Can I listen to a scholar before examining his aqeedah ?

[Salmansa8712]

Asalamalaikum.
If I come accross a scholar online and listened a lecture or two , without researching if his aqeedah totally fits our aqeedah , is it wrong to do so ?

One of my friend says you should not watch any scholar without properly examining his mindset and aqeedah. My question is , how can I judge without even listening ? I'm well versed with aqeedah and have enough knowledge to distinguish falsehood and truth. Which is the reason why I stumble upon some deep islamic topics in the first place .
I told my friend , this mindset of yours that we should listen to only those of our group who share exact same aqeedah and creed . I asked him , isn't this mentality exactly why deviant islamic groups do not listen to any scholar other than their group and come to the TRUTH?
I said to him , if a student of quran and hadeeth want to dig deeper , for instance studying islamic history and try learn from it . There is no harm ...GIVEN that he is with good niyyah and have strong base in basic aqeedah quran and sunnah and have rules established . Just like how we established that jesus was just a prophet. And then if we read somewhere in bible about his miracles we won't go astray thinking him as GOD! .

Can someone shed some light on this matter .
Do I always have to check if the scholar I'm listening ( not follow) is of the group which I follow (given that we are on haq) .

[Ümit]

I almost never research someones background whether it fits my background...unless his lecture goes totally against any logic...or I get this gut feeling that something he lectured goes against what I always learned.

A good scholar comes with references. He mentioned the ayah or hadeeth. what someones background is, is totally irrelevant to me...and it should be to anyone...the only thing that should matter is whether that scholar speaks the truth or not...

that what he lesctures, is that based on hadeeth and sunnah or not? That should be your first question. look up that ayah, or hadeeth and try to verify everything that is said. if you can verify it, then everything is good, if you cant verify it, you can dig deeper by listening to other lectures of that scholar or check his background to find out whether he has more lectures which can not be verified or does he belong to some deviant islamis group.


Ehm...let me put it differently...
The truth is the truth...wheter it is said by a muslim or said by the greatest satanist in the world.
maybe he happened to research the issue in great detail...for whatever reasons...and therefore has more islamic knowledge about this perticular topic than you...it can happen, you never know...

the only thing we should worry about is, "can the answer or lecture be verified? does it sound plausible?" if you doubt about it, you can research what other scholars have to say about this topic...and by doing that slowly you will trust him or you will reject.

[Al-Ansariyah]

السلام عليكم ورحمةالله وبركاته
If you are learning topics like history or fiqh, I think it should be fine listening to anyone BUT you still have to find the reference from which he's speaking. Nowadays, veery few people tell about the actual history. If you study any book or listen to any scholar for history, they wont tell you all the truths. You will hardly get any video on youtube which are of ulema haq. This is only related to topics other than aqeedah.

For aqeedah, you shouldnt listen to evil scholars. Because youtube is filled with them, most people tend to take knowledge from them. And they make haram halal and halal haram. For example, they're gonna say you have to follow the laws of your land. They're gonna tell you that you can vote in democratic elections. And they will support their governments. They will say system other than islamic shariah is OKAY! They can say homosexuality is a person's complete CHOICE! They'll say shaking hands with woman is fine. They will bring an ayah from the Quran which will be only about peace and they will hide those ayah which commands the muslims to fight those who fight them. They wont speak about bringing khilafah in this world. They wont speak about Allah's laws. They will focus on good manners of prophet but will hide all the battles he fought and the lessons which we should learn. They will remain silent and only tell you how to deal with your personal problems but wont tell how to deal with problems whole ummah is facing! They are ignorants and calling all the muslims towards hellfire. They serve their government and not Allah. They speak what is pleasing to thier govt., they wont speak what is pleasing to Allah. They will teach you how to practice islam at individual level but wont tell how to practice it at social level. Even if they tell you the ayah reference, they will give the meaning which is totally different from the actual one and which suits their desire and pleases their masters.

You see, this is a total evil scholar!

You are saying that we should listen to all the scholars so that we may know which is correct. It is okay as long as you are aware of the haqq. But please restrain from listening to celebrity scholars, they will lead us astray. You wont even know how they will affect your aqeedah.

If you already know scholars of haqq, you still need to know from where are they speaking and does it make sense. You shouldnt follow any scholar blindly. At this time, its really hard to find any true scholar which is why its best to study yourself and listen less to scholars. You have Quran, you have tafsir, you have seerah of prophet(saw) , you have books of great scholars like ibn taymiyyah, ibn qayyim etc. What else do you need? Listen to only those who you are sure that he's a scholar of truth.

[Labayk]

Walaykum assalam

It's an innovation to investigate the Creed/Actions of a person. For everyone, we go by what we see. If a brother says Salaam, I will identify him as my brother. Upon interaction, if I see some good righteous deeds, I will respect/trust him more. If, upon further normal interaction, he says/does something evil I will not respect him as much and some distance will be made between us in accordance to how bad his statements/actions were. Listen to speakers brother, but be critical. If they say something that contradicts Quran and Sunnah, maintain your reservations and distance yourself.

But Bro, stick to the old books/resources by the legendary scholars whose Aqeedah and Fiqh were known to be sound until death. These are the ones who have earned the stamp of Allah's approval and didn't waver/compromise/water down the truth in any way. In spite of what I just said above, it is unfortunately well-known that the vast majority of speakers of Islam have proven to be of low caliber and I have become seriously disappointed with them over the years and this is me being overly polite about it. Even some whom it seems to me are sincere and truthful have, I feel, only cover Islam superficially and there are deep important issues that are barely addressed if at all.

Allah has preserved this deen and al-Hamdullilah for that because if He entrusted that responsibility to us, there would be noting left of Islam except bits and fragments like Christianity. Stick to the old books and far more importantly, stick to the Quran and Authentic Hadith and make those two the majority of your reading/study time. No scholar/speaker today can be relied upon.

May Allah guide you and us to His Straight path away from all other paths. Ameen.