Question

What is the correct reference for this?

Abul ‘Ala said: “I never entered upon a man or passed by his door -seeing him with a book in his hand,and his companion doing nothing- except that I judged him to be the more intelligent one” (Ibn ‘Abdil Barr)

Answer

Imam Ibn ‘Abdil Barr (rahimahullah) has recorded this narration in Jami’u Bayanil ‘Ilmi Wa Fadlihi.

Abu ‘Amr ibnul ‘Ala Al Mazini Al Basri [Demise: 154 A.H.] said: “Whenever I entered upon a man or passed by his door and saw him with a book [in his hand] and his companion idle, I judged him and had conviction that he is the more intelligent [of the two].”

(Jami’u Bayanil ‘Ilmi Wa Fadlihi: 2424)

And Allah Ta’ala Knows best.

Answered by: Mawlana Suhail Motala

Approved by: Mawlana Muhammad Abasoomar