The true faqīh (scholar) is the one who the fear of Allāh makes talk and the fear of Allāh makes silent. If he speaks it is by the Book and the Sunnah, and if he is silent, it is by the Book and the Sunnah. And if something is confusing to him and unclear, he withholds judgement and refers it back to whoever knows about it.
Ibn Baṭṭah, Ibṭāl Al-Ḥiyal p18, 19.
There are three things that I like for myself and for my brothers: That the Muslim man looks to the Qurān; he learns it, recites it, ponders it and refers to it. Second, that he looks to the narrations and the Sunnah; he asks about it and follows it with all his efforts. Third, that he leaves alone all these people except when doing good.
Al-Bukhāri, Al-Ṣaḥīḥ, no. 97 (in annotative, discontiguous form). The chain of transmission is connected in Al-Marwazī, Al-Sunnah, no. 108.
There are two blessings I have been blessed with, I know not which of them is greatest: that Allāh guided me to Islām, and that he did not make me a Ḥarūrī (from the Khawārij extremists).
ʿAbd Al-Razzāq Al-Ṣanʿānī, Al-Muṣannaf ḥadīth 18667.
There is no place for anyone’s opinion [when it comes to] what is in the Book (revelation). The opinion of the imāms (great scholars) is only regarding what the Book did not come down with, and regarding which no Sunnah has passed from the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ. And the opinion of no one is counted in the face of a Sunnah from the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ.
Al-Ājurrī, Al-Sharīʿah #113 et al.
If the people were gathered on one plain, all of them believers, except for two unbelievers amongst them, they would join each other. And if the people were gathered on one plain, all of them unbelievers, except for two believers amongst them, they would join each other.
Ibn Baṭṭah, Al-ʾIbānah Al-Kubrā 1:455
Do not sell food or clothes to them, and do not buy from them. And he said, The Khawārij are renegades, an evil people.
Al-Khallāl, Al-Sunnah 1:155
I saw Zuhayr b. Muʿāwiyah come to Zāʾidah b. Qudāmah (d.160H) and speak to him to get him to narrate ḥadīth to a man, so Zāʾidah asked, Is he from Ahl Al-Sunnah? Zuhayr replied, I do not know that he has any bidʿah. Zāʾidah said, No, that is another matter! Is he from Ahl Al-Sunnah? Zuhayr said, Since when have people become like this? Zāʾidah replied, Since when did people curse Abū Bakr and ʿUmar?!
Al-Khaṭīb Al-Baghdādī, Al-Jāmiʿ li Akhlāq Al-Rāwī #754.
It is reported from Sufyān b. ʿUyainah – Allāh have mercy on him – that a man once asked ʿAlī b. Ḥusayn b. ʿAlī b. ʾAbī Ṭālib – Allāh have mercy on him, What was the status of Abū Bakr and ʿUmar with Rasūlullāh – Allāh’s praise and peace be upon him? He replied, Their place with him is like their place with him today (i.e. where they are in their graves).
Abū Bakr Al-Daynūrī, Al-Mujālasah wa Jawāhir Al-ʿIlm 4:254
You will remain upon good as long as you do not start approving of what you used to repudiate and as long as you do not repudiate what you used to know (to be right), and as long as your scholar (the knowledgeable) can speak amongst you without fear.
Ibn Baṭṭah, Al-Ibānah Al-Kubrā ḥadīth 26.
If you ask the ignorant: ‘Who are Al-Sawād Al-Aʿẓam (Main Body of the Muslims)?’ they will say, ‘All the people (together).’ But they do not know that The Jamā’ah (Main Body) is a scholar who follows the footsteps of the Prophet – Allāh’s praise and peace be upon him – and his way. So whoever is with him and follows him is [one of] The Jamā’ah, but whoever contradicts him in it leaves The Jamā’ah.
Abū Nu’aym, Ḥilyatu Al-Awliyā` 9:238,239 et al