Fath al-Rabbani

Qais bin Kathir, may Allah have mercy on him, says: A man came from Madinah Munawwarah to Syedna Abu Darda, may Allah be pleased with him, who was in Damascus. He asked him: "My brother! What has brought you here?" He replied: "I have come for the sake of a hadith; I have learned that you narrate it from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him." He asked: "Have you not come for trade?" He replied: "No." He asked: "Have you not come for any other need?" He replied: "No." He asked: "So you have come only to obtain this hadith?" He replied: "Yes." He said: "Indeed, I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say: Whoever sets out on a path to seek knowledge, Allah makes the path to Paradise easy for him. And indeed, the angels lower their wings in approval of the seeker of knowledge, and all the creatures in 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 people of knowledge are the heirs of the Prophets. The Prophets did not leave behind dinars or dirhams as inheritance, but they left only knowledge. Whoever acquires it, has taken a great share (from the inheritance of the Prophets)."