Ilm and Madaaris

THE USTADHS
The student who recognizes the significance and the importance of Deeni knowledge, who regards knowledge as a priceless treasure, in whose heart there is embedded the love of Allah Taala and Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam), will most certainly honour the Ustadhs and have love in his heart for them. Their respect will rank uppermost in his mind. Ustadhs, in fact, are the links in the chain of transmission, instruct-ion and guidance of Allah and His Rasul (sallallahu alayhi wasallam). That Chain links up with Allah Taala via the agency of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam). Ustadhs ensure that such lofty and noble instruction and guidance reach the student.
Rasulullah [(sallallahu alayhi wasallam) described as his Khalifa (Representative) one who transmits his Shariah and Sunnah to others. Therefore, respect and honour accorded to the Ustadhs are in reality respect and honour for Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam). In Abu Dawood Shareef appears the following narration of Hadhrat Taa-oos (rahmatullah alayhi):
Of the Sunnah is to honour four persons: an Aalim, an aged man, a sultan and ones father.
The hadith brands as a munaafiq the person who scorns at the Ulama and considers them as being insignificant. Allaamah Sharaani (rahmatullah alayhi) writes in Uhood-e-Muhammadiyyyah:
A general promise has been taken from us by the direction of Rasulullah [sallallahu alayhi wasallam] that we honour, respect and revere the llama and [that we acknowledge that] we can never compensate their favours even if we had to hand over to them all the wealth we own or even if we have to labour for them all our lives.
The majority of students have failed to uphold this pledge and so have the mureeds in the path of Tasawwuf. This degeneration has reached the level where we cannot find a single one among them [students and mureeds] who fulfils the wajib rights of his Ustadhs. This is a grave disease and it indicates that llm as well as Rasulullah [sallallahu alayhi wasallam] who commanded us to honour the Ulama, are being treated with contempt.

This should cause the student of the Deen to reflect. Allaamah Sharaani (rahmatullah alayhi) has demonstrated the high rank, importance and significance of the rights of Ustadhs. All our wealth and all our services can never be an adequate compensation for the rights which they have over us.

Honouring seniors was an outstanding feature of our Akaabireen (former senior Ulama). Once a publisher requested Hadhrat Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi (rahmatullah alayhi) to write a review on the translation of the Quraan Shareef prepared by Hadhrat Shaikhul Hind (rahmatullah alayhi). Hadhrat Thanvi (rahmatullah alayhi) declined, saying that a review should be written by one who has the right of praising as well as the right to criticize. But, since Hadhrat Shaikhul Hind (rahmatullah alayhi) was the Ustadh of Hadhrat Thanvi (rahmatullah alayhi), he said:
Should I write a review and laud praises, it will imply that I have the right of criticism as well. This implication is evil [when related to ones Ustadh].

The high degree of respect for an Ustadh is evident from this noble attitude of Hadhrat Hakimul Ummat (rahmatullah alayhi) who could not tolerate even the idea of him criticizing or even possessing the right to criticize his Ustadh. He regards even this implication as a violation of the honour and sanctity of ones Ustadhs. 

Hadhrat Maulana Muhammad Qasim (rahmatullah alayhi) said:
Whatever one gains [in knowledge], is by virtue of respect for the Ustadh. He who is disrespectful to his Ustadhs will never gain knowledge.
The authorities of the Shariah have therefore averred: He who has no adab has no ilm.
Respect is not confined to only the Ustadhs. All media and objects of knowledge have to be respected. On account of a relationship with Ilm, every Alim, Haafiz, kitaab and even instruments of knowledge, e.g. pen, paper, ink, desks, madressah buildings, etc., have necessarily to be respected.

A GRAVE MISCONCEPTION 
Some minds while conceding the need to uphold the rights, etc., of llm, claim that nowadays Ustadhs of the former calibre do not exist, hence there is no need to offer such great respect to Ustadhs of the present age. They claim that Ustadhs in general, suffer from spiritual! ailments, e.g. greed, desire, etc., hence it is not possible to honour and respect such Ustadhs. Needless to say, this is a shaitaani waswasaha satanic deception which must be banished from the mind. The Hadith Shareef states the following statement of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam):
The best of ages is my period, then that period following it, then that period which follows.

The age which succeeded the period of Nabi-e-Kareem (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) was of a lower degree in nobility, and the succeeding age was even of lesser rank. As time drifts further and further from the original source (i.e. Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam) degeneration and corruption sets in more and more, each succeeding age being more inferior to the preceding age. The above-cited hadith implies that a generation cannot apply to it the standard of a previous generation, for the former generation has been bestowed with superiority and greater excellence than the generation which succeeds it.

In the light of the rule which has been stated in this hadith shareef, we see that the Ulama of a former age being superior to the Ulama of the age succeeding it; the Sufis of a former age being superior to the Sufis of the age succeeding it; the Ustadhs of a former age being superior to the Ustadhs of the age succeeding it; the students of a former age being superior to the students of the age succeeding it, (Not (only this. We observe that even the ignoramuses of a former age being superior to the ignoramuses of the age succeeding itTranslator). Thus, degeneration in rank and quality is not confined to the Ustadhs. It is a rule which applies to all strata of society and it is a natural circumstance which cannot be utilized to waive the rights of superiors or seniors. If the rank of the Ustadhs has fallen then to a far greater extent has the rank of the students fallen, especially of such students who possess anarchistic attitudes and have absolutely no consideration for even the wajib huqooq of their Ustadhs and seniors.

The above-stated rule emanating from the holy statement of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) effectively closes the door for the satanic deception-the deceptive and misleading arguments which shaitaan whispers into the minds of those students who totally disregard the rights of Ustadhs and seniors. By instilling such deception into the minds of students, shaitaan desires to sever the ties which students have with their Ustadhs and seniors. Such satanic thoughts sow suspicion in the mind for seniors. By the presentation of such false arguments (as the waiving of respect and rights because of the Ustadhs being of a lesser calibre) shaitaan steers the students towards liberalism (the evil which has swept into anarchy and immorality the institutions of the kuffaar translator] and anarchy. The satanic design envisages the dismemberment of the united Ummah. Shaitaan endeavors to split one from the other to facilitate his task of devouring the Ummah. It is relatively a simple task for shaitaan to capture people individually like the wolf catches easily the sheep which has strayed from the flock.
It should be borne in mind that if virtue and piety have diminished in the Ustadhs as a result of the great separation from the blessed former epochs, then to a far greater extent has the degeneration set in the students. Students of today are also located at a point in time, which is far divorced from the golden epochs of Khairul Quroon (The Noblest of Ages). In general, the Ustadhs are nobler than the students. Their superiority and rank above students are established Shari as well as logical facts. Intelligence concedes this. It is, therefore, incumbent upon students to hold their Ustadhs in high esteem and to entertain good opinions about them. This is of absolute importance in this domain of llm-e-Deen since faidh (spiritual benefit) to the students is not possible without the agency of Ustadhs. If the avenue leading to the fountain of foyoodh is blocked, deprivation of spiritual gain is the compulsory consequence. This is the realm in which operate the rooh and the lofty celestial forces and factors. Thus, if the road to this realm is sealed, the student is sealed off from the lustre, intuition, insight and perception which pertain to the spiritual realm and which are among the attributes of true llm. In this regard, some illustrious soul commented aptly:
He who falls, falls because he shunned respect and honour.

Some students struck by liberalism hold in tow esteem such Ustadhs who naturally happen to have simple dispositions. They feel that such Ustadhs do not deserve respect, hence they refrain from honouring them. This too is a dangerous ploy of shaitaan who ensnares the inexperienced and self-opinionated students into traps of spiritual calamity. It is there-fore imperative that students ignore such evil thoughts which assault their minds. Irrespective of the inferiority of rank of an Ustadh, he constitutes a¿ medium for the conveyance of baatini faidh from the Fountain of Faidh, (viz., Rasulullahsallallahu alayhi wasallam). Nemats (bounties) of Allah Taala, no matter of which kind, do not reach man directly. This is a material world of means and agencies. There is .a medium for everything in this world. The medium of securing the spiritual advantages of knowledge which emanates from the spiritual realm and diffuses into this mundane realm, is the Ustadh. He is the students link. He joins the student to this golden and wonderful chain .Without his intervention there is no way of attaining the lofty gains radiating from the spiritual fountain. It is incumbent to honour as well as refrain from dishonouring the nemats of Allah Taala. Ingratitude is a grievous crime. Allah Taala declares in the Quraan Shareef: 

Verily, if you are grateful, I will certainly increase [the bounties] for you. And if you are ungrateful, then, most assuredly, My Punishment is severe.

To honour and appreciate the ways and means of knowledge are essential. It is incumbent to be grateful to those who are the medium of the wonderful, noble and lofty Nemat of Deeni knowledge. To dishonour the medium is tantamount to dishonouring the Nemat itself. In this regard the hadith shareef states:
He who is not grateful to man, is not grateful to Allah.

Thus, to honour, respect, revere, praise and to be grateful to the medium through which the Nemat of Ilm has reached us and is continually reaching us, are obligatory injunctions. Parents are the medium of ones physical existence in this material abode. Since they constituted the medium of ones existence it is incumbent upon man to love, honour, respect, revere and be grateful to them. This is incumbent even if they happen to be contaminated with kufr and shirk. Dishonouring, disrespecting and harming them are crimes of extremely grave dimensions. Similarly, Ustadhs in Deeni knowledge are the medium for our academic and spiritual life and progress. To be grateful and to honour and love them are likewise incumbent and to be ungrateful, disrespectful and irreverential to them are prohibited.

One way of showing gratitude to ones Ustadhs is to speak highly of their taleem (instruction) and to laud praise on them with sincerity. Shukr (gratitude) is shown in three ways:
(1) Inculcation of love and honour in the heart. 
(2) Practical service rendered.
(3) Verbal praise.

The third form, viz., verbal praise, is the simplest and the easiest to discharge. Therefore, he who. refrains from even praising his Ustadhs has indeed abstained from gratitude. It has been narrated:
A servant who has not praised Allah is not grateful to Him.
The student who praises his Ustadhs or at least concedes the favour of his Ustadhs over him, has to a degree discharged the requirements of shukr. The following hadith supports this:
He who praises, verily, he is grateful.
And, he who conceals [i.e. refrains from praising and overlooks the nemat], verily, he is ungrateful.
Narrating the nemat is shukr.
It should now be manifest that it is haraam to engage in propaganda against ones Ustadhs. It is haraam to belittle them. it is haraam to bring them to disrepute. It is haraam to hold them in contempt. It is haraam to audaciously raise objections against them. (t is haraam to criticize them. It is haraam to disgrace them.