Arabic (Original)
أَخْبَرَنَا هِلَالُ بْنُ مُحَمَّدٍ الْحَفَّارُ أنا الْحُسَيْنُ بْنُ يَحْيَى بْنِ عَيَّاشٍ ثنا يَحْيَى بْنُ السَّرِيِّ ثنا جَرِيرٌ ح وَأنا أَبُو الْحُسَيْنِ بْنُ الْفَضْلِ أنا عَبْدُ اللهِ بْنُ جَعْفَرٍ ثنا يَعْقُوبُ بْنُ سُفْيَانَ ثنا أَبُو الْوَلِيدِ هِشَامُ بْنُ عَبْدِ الْمَلِكِ ثنا جَرِيرٌ عَنِ الْأَعْمَشِ عَنْ ثَابِتِ بْنِ عُبَيْدٍ عَنْ زَيْدِ بْنِ ثَابِتٍ قَالَ قَالَ لِي رَسُولُ اللهِ ﷺ تَأْتِينِي كُتُبٌ لَا أُحِبُّ أَنْ يَقْرَأَهَا أَحَدٌ فَتُحْسِنُ السُّرْيَانِيَّةَ؟ قُلْتُ لَا قَالَ فَتَعَلَّمْهَا فَتَعَلَّمْتُهَا فِي سَبْعَةَ عَشَرَ يَوْمًا لَفْظُ حَدِيثِ ابْنِ الْفَضْلِ
English Translation
Hilal ibn Muhammad al-Haffar informed us: al-Husayn ibn Yahya ibn Ayyash narrated to us: Yahya ibn al-Sariy narrated to us: Jarir narrated to us. Also Abu al-Husayn ibn al-Fadl informed us: Abdullah ibn Ja'far narrated to us: Ya'qub ibn Sufyan narrated to us: Abu al-Walid Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik narrated to us: Jarir narrated from al-A'mash from Thabit ibn Ubayd from Zayd ibn Thabit who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said to me: Letters come to me and I do not want anyone to read them. Can you learn Syriac? I said: No. He said: Then learn it. So I learned it in seventeen days. This is the wording of the hadith of Ibn al-Fadl.