Ibrahim bin Maisarah said that Mujahid saw Tawus (may Allah have mercy on him) in a dream, that he was praying in the Ka'bah with a veil on his face, and the Noble Prophet (peace be upon him) was standing at the door of the Ka'bah and saying: O servant of Allah! Remove your veil, and recite aloud (i.e., narrate the hadith openly). Ibrahim said: He interpreted this as referring to knowledge, and after that, he happily began to narrate hadith.

Ka'b said: The world is accursed and whatever is in it is also accursed, except for one who learns goodness and one who teaches it.

Khalid bin Ma'dan said: People are either scholars or learners, and those who are between them are base people, in whom there is no good.

Hisham narrated that Hasan (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The people used to say that the death of a scholar is a breach in Islam which nothing can ever fill until the end of the world.

Wahb bin Munabbih said: In my view, a gathering in which there is discussion about knowledge is more beloved and preferable to me than an equivalent amount of prayer, because perhaps someone may hear a word from it that will benefit him for a year or for the rest of his life.

Sufyan al-Thawri (may Allah have mercy on him) said: I do not know of any deed better for a person whom Allah wishes good for than acquiring knowledge and memorizing it.

Hasan bin Salih said: Surely, people will be in need of this knowledge in their religious matters just as they are in need of food and drink in their worldly life.

Sayyiduna Abu Darda’ (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Acquire knowledge before it is taken away, for indeed the taking away of knowledge is the disappearance (passing away) of the scholars. Surely, the scholar and the learner (student) are equal in reward.

It is narrated from Dahhak (may Allah have mercy on him) that the meaning of the noble verse: «﴿وَلَكِنْ كُونُوا رَبَّانِيِّينَ بِمَا كُنْتُمْ تُعَلِّمُونَ الْكِتَابَ ....﴾» [آل عمران: 79/3] is that whoever recites the Qur'an, it is obligatory upon him to become a jurist (i.e., a learned scholar of Allah).

Imam Hasan al-Basri (may Allah have mercy on him) said in the commentary of this verse: «﴿لَوْلَا يَنْهَاهُمُ الرَّبَّانِيُّونَ وَالْأَحْبَارُ ....﴾» [المائدة: 63/5] "Why do not their devout and learned men forbid them" that by «الربانيون» is meant the wise and the scholars.