Fatwa ID: 01940
Answered by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah
Question:
What Does the Shariah says if anyone using word Butcher of kufa or unacceptable word for Hadrat Imam Abu Hainfa Nauman ibne Saabit RadiAllahu Anhu Who is Tabein. And also using unacceptable word for any other Alim e Deen (Islamic Scholar)?
Answer:
Imam Abu Hanifa (May Allah Ta'aala be pleased with him) is considered to be a tabi'ee (someone who met a companion of Allah's messenger 
or merely saw one while in the state of Iman), and this has been confirmed by many biographers and historians. This is a unique position held by him, since the same cannot be said regarding the other great Imams, Shaf’ee, Malik and Ahmad ibn Hanbal 
. His depth of knowledge in Qur'an and Hadith, his trustworthiness, his honesty, piety and his fear of Allah were testified to by thousands of Imams and scholars of the ummah.
Hence, to make these kinds of allegations and pass such comments regarding such a great individual is indeed frowned upon and must be refrained from. Such people do nothing besides expressing their own lack of knowledge and are advised to seek repentance lest they should become amongst those people regarding whom Allah's messenger said in a lengthy hadith: “Amongst the signs of the hour are [. . .] when the latter part of the ummah will speak ill of the former part of the ummah". (Baihaqi Shu'ab al-Iman vol:1 pg:307)
Saaiduna Abu Darda narrates that he heard the Prophet of Allah say: ‘Whoever treads a path due to which he seeks knowledge, Allah will make him tread one of the paths towards Paradise. And the angels lower their wings out of contentment for the seeker of knowledge. And verily all those in the heavens and in the earth, even the fish in the depths of the sea ask forgiveness for the scholar. And verily, the virtue of the scholar over the worshipper is like the virtue of the moon on the night of Al-Badr over all of the stars. Indeed, the scholars are the inheritors of the prophets, for the prophets do not leave behind a dinar or a dirham for inheritance, but rather, they leave behind knowledge. So whoever takes hold of it, has acquired a large share (i.e. of inheritance).’ (Sunan Abu Dawud p.157 v.2)
It is our duty as believers to respect all the scholars. It is not permissible to criticise any scholar as long as his views are in accordance to the Qur’an and Sunnah.
Only Allah Knows Best
Mohammed Tosir Miah
Darul Ifta Birmingham
