What is the ruling on shunning a friend who possesses abundant religious knowledge but is fanatical in his opinions, deems the views of others worthless, and alienates people around him with his harsh manner of dealing with them?

Your friend's manner of dealing with people, especially in calling to Allah, is bad and causes more harm than good. Allah Almighty said: "It is by Allah’s mercy that you were lenient with them. Had you been harsh and hard-hearted, they would have surely dispersed from around you."

He who says, "People are ruined," is amazed by himself, and he is the disliked one who was forbidden, and he might have ruined them because he makes them despair of Allah's mercy. This is the state of the pretenders of knowledge, not the students of knowledge and guidance.

Some who begin seeking knowledge are afflicted with arrogance, self-admiration, and conceit. The humble person is one who knows his own worth and knows how far the ultimate goal of knowledge is, whereas the arrogant one is ignorant of his worth, thinking he has attained most of it.

A scholar should be characterized by humility, gentleness, and kindness in speech, and accustom his tongue to gentle discourse and amiability in asking and answering questions with everyone, because "whoever's words are gentle, his love becomes incumbent."