What is your opinion, O Shaykh, of the book "Bathl al-Juhd fi Tahqiq Hadithay al-Suq wa al-Zuhd" (Making Effort to Authenticate the Hadiths of the Market and Asceticism), edited by 'Adil ibn 'Abd Allah al-Sa'idan?

The questioner : This is a somewhat long question. What is your opinion, O Shaykh, of the book "Bathl al-Juhd fi Tahqiq Hadithay al-Suq wa al-Zuhd" (Making Effort to Authenticate the Hadiths of the Market and Asceticism), edited by 'Adil ibn 'Abd Allah al-Sa'idan, in which he weakened these two hadiths? He mentioned...The Shaykh : ...al-Wad'i in the introduction of this book a statement which we quote verbatim. The statement begins: "It has reached me that..."The Shaykh : ...al-Wad'i (may Allah preserve him) has noted hadiths for which he had ruled them authentic or good, but then their weakness became more apparent to him. Some of the brothers informed me that he is determined to publish them in a separate book, and if the booklet is reprinted, he will mention them. Perhaps these two hadiths are among those hadiths, and Allah knows best." This is the end of his statement. So, what is your opinion of this book? And what is your opinion of the statement...The Shaykh : ...of al-Wad'i about you? And what is your opinion of early authorship?

The Shaykh : There are three issues here. As for what was reported from me that I am determined to collect what I have retracted from in a treatise, this is a thought of some people, and I do not undertake that I am able to do that, even though it is a good thing. As for the fact that I have retracted, that is true; indeed, it is obligatory regarding much of what I authenticated or weakened, because returning to the truth is a virtue. As for my opinion of this booklet which weakened the hadith of asceticism and what is the other hadith?

The questioner : The hadith of the market.

The Shaykh : The market, yes. So, I do not believe that the hadith of the market is anything but still established for me from the totality of its chains. As for the hadith of asceticism, for the first time I found this treatise in this suitcase of mine and read it. Being definitive about my opinion regarding this treatise and specifically this hadith depends on referring to "Al-Silsilah al-Sahihah" (The Authentic Chain), so that I may have written a new marginal note either confirming the authenticity or retracting from it. So, its answer is in...

The questioner : Good; and what is your opinion of early authorship?

The Shaykh : I do not advise students of knowledge to do this, and I have repeated this to them many times, saying recently, even today, that I have a book that I authored, which I cite in many of my books, and whose name I publish in abbreviated form as "Al-Rawd al-Nadhir" (The Fresh Garden), and whose full name is "Al-Rawd al-Nadhir fi Tartib wa Takhrij Mu'jam al-Tabarani al-Saghir" (The Fresh Garden in Arranging and Tracing the Small Mu'jam of al-Tabarani). I authored this when I was about twenty-four or twenty-five years old. When I refer back to it, I find things in it that I am now surprised at for having fallen into these illusions. Therefore, I do not feel encouraged to publish this book until I am able to review it from beginning to end. And when I review it for certain occasions, I comment on it explicitly, but it needs a complete study from beginning to end. This is something for which I do not find the opportunity to undertake this review. So, I give as an example for some of the young people today who are enthusiastic about authorship. I advise the young people to write for themselves and not to surprise people with their first works, because that will not be mature. This is my opinion of early authorship.