Al-Kāfi / Chapter on the Loss of a Scholar 4

Hawzah News Agency - Ali ibn Muhammad has narrated from Sahl ibn Ziyad from Ali ibn Asbat from his uncle Ya’qub ibn Salim from Dawud ibn Farqad who has said the following. “Imam abu ‘Abdallah  has said,

إِنَّ أَبِي كَانَ يَقُولُ إِنَّ الله عَزَّ وَجَلَّ لا يَقْبِضُ الْعِلْمَ بَعْدَ مَا يُهْبِطُهُ وَلَكِنْ يَمُوتُ الْعَالِمُ فَيَذْهَبُ بِمَا يَعْلَمُ فَتَلِيهِمُ الْجُفَاةُ فَيَضِلُّونَ وَيُضِلُّونَ وَلا خَيْرَ فِي شَيْ‏ءٍ لَيْسَ لَهُ أَصْلٌ.

‘My father used to say, ‘Allah does not take back the knowledge He has sent down. But when the scholar dies it takes away his knowledge and after this the unjust ones come and they go astray and mislead people and there is no good in things without basis.’”

Al-Kāfi, v.1, Book 2, Chapter 7