From Whom Do You Take Your Deen

All Praise be to Allah (swt), and may blessings and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah (saw).
Almost everyone, if not everyone, has heard the saying, ضَعْها في رقبةِ عالمْ واطلَعْ منها سالمْ “Put it all around the neck of an alim and come out safe.”
It is a saying so frequently repeated among the people that we sense its spread was not spontaneous. Instead the spread is the result of a deliberate act.
There is no doubt that if this statement turns into a conviction for Muslims, it is a disaster. This is because it simply turns Muslims into mere blind followers of ulema, figures, and influencers that are manufactured and constructed by regimes to achieve their goals of tightening control over populations.
The easiest way to control people is to create authorities or priesthoods that confer sanctity, and an aura of respect and reverence, upon themselves. Through these authorities, you can then lead people in the direction you desire, the direction that suits you, with ease and comfort. This is what the regimes in Muslim countries have done.
These authorities came to issue fatwas declaring the prohibition of rebellion against rulers and the permissibility of obeying them, even in disobedience, from the principles of أهونِ الشرورِ “the lesser evil” and دَرءِ الفتنِ “warding off fitnah.” They also permit rulers to rule by a non-Islamic law out of necessity and inability. They also permit regimes to collaborate with the kuffar in war against Muslims in Iraq, Chechnya, and Afghanistan. They forbid people from forming parties and structures so that nobody can form that could destabilize the regime. They also issue fatwas permitting riba (usury) based banks and “Islamic” banks out of necessity, and the contemporary system of life. They also permit rulers to prohibit marriage before the age of eighteen, and many other fatwas and ideas, the list of which is long.
Thus, the regimes have created idols for people to worship instead of Allah, without them even realizing it. Indeed, some of them believe that by following the fatwas of these ulema, they have done well and worshipped Allah (swt). This is a catastrophe.
Consider with me the hadith of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, when Adi bin Hatim, a Christian, came to him and heard him reciting this verse:
﴿اتَّخَذُوا أَحْبَارَهُمْ وَرُهْبَانَهُمْ أَرْبَابًا مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ وَالْمَسِيحَ ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ وَمَا أُمِرُوا إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُوا إِلَهًا وَاحِدًا لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ سُبْحَانَهُ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ﴾
“They have taken their rabbis and monks as well as the Messiah, son of Mary, as lords besides Allah, even though they were commanded to worship none but One God. There is no god worthy of worship except Him. Glorified is He above what they associate with Him!” [TMQ Surah At-Tawbah 31]
Adi said: I said to him: “We do not worship them.” The Messenger (saw) said, أليسَ يحرمونَ ما أحلَّ اللهُ فتحرِّمونَه، ويحلُّونَ ما حرَّمَ اللهُ فتحلُّونَه “Do they not forbid what Allah has permitted, so you forbid it, and permit what Allah has forbidden, so you permit it?” Adi said: “Yes.” The Messenger (saw) said, فتلك عبادتُهم “That is their worshipping of them.” [At-Tabarani]
It is clear from the noble Prophetic Hadith that the issue of making permissible and making forbidden is not a matter to be taken lightly, for it is a dispute with the Lord (swt) of all lords. It is clear that whoever takes this from other than Allah (swt) will fall into a huge disobedience of Allah.
Therefore, the issue of leniency in blindly submitting to the alim, jurist, or mufti is a serious issue. This is just as a person in the affairs of his life finds himself striving and struggling to achieve goodness and success. He does not make a decision, even if it is simple, except after careful consideration. He is careful not to let anyone make a mockery of him or take advantage of him. Now, the basic principle is that his care in matters of Deen must be more intense and serious.
A Muslim is not permitted to learn his Deen from an ‘alim simply because of his status, title, or prominence. Instead, he must strive to learn it from the most pious, the most pure, and the most knowledgeable. For example, abundant knowledge is not sufficient without piety (taqwa). Therefore, Al-Ghazali (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
ولو كانَ في العلمِ دونَ التقى شرفٌ *** لكانَ أشرفَ خلقِ اللهِ إبليسُ
“If there was to be any honor in knowledge without piety (taqwa), the most honorable of the creation of Allah would be Shaytan.”
So let no one be deceived by the certificates and titles that have been created and given to many ulema and organizations. Indeed, the most prominent of them were created for the purpose of corrupting the Deen for the people.
I conclude with the words of Ibn Sirin, may Allahhave mercy on him, in Sahih Muslim, on the authority of Muhammad Ibn Sirin, who said,
إنّ هذا العلمَ دينٌ، فانظروا عمّنْ تأخذونَ دينَكُمْ
“This knowledge is Deen, so examine carefully from whom you take your Deen.”

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Eng. Baher Saleh
Member of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir