Mu’awiyah ibn Qurrah reported: Abu Darda, may Allah be pleased with him, said, “Learn sacred knowledge before it is taken away, for knowledge is taken away by the disappearance of the scholars. The scholar and the student surely have the same reward. Verily, there are only two kinds of men in the world: the scholar and the student. There is no goodness in anything besides that.”
Source: Ḥilyat al-Awliyā’ 1/213
Grade: Sahih (authentic) according to Al-Shithri
عَنْ مُعَاوِيَةَ بْنِ قُرَّةَ عَنْ أَبِي الدَّرْدَاءِ رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ قَالَ تَعَلَّمُوا قَبْلَ أَنْ يُرْفَعَ الْعِلْمُ إِنَّ رَفْعَ الْعِلْمِ ذَهَابُ الْعُلَمَاءِ إِنَّ الْعَالِمَ وَالْمُتَعَلِّمَ فِي الْأَجْرِ سَوَاءٌ وَإِنَّمَا النَّاسُ رَجُلَانِ عَالِمٌ وَمُتَعَلِّمٌ وَلَا خَيْرَ فِيمَا بَيْنَ ذَلِكَ
1/213 حلية الأولياء وطبقات الأصفياء
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