So what will happen to us when they are gone?

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Sharh Muqadimmah Sunan Ibn Maajah, Tape 6

On the authority of ‘Amr ibn Abdullah ibn A’as [May Allaah be Pleased with him] who said; I heard The Prophet [Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him] say:

“Allaah does not snatch away knowledge from the chests of His servants but He takes away knowledge by the death of the ‘Ulemaa, until, when there are no more ‘Ulemaa remaining, the people will take the ignorant as their leaders (i.e as scholars). And these leaders will be asked questions by the people and they will respond without any knowledge, and they will be misguided and they will misguide others.”

[Narrated by Bukhaari, 1/50;100 and Muslim, 4/2058; 2673]

Shaykh Abdul Kareem ibn Abdullah al-Khudayr [May Allaah be Pleased with him] said;

So what would be our result with scholars? Throughout time, scholars have been pivotal to the nations they have been in, especially this Ummah. As Ajurri said in his book Akhlaaq al-‘Ulema, “The need for scholars is far greater than our need for anything else, even if we were lost in a dark night in a confined space. Added to this confined space there were predators, vermin, thorns and rocks surrounding you. They find themselves in a situation where they don’t know what is ahead of them or any idea of where they are. Then there suddenly appears a hand carrying a lamp which illuminates the path ahead of them so they are able to see again. This hand brings security from what they feared. This is the virtue and bounty that was placed on this group.

This highlights the virtues of knowledge in this Ummah, it is the best type of virtue a person can have. The virtue of a man who comes with a lamp, during the darkness of the night in a fatal desert, he is a savior for the people he guided. This is because these people were a group of people who wondering in the darkness of their misfortunate, in a situation of losing everything, whether that be in their worldly or religious affairs. 

Those who live without a scholar are like these people, they live their lives without a guide showing them to the correct path. He incites them to do good deeds and if a difficulty appears he is the one who can resolve their matters for them. Or if there appears a disagreement he finds a resolution. These characteristics are vital and it shows our need for scholars as he is a vice of the religion being protected. So what will happen to us when they are gone?