Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ about something, but he did not answer him.

For this reason, the scholars say: not every statement requires a response.

Sometimes there are words that have no answer, and sometimes silence itself is the answer.

Then he asked him, but he did not answer him.

Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, asked the Prophet ﷺ once, but he did not answer him.

Then he asked him again: why did he repeat the question to him?

Perhaps Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, thought that the Prophet ﷺ did not hear him when he asked the first time, so he repeated the question.

And perhaps also the issue that Ammar was asking about.

was important to him, so he sought an answer and repeated the question.

Then he asked him, but he did not answer. A third time.

He asked him a third time.

But he did not answer him, and for that reason the scholars said.

In these repeated questions from Umar.

While the Prophet ﷺ left them unanswered in this case.

There are two issues. The first issue.

That when someone asks a scholar a question.

And the scholar does not answer him, he should not insist.

He should stop insisting on the scholar if he leaves his question unanswered, and here is Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, insisting.

So the Prophet ﷺ does not answer him, and Umar criticizes himself and blames himself, as you will hear.

This is part of good manners. You asked him, he did not answer.

Why insist so much, why keep pushing for an answer, for a response, why?

All of this can sometimes reach the level of bad manners.

With those whom you should not show bad manners to, with the inheritors of the Prophet ﷺ in his legacy.

The second issue is that it is not obligatory for the scholar to answer every time someone asks him a question.

And this is a matter in which people make a great mistake, they think that.

If you have a question, the man must answer you, as if this scholar is dedicated to your questions.

And whenever you ask, he is absolutely obliged to answer you, otherwise he has concealed knowledge and will be bridled with a bridle of fire on the Day of Judgment. This is Umar, may Allah be pleased with him.

He asked three times, and the Prophet ﷺ did not answer him.

This shows that the scholar is also allowed not to answer if he is asked. Is that clear? But this is under certain conditions.

This is with conditions. They say: it is obligatory for the scholar to answer whoever asks him.

If the conditions are met, but if one of them is missing, then he has leeway. The first condition.

That the questioner is accountable, has reached the age of responsibility.

If he is not accountable, like a child who comes and asks the scholar, it is not obligatory for him to answer; because he is not accountable, he is not responsible for any obligation or prohibition.

So there is no sin incurred for leaving what he came to ask about.

The second condition is that the question he asked about is regarding something that has actually happened.

The third condition is that the issue will be missed by the questioner if the one being asked does not answer him.

Sometimes someone may ask you about something that happened, but you have leeway in answering, because acting upon your answer is not obligatory.

So you must answer him if his issue will be missed by not answering him.

The fourth condition is that the one asking you is the person involved in the incident, or has a connection to it. If he is a stranger to it, then it is not obligatory.

Do you understand? This was put into verse by a scholar who said.

And a knowledgeable, accountable person has asked him, accountable about what is obligatory for him. His questioner feared missing the issue, so it became obligatory for him to answer his questioner.

Yes, and apart from that, there is flexibility.