ʿAwn bin ʿUmārah said: I heard Hishām al-Dustuwāʾī saying: “By Allāh, I am not able to say that I went for a single day to seek ḥadīth by which I sought the Face of Allāh, the Mighty and Majestic.”

I say: And by Allāh, neither am I.

01  For the Salaf used to seek knowledge for the sake of Allāh, they were ennobled and then became Imāms of Guidance by whom the people guided themselves.

02  And a people amongst them also sought knowledge first, but not for the sake of Allāh. Then they became upright and called their souls to account, and then this led them to sincerity in traversing upon the path, as has been said by Mujāhid and others: “We sought this knowledge while we had no great intention concerning it, then Allāh bestowed us with [sincere, purposeful] intention afterwards.”

03  And another one says: “We sought this knowledge for other than Allāh, but Allāh refused except that it should be for his sake”. And this is good as well. Then, after this, they spread this knowledge with a righteous intention.

04  And there were also a people who sought knowledge with corrupt intention, for the sake of the world, so that praises may be showered upon them. Hence, they will have what they intended… You will see this faction (of people) not being illuminated by the light of knowledge, nor does it have any effect in their souls, and nor does their knowledge have any great result in action, for the scholar is the one who has fear and awe of Allāh.

05  And then there were another people who acquired knowledge so that they could acquire positions [of authority or employment] by it, and then they oppressed (themselves) and left being bound and tied by this knowledge. Hence, they committed the sinful and shameful deeds and the major sins. So destruction be to them! They are not scholars!

06  And then some of them did not fear Allāh with respect to their knowledge, but they devised stratagems, gave lenient verdicts, reported the shādh (obscure, rejected) narrations, and some of them had the audacity in front of Allāh to fabricate ḥadīths. So Allāh exposed [the likes of] him, and then his knowledge went, and his provision became the Hellfire.

And all of these groups reported a great deal of knowledge, and in general they gained mastery over it.

07  But then there came those after them whose deficiency in both knowledge and action was clear.

08  And then another people followed them who ascribed themselves to knowledge outwardly, but were not exact and precise in it, except for a small part of it. On account of this they were made to think that they are esteemed scholars, and never did it occur in their minds that they [ought to be] seeking nearness to Allāh by it. This is because they never saw a scholar by whom the people guide themselves in knowledge, and hence they became a rowdy, offensive mob. The objective of a teacher amongst them was to acquire books which were expensive and then to hoard them (like treasure), and then perhaps look at them on some day, and then he would change what he would narrate because of lack of verification and corroboration.

So we ask Allāh for deliverance and pardon, as some of them said, “I am not a scholar, and never have I seen a scholar”.