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To what extent are the two hadiths "Travel, you will gain spoils" and "The sleep of a scholar is better than the worship of an ignorant person" authentic and accurately interpreted?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Al-Bayhaqi, Ahmad, and Al-Tabarani narrated hadiths with the wording: "Travel, you will be healthy and gain spoils," and "Travel, you will be healthy, and raid, you will become rich," and "Travel, you will be healthy and safe." Al-Albani authenticated some of them and deemed others weak. These hadiths illustrate the benefits of travel, such as health, wealth, and seeking knowledge, as was also reported from Al-Shafi'i. As for the hadith: "The sleep of a scholar is better than the worship of an ignorant person" or "The sleep of a scholar is worship," it has no basis. Rather, what was reported is "The sleep of a fasting person is worship." And it was said: "Sleep with knowledge is better than prayer with ignorance." The sleep of a scholar may be considered worship if he intends by it to gain energy for obedience, and the sleep of an oppressor may be considered worship by his refraining from oppression.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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