Anas b. Malik said that God’s messenger asked, “Do you know
who is most generous?" On receiving the reply that God and His
messenger knew best, he said, “God is the most generous, then I am the
most generous of mankind, and the most generous of them after me will
be a man who acquires knowledge and spreads it. On the day of resurrection he will come as a prince alone.” Or he said, “As one people."
Abu Darda’ told how God’s messenger, when asked how much a
man had to learn to become a faqih, replied, “ If anyone preserves for
my people forty traditions concerning their religion, God will raise him
up in the next world as a faqih, and I shall be an intercessor and witness
for him on the day of resurrection.”
Narrated He also reported the Prophet as saying, “Two greedy ones never
attain satisfaction:
he who is greedy for knowledge can never get
enough of it, and he who is greedy for worldly goods can never get
enough of them." Baihaqi transmitted the three traditions in Shu'ab
al-iman, and quoted the imam Ahmad as saying about Abu Darda''s
tradition, “This is a well-known text among the people, but it does not
have a sound isnad."
‘Abdallah b. ‘Amr told of God’s messenger coming upon two
groups in his mosque and saying, “They are both engaged in what is
good, but one of them is superior to the other. These ones are praying and supplicating God who, if He wills, may answer their prayers
but, if He wills, may refuse them. Those ones are learning knowledge*
and teaching the ignorant, so they are superior. I was sent only as a
teacher.” He then sat down among them. Darimi transmitted it.
*The text has al-fiqh au al-'ilm, fiqh and ‘ilm having the same meaning, but the transmitter of the
tradition was not sure which word was used by the Prophet on this occasion.
