Islam - Hard of Soft? Types of Scholars

Learning about Islam is a substantial task. We should put equal effort in learning about our religion as we put towards non-religious education. And to acquire any knowledge, we always need a teacher, a guide to get the best understanding of the topic. It’s a wrong notion that one can simply read Quran and understand it. We have Physics books, Math Books; but we still need a tutor whenever we want to excel in a specific field.

A competent teacher having a strong grip on the subject is a must. But not all teachers are at same level and all have different methods; some take flexible approach and some just stick to the point. Same is the case with religious scholars; you will find some scholars who take very hard line and then there are those who take a rather soft approach. Both are right in their own perspectives. I will try to explain with the following scenarios.

To pass an exam, you have to obtain a minimum of 33%. Now ask yourself; if you are capable of completing the exam, you know all the answers; would you deliberately solve only 33% and leave the rest of the exam? Would you take such a chance knowing that you could easily solve the remaining? Never! You will never take this chance because you are aware that anything could go wrong. You know that even if you are confident that all your 33% answers were correct; still you could have made an error that could result in failure. So what do we do? We solve the paper as much as we could. If we don’t know an answer completely, we will solve it partially to get even partial numbers so that it could help in the accumulative total. We never take such chances.

Another example; whenever we are hired for a job, an Offer Letter is signed by us that outline our role and responsibilities. Now by law, it’s not wrong to strictly stick to the responsibilities you signed but, would you? We will only take such excuses if we don’t want to do the job and have no ambitions to progress. But if we want to get promoted, we will deliberately perform more than the mentioned responsibilities because we know that this is the only way to prove ourselves for promotion.

Now apply both these examples with religion. No doubt that performing only obligations is sufficient by law; but ask yourself, are they really sufficient? Strictly sticking to the obligations is similar to the examinations example. You never know what could go wrong and one small error can lead to a failure. And even if you succeed to obtain 33% marks and are allowed to enter Jannah, don’t forget that there are different levels of Jannah. Imagine it in this way; there is a huge palace of a King filled with all the luxuries and comforts of the world and you have the opportunity to have a place in that palace; this place could be a servant quarter or an extravagant room beside the chamber of the King. It all depends on your worth. No doubt that having even a servant quarter in such a luxurious palace is a blessing; but aren’t you at loss when you could have put some extra effort to get a bigger place near to the King?

Same are the levels of Jannah. And the highest rank is Jannat-ul-Firdous which is situated right beneath the Thorne of Allah. Now decide, do you want a servant quarter in Jannah or you want to be Allah’s neighbor?

To be Allah’s neighbor, you have to put extra effort; follow certain protocols. Be it our prayers, our dresses, our food, our traditions, our lifestyle; we have to go out of the way to be eligible for such a high rank in Jannah. And remember, in traditional exams, we have the opportunity to appear again and again to succeed, but that won’t be the case on the Day of Judgment. We have just one chance and failure even by 1% means Hell.

Some teachers teach just enough to get us through the passing marks; but some teachers become our mentors; their goal is to make us an epitome of success in the relevant field; they will be strict at times, yell, scold, be rude, be rough; but only to make us tough. Same is with the scholars; some preach point to point and some will go to the extents to make sure we get as far away as possible from the evil and achieve higher ranks in Jannah. And like I mentioned in the beginning, both are right; now it’s upon us if we want to live on the edge or have a safer passage.

P.S I am not in favor of those hard liners who abuse or defame other’s beliefs.