Al-Dhahabi’s agreement with al-Hakim: sometimes he explicitly states his agreement, and sometimes he disagrees, so why did they interpret his silence as agreement and not as suspension, for example?

The questioner : Al-Dhahabi’s agreement with al-Hakim: sometimes he explicitly states his agreement, and sometimes he disagrees, so why did they interpret his silence as agreement and not as suspension, for example?

The Shaykh : I answered in some of my responses that his silence allows for two possibilities: either his opinion was not clear, or his agreement was dropped from the printing. Do you understand? The printed copy of al-Mustadrak is actually a very poor copy, and we need a printing of al-Mustadrak that is collated with more than one manuscript. To my knowledge, they found a copy in Yemen, but it may not be sufficient for correction if it is recent in writing and dating. It is possible that Al-Dhahabi’s silence was intentional on his part, and it is possible that it was a drop from the printer, as this is a third and weak possibility: that it was dropped from his pen by oversight.
Now, I say on this occasion that this happens to us: perhaps you will find now in some of the four Sunan that were printed with my verification, you will find the printer commenting, saying: the Shaykh did not place a mark of verification or weakening, and you have seen some of that, so it is possible that this happens from Al-Dhahabi himself, clear? Good.

The questioner : If we are certain that he was silent?

The Shaykh : If we are certain that he was silent, it means he has no opinion.