whoever looks at knowledge with desire and lust for it is not like someone who looks at it with the purpose of earning money and escaping to it because the soul does not allow all its powers except with activity and lust and in that it is forced and struggles with itself. and boredom is closer to the one whose characteristic is this and is more necessary to him. had it not been for that the messenger of allah may allah bless him and grant him peace would not have appointed muadh ibn jabal as governor of yemen and assigned to him the collection of alms the accounting of workers and entrusted him with the rulings and teaching people islam when he was eighteen years old. and no one who has news or carries a tradition can deny that.
وليس من نظر في العلم على الرغبة والشهوة له كمن نظر فيه على المكسبة به والهرب إليه؛ لأن النفس لا تسمح بكل قواها إلا مع النشاط والشهوة، وهي في ذلك لنفسها مستكرهة ولها مكابدة. والسآمة إلى من كانت هذه صفته أقرب، وله ألزم. ولولا ذلك لما ولى رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم معاذ بن جبل اليمن، وجعل إليه قبض الصدقات، ومحاسبة العمال، وقلده الأحكام وتعليم الناس الإسلام، وهو ابن ثماني عشرة سنة. ولا يدفع ذلك صاحب خبر ولا حامل أثر.