Hadith on Knowledge and Death of the scholars - Bukhari 7307
Hadith on Knowledge and Death of the scholars - Bukhari 7307
حَدَّثَنَا سَعِيدُ بْنُ تَلِيدٍ، حَدَّثَنِي ابْنُ وَهْبٍ، حَدَّثَنِي عَبْدُ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنُ شُرَيْحٍ، وَغَيْرُهُ، عَنْ أَبِي الأَسْوَدِ، عَنْ عُرْوَةَ، قَالَ حَجَّ عَلَيْنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ عَمْرٍو فَسَمِعْتُهُ يَقُولُ سَمِعْتُ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَقُولُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لاَ يَنْزِعُ الْعِلْمَ بَعْدَ أَنْ أَعْطَاهُمُوهُ انْتِزَاعًا، وَلَكِنْ يَنْتَزِعُهُ مِنْهُمْ مَعَ قَبْضِ الْعُلَمَاءِ بِعِلْمِهِمْ، فَيَبْقَى نَاسٌ جُهَّالٌ يُسْتَفْتَوْنَ فَيُفْتُونَ بِرَأْيِهِمْ، فَيُضِلُّونَ وَيَضِلُّونَ
Narrated by Abdullah bin Amr رضى الله تعالى عنه I heard the Prophet ﷺ said: “Allah will not deprive you of knowledge after He has given it to you [1] , but it will be taken away through the death of the religious learned men with their knowledge [2] . Then there will remain ignorant people who, when consulted, will give verdicts according to their opinions whereby they will mislead others and go astray.”
[1] When knowledge is blessed by Allah, it will not be snatched away suddenly because this is a speciality of this nation of Muhammad ﷺ. Yes, forgetfulness is another matter which transpires if a person does not protect his knowledge from stagnancy.
[2] Occurrences of the death of true scholars of Islam will increase as the Day of Resurrection looms closer. The scholars of Islam are the vessels of knowledge. Allah Ta’ala will not cause the knowledge within these vessels to disappear, rather He will cause the vessels of the knowledge to expire – that is – the righteous scholars will pass away. Whatever will be left will be mostly the ignorant and immoral scholars who will pass incorrect verdicts that will proliferate misguidance. This Hadith gives an indication that scholars are of two categories – righteous and misguided. We must ensure we acquire the company of righteous scholars of Islam.
References
Sahih Bukhari 7307
Kitaab Al-I’tisaam bil Kitaab Was-Sunnah 7307
Prophetic Narrations on Knowledge by Ajmeri Press - Tehseen Raza Hamdani Nuri