The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "Among the signs of the Hour are three, one of them being that knowledge will be sought from the youngest."
أن رسول الله ﷺ قال: إن من أشراط الساعة ثلاثا: إحداهن أن يلتمس العلم عند الأصاغر.
Tabarani narrated it (22/361–362), and Ibn Abdul-Barr in Jami Bayan Ilm (1052), via Ibn Mubarak, and it is also in his Zuhd (61), from Abdullah bin Lahia, who said, "Bakr bin Sawada narrated to me, from Abu Umaya Jumahi," and he mentioned the hadith.Its isnad is hasan because of Ibn Lahia, for his hadith is hasan when narrated by Abadila.Two notes. First, the name of the companion appears in Tabarani as Abu Umaya Lakhmi, but in the Zuhd of Ibn Mubarak it reads, "from Abu Umaya Lakhmi, or he said, Jumahi." The correct one is Jumahi, and this is the statement of Ibn Sayd. So far.Second, in the Zuhd of Ibn Mubarak, and likewise in Ibn Abdul-Barr's Jami following this hadith, "Nuaym, that is Ibn Hammad, said, 'Ibn Mubarak was asked, "Who are the lesser ones?" He said, "Those who speak according to their own opinions. As for a junior who narrates from a senior, he is not a lesser one."'"I say, this is how the text appears in this place in both books, but Ibn Mubarak related in his Zuhd (815) something similar to this hadith from Ibn Masud as a stopped report, and following it he also said, Nuaym said, Ibn Mubarak informed us, "Knowledge came to them from their lesser ones, meaning the people of innovation. As for an elder narrating from a junior, that is not the point."Nuaym is Ibn Hammad, the transmitter of the book Zuhd of Ibn Mubarak.And in the Musannaf of Abdul-Razzaq (11/246), via Saeed bin Wahb, who said, "I heard Ibn Masud say, 'People will remain righteous and cohesive so long as knowledge comes to them from the companions of Muhammad ﷺ and from their elders, but when it comes to them from their lesser ones, they perish.'"Ibn Abdul-Barr said, "The senior is the scholar, whatever his age may be, and the ignorant one is a lesser one even if he is an old man, while the scholar is a senior even if he is young.Learn, for man is not born a scholar, and one who possesses knowledge is not like one who is ignorant. And the elder of a people, if he has no knowledge, is but a lesser one when the assemblies turn to him."