If you review the chapters related to the responsibilities...

If you review the chapters related to the responsibilities of the ‘ulama in Usul al-Kafi and Wasa’il , [^2] you will see how they describe the heavy responsibilities and serious obligation of the learned. It is narrated that when the soul reaches the throat, there is no longer any chance for repentance and in that state one’s repentance will not be accepted, although God accepts the repentance of the ignorant until the last minute of their lives.

[^3] In another narration it is reported that seventy sins will be forgiven of one who is ignorant before one sin is forgiven of an ‘alim . [^4] This is because the sin of an ‘alim is very harmful to Islam and to Islamic society. If a vulgar and ignorant person commits a sin, he only wins misfortunes for himself. However, if an ‘alim becomes deviant, if he becomes involved in ugly deeds, he perverts an entire world ( ‘alam ). He has injured Islam and the ‘ulama of Islam.

[^5] There is also a narration according to which the people of hell suffer from the stench of an ‘alim whose deeds do not accord with his knowledge[^6] For this very reason, in this world there is a great difference between an ‘alim and an ignorant person with regard to benefit and injury to Islam and to the Islamic community. If an ‘alim is deviant, it is possible that the community will become infected by deviation.

And if an ‘alim is refined, and he observes the morality and manners of Islam, he will refine and guide the community. In some of the towns to which I went during the summer, I saw that the people of a town were well mannered with religious morals. The point is this, that they had an ‘alim who was righteous and pious.

If an ‘alim who is pious and righteous lives in a community, town or state, his very existence will raise the refinement and guidance of the people of that realm, even if he does not verbally propagate and guide. [^7] We have seen people whose existence causes lessons to be learned, merely seeing them and looking at them raises one’s awareness. At present in Tehran, about which I have some information, the neighborhoods differ from one another.

Neighborhoods in which a pure and refined ‘alim lives have righteous people with strong faith. In another neighborhood where a corrupt deviant person wears the turban, and has become the prayer leader, and set up shop, you will see that the people there have been misled, and have been polluted and perverted.