A fabricated hadeeth: “The sleep of the scholar is better than the worship of the ignorant”
Question

                Is this hadeeth (narration) saheeh (authentic):? “The sleep of the scholar is better than the worship of the ignorant”.
Praise be to Allah.
    Firstly:

    This 
    saying, “The sleep of the scholar is better than the worship of the 
    ignorant”, is not a hadeeth from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah 
    be upon him) and it is not a report from any of the Sahabah (Companions) or 
    Tabi‘een (Successors). It is not known in the books of Sunnah (prophetic 
    traditions) and hadeeth, and we have not come across it in any of the 
    recognized books of Sunnah, even after extensive searching. 

    Rather we 
    found it among the books of the Shi‘ah which are full of fabrications and 
    lies, in a book called Man la yahduruhu al-Faqeeh (4/352-367) by ash-Shaykh 
    as-Sadooq (d. 381 AH), where it says: 

    “It was 
    narrated from Hammad ibn ‘Amr and Anas ibn Muhammad from his father, and 
    they both – meaning Hammad and Muhammad the father of Anas – narrated from 
    Ja‘far ibn Muhammad, from his father, from his grandfather, from ‘Ali ibn 
    Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him), from the Prophet (peace and 
    blessings of Allah be upon him) that he said to him: – and he mentioned a 
    very lengthy hadeeth, in which he said: ‘O ‘Ali! The sleep of the scholar is 
    better than the worship of the worshipper.’” 

    From this 
    book it was picked up by many of the books of the Shi‘ah, such as Makarim 
    al-Akhlaq by at-Tubrusi (d. 548 AH), p. 441; Bihar al-Anwar by al-Majlisi, 
    2/25; and elsewhere. 

    The 
    indication of falsehood is clear in this hadeeth. Hammad ibn ‘Amr and 
    Muhammad the father of Anas are both majhool (unknown) and are not known to 
    have been narrated from Ja‘far as-Sadiq. There is no mention of him in the 
    books of the Sunnis or even in the books of the Shi‘ah, to such an extent 
    that the commentator on the book Man la yahduruhu Faqeeh (1/536) said, when 
    Shaykh as-Sadooq attributed its isnad (chain of narration) to Hammad ibn 
    ‘Amr and Anas: “Hammad ibn ‘Amr, perhaps he is from the city of 
    Naseebiyyeen, and is not mentioned, and the same applies to Anas ibn 
    Muhammad. In the isnad going back to them there are unknown narrators, and 
    it is as if they are from among the regular masses”– meaning Ahl as-Sunnah! 

    When 
    Abu’l-Qasim al-Kho’i gave a biography of him in Mu‘jam Rijal al-Hadeeth, 
    7/235, he did not narrate from anyone that they regarded him as trustworthy. 
    Rather he also said: “as-Sadooq’s isnad going back to him about the will 
    (wasiyyah) of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his 
    family) to Ameer al-Mu’mineen [‘Ali] (peace be upon him) is da‘eef (weak), 
    and includes a number of unknown narrators.” End quote. 

    It is 
    sufficient for you to know that hundreds of hadeeths that are attributed to 
    Ja‘far as-Sadiq were only narrated with this isnad going back to him, which 
    even some of the Shi ‘ah admit includes some unknown narrators, and the 
    unknown narrator is used as a means to tell lies about the Messenger of 
    Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). 

    Similar to 
    this is another saying, “The sleep of the scholar is worship.” These are not 
    the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) either. 
    Mullah ‘Ali al-Qari (may Allah have mercy on him) said: It has no basis in 
    any marfoo‘ report (one that has an isnad going back to the Prophet (peace 
    and blessings of Allah be upon him)).

    End quote 
    from al-Asrar al-Marfoo‘ah fi’l-Akhbar al-Mawdoo‘ah, p.374 

    And Allah 
    knows best.