Criticizing the Book Bulugh al-Maram and Proper Conduct Toward Scholars

Question:
And Honorable Shaykh, may Allah preserve you. Some students of knowledge mentioned that the account of the limits of al-Maram has some sins upon it. Among them is that its hadiths are mentioned in a way where al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar did not bring the hadiths in full, and that the book did not delay [the discussion] in all chapters as one understands some where all the hadiths mentioned, for example, in the chapter of showing off (riya') or guardianship. Thirdly, its naming as "Reaching the Qur'an" is questionable because the hadiths contained in it are few.

Answer:
By Allah, this is a calamity. Now people have appeared who criticize books, criticize the imams, and criticize everything. It appears they are not leaving anything that they are not criticizing. Where is this critic compared to Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (may Allah have mercy on him), the noble imam who was titled "The Commander of the Faithful in Hadith"? This critic is truly not polite; in fact, he has bad manners, and may Allah protect us from that. This book, Bulugh al-Maram, was approved by the scholars of the Muslims from the time of its author until our time. They did not criticize it; they memorized it, studied it, and explained it, and they did not criticize it. Rather, they praised it and its composition (may Allah have mercy on him). And the fact that there are hadiths in it that are said to be weak: he did not rely on them alone, but he relied on them along with corroborating narrations and other evidence that supports and strengthens them. So he is a noble, expert imam in this craft, and he did not intend to deceive the Muslims in this book, but rather he intended to benefit the Muslims. If we follow this path, no book would remain without someone criticizing it. That means all books are invalidated: the Musnad of Imam Ahmad, the Sunan, the Four Sunan, even al-Bukhari. You see that al-Bukhari was not safe from criticism; he was criticized. Does this mean that criticism, may Allah protect us from it, can reach the Qur'an? This is a malicious method. In reality, it is not permissible for a student of knowledge to speak such words. First, this is bad manners toward the scholars and the books of the Sunnah. Second, who is this speaker? When did he learn, and when did he reach the level of criticizing Ibn Hajar and criticizing Bulugh al-Maram, or evaluating Ibn Taymiyyah's al-Muntaqa? The poor man has not reached that level, so he is speaking without knowledge. It is obligatory for a person to know his own standing, to be polite toward the scholars, to be polite toward the books of hadith and the books of the imams, and not to enter this bad path. Many people now have nothing but criticism and critique: criticizing people and criticizing books, the living and the dead. The speech has even reached the imams who died centuries ago; they are criticizing them now, speaking about Abu Hanifa, Ibn Hajar, so-and-so, Ibn Hajar, Ibn al-Nawawi. They are speaking about them. Does this mean that the Muslims have been stripped of trust in them? And this is what makes [the enemies] happy. If this speech is about the scholars of the Muslims, what about speech about others? This is what makes the enemies happy and what makes the innovators and the misguided sects happy. I say, these are the people of the Sunnah whom you are speaking about; it has now become clear that they are all subject to criticism and that they all have faults. So our speech about them is correct. This is a calamity, this is a calamity. It is obligatory for the student of knowledge to fear Allah, to be mindful of Allah, and to refrain from such speech.