By: Abdul-Ganiyy Raji

No human being has everything in life. You can have one thing and someone else will have another thing. What you have, others may not have. What others have, you may not have. This is why we need one another to survive in our present world. Interdependence is far better than independence.

Alfas, Imams, Missioners, and Muslim clerics in general need to cooperate among themselves, rather than compete with one another. Prophet Harūn and Prophet Mūsā were contemporaries, but they never competed with each other. What Mūsā had in bravery and leadership, Harūn did not have. What Harūn had in eloquence and patience, Musa did not have. Both of them complemented each other. This is how Muslim clerics are supposed to relate to one another.

If a Muslim cleric sees a deficiency in another Muslim cleric, making the deficiency a topic for his lecture or going on social media to disparage the other cleric or to discuss him with the intention of humiliating him should not be his immediate line of action.

Can Muslim clerics correct one another? The answer is YES. How should Muslim clerics correct one another? Politely and privately, except when public corrections will be of greater good than private corrections, and such public corrections should also be handled with civility and politeness.

Muslim clerics are supposed to always look for excuses for their fellow Muslim clerics. As a cleric, if you are told that a fellow cleric said something in his lecture, before you stand or sit before your congregation to call him an ignorant person or give him negative descriptions, look for an excuse for him. Say: “I need to see the video where he said it. Besides, we haven’t seen the full video. Maybe he is being quoted out of context”.

Muslim clerics should never allow themselves to be used as an instrument to bring down or humiliate another Muslim cleric. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) had very effective ways of correcting people. Muslim clerics need to learn the Prophet’s ways of correcting people. I recommend to our Alfas and clerics the book titled “The Prophet’s Methods of Correcting People’s Mistakes, by Shaykh Sālih Munajjid.

You are invited to give a lecture in a mosque that has its own Imam. Then, it is the Imam of the mosque that you make the topic of your lecture. You humiliate him, expose his shortcomings, and let the whole world know that you are superior to him in knowledge. Where does that take you? Do you want to replace him in his mosque? If you have noticed some of his shortcomings, why don’t you call his attention to them in private?

Alfas or Muslim clerics need to learn to respect one another. Respect is reciprocal. Whatever anybody knows is not the limit of knowledge. You know one or two things, and others know what you do not know. Respect others and they will respect you too.

This pull-him-down culture among Muslim clerics has to stop. You can deliver a lecture without pulling anyone down. Where is it said in the Qur’ān or the Hadith that you have to drag a fellow scholar through the mud before you can rise or present your message to people?

When Muslim clerics cooperate in a mosque, an Islamic organization, a community, a state, or a nation, they will not only benefit the Muslim Ummah, but also humanity in general.