The ruling on compiling the errors of commentary books into a separate work
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The presenter:
Nawal.
The questioner:
What is your opinion on tracing a book, for example, Sharh al-Rasul or Fath al-Bari, then collecting the errors that appear in the book and composing a separate book on that?
The Shaykh:
First of all, the commentary on Sahih Muslim and the commentary on al-Bukhari; these are two great references among the references of Islam. They contain abundant knowledge. In my opinion, it is not good to compile the errors in one book. Rather, it is better to annotate them in their respective places so that the truth becomes clear and this does not become a form of publicizing faults. Because compiling the errors in this manner causes people to turn away when they read this book and see that it contains nothing but errors from beginning to end. They will say, “By Allah, there is no good in al-Nawawi, and there is no good in Ibn Hajar.” But when the errors are clarified in their places, only the students of knowledge will look at them.
The presenter:
Fine.
The Shaykh:
The specialists. This is a good thing, and this is what our Shaykh did at the beginning of Fath al-Bari. If he had continued, there would have been much good in that. So in this manner, he opened the field and clarified the correct path for this matter. If this plan had been completed, it would have been good, and only the specialists who know the intent and know the standing of Ibn Hajar and al-Nawawi, who know their worth, would look at it. But if they are compiled and the ignorant, the young, and the small ones look at these errors, they will have a bad response or a reaction against these two noble Imams, and their trust in them will decrease. And this is what has happened now. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah bless you.
Nawal.
The questioner:
What is your opinion on tracing a book, for example, Sharh al-Rasul or Fath al-Bari, then collecting the errors that appear in the book and composing a separate book on that?
The Shaykh:
First of all, the commentary on Sahih Muslim and the commentary on al-Bukhari; these are two great references among the references of Islam. They contain abundant knowledge. In my opinion, it is not good to compile the errors in one book. Rather, it is better to annotate them in their respective places so that the truth becomes clear and this does not become a form of publicizing faults. Because compiling the errors in this manner causes people to turn away when they read this book and see that it contains nothing but errors from beginning to end. They will say, “By Allah, there is no good in al-Nawawi, and there is no good in Ibn Hajar.” But when the errors are clarified in their places, only the students of knowledge will look at them.
The presenter:
Fine.
The Shaykh:
The specialists. This is a good thing, and this is what our Shaykh did at the beginning of Fath al-Bari. If he had continued, there would have been much good in that. So in this manner, he opened the field and clarified the correct path for this matter. If this plan had been completed, it would have been good, and only the specialists who know the intent and know the standing of Ibn Hajar and al-Nawawi, who know their worth, would look at it. But if they are compiled and the ignorant, the young, and the small ones look at these errors, they will have a bad response or a reaction against these two noble Imams, and their trust in them will decrease. And this is what has happened now. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah bless you.
Source
الفوزان - لقاء مع طلبة العلم بحائل — archive.org (55:25)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.