Chapter

Tribulations

كتاب الفتن

Arabic Text

حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو بَكْرِ بْنُ أَبِي شَيْبَةَ، حَدَّثَنَا وَكِيعٌ، حَدَّثَنَا الأَعْمَشُ، عَنْ سَالِمِ بْنِ أَبِي الْجَعْدِ، عَنْ زِيَادِ بْنِ لَبِيدٍ، قَالَ ذَكَرَ النَّبِيُّ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ شَيْئًا فَقَالَ ‏"‏ ذَاكَ عِنْدَ أَوَانِ ذَهَابِ الْعِلْمِ ‏"‏ ‏.‏ قُلْتُ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ وَكَيْفَ يَذْهَبُ الْعِلْمُ وَنَحْنُ نَقْرَأُ الْقُرْآنَ وَنُقْرِئُهُ أَبْنَاءَنَا وَيُقْرِئُهُ أَبْنَاؤُنَا أَبْنَاءَهُمْ إِلَى يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ قَالَ ‏"‏ ثَكِلَتْكَ أُمُّكَ زِيَادُ إِنْ كُنْتُ لأَرَاكَ مِنْ أَفْقَهِ رَجُلٍ بِالْمَدِينَةِ أَوَلَيْسَ هَذِهِ الْيَهُودُ وَالنَّصَارَى يَقْرَءُونَ التَّوْرَاةَ وَالإِنْجِيلَ لاَ يَعْمَلُونَ بِشَىْءٍ مِمَّا فِيهِمَا ‏"‏ ‏.‏

English Translation

It was narrated that Ziyad bin Labid said:

“The Prophet (ﷺ) mentioned something and said: ‘That will be at the time when knowledge (of Qur’an) disappears.’ I said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, how will knowledge disappear when we read the Qur’an and teach it to our children, until the Day of Resurrection?’ He said: ‘May your mother be bereft of you, Ziyad! I thought that you were the wisest man in Al- Madinah. Is it not the case that these Jews and Christians read the Tawrah and the Injil, but they do not act upon anything of what is in them?’”