I was sitting with Abu Darda in the mosque of Damascus when a man came to him and said, "Abu Darda, I have come to you from the city of the Messenger ﷺ for a hadith I heard you narrate from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. I have not come for any other need."Abu Darda replied, "I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, 'Whoever travels a path seeking knowledge, Allah will lead him along a path to Paradise. The angels lower their wings in approval for the seeker of knowledge, and the scholar is asked forgiveness for by all who are in the heavens and on the earth, even the fish in the depths of the water. The superiority of the scholar over the worshipper is like the superiority of the moon on the night of Badr over the rest of the stars. The scholars are the heirs of the prophets, and the prophets do not leave behind dinars or dirhams as inheritance. They leave behind knowledge, so whoever takes it has taken an abundant share.'"
حدثنا مسدد بن مسرهد حدثنا عبد الله بن داود سمعت عاصم بن رجاء بن حيوة يحدث عن داود بن جميل
كنت جالسا مع أبي الدرداء في مسجد دمشق فجاءه رجل فقال يا أبا الدرداء إني جئتك من مدينة الرسول ﷺ لحديث بلغني أنك تحدثه عن رسول الله ﷺ ما جئت لحاجة قال فإني سمعت رسول الله ﷺ يقول من سلك طريقا يطلب فيه علما سلك الله به طريقا من طرق الجنة وإن الملائكة لتضع أجنحتها رضا لطالب العلم وإن العالم ليستغفر له من في السموات ومن في الأرض والحيتان في جوف الماء وإن فضل العالم على العابد كفضل القمر ليلة البدر على سائر الكواكب وإن العلماء ورثة الأنبياء وإن الأنبياء لم يورثوا دينارا ولا درهما ورثوا العلم فمن أخذه أخذ بحظ وافر
[Its chain is daif] Ibn Majah reported it in the introduction, chapter on the virtue of scholars and the encouragement to seek knowledge, hadith 223, from the hadith of Abdullah bin Dawud, with the same chain. Tirmidhi said in hadith 2682, "Its chain is not connected in my view, Dawud bin Jameel and his teacher are both daif," and the hadith of Muslim, hadith 2699, suffices in its place.