Aslam

sell it for a small price. Such people will be brought on the resurrection day with bridles of fire and they will raise up shrieks before all the creatures. It will be proclaimed: They are children of so and so. God gave them learning but they were miser in distributing it to the people and took small price in lieu thereof and property in exchange. Thus they will be punished till God finishes the judgment of account.

A more severe punishment will be meted out to the following kind of people. A certain man was a servant of Prophet Moses. He went round saying: Moses, the chosen man of God told me this.
Moses, the confident of God, told me this. Moses, the intimate friend of God, told me this. Saying these, he became rich and then disappeared. Moses searched for him but his whereabouts were not found. Sometime after, a man came to Moses with a pig with a rope tied to its neck. Moses said to him: Do you know such and such a person? He said: Yes, he is this pig. Moses said to hinv O - Lord, turn him into his former position. I shall ask him about his condition. God revealed to him. If you remember Me with what Adam and his successors remembered Me, I shall not accept your invocation. I shall inform you how he was changed to this condition. He searched for the world in lieu of religion.

A more severe narration was reported by Muaz-b-Jabal to the effect that the Prophet had said: 'One danger of a learned man is that he would prefer talking than hearing, as there is ornamentation and exaggeration in his speech. A speaker is not free from these faults but there is safety and wisdom in silence.
There is such a man among the learned who guards his learning but does not like to communicate it to others. Such a learned man is in the first stage of Hell. There is such a man among the learned who is like a king in learning. In other words, if any objection is raised against learning, he becomes angry. He is in the second stage of Hell. There is such a man among the learned who broadcasts his learning and narrates traditions to the rich and not to those who are in need of them. Such a learned man is in the third stage of Hell. There is such a man among the learned who remains busy with legal decisions and commits mistakes and remains satisfied with one who does divine service. Such a learned man is in the fourth stage of Hell. There is such a man among the learned who delivers lectures quoting the sayings of the Jews and Christians to show his learning. Such a learned man

68 THE BOOK OF WORSHIP Vol-I

is in the fifth stage of Hell. There is such a man among the learned who delivers lectures with pride and self conceit and considers his speech as good and when any other man delivers lectures, he sneers at him. Such a learned man is in the seventh stage of Hell.