Respecting the Scholar and Knowing His Status

And we return to the purpose which we intended of the reports, so we bring from that a portion so that whoever takes heed may take heed, and whoever remembers may remember, and none remembers except the possessors of understanding, so from that is what came in respecting the scholar and knowing his status and placing him in his rank, and what is mandatory of his service and the standing for his obedience and the acceptance from him in what he brings and leaves.

So from that is what our master, the Commander of the Faithful, transcended his might, advised with regarding his respect, for he said, mighty are his bounties: "Do not multiply the asking upon him, and do not exhaust him in the answer, and do not lay out for him the rigid questions, and do not persist upon him when he is sluggish, and do not take hold of his garment when he rises, and do not disclose for him a secret, and do not backbite anyone near him, and do not transmit to him a speech, and do not seek his stumble, and if he slipped, then accept his excuse, and upon you is to revere him and glorify him as long as he is a keeper of the command of God, and do not sit in front of him,