عَبْدَ اللَّهِ بْنَ عَمْرِو بْنِ الْعَاصِ يَقُولُ سَمِعْتُ رَسُولَ اللّٰه صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم يَقُولُ: إِنَّ اللّٰه لاَ يَقْبِضُ الْعِلْمَ انْتِزَاعًا يَنْتَزِعُهُ مِنَ النَّاسِ وَلَكِنْ يَقْبِضُ الْعِلْمَ بِقَبْضِ الْعُلَمَاءِ حَتَّى إِذَا لَمْ يَتْرُكْ عَالِمًا اتَّخَذَ النَّاسُ رُءُوسًا جُهَّالاً فَسُئِلُوا فَأَفْتَوْا بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ فَضَلُّوا وَأَضَلُّوا.
Hazrat ‘Abdullah bin ‘Amr bin al-‘As reported Allah’s Messengersa as saying:
“Verily, Allah does not take away knowledge by snatching it from the people but He takes away knowledge by taking away the scholars so that when He leaves no learned person, people turn to the ignorant as their leaders; then they are asked to deliver religious verdicts and they deliver them without knowledge, they go astray, and lead others astray.”
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab al-‘ilm, Bab raf‘i l-‘ilmi wa qabdhihi wa zuhuri l-jahli wa l-fitani fi akhiri z-zaman, Hadith 2673a)