[varrozans]

A much clearer and much stronger version of the Hadith is narrated by Abu Dharr al-Ghafari (ra):

إنكم اليوم في زمان كثير علماؤه ، قليل خطباؤه ، من ترك عشر ما يعرف فقد هوى ، و يأتي من بعد زمان كثير خطباؤه ، قليل علماؤه ، من استمسك بعشر ما يعرف فقد نجا He SAWS said to his companions: "Today you are in a time of many 'Ulema(Scholars) and few Khutaba(Speakers), he who leaves 1/10th of what he knows shall perish, there shall come a time when there will be many Khutaba and few 'Ulema, he who holds on to 1/10th of what he knows will be saved."

It is also narrated by a third chain with a Mursal hadith from al-Hassan (ra) through Mu'awiyah (ra).

I understand the Hadith as such:

-Those who live in the same time as the Prophet SAWS shall be judged more strictly on the day of judgement as they met him PBUH and they learned directly from him and his companions (raa).
-Those who live today in the age of Fitnah and Ignorance, Allah will have mercy on them as long as they hold on to as much as they can from this religion.
-In the old days there was much more knowledge while today the true scholars are rare and there are many ignorants and employees of the government who pose as scholars but they have no real knowledge.
-The Hadith does not belittle those who are talented speakers and those who work in the field of Da'awah but as the Quranic verse states:

Say, "This is my way; I invite to Allah with insight, I and those who follow me. And exalted is Allah; and I am not of those who associate others with Him." (12:108)

So invite to the way of Allah with knowledge and insight because if you are ignorant about the religion you will do more harm than good and you might push people away from Islam rather than convert them to it.

Salam Aleykum,