and Abū Hāmid al-Sābūnī. Both said:

Abū al-Qāsim ‘Abd al-Samad ibn Muhammad ibn Abī al-Fadl al-Harastānī informed us: Abū Muhammad Tāhir ibn Sahl al-Isfarāyīnī informed us: Abū al-Husayn Muhammad ibn Makkī al-Azdī informed us: Judge Abū al-Husayn ‘Alī ibn Muhammad ibn Ishāq ibn Yazīd al-Halabī informed us in 390 AH: Abū al-Qāsim ‘Abd al-Samad ibn Sa‘īd, the judge, narrated to us: ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn Jābir al-Kalā‘ī narrated to us: Yahyā ibn Sālih al-Wuhāzī narrated to us: al-‘Alā’ ibn Sulaymān narrated to us, from al-Zuhrī, from Abū Salamah, from Abū Hurayrah, who said: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Allah does not take away knowledge by snatching it from people; rather, He takes away the scholars. When He leaves no scholar, people take ignorant leaders, who are asked for religious rulings and issue them without knowledge. Thus they go astray and lead others astray.”

Abū al-Hasan ibn al-Bukhārī also related it to us through a shorter chain of transmission: Ibn Tabarzadh informed us: Judge Abū Bakr informed us: ‘Alī ibn Ibrāhīm al-Bāqilānī informed us: Muhammad ibn Ismā‘īl al-Warrāq narrated to us by dictation: Abū Bakr Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Sulaymān al-Wāsitī narrated to us: Suwayd ibn Sa‘īd narrated to us: Mālik ibn Anas and Hafs ibn Maysarah narrated to us, from Hishām ibn ‘Urwah, from his father, from ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Amr (who then related the hadith).