The Ruling on the Hadith: The Worst of Scholars Are Those Who Visit the Rulers

Question:
What is the authenticity of the hadith: "The worst of scholars are those who come to the rulers"?

Answer:
I do not know of it being authentic. Even if it were authentic, the intended meaning is their malicious visit. If it were authentic, the visit referred to is one motivated by desire, money, and agreeing with falsehood.
If scholars neglect the rulers, they become corrupt. If scholars neglect the rulers and withdraw from them, the matter becomes corrupt and rights are lost. So the benefit and the good lie in scholars visiting them, guiding them, and seeking from them direction, guidance, and advice against injustice, supporting the oppressed, and removing injustice from them, just as scholars visited them previously from the time of the Companions to our day.
As for scholars leaving them, boycotting them, and not visiting them; this is an error, this is a mistake. Only the ignorant who do not know the public benefits would say this.