one of the reasons (among few others) that is proffered to explain Ottoman scholars' reluctance to take to printing press revolution when it swept the west. I think this point (Muslim world's lag in printing press adoption) has been discussed here and contested in few blogs.
given that every other action in this Prophetic narration has negative connotation, this too would be negative (just my logical assumption). Or no?
i was typing the message when both brothers have posted. the word فشو can be read as both fashw and fushuww taj al-arus, v39 p236.
this hadith is also reported in tazkirah of qurtubi vide tamhid of ibn abd al-Barr, and by barzanji in al-isha'ah li ashrat al-sa'ah. fashw means to proliferate (kathrah). also, in the earlier, indian editions of adab al-mufrad (such as jilani's commentary fadlullah al-samad, 1378 AH) the word is printed as: fashw al-ilm فشو العلم instead of fashw al-qalam فشو القلم --- this particular phrase means - a proliferation of books. that books will be in plenty and will be easily available. or that books will be written, printed and published in plenty. and that is contrasted with, in spite of this, knowledge will deplete. this is a manifest proof of prophethood, evident in our age. --- a number of charts for comparison are available here: https://ourworldindata.org/books for a brief history of reading in the western world: https://www.open.edu/openlearn/hist...past/content-section-0?active-tab=content-tab --- Allah ta'ala knows best. hadith of adab al-mufrad:
Noori beat me to it, and his explanation matches with this sharh in IbN Abdul Barr's At-Tamheed https://archive.org/details/01172271/11_172281/page/n137/mode/1up?view=theater
it refers to the spread of writing and mass communication, such as books, newspapers, magazines, the internet, social media(FB, WhatsApp, X, etc), and television—if “pen” is taken as a metaphor for mass production and propaganda; and Allah Ta'ala knows best.
Ibn Mas’ud reported: The Prophet ﷺ said, “Just before the Hour, the greeting of peace will only be given to specific people, trade will proliferate to the point that a woman will help her husband in his business, family ties will be severed, the pen will spread, false testimony will prevail and truthful testimony will be concealed.” Source: al-Adab al-Mufrad 1035. Is the Hadith Sahih? What is meant by the word "pen"?
