose, 'Indeed, you are a very fine thing; but I know not any business you have here. I make no scruple of declaring, that my taste lies quite another way; and I had rather have one grain of dear, delicious barley, than all the Jewels under the sun.'"Then the Moon outlined, "Things have most value which we find we cannot do without. Men who weigh well their own real wants, and shape their pursuits to their abilities, will always prefer those things which are necessary, to such as are merely ornamental or superfluous, and will not easily suffer themselves to be led astray by the gaudy allurements of glitter and show, which have no other value than what vanity, pride, or luxury may have set upon them; but governing their minds by their own reason, judge of every thing by its intrinsic worth. And Allah knows best."
- Al-Hafiz Abul-Faraj Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali, Explanation to the Hadith of Abu Darda’ : The Inheritors of the Prophets, Dar as-Sunnah
- Thomas Bewick, Bewick's Select Fables, Bickers & Sons
