Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Truly, the real jurist is the one who does not make people despair of Allah’s mercy, nor does he make them feel secure from Allah’s punishment, nor does he permit them to disobey Allah. There is no good in worship in which there is no knowledge, and there is no good in knowledge in which there is no understanding, and there is no good in recitation in which there is no reflection.

Ka‘b (al-Ahbar) said: In the earlier scriptures, I find the description of a people who will seek knowledge without action, and will learn jurisprudence for purposes other than worship, and will seek the world in exchange for deeds of the Hereafter, who will wear sheepskins, whose hearts will be more bitter than aloes, they will deceive through me and will deceive me myself, I have sworn that I will raise such a trial among them that even the forbearing and patient will be astonished.

Harm bin Hayan said: Beware of a sinful scholar. When this news reached Sayyiduna Umar bin Al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), he wrote to him, and Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) became concerned about it. He asked, "What do you mean by a sinful scholar?" Harm replied: "By Allah, O Commander of the Faithful! I only meant good by it. There is such an imam who speaks words of knowledge but acts with sin and immorality, and he puts people into doubt, so they go astray."

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Whoever among you wishes to honor his religion should not go to the ruler, should not be alone with women, and should not argue with the slaves of desire.

Yunus (bin Ubaid) said that Maymun bin Mihran wrote to me: Avoid dispute and argumentation in religion, and do not quarrel with anyone, whether learned or ignorant. Do not quarrel with the learned, because he will withhold his knowledge from you and will not care about what you have done. And do not quarrel with the ignorant, because he will become angry with you and will abandon obeying you.

It is narrated from Yahya bin Abi Kathir that Sulaiman bin Dawood (peace be upon them) said to his son: "Abandon disputing, for there is little benefit in it, and it stirs up enmity between brothers."

Ismail bin Abi Hakim said: I heard Umar bin Abdul Aziz saying: Whoever makes his religion a target of disputes, his instability will increase.

Umar bin Abdul Aziz, may Allah have mercy on him, wrote to the people of Madinah that whoever worships without knowledge (or isolates himself for worship) will spread more corruption than reform, and whoever compares his speech to his actions, his speech will become limited to necessity, and whoever makes his religion a target of disputes, his inconsistency will increase.

It is narrated from Ja'far bin Burqan that someone asked Umar bin Abdul Aziz, may Allah have mercy on him, about desires, so he replied: Adhere to the religion of the Bedouin and the slave, and forget whatever is besides that. Imam Darimi said: By «كثر تنقله» is meant: moving from one opinion to another opinion.