Ibn Majah

Commentary:

➊
According to some other scholars, this narration is authentic.

➋
Scholars should sit in the mosque to teach knowledge, or they should hold scholarly gatherings in such a place where no one is hindered from coming to them, so that every rich and poor, lowly and high, can benefit.

➌
It is a very virtuous act to travel from one city to another to acquire knowledge from a great scholar.

➍
Every creature of Allah is pleased with the one who travels for the sake of acquiring knowledge and prays for him.

➎
It is recommended to try to hear a hadith directly from a great scholar, even if one has already heard it indirectly; in the terminology of the hadith scholars, this is called acquiring a higher chain of transmission (ali isnad).

➏
A teacher should inform the student about the importance and virtue of knowledge so that he becomes happy, his enthusiasm increases, and thus he can benefit better.

➐
A scholar is superior to a worshipper, because a scholar benefits others, whereas a worshipper strives only for himself.
Moreover, knowledge is also necessary for worship; otherwise, there is a risk of falling into innovations (bid‘ah), which, instead of earning Allah’s pleasure, brings down Allah’s wrath.

➑
It is a great honor for scholars that they are the spiritual heirs of the Prophets (anbiya).
But this lofty status also places a great responsibility upon them: that they clarify the truth, call towards the truth, forbid falsehood, and in this path, do not care for any fear or greed—just as the noble Prophets (anbiya’ kiram) presented the highest example of striving, patience, sincerity, and devotion to Allah in the propagation of this knowledge.

➒
The material inheritance of the noble Prophets is not distributed among heirs like that of other people; rather, it is charity for the general Muslims.

➓
The door to taking a share from the inheritance of the Prophets has not been closed; every person can take a share from this scholarly inheritance according to his effort, because this inheritance is an inexhaustible treasure.
Every Muslim should strive to acquire as much as possible from this sacred inheritance.

⓫
It is commonly said that the angels spread their wings under the feet of the seeker of knowledge.
This meaning does not emerge from the words of the hadith.
The word “placing” (wada‘a) is in contrast to “raising” (rafa‘a); for this, it can also mean the lowering of the wings, because the word “feet” is not in the hadith.
The lowering of the angels’ wings is an expression of love and respect.
And Allah knows best.

Explanation:
1:
From this hadith, it is understood that scholars and hadith transmitters possess great virtue.
Traveling long distances is required for the acquisition of knowledge.
This journey should be undertaken purely with the intention of seeking religious knowledge, and no worldly motive should be mixed with it.
For the one who seeks religious knowledge, the path to Paradise is made easy.
All the creatures of the universe seek forgiveness for him.
Scholars are the true heirs of the Prophets.

Note:
(In the chain of narration, Kathir ibn Qays,
or Qays ibn Kathir, is a weak narrator,
but through corroborating narrations, this hadith is strengthened and is considered sahih li-ghayrihi (authentic due to supporting evidence).
For details, see:
Zuhd Waki‘, no. 519)

Benefits and Issues:
➊
Some scholars have declared this narration to be hasan (good) on the basis of supporting evidences.

➋
The term "knowledge" (ilm) in reality applies to the Book of Allah, the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), and what is related to them.
Other sciences besides these are, in fact, arts and skills of craftsmanship.
Someone has beautifully said:
(al-ilmu qala Allahu qala rasuluhu qala al-sahabatu hum ulu al-irfan)
Knowledge is that Allah said, His Messenger (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said, and the Companions (radi Allahu anhum ajma'in) said.
These alone are the people of knowledge and understanding.

➌
This hadith contains a great statement of the virtue of acquiring knowledge with sincerity and of the person of knowledge.

➍
The greatness of the Prophets is due to the connection they have with Allah, Lord of the worlds.
And then the status of the scholars is due to their being the inheritors of the Prophets.
Therefore, it is obligatory that the scholars safeguard this relationship well and never consider themselves inferior to any worldly person.

➎
A necessary requirement of love for Allah and His Noble Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) is that one should have love for the true scholars and the seekers of religious knowledge.

Hadith Authentication:
The chain of narration for this report is weak.
There are two weak narrators in the mentioned narration:
➊ Kathir bin Qays or Qays bin Kathir. [تقريب التهذيب : 5624، وقال : ضعيف]
➋ Dawud bin Jamil. [تقريب التهذيب : 1778، وقال : ضعيف]
◄ In Sunan Abi Dawud [3642] there is another chain for this narration, but that too is weak. In it, Shabib bin Shaybah is unknown. See: [تقريب التهذيب: 2741]
Or, by this, Shu'ayb bin Ruzayq is meant, who, according to the preferred opinion, was a hasan al-hadith narrator. See: Tahrir [تقريب التهذيب 2؍117 ت 2801]
If by Shabib bin Shaybah, Shu'ayb bin Ruzayq Abu Shaybah is meant, then two points are important:
➊ Walid bin Muslim rahimahullah was a mudallis (one who practices tadlis).
◄ Imam Abu Mus-hir (Abd al-A'la bin Mus-hir al-Ghassani / d. 218 AH) rahimahullah said:
«كان الوليد يأخذ من ابن أبى السفر حديث الأوزاعي وكان ابن أبى السفر كذّاب [!] وهو يقول فيها : قال الأوزاعي»
Walid (bin Muslim) would take hadith from Ibn Abi al-Safar from al-Awza'i, and Ibn Abi al-Safar (perhaps Yusuf bin al-Safar: the scribe of al-Awza'i) was a liar, and he (Walid bin Muslim) would say: al-Awza'i said. [تاريخ دمشق 66؍212 وسنده صحيح]
◄ The chain of this statement is authentic, and a brief introduction to the narrators is as follows:
➊ Abu al-Qasim bin al-Samarqandi, the shaykh of Ibn Asakir, was trustworthy. See: [سير اعلام النبلاء 20 ؍28- 31]
➋ Abu al-Fadl bin al-Baqqal was trustworthy. See: [المنتظم 16؍2۔ 3۔ 2۔ 4 ت3495 وفيات 471ه]
➌ Abu al-Husayn bin Bishran was truthful. See: [سير اعلام النبلاء 17؍312]
➍ Uthman bin Ahmad, known as Ibn al-Samak Abu Umar al-Daqqaq, was trustworthy and truthful. See: [لسان الميزان 4؍131 - 132، دوسرا نسخه 4؍588 - 590]
➎ Hanbal bin Ishaq was trustworthy.
◄ Our Arab friend and the righteous shaykh Abu Jabir Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Uthman al-Ansari al-Madani, hafizahullah, has written a book in three volumes:
«القول النفيس فى براءة الوليد بن مسلم من التدليس»
◄ In this book, regarding Hanbal bin Ishaq, Abu Jabir al-Ansari al-Madani, hafizahullah, has quoted from Suyuti:
«. . . له تاريخ حسن وغيره وله عن أحمد سؤالات يأتي فيها بغرائب ويخالف رفاقه. . .»
"His history is good, etc., and he asked Ahmad bin Hanbal questions in which he would bring rare matters and would oppose his companions..." [بحواله طبقات الحفاظ ص272 ت611]
◄ And he quoted from Hafiz Dhahabi's [سير اعلام النبلاء 13؍52]:
«. . . . . له مسائل كثيرة عن أحمد ويتفرد ويغرب. . . .»
He narrated many issues from Ahmad, in some of which he was unique and narrated rare matters. [القول النفيس ج3 ص124]
◄ It is to be said that this criticism is rejected because it is contrary to the authentication of the majority.
● Regarding Hanbal bin Ishaq:
◄ Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi said: «وكان ثقة ثبتا»
◄ Al-Daraqutni said: «وكان صدوقًا» He was truthful. [تاريخ بغداد 8؍287 ت4386 وسنده صحيح]
◄ Ibn al-Jawzi said: «وكان ثقة ثبتًا صدوقًا» [المنتظم 12؍256 ت179۔، وفيات 273ه]
◄ Hafiz Dhahabi himself said: «الحافظ الثقة» [تذكرة الحفاظ 2؍6۔۔ ت624],
And he said: «الإمام الحافظ المحدث الصدوق المصنف» [سير اعلام النبلاء 13؍51]
◄ Suyuti himself said: «الحافظ الثقة» [طبقات الحفاظ ص272 ت 611]
↰ In the face of this strong authentication by the majority, the criticism based on narrating rare and unique matters holds no weight.
➏ The teacher of Hanbal bin Ishaq, Imam Yahya bin Ma'in, was a very great trustworthy Imam, even above trustworthy.
↰ In summary, the chain of Abu Mus-hir's statement is authentic, and from this, it is established that Walid bin Muslim was a mudallis.
◄ Imam al-Daraqutni said about Walid bin Muslim:
«الوليد بن مسلم يرسل، يروي عن الأوزاعي أحاديث الأوزاعي عن شيوخ ضعفاء عن شيوخ قد أدركهم الأوزاعي مثل : نافع وعطاء والزهري فيسقط أسماء الضعفاء ويجعلها عن الأوزاعي عن عطاء يعني مثل عبدالله ابن عامر الأسلمي وإسماعيل بن مسلم.»
Walid bin Muslim would narrate mursal (disconnected) reports; he would narrate from al-Awza'i those hadiths which he (al-Awza'i) had narrated from weak teachers, and he (Walid) would narrate from those teachers whom al-Awza'i had met, i.e., seen. For example, Nafi', Ata', and al-Zuhri, then he would drop the names of weak narrators and narrate those reports as «عن اوزاعي عن عطاء», i.e., he would drop weak narrators like Abdullah bin Amir al-Aslami and Isma'il bin Muslim from the chain. [كتاب الضعفاء و المتروكون : 631]
◄ From this statement of Imam al-Daraqutni, it is known that Walid bin Muslim practiced tadlis al-taswiyah.
◄ Walid bin Muslim has been declared a mudallis by Hafiz Ibn Hajar, al-‘Ala’i, Abu Zur’ah Ibn al-‘Iraqi, Dhahabi, Halabi, Maqdisi, Suyuti, and others. See: [الفتح المبين ص73]
And I do not know of any opponent to this, so there is consensus on the tadlis of Walid.
◄ In the narration of Shu'ayb bin Ruzayq [تحفة الاشراف 8؍227], there is no explicit statement of hearing (sama') from him (Walid bin Muslim).
➋ The complete chain and full text of the narration from Shu'ayb bin Ruzayq through Walid bin Muslim are unknown. In [سنن ابن ماجه 239] and elsewhere, there are also weak supporting narrations for this hadith, with which this narration remains weak, even though Hafiz Ibn Hajar has written:
«لكن له شواهد يتقوي بها»
But it has supporting narrations which make it strong. [فتح الباري 1؍16۔، قبل ح68 !]

Benefit: It is mentioned in Sahih Muslim:
"And whoever treads a path seeking knowledge, Allah will make the path to Paradise easy for him..." [ح2699، اضواء المصابيح : 204، ماهنامه الحديث حضرو : 66 ص3]
◄ Likewise, it is also authentic that the Prophets do not leave (material) inheritance, but whatever they leave behind is charity. See: Sahih Bukhari [3094] and Sahih Muslim [1757]
◄ Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq rahimahullah said:
"And indeed, the scholars are the heirs of the Prophets. Indeed, the inheritance of the Prophets is not dirhams and dinars, but they leave behind the inheritance of knowledge. Whoever takes it has taken a great share." [الاصول من الكافي للكليني ج1 ص34، باب ثواب العالم و المتعلم ح1، وسنده صحيح عند الشيعة، موطأ امام مالك رواية ابن القاسم بتحقيقي ص115 ح44]
◄ Sayyiduna Safwan bin Assal radi Allahu anhu said:
"(I have come to know that) indeed, for the seeker of knowledge, the angels spread their wings, being pleased with his seeking of knowledge." [سنن الترمذي : 3535، 3536 وقال : ”حسن صحيح“ وهو حديث حسن]
◄ The Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said:
"The superiority of the scholar over the worshipper is like my superiority over the least of you," then the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said:
"Indeed, Allah (sends mercy) and His angels, the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth, even the ant in its hole and the fish (in the sea, in the water) all pray for the teacher who teaches people good." See: Adwa' al-Masabih, hadith [213], Tirmidhi [2685]