Bearing with the Bad Manners of Your Teacher: Patience, Propriety, and the Pursuit of Knowledge

Its most appropriate for the student of knowledge to bear with patience any harshness that proceeds from his shaykh, or any ill conduct on his part, and to let none of that deter him from keeping close to him, maintaining sound regard for him, and interpreting his actions – those which appear on the surface to be at variance with what is correct – in the most favourable light. When the shaykh shows coldness, the student should be the first to apologise, to repent of whatever may have occurred, and to seek forgiveness. He should attribute the cause to himself, place the reproach upon his own shoulders, for this is most conducive to preserving the affection of his shaykh, most protective of his shaykh’s heart, and most beneficial to the student in both this world and the next.

Whoever fails to endure his teacher loses out, his efforts in seeking knowledge come to nothing, and he remains mired in ignorance. Al-Aṣmaʿī (d. 216 AH/831 CE) said: “Whoever cannot bear the humility of learning for an hour shall remain in the humiliation of ignorance forever.”

al-Samʿānī said: “Do not reproach a scholar for his ill conduct; rather, make allowance for him and bear his harm with patience. For knowledge is more deserving of its people’s indulgence, and too noble a thing to be turned aside by your passing whims”. (1)

Bilāl ibn Abī Burda (d. 120 AH/738 CE) said: “Let not the worst of what you witness from us prevent you from accepting the best of what you hear from us.” (2)

ʿAbdullāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal (d. 290 AH/903 CE) reported: “My father informed me, saying: I heard Abū Yūsuf al-Qāḍī (d. 182 AH/798 CE) say: ‘There are five categories of people whom it is incumbent upon others to treat with mudārāh (tactful forbearance): the ruler who holds power, the judge who exercises his own interpretation, the sick person, the woman, and the scholar, so that benefit may be drawn from his knowledge.’ I found this remark most admirable.” (3)

Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī (d. 561 AH/1166 CE) said: “Do not flee from the harshness of my speech. It was nothing but that which is firm and rigorous in the religion of Allah ﷻ that shaped me. Whoever flees from me and those like me shall not prosper.” (4)

Muʿāfā ibn ʿImrān (d. 185 AH/801 CE) said: “The likeness of one who grows angry with a scholar is the likeness of one who grows angry with the columns – that is, the pillars, of the mosque.” (5)

ash-Shāfiʿī (d. 204 AH/820 CE) reported: “It was said to Sufyān ibn ʿUyayna (d. 198 AH/814 CE): ‘People come to you from the farthest corners of the earth, yet you grow angry with them. Soon they will leave and abandon you.’ He replied: ‘Then they are fools, just as you are, if they abandon what benefits them on account of my poor character.'” (6)

ash-Shāfiʿī further related: “Two men used to attend the circles of al-Aʿmash (d. 148 AH/765 CE). One of them made ḥadīth his chief concern, whilst the other did not. One day, al-Aʿmash grew angry with the one who was devoted to ḥadīth. The other man said: ‘Had he treated me as he has treated you, I would never have returned to him.’ Al-Aʿmash replied: ‘Then he is a fool like you, abandoning what benefits him because of my poor character.'” (7)

Al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad al-Farāhīdī (d. 170 AH/786 CE) said: “Act upon my knowledge even if I fall short in my own deeds; my knowledge shall benefit you, whilst my shortcoming harms only me”. (8)

And hear what Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Dimashqī recited: “An inkwell that keeps me company throughout my day is dearer to me than the companionship of a friend. A bundle of kāghad (9) that is, paper in my home is dearer to me than a load of flour. A scholar’s rebuke upon my cheek is sweeter to me than a draught of wine”. (10)

On Choosing the Right Moment to Visit One’s Shaykh

ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās (d. 68 AH/687 CE) said: “I found the greater part of the knowledge of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to reside with this tribe of the Anṣār. There were occasions when I would rest at midday by the door of one of them; had I wished to seek permission to enter, it would surely have been granted. But I preferred to wait, so as not to disturb him.” (11)

Al-Ḥajjāj ibn Arṭāh (d. 145 AH/762 CE) said: “Love of distinction has ruined me.” (12)

ʿĪsā ibn Yūnus (d. 187 AH/803 CE) said: “Ibn Arṭāh would not attend the congregational prayer, and would say: ‘Am I to attend your mosque only to be jostled by porters and grocers?'” (13)

Ibn Yūnus further remarked: “Aḥmad ibn Ṣāliḥ (d. 248 AH/862 CE) had no failing other than arrogance.” (14)

Al-Ḥajjāj ibn Arṭāh also said: “A man’s murūʾah (personal honour and dignity) is not complete until he abandons the congregational prayer.” al-Dhahabī (d. 748 AH/1348 CE) commented: “May Allah ﷻ curse this so-called murūʾah – it is nothing but foolishness and arrogance, lest the common folk bump into him in rows.” (15)

References

(1) ʿAbd al-Karīm ibn Muḥammad al-Samʿānī (d. 562 AH/1166 CE), Adab al-Imlāʾ wa al-Istimlāʾ, p. 146.

(2) Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr al-Namarī (d. 463 AH/1071 CE), Jāmiʿ Bayān al-ʿIlm wa Faḍlih, ed. Abū al-Ashbāl al-Zuhayrī (Dammam: Dār Ibn al-Jawzī, 1994), vol. 1, p. 529.

(3) Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī (d. 463 AH/1071 CE), al-Jāmiʿ li-Akhlāq al-Rāwī wa Ādāb al-Sāmiʿ, ed. Maḥmūd al-Ṭaḥḥān (Riyadh: Maktabat al-Maʿārif, 1983), vol. 1, p. 222.

(4) ʿAbd al-Qādir ibn Mūsā al-Jīlānī (d. 561 AH/1166 CE), al-Fatḥ al-Rabbānī wa al-Fayḍ al-Raḥmānī (Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, n.d.), p. 22.

(5) Al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī, al-Jāmiʿ, vol. 1, p. 223.

(6) Al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī, al-Jāmiʿ, vol. 1, p. 223.

(7) Al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī, al-Jāmiʿ, vol. 1, p. 223.

(8) Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr, Jāmiʿ Bayān al-ʿIlm, vol. 1, p. 529.

(9) Al-kāghad: an Arabic term of Persian origin denoting paper or parchment.

(10) Al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī, al-Jāmiʿ, vol. 1, p. 106.

(11) Al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī, al-Jāmiʿ, vol. 1, p. 159.

(12) Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Dhahabī (d. 748 AH/1348 CE), Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, ed. Shuʿayb al-Arnaʾūṭ et al. (Beirut: Muʾassasat al-Risāla, 1985), vol. 1, p. 505.

(13) Al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, vol. 1, p. 226.

(14) Al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ, vol. 9, p. 520.

(15) Al-Dhahabī, Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ (entry on al-Ḥajjāj ibn Arṭāh).