The Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned something and said: "That will be at the time when knowledge disappears
Sahih/Authentic by virtue of corroborating evidenceعَنْ زِيَادِ بْنِ لَبِيدٍ رضي الله عنه قَالَ: ذَكَرَ النَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ شَيْئًا، فَقَالَ: «ذَاكَ عِنْدَ أَوَانِ ذَهَابِ الْعِلْمِ» قُلْتُ: يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ، وَكَيْفَ يَذْهَبُ الْعِلْمُ، وَنَحْنُ نَقْرَأُ الْقُرْآنَ وَنُقْرِئُهُ أَبْنَاءَنَا وَيُقْرِئُهُ أَبْنَاؤُنَا أَبْنَاءَهُمْ إِلَى يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ؟ قَالَ: «ثَكِلَتْكَ أُمُّكَ زِيَادُ، إِنْ كُنْتُ لَأُرَاكَ مِنْ أَفْقَهِ رَجُلٍ بِالْمَدِينَةِ، أَوَلَيْسَ هَذِهِ الْيَهُودُ وَالنَّصَارَى يَقْرَؤونَ التَّوْرَاةَ وَالْإِنْجِيلَ، لَا يَعْمَلُونَ بِشَيْءٍ مِمَّا فِيهِمَا؟!».
Ziyād ibn Labīd (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned something and said: "That will be at the time when knowledge disappears." I said: "O Messenger of Allah, how will knowledge disappear when we recite the Qur’an and teach it to our children, and they teach it to their children (and so on) until the Day of Judgment?" He said: "May your mother be bereaved of you, O Ziyād! I thought you were the most knowledgeable man in Madīnah. Is it not the case with these Jews and Christians who read the Torah and the Gospel, yet they do not act upon anything therein?!"
Explanation
As the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) was sitting among his Companions, he said: This is the time at which knowledge will disappear and be taken away from people. Thereupon, Ziyād ibn Labīd al-Ansāri (may Allah be pleased with him) wondered and asked the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him): How will knowledge be taken away from us and we lose it, whereas we recite and memorize the Qur’an?! By Allah, we will recite it and make our women and children and our children's children recite it. In response, the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said in wonder: May your mother be bereaved of you, O Ziyād! I considered you to be among the knowledgeable people of Madīnah. Then, the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) pointed out that knowledge will not be lost by the loss of the Qur’an, but knowledge will be lost by the loss of acting upon it. A case in point is the Jews and the Christians, who have the Torah and the Gospel, yet they did not derive benefit from them or their objective, namely acting upon what they have learned.
Benefits
- Having copies of the Qur’an and books in people's hands is of no avail unless they are acted upon.
- Knowledge is taken away by several things, including the death of the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him), the death of the scholars, and the failure to act upon the knowledge.
- One of the portents of the Hour is the disappearance of knowledge and failure to act upon it.
- The Hadīth urges us to act upon knowledge, for this is the main objective.
Source · Narrated by Ibn Maajah
From the Hadith Encyclopedia (hadeethenc.com).