عن عبد الله بن عمرو بن العاص قال: سمعت رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يقول: إن الله لا يقبض العلم انتزاعا ينتزعه من العباد ولكن يقبض العلم بقبض العلماء حتى إذا لم يبق عالما اتخذ الناس رءوسا جهالا فسئلوا فأفتوا بغير علم فضلوا وأضلوا (صحيح البخاري، الرقم: 100)

Hazrat ‘Abdullah bin ‘Amr bin ‘Aas (radhiyallahu ‘anhuma) reports, “I heard Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) say, ‘Indeed, Allah Ta‘ala will not take away the knowledge of deen (from the world) by raising it from (the hearts of) the servants. Rather, He will take it away through the death of the (rightly-guided) ‘Ulama. Eventually, when Allah has left no (rightly-guided) ‘Aalim (alive in certain places, even though there will be rightly-guided ‘Ulama in other places), then the people will take ignorant people as their leaders (in deen). When questions (pertaining to deen) will be posed to them, they will answer without knowledge. Hence, they will be astray, and they will lead others astray as well.”