عابد (عائذ) بن رفاعة

Imam al-Baqir (AS) said, ‘The knowledgeable man who is beneficial [to others] as a result of his knowledge is better than seventy thousand worshippers.

“A single scholar is better than one thousand worshippers and one thousand people who repent. If people benefit from the knowledge of a scholar he is better than seventy thousand worshippers.”

Imam Ali (AS) said, How many a scholar is corrupt and [how many] a worshipper is ignorant, so be wary of the corrupt among the scholars and the ignorant among the worshippers.

Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said, ‘The narrator of traditions who understands religion is better than a thousand worshippers who have neither understanding of religion nor knowledge of traditions.

The Prophet (SAWA) said, ‘By the One Who holds Muhammad s soul in His Grasp! Verily one knowledgeable man is more difficult for Satan to bear than seventy worshippers, for the worshipper serves himself whilst the knowledgeable man serves others.

I spoke to Abi `Abdillah al-Sadiq (as), describing the worship, religion, virtue, and so on of a person. He said: So, he said: How is his intellect? So, I said: I do not know. So, he said: Surely, good deeds are at the proportion of one’s intellect. Surely, a man from the Children of Israel would worship Allah on a green, verdant island with any trees and pure water. Then, an angel from among the angels passed by him and said: “O Lord! Show me the rewards of the deeds of this servant of Yours.” So, Allah showed that to him, and the angel considered it minor. So, Allah revealed to him, telling him to accompany him. So, the angel came to him in the form of a human. So, he said to him: “Who are you?” He said: “I am a worshiping man. We were informed about your position and your worship in this place, so I came to worship Allah with you.” He was with him on that day, so at its end, the angel said to him: “This place of yours is a retreat.” He said: “If only our Lord had a beast. If our Lord had a donkey, we would have herded it in this place, for this grass is so luscious that it could get lost in it.” So, the angel said to him: “Does your Lord not have a donkey?” So, he said: “If He had a donkey, this grass would not go to waste.” So, Allah revealed to the angel: “Surely, I will only reward him in proportion to his intellect.” Al-Sadiq (as) said: The Messenger of Allah (s) never spoke to the worshipers at the level of his own intellect. He said: The Messenger of Allah (s) said: We the prophets were commanded to speak to the people at the level of their intellect.