Is it correct that it was reported from you that you said, "Criticism is always preferred over vindication, even if it is not explained, because it is an increase in knowledge"?

The questioner : What prompted me to ask this question, O Shaykh, is as it is said: "The defect in reports lies only in their narrators".
One of them reported to me from those who attended your session in Jeddah that you said, "Criticism is always preferred over vindication, even if it is not explained, because it is an increase in knowledge." I said, "This is strange wording, and it does not mean what we act upon, until we ask the Shaykh."

The Shaykh : In the recordings, may Allah reward you with good.

The questioner : Yes, he said, "I said that criticism is preferred, even if it is not explained, because it is an increase in knowledge."

The Shaykh : No.

The questioner : And that you said, as a clarification of this, that the one who criticized was in fact a just person, but then something became apparent to him, so he criticized. If it were the other way around, this matter would not be sound. That is, it is not sound to criticize and then vindicate, but it is sound to vindicate and then something becomes apparent to him, so he criticizes.

The Shaykh : We follow the rule, whether the two statements came from two imams or from one imam.