"Whoever Learns a People's Language shall be Safe from their Plots" [?]

[Moosaa.Richardson]

I have recently heard someone quoting the following statement as a hadeeth of the Messenger of Allaah (may Allaah raise his rank and grant him peace):

من تعلم لغة قوم أمن مكرهم

“Whoever learns a people’s language shall be safe from their plots”

Let it be known that this is NOT a hadeeth, rather it is considered “laa asla lahu” (baseless).

After careful research, I could not find any basis for this statement as a hadeeth, nor as a statement of a Companion or early scholar. After exhausting the usual source books of hadeeth, I searched in the books of “Ahaadeeth Mushtaharah” which discuss claimed hadeeths that are commonly quoted by people, and in the books of “Mowdhoo’aat” (fabricated and baseless hadeeths), and I again did not find a trace.

The only reference to it I could find from a trusted scholar was something mentioned by Shaykh Muqbil ibn Haadee al-Waadi’ee (may Allaah have Mercy on him) who listed it among some fabricated and baseless hadeeths, and said, “Researchers have tried to find it and they have not found any basis for it.” (al-Muqtarih, p.11)

More discussion and points about this hadeeth:
http://www.bakkah.net/en/is-this-a-h...heir-plots.htm