If it is objected: In the report from Ibn Masʿūd and others, he says:

“The Quran will be taken away overnight, so that not a single verse of it remains in the written copies or in people’s hearts.”

This contradicts what has been stated.

The answer is: That is not so. Taking away knowledge is not the same as taking away the Quran, as demonstrated by the other hadith:

“This is the time when knowledge will be taken away.”

One of the Ansār asked, “How can it be taken away when we have recited the Quran and taught our wives and children to recite it?”

He replied, “May your mother be bereaved of you! I had certainly thought you among the most knowledgeable people of Medina. Do not the Jews and Christians possess the Torah and the Gospel? Yet what benefit does that bring them?”

Thus, merely continuing to preserve the Scripture in memory does not necessarily entail possessing this knowledge. In particular, the Quran is recited by hypocrites and believers alike, and by the unlettered person who knows nothing of the Scripture beyond reciting it.

Al-Hasan al-Basrī said:

“Knowledge is of two kinds: knowledge in the heart and knowledge on the tongue. Knowledge in the heart is beneficial knowledge, while knowledge on the tongue is Allah’s proof against His servants.”

When Allah takes away the scholars, those who recite the Quran without knowledge will remain. It will then be taken away overnight from the written copies and from people’s hearts.

If it is objected: In the hadith of Hudhayfah recorded in the two Sahīh collections, he told them about the removal of the trust, saying:

“A man will sleep, and the trust will be taken from his heart, leaving a trace like a small spot. Then he will sleep again, and the trust will be taken from his heart, and there remains