Discussion on the fact that many of the later scholars did not exert much effort in distinguishing the authentic from the weak

The Shaykh : And here I will pause with you for a moment. It was supposed that those engaged in distinguishing the authentic from the weak among these later scholars would be more productive and fruitful than the early scholars. This is because the ambition of the early scholars, even those who distinguished the authentic from the weak, such as the two Imams mentioned, was directed toward this collection, which is impossible except through the path of narration and the chain of transmission, as it is well known that one of them would say, "So-and-so narrated to me, and he said, so-and-so narrated to me." As for the later scholars, Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) sufficed them by allowing them to devote their time to collecting the hadith from the memories of men. These hadiths were collected from those Imams, such as Imam Ahmad in that great book, as we mentioned. So what remained for these later scholars was to turn to these books and apply their knowledge and time to distinguishing, verifying, and separating the authentic from the weak, placing each in its own book. But unfortunately, most of the later scholars did not turn to this obligation. I say this is an obligation without doubt; because the goal of collecting the hadith is to know the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). And since it is a reality, which is a matter we must acknowledge because it is a fact with no excuse, that what is not from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) entered into the hadith of the Messenger (peace be upon him), it is self-evident that distinguishing the authentic from the words of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) from what is not authentic from him is an obligatory duty for a group of Muslim scholars, so that it becomes easy—may Allah have mercy on you—it becomes easy for every student of knowledge to know the authentic from the weak. This was the obligation. But for a wisdom known to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), more than ten centuries passed over the Muslims and they did not do anything noteworthy toward fulfilling this obligation, the obligation of distinguishing between the authentic and the weak hadith. And one of the effects of that was that as time progressed, the weak and fabricated hadiths spread, mixed with the authentic and established hadiths. Then the consequence of that was that the authentic and good hadiths were lost in the midst of the weak and fabricated hadiths, and the Muslims lived in ignorance of the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), with the tangled and the straight mixed together, as it is said. The majority of these later hadith scholars did not fulfill this obligation, except a few of them. And among this few was our author, Imam al-Nawawi, for this book which we decided to read to you, which is the book "Riyad al-Salihin from the Words of the Master of the Messengers."