1381 – On the authority of Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: …“Whoever treads a path seeking knowledge, Allah will, by virtue of it, make a path to Paradise easy for him.” Narrated by Muslim.

1382 – From him likewise: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Whoever calls others to guidance will receive a reward equal to the rewards of all who follow him, without those rewards being diminished in the slightest.” Narrated by Muslim.

1383 – And from him: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “When the son of Adam dies, his deeds come to an end except for three: a continuous charity, knowledge from which people benefit, or a righteous child who prays for him.” Narrated by Muslim.

Explanation
These three ḥadiths set out the excellence of knowledge and its wholesome effects. Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) relates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “…and whoever walks a path in search of knowledge, Allah will through it make a path to Paradise easy for him.”

“Walking the path” encompasses the tangible, physical path upon which one’s feet tread—for instance, when a person leaves his home for a place of learning, whether that place is a mosque, a school, a college, or anything of the sort. It also includes travelling for the sake of knowledge: a person may journey from his own town to another in quest of learning, and such a person has undoubtedly set out on a path seeking knowledge. Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Anṣārī, a Companion of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), once undertook a full month’s journey on camelback—covering the distance of a month from his city to another—solely for the sake of a single ḥadith related by ʿAbd Allāh ibn Unays from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).

As for the second category, it is the intangible path: to seek knowledge from the mouths