A Collection of Beneficial Statements 13-17
Be Careful of Belittling these People
The great Imam Tawoos bin kaysaan said:
‘It is from the Sunnah to respect four types of people:
The scholar
The elderly
The one in authority
The father.’
[From: ‘Sharh as-Sunnah’ by Baghawi 13/43]
The Consequences of leaving the Scholars
From one of the foremost of the Salaf, Muhammad bin Sireen -rahimahullaah- who said:
‘Indeed there were a people who left seeking knowledge and the gatherings of the scholars. They took to praying and fasting a lot, so much so that their skins had become dried on to their bones. Then they opposed the Sunnah and they were destroyed. They spilt the blood of the Muslims.
I swear by Allaah whom there is none other worthy of worship, no one did an action based upon ignorance except that he caused more evil than rectification.’
[al-Istidhkaar by Ibn Abdul Barr 8/616]
The Poor Person Sells the Zakat al-Fitr
By Shaykh Muhammad bin Salih al-Uthaymeen
Shaykh Uthaymeen said:
‘Some people say that if we give the poor people Sa’aa (a certain weight/amount) of food and they go and sell it. We see them do so in front of us and they sell it for half the price or less or more.
So we say to this: we have nothing to do with the action of the poor. It is upon us to do that what we have been commanded with. We say: we hear and obey, and we sacrifice the food, then the poor who possess it can choose to do what they want with it.
If they want they can eat it, if they want they can store it, if they want they can sell it, if they want they can gift it and if they want they can give it as charity on their own behalf.
There is nothing upon us if they do this. What we have been commanded to do is to give them an amount of food.’
[Fatawa al-Haram al-Makki tape no. 15 – 1407 A.H.]