بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

In The Name of Allaah, The Most Merciful, The Bestower of Mercy

Shaikh Muhammad Baazmool [may Allaah preserve him] said:

An [upright] scholar has precise understanding of the Qur’aan, the Sunnah and the various sciences related to the religion. He has knowledge and wisdom related to nurturing and teaching others, and he has experience. He has [good] awareness of the different circumstances of the people, their daily pursuits and general affairs, which is not found in books. And if a person wanted to acquaint himself with all these affairs, he would need a long time [or many years] to do so; but the scholar came across these affairs during his lifetime- from the very beginning of his path in pursuit of knowledge; so how can all of this be merely acquired by [reading] books?!

Source: [في قلب الحدث مقالات متنوعة   – pages 48-49 Abridged and slightly paraphrased]