They took their priests, their ancestors and scholars to be their lords in substitute of Allah and (they also took as their Lord) Christ, the son of Maryam (may Allah be pleased with her); Yet they were commanded (in their books) to worship none but one Allah; there is no god but He. Glorified is He (far above is He) from having the partners they associate (with Him). (Qur'an; 9:31) Adi Bin Hatim (May Allah be pleased with him) was a Christian who had embraced Islam. When this above verse was revealed, he came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) and said: “Allah's Messenger, at no time have we worshipped our priests and monks (ancestors and scholars); then why is Allah saying so?” To this the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Do you take your scholars' words when they say a thing is halaal?” To this Hatim (May Allah be pleased with him) replied, “Yes.” Then the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Do you take the words of your Priests when they say a thing is haraam?” Again Hatim (may Allah be pleased with him) replied,“Yes.” Then, the Prophet (peace be upon him) asked: “Do you clarify as to whether Allah and His Prophet have said so? Hatim replied, “No,we know only what our scholars say.” Then Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, “This is how you make them god for when your scholars and ancestors say something contradictory to Allah and His Prophet, you obey them blindly without, in the least clarifying, as to whether Allah and His Prophet said it. Then your scholars become the law makers and law givers and you obey them blindly; it then tanta-mounts to making them your deity”. (Ahmad & Tirmidhi) This message is not only for the Christians or Jews, it is also for Muslims because Allah is warning us to be careful and not to follow anyone blindly; Allah alone has the privilege to formulate laws and none other than Him has the authority or audacity to make laws. Whenever scholars say something, make sure to find out as to whether Allah and His Prophet have said so. If you don't and if the scholar says something contradictory to Allah and His Messenger; and you blindly follow them, then you too have made your scholars and ancestors equal to Allah. We should respect and honor our scholars as much as possible, look after them and if they are dead, pray for Allah's forgiveness for them. But it's a duty of every Muslim to confirm whatever he follows is commanded by Allah or His Messenger or not. People who blindly follow their scholars and segregated into many groups in their scholars' names, Allah says to them, Verily, those who divide their religion and break up into sects (all kinds of religious sects), you (O Muhammad) have no concern with them in the least. Their affair is only with Allâh, Who then will tell them what they used to do. (Qur'an; 6:159) __
