Aslam

Hazrat Osman said: I fear most for this nation the hypocrite learned men. People asked: How can a hypocrite be a learned man? He replied: He has verbal knowledge, but his mind and his actions are ignorant. Hazrat Hasan Basari said: Don't be included within those persons who are learned in wisdom and knowledge but are equal to the ignorant in actions. Khalid-b- Ahmed said:
There are four kinds of men - (1) One who has real knowledge and knows that he knows. He is a real learned man. (2) One who has knowledge but he does not know that he knows. Be careful of him. (3) One who has no knowledge and knows that he does not know. Such a man is fit to be guided, so guide him. (4) One who has no knowledge and does not know that he knows not. Leave him alone. Ibn Mobarak said: A man is learned till he searches for knowledge. When he thinks that he has knowledge, he becomes ignorant. Hazrat Hasan said: Death of the heart is the punishment of a learned man. The death of the heart is search of the world with the actions of the hereafter. A poet said:

"Woe to one who buys misguidance

in lieu of guidance;

"Woe more to one who buys the world

in lieu of the hereafter;

woe still more to one who fosters irreligion

in lieu of religion."

64 THE BOOK OF WORSHIP Vol-I

The Propnet said regarding a wicked learned man: Some learned men will suffer such intense agonies of torture that the inmates of Hell will seek refuge on seeing their tortures. They are the wicked learned men. The Prophet said: On the resurrection day, a learned man will be brought and will be thrown into Hell.
His bowels will gush forth and he will roam with his bowels as a donkey moves round a mill-stone. The inmates of Hell will move along with him and ask: What is the matter with you? He will reply: I used to enjoin the people to do good but I was not myself accustomed to do it. I used to prohibit them evil but I myself used to do it. God says: The hypocrites will remain in the lowest abyss of Hell (4 : 144) as they refused to accept truth after they acquired knowledge.

There is a story of Bal'am-b-Baura about whom the Quran says: Narrate to them the story of one to whom I revealed My signs. He rejected them. So the devil followed him and he became one of those who were misguided. He is therefore like a dog which lolls out its tongue whether you chase it or leave it alone - 7 : 175.
This has been said about the wicked learned man. Bal'am also got God's book but he kept himself busy in worldly affairs and was therefore likened to a dog. Jesus Christ said: The wicked learned man is like a rock which has fallen into the source of a stream. It neighter absolves any water itself, nor permits it to flow out and reach the plants. The wicked learned man is also like pipes which come out of a garden full of stenchy smell as it has got graves of dead men. Its outer part is cultivated but its inner part is full of dead men's bones.