Al-Kāfi / Chapter on the quality of knowledge its virtue and the virtue of the scholars

Hawzah News Agency - Muhammad b. al-Hasan has narrated from Ali b. Muhammad from Sahl b. Ziyad from Muhammad b. ‘Isa from Ubaydullah al-Dihqan from Durust al-Wasiti from Ibrahim b. Abdul Hamid from Abul Hasan Musa who has said:

دَخَلَ رَسُولُ الله صلی الله علیه وآله وسلّم الْمَسْجِدَ فَإِذَا جَمَاعَةٌ قَدْ أَطَافُوا بِرَجُلٍ فَقَالَ مَا هَذَا فَقِيلَ عَلامَةٌ فَقَالَ وَمَا الْعَلامَةُ فَقَالُوا لَهُ أَعْلَمُ النَّاسِ بِأَنْسَابِ الْعَرَبِ وَوَقَائِعِهَا وَأَيَّامِ الْجَاهِلِيَّةِ وَالاشْعَارِ الْعَرَبِيَّةِ قَالَ فَقَالَ النَّبِيُّ صلی الله علیه وآله وسلّم ذَاكَ عِلْمٌ لا يَضُرُّ مَنْ جَهِلَهُ وَلا يَنْفَعُ مَنْ عَلِمَهُ ثُمَّ قَالَ النَّبِيُّ صلی الله علیه وآله وسلّم إِنَّمَا الْعِلْمُ ثَلاثَةٌ آيَةٌ مُحْكَمَةٌ أَوْ فَرِيضَةٌ عَادِلَةٌ أَوْ سُنَّةٌ قَائِمَةٌ وَمَا خَلاهُنَّ فَهُوَ فَضْلٌ.

“Once Rasulullah (saww) entered the Mosque and found a group of people gathered around a man. He asked, 'Who is he?'. It was said that he was a Allamah. He then asked them, 'What is that?'. They replied that he is the most learned man about the genealogy, the chronology, and the history of the pre-Islamic days of darkness and the poetry of Arabs. He said, so the Prophet (saww) then stated that ‘such knowledge doesn't harm the one who is ignorant of it or benefit the one who knows it.' Then he added: ‘Knowledge consists of three kinds: A clear verse (of the Qur'an), a just obligation (i.e. a legal ruling) or an established sunnah (i.e. a hadith). Anything else is of the extra achievements.”’

Al-Kāfi, v.1