Sa’īd bin Jubayr on the Death of Scholars

حَدَثَنَا أَبُو النُّعْمَانِ، ثَنَا ثَابِتُ بْنُ يَزِيدَ، ثَنَا هِلَالٌ – هُوَ ابْنُ خَبَّابٍ – قَالَ: سَأَلْتُ سَعِيدَ بْنَ جُبَيْرٍ قُلْتُ: يَا ‌أَبَا ‌عَبْدِ ‌اللَّهِ ‌مَا ‌عَلَامَةُ ‌هَلَاكِ ‌النَّاسِ؟، قَالَ: إِذَا هَلَكَ عُلَمَاؤُهُمْ

It is narrated on the authority of Hilāl bin Khabbāb that he said:

I asked Sa’īd bin Jubayr (may Allāh have mercy upon him): “O ‘Abū ‘Abdullāh, what is a sign of the destruction of people?” He replied: “When their ‘ulamā [scholars] pass away.”