No one will speak up; no one will stand against that man, and—by His wisdom—Allah will give him the power to do it. Likewise, the Noble Qur’an will be torn from people’s hearts, removed from the written copies, and raised up to the Lord, for it is His speech: from Him it began and to Him it will return.
Knowledge, however, will not be snatched out of people’s chests; instead, it will be taken away through the death of the scholars. The true scholars will pass away until not a single learned person remains. People will then appoint leaders—those who set themselves up over them and from whom they seek legal opinions—but they will be ignorant. They will issue rulings without knowledge, going astray themselves and leading others astray—Allah’s refuge is sought.
The sharia will thus be left in the hands of those ignoramuses, who will judge between people with it while knowing nothing about it. No scholar will remain, and at that point the authentic Islam—founded upon the Book and the Sunnah—will no longer be present, for its adherents will have been taken away.
This hadith therefore urges us to pursue knowledge. The Messenger told us about these events so that we might avoid them, rectify matters, and seek knowledge. He did not inform us merely so that we would resign ourselves to them; rather, he wanted us to be eager for knowledge so we would never reach the state he described.
Moreover, describing a future reality does not amount to approving it. When the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—reports something, that does not mean he endorses or permits it. He once informed us, even swearing an oath, “You will surely follow the ways of those before you—you will certainly follow the paths of those who came before you.” They asked, “The Jews and the Christians?” He replied, “Yes, the Jews and the Christians.” Thus he foretold that this ummah would fall into what the Jews and Christians had done. This was a warning, not an approval or a license. We must therefore distinguish between what the Prophet reports in order to affirm and establish, and what he reports solely to caution against.