Al-Husayn b. Ahmad b. Idris narrated to us. He said: My father narrated to us from Ahmad b. Abi `Abdillah al-Barqi from Muhammad b. `Isa from `Ubaydullah b. `Abdullah al-Dahqan from Darast b. Abi Mansur al-Wasiti from Ibrahim b. `Abd al-Humayd from Abi’l Hasan Musa b. Ja`far from his forefathers . He said:

The Messenger of Allah (s) entered the mosque and found a group [sitting] around a man. So, he said: What is this? So, they said: An intellectual (`allamah). He said: What is an intellectual? They said: He is the most knowledgeable of the people in the lineages and anecdotes of the Arabs, the days of Jahiliyya, the poems, and Arabic (or rhetoric). So, the Prophet (s) said: That is a knowledge whose ignorance does not harm and whose familiarity does not benefit.