أَخْبَرَنَا أَبُو الْمُغِيرَةِ، حَدَّثَنَا الْأَوْزَاعِيُّ، عَنْ يُونُسَ بْنِ يَزِيدَ، عَنِ الزُّهْرِيِّ قَالَ: كَانَ مَنْ مَضَى مِنْ عُلَمَائِنَا يَقُولُونَ: الِاعْتِصَامُ بِالسُّنَّةِ نَجَاةٌ، وَالْعِلْمُ يُقْبَضُ قَبْضًا سَرِيعًا، فَنَعْشُ الْعِلْمِ ثَبَاتُ الدِّينِ وَالدُّنْيَا، وَفِي ذَهَابِ الْعِلْمِ ذَهَابُ ذَلِكَ كُلِّهِ

Book: The Introduction
Chapter [16]: Obedience to the Sunnah

Ḥadīth [96]: It is narrated that Imām az-Zuhrī said: “Our scholars who came before us used to say: Salvation lies in clinging to the sunnah. And knowledge will be snatched away swiftly. So with the spread of knowledge, the world and religion stand. With the departure of knowledge, all that vanishes.”

Reference: Sunan ad-Dārimī (96 (1/34-35))

• Al-Madkhal lis-Sunnah al-Kubrā (860 (1/455))
• Ḥilyatul Awliyā’ (3/369)
• Siyar A’lām an-Nubalā’ (5/337)
• Ibn al-Mubārak’s az-Zuhd (817 (1/248))
• Al-Ibānatul Kubrā (159 (1/88))

Grade:

• Isnād ṣaḥīḥ by Shaykh ‘Abdul-Mannān Rāsikh (97 (1/136); Sunan ad-Dārimī, published by Ansarus Sunnah Publications, Lahore)
• Isnād ṣaḥīḥ by Sayyid ‘Imrān (Al-Ibānatul Kubrā, published by Dārul Ḥadīth)