When you learn knowledge, preserve it, and do not mix it with laughter and falsehood, such that the hearts refuse (dislike) it.
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Knowledge
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It is reported that ʿAlī – Allāh be pleased with him – said:
When you learn knowledge, preserve it, and do not mix it with laughter and falsehood, such that the hearts refuse (dislike) it.
Al-Khaṭīb Al-Baghdādī, Al-Jāmiʿ li-Akhlāq Al-Rāwī wa Ādāb Al-Sāmiʿ 1:232
It is reported that Abū Al-Dardāʾ – Allāh be pleased with him – said:
There is no good in this life except for one of two men: a man listening carefully, receiving and holding [knowledge]; or someone knowledgeable speaking.
Ibn Ḥibbān, Rawḍatu Al-ʿUqalāʾ 1:42.
It is reported that Al-Khalīl b. Aḥmad said:
Men are of four types: There is the man who knows and he knows that he knows. He is knowledgeable, so follow him and ask him. And there is the man who does not know, and he knows that he does not know. He is ignorant, so teach him. And there is the man who knows, but he does not know that he knows. He is heedless, so remind him. And then there is the man who does not know, but he does not know that he does not know (he thinks he knows). This is the fool (idiot), so beware of him.
Ibn ˁAbd Al-Barr, Jāmiˁ Bayān Al-ˁilm wa Faḍlihī article 1538.
It is reported that Harim b. Ḥayyān – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
“Beware of the sinful scholar (al-ʿālim al-fāsiq).” This reached ʿUmar, so he wrote to him in fear, “Who is the sinful scholar?” He wrote back, “I did not intend but good; this is when there is an imām (leader, taken as an example) who speaks knowledge, but practices sins, confusing the people, and thus they go astray.”
Al-Dhahabī, Siyar ʾAʿlām Al-Nubalāʾ 4:49.
It is reported that Al-Fuḍayl b. ʿAyyāḍ – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
It has reached me that the scholars of old would practice what they learned when they learned it, and through practicing they would become occupied, and because of being occupied, they would be missed, and when they were missed they were sought after, and when they were sought after they would flee.
Al-Dhahabi, Siyar ʾAʿlām Al-Nubalāʾ 8:439,440
I saw Zuhayr b. Muʿāwiyah come to Zāʾidah b. Qudāmah (d.160H) and speak to him to get him to narrate ḥadīth to a man, so Zāʾidah asked, Is he from Ahl Al-Sunnah? Zuhayr replied, I do not know that he has any bidʿah. Zāʾidah said, No, that is another matter! Is he from Ahl Al-Sunnah? Zuhayr said, Since when have people become like this? Zāʾidah replied, Since when did people curse Abū Bakr and ʿUmar?!
Al-Khaṭīb Al-Baghdādī, Al-Jāmiʿ li Akhlāq Al-Rāwī #754.
It is reported that Imām Al-Zuhrī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
We used to sometimes come to a scholar and what we learned of his manners was more beloved to us than the knowledge we took from him.
Abū Nuʿaym, Ḥilyatu Al-ʾAwliyāʾ #4575
It is reported that a man once wrote to Ibn ʿUmar – Allāh be pleased with them:
Please write down all knowledge for me. Ibn ʿUmar replied: Knowledge is vast, but if you can meet Allāh having kept your back light of the burden of people’s blood, your stomach void of people’s wealth and having kept your tongue from [disparaging] their honour, then do so.
Al-Dhahabī, Siyar ʾAʿlām Al-Nubalāʾ 3:222
It is reported that Abū Muslim Al-Khawlānī – Allāh have mercy on him – said:
The example of the scholars on earth is that of the stars in the sky: when they appear, the people are guided (they navigate using the stars), but when they disappear, the people get confused and lost.
Al-Bayhaqī, Al-Madkhal ilā Al-Sunan Al-Kubrā #287
It is reported from Al-Shaʿbī – Allāh have mercy on him – that he said:
It is reported from Al-Shaʿbī – Allāh have mercy on him – that he said: ʿAbdul-Malik [ibn Marwān, the Khalīfah] once sent me to the king of the Romans, and I stayed with him for a number of days. When I wanted to leave, he asked me, Are you from the House of [your] king (his family)? I replied, I am just a man from the Arabs. He gave me a parchment and said, Deliver this to your companion (the Caliph). When ʿAbdul-Malik had read it, he said to me, Do you know what it says? I replied, No. He said, It says in it, I wonder at a people who have made other than this man king over them. I said, By Allāh, if I had known I would not have carried it to you. [The Roman king] only said this because he has not seen you. ʿAbdul-Malik said, Rather, he envied me for having you, and was trying to incite me to kill you. This reached the Roman king; and when it did, he said, I wanted nothing but this.
Ibn Al-ʿImād, Shadharāt Al-Dhahab 2:26