The Devils Deception by Imam Ibn AL-Jawzi

Chapter Seven: Devil's Deception ef the Scholars (al- 'ultima')
[ 7:2]
The Devil's Deception of the f:Iadith
Traditionalists (A.fbdb ul-lfadith)
Some people have spent their entire lives in acquiring l:tadiths,
traveling to gather it and seeking high chains of narration and extraordinary
texts. Such people are of two types:
One type included those interested in preserving Shari'ah by determining
authentic Traditions from unauthentic ones. They aught
to be thanked for this effort, however, Iblis may persuade them to
spend too much time in gathering ]:iadith at the expense of performing
obligations and learning that which they must learn and
learning the meanings of the Q.adiths.
If someone says: But many of the Salaf practiced this, such as:
YaQ.ya Ibn Ma'in, Ibn Al-Madirii, Al-Bukhari and Muslim.
We say that these individuals were able to reconcile between gaining
knowledge and seeking l:tadith The shortness of chains of narration
and the scarcity of J::iadith made it possible for their lives to
accommodate both (seeking knowledge and seeking l:tadith).
As for our days, the chains of narration have become too long,
and the books published in l:tadith are large in number, so it became
very rare to find someone able to accommodate both affairs. We see
that some l:tadith scholars spend fifty years in acquiring and compiling
l:tadiths but know nothing of their meanings, and if something
happens to them during prayer, they would seek assistance from
some junior students of .ftqh who attend his l:tadith sessions.
This was the reason why many have attacked J::iadith scholars. They
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