What is your opinion of the one who says, "I did not speak about what occurred between the Companions except that the scholars before me had already spoken about it"?

Question:
What is your opinion of the one who says, "I did not speak about what occurred between the Companions except after the scholars before me, such as Ibn Kathir, Ibn al-Athir, and al-Tabari, had spoken, and I learned this from them?" the scholars before me, such as Ibn Kathir, Ibn al-Athir, and al-Tabari, and I learned this from them?

Answer:
This is a lie. Ibn Kathir and the historians did not speak about it with the intent of condemnation; rather, they mentioned it only in the context of historical record. They did not curse them, nor disparage them, nor hate them, nor declare them wrong, nor declare them right. They merely mention it as a historical narrative. This is the historian's task: to narrate history without praising or condemning. Yes. Al-Qahthani says in his *Nuniyyah*: "Do not accept from the histories everything the narrators mention and every pen writes." The historians mention these things, but you do not accept them wholesale; you verify them, take what is correct, and leave what is not correct. And Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah summarized this issue well for you in *al-Wasitiyyah* regarding what is required of the Muslim concerning what happened between the Companions. Refer to it; it may not be five lines, but it is a good summary of everything said on this issue. Yes.