English Translation

Muhammad ibn Yazid told us: Asim ibn Raja' ibn Haywah informed us, from Kathir ibn Qays, who said: A man came from Madinah to Abu al-Darda while he was in Damascus, and said: 'What has brought you here, my brother?' He said: 'A hadith that has reached me, that you narrate it from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him.' He said: 'Did you not come for trade?' He said: 'No.' He said: 'Did you not come for some need?' He said: 'No.' He said: 'You came for nothing but to seek this hadith?' He said: 'Yes.' He said: 'I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say: "Whoever travels a path seeking knowledge thereby, Allah makes easy for him a path to Paradise. Indeed the angels lower their wings, pleased with the seeker of knowledge; and indeed the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth seek forgiveness for the scholar, even the fish in the water; and the superiority of the scholar over the worshipper is like the superiority of the moon over the rest of the stars. Indeed the scholars are the heirs of the prophets; the prophets did not leave behind a dinar or a dirham as inheritance, but they left knowledge as inheritance, so whoever takes it has taken an abundant share."' Al-Hakam ibn Musa told us: Ibn Ayyash told us, from Asim ibn Raja' ibn Haywah, from Dawud ibn Jamil, from Kathir ibn Qays, who said: A man came from Madinah, and he mentioned something similar.