Questioner:

Is a tazkiyah (commendation) obligatory for a seeker of knowledge so that he may teach, and if there is not to be found anyone who has commended him, should he teach? And is there any precedence (from the Salaf) in this issue of commendation? Benefit us may Allah ﷻ benefit you.

Shaykh ʿUbayd al-Jābirī:

The one who is unknown (majhūl) is the one who requires a tazkiyah, irrespective of whether he was sent to a land or in his own land. As for the one who is known, then if he is (teaching) outside of his own land, and the Scholars know he is teaching and giving lessons from the Book and the Sunnah upon the understanding of the Salaf, then there is nothing to prevent him teaching if Allah ﷻ. Likewise, there is nothing to prevent sitting with him until the scholars of his region disparage him, and it is not necessary that all the scholars disparage him, rather if the evidence is established through one (Allah-fearing), pious scholar amongst them, a person of the Sunnah, who has expansive vision (into these matters) then his disparagement is accepted.

As for when he is in his own land and his people know him and enable him to teach them in a mosque or in their gatherings, then it is upon him to fear Allah ﷻ with respect to those (people) and that he traverses (the path) of wisdom, deliberation and that he does not drive the people away from himself. And if he has the ability to look into the evidences for the Sharīʿah rulings from the Book and the Sunnah, then he can deduce evidence, and if he is in the beginning (stages of seeking knowledge) then he should quote the statements of the people of knowledge, irrespective of whether he mentions them or does not mention them. However, he is not to say, “I said” or “I say” attributing the speech to himself, rather it is more befitting that he say, “So and so Shaykh said”, “Shaykh so and so’s fatwa in this matter is such and such” so that the people are at ease with him.