Evil scholars

The evil scholars (ulama-e-su), the worldly scholars, are those who are outside the fold of the Sunni way. Likewise, they also include those scholars who may hold the true beliefs, but whose aim in acquiring knowledge is not the pleasure of Allah or the Hereafter, but the world. Since intention is a hidden matter, just as the scholars have described signs by which the scholars of the Hereafter can be recognised, so too there are signs by which these can be recognised. Their signs are that the marks and indications of being a scholar of the Hereafter, which you have read, are not found in them. There are several kinds of people among them. One kind are those whose deeds are bad, who abandon even the obligatory (fard) and necessary (wajib) duties. The noble scholars have also cited, in condemnation of such scholars, the verses revealed concerning Bal'am ibn Ba'ura. Allah Most High says:

وَاتْلُ عَلَیْہِمْ نَبَأَ الَّذِیَ آتَیْنَاہُ آیَاتِنَا فَانسَلَخَ مِنْہَا فَأَتْبَعَہُ الشَّیْطَانُ فَکَانَ مِنَ الْغَاوِیْنَ وَلَوْ شِئْنَا لَرَفَعْنَاہُ بِہَا وَلَکِنَّہُ أَخْلَدَ إِلَی الأَرْضِ وَاتَّبَعَ ھَوَاہُ فَمَثَلُہُ کَمَثَلِ الْکَلْبِ إِن

And recite to them the account of the one to whom We gave Our signs, but he slipped away from them; so Satan followed him, and he became one of those gone astray. And had We willed, We would have raised him by them, but he clung to the earth and followed his own desire. So his likeness is the likeness of a dog: if

تَحْمِلْ عَلَیْہِ یَلْہَث اَوْ تَتْرُکْہُ یَلْہَث۔؂

you attack it, it pants, and if you leave it, it pants.

Translation: Tell them the account of the one to whom We gave Our verses, but he slipped clean away from them. Then Satan went after him, and he became one of the misguided. Had We willed, We would have raised him up, but he clung to the earth and followed his own desire. So his likeness is that of a dog: if you attack it, it hangs out its tongue, and if you leave it, it hangs out its tongue.

Bal'am ibn Ba'ura was so great a scholar that twelve thousand inkpots and pens were kept for students of religion to write down everything he said, and the insight of his heart was such that when he looked, he could see the Throne. The noble scholars say that the reason for his condemnation was his following of the desires of the self and his corrupt intention in teaching and instruction, for this work of his was not for Allah Most High and the Hereafter. The scholars of hadith have related numerous noble hadiths concerning the evil scholars which point out their deeds and characteristics. For example: first, the aim of their knowledge is not the pleasure of Allah but the acquisition of the world. Second: showing off (riya). Third: they will tell others good and virtuous things but will not act on them themselves. Likewise, they will forbid others from evils and give fatwas that this is prohibited, this is unlawful, do not commit it, yet they themselves will commit such things. Fourth: tribulations (fitna) will spread from them, and there is no limit to this. Fifth: they will spend the knowledge of religion for the sake of the world. Sixth: they will dispute with the scholars of truth, quarrelling and debating with them. Seventh: they will contend with the ignorant. Eighth: they will draw people towards themselves by means of knowledge. A few hadiths are presented:

1. Whoever learns knowledge for other than Allah, or intends by it other than Allah, let him take his seat in the Fire.

Translation: "Whoever learned knowledge for other than Allah, or intended by it other than Allah, let him make Hell his abode."

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1. Surah al-A'raf 7:175, 176

2. Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Abwab al-'Ilm, Bab ma ja'a fi man yatlubu bi-'ilmihi al-dunya, from Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him): 2655

7. 'Ali narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: A time is about to come upon the people when nothing will remain of Islam except its name, and nothing will remain of the Quran except its script. Their mosques will be flourishing, yet they will be empty of guidance. Their scholars will be the worst of those beneath the canopy of the sky; from them tribulation will emerge, and to them it will return.

Translation: Hazrat 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: It is near that a time will come upon the people when only the name of Islam will remain and only the script of the Quran will remain. Their mosques will outwardly be flourishing, but they will be empty of guidance. Their scholars will be the worst of all people beneath the sky; from these very scholars tribulations will emerge, and to them they will return.

8. It is narrated from Hazrat 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: If the scholars had protected knowledge (by saving themselves from humiliation and from serving oppressors, keeping away from the company of worldly people, which stems from coveting their rank and wealth, and remaining safe from mutual envy) and had placed it with those worthy of it, they would by means of it have become the leaders of the people of their age. But they spent knowledge on the people of the world in order to obtain their worldly goods through knowledge, and so they became contemptible in their eyes. I heard your Prophet ﷺ say: Whoever makes all his concerns a single concern, the concern for the Hereafter, Allah Most High will suffice him against the concerns of the world; and whoever lets his concerns be scattered by the affairs of the world, Allah Most High does not care in which valley of the world he perishes.

9. Hazrat Ziyad ibn Hudayr said: Hazrat 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said to me: Do you know what will demolish Islam? I said: No. He said: The slip of the scholar, and the disputation of the hypocrite concerning the Book

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1. Narrated by al-Bayhaqi in Shu'ab al-Iman: 3/317

2. Mishkat al-Masabih, Kitab al-'Ilm, p. 37, Majlis Barakat, Jamia Ashrafia, Mubarakpur, India; also narrated by Ibn Majah and al-Bayhaqi

Further, the Knower of the unseen ﷺ says:

Whoever learns knowledge of the kind by which the Countenance of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is sought, learning it only to obtain some goods of this world, will not find the fragrance of Paradise on the Day of Resurrection.

Translation: "Whoever learned that knowledge through which the pleasure of Allah Most High is sought, but acquires it only so as to obtain the goods of the world through it, will not find the fragrance of Paradise on the Day of Resurrection."

3. Whoever seeks knowledge in order to vie with the scholars, or to dispute with the foolish, or to turn people's faces towards himself, Allah will enter him into the Fire.

Translation: "Whoever sought knowledge in order to debate and quarrel with the scholars, to contend with the foolish, or to turn people's faces towards himself by means of knowledge, Allah Most High will enter him into Hell."

The aim of debating and quarrelling with the scholars is to display one's knowledge to people out of showing off and seeking fame (riya and sum'a), and the aim of drawing people towards oneself is to obtain wealth and rank from them. Excluded from this are the debates of the people of truth with the people of falsehood, which are held to establish the truth and refute falsehood.

4. Ibn 'Abbas narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Some people of my Ummah will acquire understanding of the religion and recite the Quran, and they will say: We go to the rulers to obtain something of their world, and we keep apart from them with our religion. But that will not be; just as nothing is gathered from the thorny tragacanth except thorns, likewise nothing is gathered from nearness to them except — Muhammad ibn

1. Sunan Abi Dawud, Kitab al-'Ilm, Bab fi talab al-'ilm li-ghayr Allah, with a sound chain, from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him): 3664

2. Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Abwab al-'Ilm, Bab ma ja'a fi man yatlubu bi-'ilmihi al-dunya, from Ka'b ibn Malik: 2654

al-Sabbah said: as though he meant sins.

Translation: Hazrat Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: Some people of my Ummah will soon acquire understanding of the religion (fiqh) and will recite the Quran. They will say: We go to the rulers in order to take from their world, while keeping ourselves apart from them in our religion. But this cannot be (that is, their religion cannot remain safe). Just as nothing but thorns can be taken from a thorny tree, likewise nothing can be gained from nearness to them except sins.

5. Al-Ahwas ibn Hakim narrated from his father, who said: A man asked the Prophet ﷺ about evil. He said: Do not ask me about evil; ask me about good. He said this three times, then said: Indeed, the worst of evil is the evil scholars, and the best of good is the good scholars.

Translation: Hazrat Ahwas ibn Hakim narrates from his father that he related: A man asked the Prophet ﷺ about evil. He ﷺ said: Do not ask us about evil; ask about good. He said this three times, then said: The greatest evil is the worst of scholars, and the greatest good is the best of scholars.

6. Al-Hasan said: Knowledge is of two kinds: knowledge in the heart, and that is beneficial knowledge; and knowledge upon the tongue, and that is Allah's proof against the son of Adam.

Translation: It is narrated from Hazrat Hasan (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: Knowledge is of two kinds. One is knowledge in the heart; this is beneficial knowledge. The other is knowledge upon the tongue; this is Allah Most High's proof against the son of Adam.

1. Sunan Ibn Majah, Iftitah al-Kitab fi al-Iman..., Bab al-intifa' bi-l-'ilm wa-l-'amal bihi, from Ibn 'Abbas: 255

2. Sunan al-Darimi, al-Muqaddima, Bab al-tawbikh li-man yatlubu al-'ilm li-ghayr Allah, from al-Ahwas ibn Hakim from his father: 382

2. Sunan al-Darimi, al-Muqaddima, Bab al-tawbikh li-man yatlubu al-'ilm li-ghayr Allah, from al-Hasan: 376

of Allah, and the rule of misguided leaders will demolish Islam.

10. Hazrat Abu al-Darda' (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Among the worst of people in the sight of Allah Most High on the Day of Resurrection is the one who does not benefit from his own knowledge.

11. It is narrated from Hazrat Ziyad ibn Labid (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet ﷺ mentioned something terrible and said that it would happen when knowledge departs. I said: O Messenger of Allah ﷺ, how will knowledge depart when we recite the Quran and teach it to our sons, and our sons will teach it to their sons until the Day of Resurrection? He said: May your mother weep for you, O Ziyad! We used to consider you among the people of understanding in Madinah. Do the Jews and Christians not read the Torah and the Gospel? Yet they do not act upon what is in them. (Ahmad, Ibn Majah, al-Tirmidhi and others)

12. It is in a hadith that on the Day of Resurrection a man will be brought and thrown into Hell. His intestines will spill out, and he will go round in the Fire as a donkey goes round a millstone, and his intestines will be trampled as a harvested crop is trampled. The people of Hell will come and ask him: What has happened to you (that you are in Hell)? Did you not command us to do good and forbid us from evil? He will say: Yes (I used to), O my people! (But the matter is that) I used to command you to do good and forbid you from evil, but I did not act upon noble knowledge. So I would command you to do good but not do it myself, and I would forbid you from evil

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1. Sunan al-Darimi, al-Muqaddima, Bab karahiyat akhdh al-ra'y, from Ziyad ibn Hudayr: 220

2. Ibn 'Adi in al-Kamil 6/269, from Abu Hurayrah

3. Ibn Majah, Kitab al-Fitan, Bab dhahab al-Quran wa-l-'ilm, p. 293

and commit evil myself. (Taken from al-Bukhari and Muslim)

Benefit: Two things are binding upon people of knowledge: first, to abandon evil themselves; second, if someone is doing something evil, to forbid him and reject it. Neither of these is dropped because the other is neglected. That is why it is in a noble hadith that Hazrat Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I asked, O Messenger of Allah ﷺ, should we not command good until we do it ourselves, and not forbid evil until we avoid it ourselves? He said: Command good even if you do not do it, and forbid evil even if you do not avoid it yourselves.

13. It is in a noble hadith that on the night of the Ascension (Mi'raj) the Prophet (upon him be blessings and peace) saw some people whose lips were being cut with scissors. He asked Hazrat Jibril (peace be upon him): Who are these people being given this punishment? He said: These are the scholars of your Ummah who used to tell others good things and did not act upon them themselves.

Let it be known that in hadith number 9 you read that there are three things that demolish Islam: the slip of the scholar, the disputation of the hypocrite, and the rule of misguided leaders. If you look today with a careful eye, you will see that Islam and faith have suffered most harm from these very things. All of them argue from the Book and the Sunnah, all of them declare themselves to be in the right, and they tell the common people and the elite to bind themselves to their own notions. Had beliefs and thoughts, deeds and character been determined in the light of the teachings and guidance of the Prophet ﷺ, his Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), and after them the righteous Successors (Tabi'in) and the mujtahid Imams, and had people walked in their way, these tribulations that did arise would not have come into being. The result of all this was that hundreds of thousands, indeed millions, of Muslims were deprived of faith and split into various sects and parties,

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1. Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab al-Fitan, Bab al-fitna allati tamuju ka-mawj al-bahr; Sahih Muslim, Kitab al-Zuhd wa-l-Raqa'iq, Bab 'uqubat man...

2. Al-Mu'jam al-Awsat of al-Tabarani, Bab al-Mim, man ismuhu Muhammad

and began to commit insolence against those brought near to the Divine Court. The common people grew bold and began to insult and belittle the scholars. Everyone began to read the Quran and hadith directly by himself and to consider himself a righteous scholar; reading translation after translation, they began to expound meanings, and they strayed far from the path of Allah Most High and His Messenger ﷺ. Now if someone asks how a person can go astray through the Quran and the Sunnah, the reason is as follows.

Causes of Going Astray Through the Holy Quran

Although the Quran is "a clarification of all things" (tibyanan li-kulli shay'), that is, a clear exposition of everything, the Quran itself nevertheless says that it is both a means of guidance and a cause of misguidance. Its being a means of guidance is clear, for it is the Speech of Allah; who could guide towards Allah more than it, since it is an eternal attribute of Allah Most High? But its being a cause of misguidance certainly invites reflection: why is it a cause of misguidance, and what are the reasons for this? Only the eminent scholars can understand this fully. In the view of this humble one (may he be pardoned), there are several reasons:

(a) The root is the Divine Will: He is the Guide and also the One who leaves astray. This world is the manifestation of His attributes, and all of these attributes were to become manifest here. And so it happened: some were guided, and some went astray and disbelieved. He is the Absolutely Powerful; He makes whatever He wills a means of guidance, whatever He wills a cause of disbelief and misguidance, and whomever He wills He chooses without any means.

(b) The Quran was revealed in such a way that it contains both clear and decisive verses (muhkamat) and ambiguous verses (mutashabihat). The Quran itself says that those in whose hearts there is deviation follow the ambiguous verses. So one cause is these verses. Likewise, there are some verses in the Quran in which there appears outwardly to be a contradiction. For example, among them are verses that negate knowledge of the unseen, and some that affirm knowledge of the unseen for the Prophets and Messengers. Those in whose hearts there was crookedness

looked only at the verses of negation and, taking these alone as their proof, denied knowledge of the unseen to those beloved servants, and went astray. Likewise, the Quran and Sunnah speak both of the Master ﷺ being light (nur) and of his being human (bashar), and on this basis the people of deviation called him a human being like themselves. This gave rise to deviation and crookedness in beliefs.

Likewise, in the Quran Allah Most High has praised and commended His beloved servants: in some places by describing their praiseworthy virtues, in some places by describing their services to religion, in some places by mentioning His favours to them; and in some places there is also reproach over certain matters. Those in whose hearts there was crookedness kept their gaze confined to these verses of reproach alone. Moreover, a study of the Quran and Sunnah makes it clear that the Prophets (upon them be blessings and peace) uttered certain words out of humility and lowliness and as an expression of their servanthood; the ignorant and the misguided gave these a false colour, and this became a cause of disrespect and misguidance.

(c) Because of Satan and the mischief of the self, some fixed certain notions according to their own fancies and desires, which are wholly contrary to the truth, and then interpreted the verses according to these very notions and lower desires, moulding them into the shape of their own fancies.

(d) Certain realities have been stated in the Quran in a manner that not everyone is able to understand. Those of little knowledge, little understanding, or no understanding cannot reach the depth of these realities, and because of this they went astray. These are the causes that are mostly connected with the Quran and Sunnah.

(e) The beloved servants of Allah Most High, whether the Prophets (upon them be blessings and peace) or the noble saints (may Allah be pleased with them), appeared in this world in human garb, and for the guidance of human beings. For giving and receiving benefit, and for bestowing and receiving spiritual grace (fayz), it is necessary that there be complete affinity between the giver and the receiver of benefit and between the bestower and the receiver of grace. Disregarding these wisdoms, the wretched looked only at their human garb and

the cloak of humanity. They imagined them, like themselves, rising and sitting, eating and drinking, sleeping and waking, smiling and marrying. This became the cause of their denying their greatness, and through it the doors of disrespect and insolence were opened, which brought them all the way to disbelief.

(f) Excessive love generally carries a person to exaggeration (ghuluw). Those who fall prey to it often raise those to whom their devotion is attached far beyond their true station, and sometimes even carry them to the limit of disbelief. The result is often that they come to regard them as superior even to those whose superiority is certain. In the same way, they go as far as insulting and disparaging those brought near to Allah, and sometimes they even ascribe attributes of divinity to the personalities they love. In short, some of the misguided brought personalities down from their station, like the Wahhabis, and some, through exaggeration in devotion and love, raised them far too high, like the Shi'a and others.

(g) Reliance on deficient reason also often becomes a cause of misguidance for people of learning, as is clear from the states of the philosophers who, merely because of their deficient intellects, committed many acts of disbelief and made many others disbelievers. The Mu'tazila did the same: according to what their deficient intellects led them to understand, they interpreted verses and hadiths and denied the apparent meanings of the texts.

(h) One very great cause of disbelief and apostasy was also this: the verses revealed in the Holy Quran concerning idols and false deities were applied to the beloved servants of Allah Most High, along with the attributes of those idols, such as helplessness and powerlessness, inability to benefit or harm, inability to come to anyone's aid, and inability to hear anything anyone says, and so on. Likewise, their state after passing away (wisal) was likened to that of ordinary dead people. This opened many doors of misguidance; the cunning minds of misguided scholars carried out their work of leading people astray thoroughly by this means, and misled the common people by showing them verses of this kind again and again. In the Wahhabi creed you will find a few things in abundance: first, the very thing just mentioned. Second, by giving hidden polytheism (shirk khafi) the form of open polytheism (shirk jali), they thoroughly

made the people of faith into polytheists; indeed, they even brought certain permissible things that they did not like into the circle of polytheism and innovation (shirk and bid'a). Third, by fixing the meanings and concepts of certain terms of the Shari'ah wrongly, they drew evil conclusions from them, such as with tawhid and so on. Fourth, they cut the common people off from the responsible scholars and the mujtahids, and invited everyone to understand the Quran and hadith without the mediation of these elders.

(i) Some looked only at the outward words of the Quran and Sunnah; they neither looked at the occasion of their revelation, nor at the context for which they were meant, nor whether interpretation of them was necessary. In short, these are a few of the causes through which people went astray, and in all of them taken together you will see that it is the following of the desires of the self. And those who took these wrong concepts and meanings from the Quran and Sunnah and went astray were the very scholars who had some hold over the community; the simple-hearted common people trusted them because they were scholars. So these scholars took advantage of this and led people astray.

Consider the conditions that arose in the time of Hazrat Mujaddid Alf-e-Sani (may his secret be sanctified), and King Akbar, who in the beginning regularly observed the Shari'ah and used to sit in the mornings in a meditative state to receive spiritual grace. The change that later came over him has not come over any other king in the world, and gradually he went as far as inventing the Din-e-Ilahi. All this happened because of the evil scholars, as Mulla 'Abd al-Qadir Bada'uni (may Allah have mercy on him) and others have written in great detail, and as has been set out in very good order in Tazkira Mujaddid Alf-e-Sani and other works. After reading this in detail, anyone can easily understand how far the corruption of the evil scholars can reach, from a ruler down to the subjects and from the elite down to the common people, and what loss and harm can befall Islam and Muslims in their faith, their religion and their worldly affairs.

Likewise, through the blessed company of Hazrat Mujaddid (may his secret be sanctified), a change then began among the pillars of Akbar's empire and, after Akbar, in Jahangir; and from Jahangir it passed to Shah Jahan, and from him on to so righteous a king as Hazrat Aurangzeb. From this one can gauge

the righteousness of the righteous scholars of the Hereafter. After reading about both of these, the truth of the saying becomes clear that the soundness of the scholar ('alim) is the soundness of the world ('alam), and the corruption of the scholar is the corruption of the world. The corruption of the evil scholars who do the work of spreading corruption is highly contagious, and at times it spreads through the entire world. Another clear example of this is Ibn Taymiyya, who was very good in the beginning; and when he went wrong, and his pride and his commanding self (nafs-e-ammara) drove him to corruption, he spread so much corruption that today all of Najdism and Wahhabism is the result of Ibn Taymiyya's corruption. His corruption has spread throughout the entire world, and the people of truth weep tears of blood at the conditions that have come about in Saudi Arabia today.

In the letters (Maktubat) of Hazrat Mujaddid (may his secret be sanctified) there are numerous letters in which he has described the condemnations of the evil scholars, their worldly and otherworldly losses, and the losses to religion and the community that come about through them. A few of his sayings are set down here:

1. He (may his secret be sanctified) says: For scholars, love of the world and inclination towards the world is an ugly stain on the beauty of their face. Even if creation derives benefits from them, their knowledge is not beneficial to themselves. Even if the Shari'ah is supported and the community is strengthened through them, this carries no weight, for support and strengthening are sometimes obtained even from the people of sin (and in the same way, financial help and the like are also obtained from worldly people). The Master of the worlds ﷺ said that Allah Most High supports this religion even by means of a sinful man: "Indeed, Allah supports this religion by means of the sinful man."

Such scholars of bad deeds, captives of love and desire for the world, are like the philosopher's stone (paras): when copper and iron touch it and come into contact with it, they become gold, though it itself remains only a stone. Their likeness is also that of the fire hidden in stone and in trees: the world derives benefits from it, but the stone and the tree derive nothing.

But I say that this knowledge is harmful to them, because through it Allah

Most High's proof against them is established, as the Noble Prophet ﷺ said that on the Day of Resurrection the most severely punished of people will be the scholar whom Allah Most High did not benefit through his knowledge. So how could it not be harmful to him, when these scholars have made knowledge, which in the sight of Allah Most High is the dearest of all things and the noblest of existents, a means of amassing the goods of the world, that is, wealth, rank and the like, while the world in the sight of Allah Most High is lowly and contemptible and the most hated of created things? It is obvious that to debase what is dearest to Allah Most High and to honour what is lowly in His sight is utterly vile; indeed, it is a confrontation with the Truth and with reality.

Let it also be remembered that teaching and giving fatwas are beneficial (in the Hereafter) only when they are solely for the pleasure of Allah, and free from love of rank, any trace of seeking leadership, the acquisition of wealth, and the greed for elevation and eminence. The sign of this is detachment from the world and abstinence (zuhd). So those scholars who are afflicted with this calamity and are captives of love of the world are among the worldly scholars; they are the evil scholars, the worst of people and the thieves of religion. Yet they consider themselves the leaders of religion and superior to all creation, and they suppose that they have standing. Allah Most High says:

اسْتَحْوَذَ عَلَیْہِمُ الشَّیْطَانُ فَأَنسَاھُمْ ذِکْرَ اللَّہِ أُوْلٰئِکَ حِزْبُ الشَّیْطَانِ أَلَا إِنَّ حِزْبَ الشَّیْطَانِ ھُمُ الْخَاسِرُون؂

Satan has gained mastery over them and made them forget the remembrance of Allah. Those are the party of Satan. Beware, indeed the party of Satan are the losers.

Translation: Satan has overpowered them and made them forget the remembrance of Allah. They are the party of Satan. Listen! Surely it is the party of Satan that is in loss.

One of the elders saw Satan sitting idle, free from the work of seducing and misleading. He asked him the secret of this, and that accursed one said: The evil scholars of this time have helped me greatly in my affairs and have taken upon themselves the work of misleading and leading astray, and have left me free of care.

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Surah al-Mujadila 58:19

The truth is that this weakness and feebleness which has occurred in this age in the affairs of the Shari'ah, and this slackness which has appeared in the spreading of the community's way and the strengthening of religion, is due to the ill-omen of the evil scholars and the corruption of their intentions. Yes, those scholars who are detached from the world and free from love of rank and leadership and from greed for wealth and eminence are among the scholars of the Hereafter; they are the heirs of the Prophets (upon them be blessings and peace) and the best of creation. They are the ones whose ink (of their pens) will be weighed on the Day of Resurrection against the blood of the martyrs and will outweigh it, and it is established in their case that the sleep of the scholar is worship. These are the scholars in whose sight the beauty and freshness of the Hereafter became admirable, and the ugliness and vileness of the world became evident. They looked at the Hereafter with the eye of permanence and saw the world stained with the brand of decline and extinction. So inevitably they fled from the transient and turned towards the everlasting.

The witnessing of the greatness of the Hereafter is the fruit of witnessing the everlasting Beauty, and to debase the world and to regard as contemptible everything in it is among the necessary consequences of witnessing the greatness of the Hereafter. For the world and the Hereafter are like two co-wives: if one is pleased, the other is displeased. So if the world is dear, the Hereafter will be contemptible, and if the world is contemptible, the Hereafter will be dear. To combine the two is of the category of combining opposites. Yes, some of those spiritual masters (mashayikh) who had become completely free and released from the bondage of their selves and the demands of their natures adopted the outward form of the world with godly intentions. You will find them outwardly inclined towards the world, but in reality they have no attachment to the world; rather, they are free of everything and released from everything:

رِجَالٌ لَّا تُلْہِیْہِمْ تِجَارَۃٌ وَلَا بَیْعٌ عَن ذِکْرِ اللّٰہِ؂

Men whom neither trade nor sale distracts from the remembrance of Allah.

"They are people whom neither trade nor buying and selling makes heedless of the remembrance of Allah."

So buying and selling does not keep them from the remembrance of Allah. Thus, even in the very midst of this attachment,

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Surah al-Nur 24:37

they are detached from all intoxication.

Hazrat Khwaja Sayyid Baha' al-Din Naqshband (may his secret be sanctified) says: "I saw a merchant in the market who traded to the amount of about fifty thousand dinars, and his heart was not heedless of the Truth, Glorified is He, for a single moment." (Letter 33, Volume One)

Hazrat Mujaddid (may his secret be sanctified) has, in numerous letters, set out the condemnations of the worldly scholars and very great virtues and merits of the scholars of the Hereafter.