And prayers and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.

The reader: Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.
The author (may Allah have mercy on him) transmitted, in the context of the hadiths in the chapter on the virtue of knowledge, both learning and teaching, for the sake of Allah: "From 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'As (may Allah be pleased with both of them), who said:

I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) saying: "Verily, Allah does not take away knowledge by snatching it from the people, but He takes it away by taking away (the lives of) the religious scholars till none of the scholars stays alive. Then the people will take ignorant ones as their leaders, who, when asked to deliver religious verdicts, will issue them without knowledge, the result being that they will go astray and will lead others astray."

سمعت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يقول: إن الله لا يقبض العلم انتزاعًا ينتزعه من الناس، ولكن يقبض العلم بقبض العلماء حتى إذا لم يبق عالمًا اتخذ الناس رؤوساء جهالًا فسئلوا فأفتوا بغير علم فضلوا وأضلوا

Riyad as-Salihin 1392

Agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim".

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The author al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) cited in his book *Riyad al-Saliheen*, in the chapter on the virtue of knowledge, the hadith of 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'As that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: In this hadith, there is an indication that knowledge will be taken away, and no scholar will remain on earth to guide the people to the religion of Allah, so the community will decline and go astray. Then, after that, the Qur'an will be removed from them, removed from the chests and from the written copies, as the people of the Sunnah said: "Indeed, the Qur'an is the speech of Allah, revealed, not created; it began from Him and to Him it returns". They said: The meaning of "to Him it returns" is that it returns to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) at the end of time when the people abandon it completely, neither reading it nor acting upon it. The parallel to this is the Sacred Ka'bah, which Allah (Mighty and Majestic) protected when Abrahah intended to demolish it and came to it with a great elephant and a large army. Allah (Mighty and Majestic) protected it from him and sent down a complete surah regarding that: Birds that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) sent in flocks, meaning scattered groups, each one having stones of Sijjil in its beak and between its feet, meaning: from baked, hard clay. So these birds, by the command of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), sent these stones upon these soldiers until they would strike a man from his head and come out from his rear, we seek refuge in Allah, until they made them like eaten grain, meaning like the grain of crops that has been eaten by animals and mixed together. But at the end of time, when the people violate the sanctity of this House and commit many sins in it, and other things that are considered a desecration of its sanctity, Allah will unleash upon it a man from the Abyssinians, one who is wide-hipped and short in stature, who will demolish it stone by stone. He will come to it with soldiers and demolish it, destroying it stone by stone. When he removes a stone, one of the soldiers will give it to him, then the next one will give him the one next to it, from Makkah to the sea, they will continue with its stones until it is completely demolished. So consider: at first, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) protected it from those disbelievers because He knew that He would send a Messenger in it to save the people from misguidance, oppression, and shirk (associating partners with Allah) and lead them to guidance, justice, and tawhid (the oneness of Allah). But at the end of time, when the people violate this sanctity, the Ka'bah will be lifted from them and demolished; Allah will unleash upon it, by His wisdom, one who will demolish it, and no one will say anything, no one will oppose this man, and Allah (Mighty and Majestic), by His wisdom, will enable him to do so. Likewise, the Noble Qur'an will be extracted from the chests and from the written copies and lifted to the Lord (Mighty and Majestic), because it is His speech, it began from Him and to Him it returns. Knowledge also will not be extracted from the chests of men, but it will be taken away by the death of the scholars. The scholars who are truly scholars will die, and no scholar will remain, so the people will take as their leaders, meaning the people will take as their heads those whom they consult, but they are ignorant and they issue rulings without knowledge, so they go astray and lead others astray, may Allah protect us from that. And the Shari'ah will remain among these ignorant people, who judge between the people while they are ignorant and do not know, so no scholar will remain. And at that time, there will be no true Islam that is built upon the Book and the Sunnah, because its people will have been taken away. And in this hadith, there is an encouragement to seek knowledge, because the Messenger informed us of this so that we may avoid and address this matter and seek knowledge. The meaning is not that he informed us so that we would simply surrender; rather, it is so that we strive to seek knowledge so that we do not reach the state that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) described. And informing about a reality does not mean approving it; meaning, if the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) informed about something, it does not mean that he approves it and permits it. As he (peace and blessings be upon him) informed and swore, saying: They said: The Jews and the Christians? He said: Yes, the Jews and the Christians. So he informed that this community will commit what the Jews and the Christians used to do; this is an informing as a warning, not an informing as an establishment and permission. So we must know the difference between what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informs about as an established and affirmed matter, and what he informs about as a warning. So the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) informed that the scholars will die, and this means that we must strive so that we do not reach the time when the scholars die and only these ignorant leaders remain who issue rulings without knowledge, so they go astray themselves and lead others astray. O Allah, we ask You for beneficial knowledge, righteous action, and good, abundant provision.