Demeaning the Scholars of Religion

Question

I have a fatwa in a tattered state; the opening part is missing. In it is written that whoever demeans or belittles any scholar in the slightest degree is a kafir, and as reference this text from “[Sharh] al-Fiqh al-Akbar” is quoted: [ar]وَمَنْ قَالَ لِلْعَالِمِ: عُوَيْلِمٌ — أَيْ بِصِيغَةِ التَّصْغِيرِ لِلتَّحْقِيرِ، كَمَا قَيَّدَهُ بِقَوْلِهِ: قَاصِدًا بِهِ الِاسْتِخْفَافَ — كَفَرَ[/ar] (“Whoever says to a scholar ‘little scholar’ — i.e.

Answer

If someone demeans a scholar of religion without any apparent cause and out of no worldly enmity, then this is in reality a demeaning of religious knowledge, which has been declared kufr. But if he demeans him because his conduct is contrary to the Sacred Law, or because he misleads people by misrepresenting the meaning of knowledge, or because some right that must be…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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