Sunan ad-Darimi 354

Translation

✧ I was sitting with Abu al-Darda' in the mosque of Damascus when a man came to him and said: "O Abu al-Darda', I have come to you from al-Madinah, the city of the Messenger ﷺ, for a hadith that reached me from you, which you narrate from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ." He said: "Did you come for trade?" He said: "No." He said: "Did anything else bring you?" He said: "No." He said: "I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: 'Whoever travels a path seeking knowledge therein, Allah makes easy for him thereby a path to one of the paths of Paradise. Indeed, the angels lower their wings out of pleasure for the seeker of knowledge, and indeed the seeker of knowledge is asked forgiveness for by whoever is in the heavens and the earth, even the fish in the water. Indeed, the superiority of the scholar over the worshipper is like the superiority of the moon over all the stars. Indeed, the scholars are the heirs of the prophets; the prophets did not leave behind a dinar or a dirham, but they left behind knowledge. Whoever takes hold of it has taken an abundant share.'"

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