Ibn Majah

Benefits and Issues:
Benefit: To learn knowledge and the religion of Shariah merely for the purpose of acquiring worldly wealth and status is a great misfortune.
It is necessary that one’s intention should be to attain the pleasure and nearness of Allah.
Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, will Himself fulfill the necessities of the world, as is proven from the biographies of the noble Companions (radi Allahu anhum ajma'in) and other righteous predecessors (salaf salihin).

Commentary:
(1)
Just as sincerity of intention is a condition for other righteous deeds, similarly, sincerity is necessary for the acquisition of knowledge as well.

(2)
While acquiring knowledge, one should not have the intention that worldly benefits will be gained from it. Allah Ta’ala does not disgrace a person of sincerity in this world, and by His grace, He provides the means for his worldly needs to be fulfilled. Therefore, one should not remain deprived of religious knowledge thinking that a scholar of religion does not receive worldly gains.

(3)
The meaning of not smelling the fragrance of Paradise is that he will be very far from Paradise, to the extent that not to mention seeing Paradise, even its fragrance will not reach him. In this world, it happens that where sight does not reach, fragrance does. Such distance from Paradise means that he will go to Hell. A‘adhana Allah minha (May Allah protect us from it).

(4)
Learning religious knowledge for the sake of earning worldly gains is prohibited because such a person, out of greed for the world, presents incorrect rulings so that people become pleased with him and continue to serve him. In this way, instead of spreading guidance, he becomes a spreader of misguidance.

(5)
Acquiring worldly sciences with the intention that through them lawful sustenance (rizq halal) may be earned is not included in this warning.

Authentication of the Hadith:
Its chain of narration is hasan li-dhatihi (good in itself).
◄ Ibn Hibban [الاحسان : 78، الموارد : 89] and Al-Hakim [1؍85 ح288] have declared it authentic.

Jurisprudence of the Hadith:
➊ Sincerity of intention is necessary for every good deed, especially for acquiring religious knowledge.
➋ The validity of deeds depends upon the intention.
➌ Acquiring worldly sciences for worldly objectives is permissible, provided that their prohibition is not established by any Shar‘i (Islamic legal) evidence—for example, learning the knowledge of astrologers is not permissible, except that a scholar and a person of sound creed studies their books in order to refute them.
➍ The prohibition indicated in this hadith points to the fact that there will be some unfortunate people in the Ummah who will study religious sciences for worldly gain.