The Features of a Pious Scholar from the Perspective of Imam Ali

Islam places a high value on the status of pious scholars and scientists. Holy Muhammad the prophet's laying stress on pious scholar in such a community that suffered from ignorance, and the root of the word Quran taken from the infinitive to read both bear witness to the importance of pious scholars status in that era. In a Hadis(Islamic narration), pious scholars are referred to as Prophet's heirs. As an Islamic scholar, Imam Ali has widely referred to the importance of scholars in historical and Hadis sources to the extent that he articulates a sage sentence that denotes '' A sleep equipped with knowledge is better than a prayer with ignorance". Thus, the present study undertakes a descriptive-analytic approach to investigate the pious scholars' features. The results of the study indicate that a pious scholar possesses features such as piety in its extensive dimensions, pragmatism, discretion forbearance, oppression resistence, and concern about Islamic unity.