What actually makes one a scholar?

In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate

Someone who understands an issue is a scholar (`alim) with respect to that issue. So, for example, if one understands that the ablution has six integrals (in the Shafi`i school, that is) then one is a scholar on that issue, and--provided that one really understands it--one may teach it to others. The wider one's scope of knowledge is, the more issues one is a scholar on.

Achieving this understanding requires not merely flipping the pages of books, but keeping the company of teachers who have achieved this understanding by keeping the company of other teachers, who in turn have kept the company of other teachers, and so on all the way back to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace). Without this personal contact, one's may have "knowledge", but one will not have "understanding."

Hamza.