The three states of contempt of a scholar and rulings pertaining to it under the Noble Islamic law

Explaining the three states of contempt of a scholar and rulings pertaining to it under the Noble Islamic law, AlaHadrat ash-Shah Imam Ahmad Rida Khan (Alayhir Rahmah) has stated in Fatawa Radawiyyah:

1. If a person speaks ill about a religious scholar because he is a scholar, then the person is an absolute Kafir.

2. If the person considers it an obligation to respect the scholars because of their religious knowledge, but speaks ill of them because of some worldly feud or curses him out or disgraces him, then he is Fasiq and Fajir.

3. If he backbites the scholar without any reason, then he has a disease of the heart and is internally evil and there is a fear that he might fall into Kufr because of his unwarranted malice against religious scholars. It is stated in Khulasat al-Fatawa, whoever hates an Islamic scholar without any legitimate reason, then that person has the fear of falling into realm of disbelief.

Fatawa Radawiyyah, Vol. 21, Page 129