Warning students of knowledge against rushing to author books and publish them to the people, and explaining the evils of that.
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The Shaykh : So when I return to this book, *Al-Rawd al-Nadhir*, I take upon myself things that I am surprised by now, and there is no surprise in that, for every person must pass through this path. Therefore, I advise that no one should rush to author a book and publish it to the people. I see, and I say this with complete frankness, that any response issued against me is something I benefit from, and then the public benefits from it in turn. But the publisher does not benefit from it if it is still green and has not ripened; he only benefits after it has ripened with his knowledge. And what I see is that many of our young brothers now are issuing books that consist of criticism and response, and they are not issuing books that address certain topics for which we do not find a published book in the hands of people. I have often authored books on dhikr (remembrance of Allah), often authored books on dhikr, in which there is no merit worth mentioning, so that publication is repeated. What is the publication? It takes some hadiths from here and some hadiths from there. Who authored it? So-and-so, and the verification by so-and-so. Where is the verification? All of this is a collection from these books that preceded us by a lot. If a person had not authored a work as some of the nobles in Yemen did, Shaykh Muqbil, *Al-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh*, or what is its title?
The student: ...
Another student: ... Asbab al-Nuzul (occasions of revelation)
The Shaykh : No, no, I think
The student: Al-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh (the abrogating and the abrogated)
The Shaykh : Yes
The student: Al-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh (the abrogating and the abrogated)
The Shaykh : That is how I remember it. He has a book in it. Is this something useful? Is there not something like that?
The student: No, no.
The Shaykh : What then?
The student: *Al-Musnad fi Asbab al-Nuzul* (The Musnad on the Occasions of Revelation)
The Shaykh : *Al-Musnad fi Asbab al-Nuzul* (The Musnad on the Occasions of Revelation), this is correct, but there is also something in my mind.
The student: *Dala'il al-Nubuwwah* (Proofs of Prophethood)
The Shaykh : Yes
The student: *Dala'il al-Nubuwwah* (Proofs of Prophethood)
The Shaykh : *Dala'il al-Nubuwwah* (Proofs of Prophethood). The point is that if someone tackles topics like these that have not been preceded in the past, that is what is beneficial. As for topics that have been tackled, or criticizing the errors of some of those who came before in transmission, it is not appropriate for a person to come and author, for example, something like this, *Asbab al-Nuzul* (occasions of revelation). There is no harm if a hadith comes to him that some have authenticated, and he clarifies that it is weak. But as for directing oneself to criticism while one has not published a book to the Muslim world on a chosen topic, this in reality makes people ask why this person directs himself to criticism and does not direct his effort to collecting a type of hadiths and bringing them closer to people, first: by authenticating them, and second: by explaining and clarifying them, and so on. So my advice, I say this in Sham, in Damascus, when I was there and there were around me, of course, some young students like you, and also in Jordan, and also in every place, our young brothers in this field, in this knowledge, for some reason the masses of scholars have turned away from it. You find the mufassirun (exegetes) by the hundreds, if not thousands. You find the fuqaha (jurists). You find the linguists. You find the literati, a number that only Allah can count. But count for me the huffaz (memorizers) of hadith, the critics, in these fourteen centuries; their number probably does not exceed the fingers of the hands. Why? Is it because of the ease of this knowledge, as the young people today think? Did they all rush in one wave? No, but it is because of its extreme difficulty. And the difficulty comes from many sides, the most important of which is the necessity of the multitude of sources. For example, you notice that al-Hafiz al-Suyuti has books that amaze a person how he was able to collect their abundant material. Take, for example, his book *Al-Durr al-Manthur fi al-Tafsir al-Ma'thur* (The Scattered Pearls in the Transmitted Exegesis). What facilitated this collection for him, even though there is no verification in it? And I say now, if a strong student of knowledge stood up and verified the narrations of this book, he would benefit the people greatly, meaning it would not be hidden from anyone, because it is a book that collected whatever came from narrations, a large portion of which is not authentic, and in it are some fabrications. Until now, since the author authored it until this hour, no one has directed himself to such a work. Shaykh Muqbil also stood up, may Allah reward him with good, and I do not know how far he got. We reached the first volume of Ibn Kathir's Tafsir. Has anything else been published?
The student: No.
The Shaykh : Nothing else has been published.
The student: As far as we know, he delegated the rest of the project to one of his students or more than one student.
The Shaykh : Did you hear this?
The student: Yes, I heard. He is reviewing the verification of the first part.
The Shaykh : Yes
The student: He is reviewing the verification of the first part.
The Shaykh : The first part.
The student: Yes, that is right.
The Shaykh : The point is that if such a work were completed, it would have many and very many benefits, especially since some of the contemporaries today, and this is one of the evils of authorship in the present age, are those who do not master this knowledge. You know, and I have no favoritism, that one of those who abridged this book is from our Salafi brothers in Aleppo, I mean the book *Tafsir Ibn Kathir*, and that is Shaykh Muhammad Nasib al-Rafai. Then after him, or before him, Allah knows, the other Shaykh al-Halabi.
The student: Muhammad Ali al-Sabuni.
The Shaykh : Muhammad Ali
The student: Al-Sabuni.
The Shaykh : Ali al-Sabuni. Yes, they embarked on a very difficult path. Neither the first nor the second has any knowledge of hadith at all. The first and the last wrote an introduction and stated in the introduction that they abridged in their abridgment based on the authentic hadiths. When a person reads this introduction, he considers that he has opened a conquest like the conquest of Khaybar, because a book like this, if it serves this service, and by Allah, it is a tremendous and very great service. As for our companion, I know him; he is neither in the caravan nor in the raid. As for the other al-Halabi, I know him; he is a Hanafi, Ash'ari jurist, and a fanatic. And I do not know if he attended the lessons of any of the people of hadith, few as they are in those lands. Then you find in their abridgment weak and denounced hadiths, and even some of them are fabricated, and they have presented them as all being authentic. Why? Because they are not scholars in this field. Our companion may be closer to being a scholar in this knowledge because he attended my lessons there when I used to go to Aleppo, but those lessons were theoretical lessons. Therefore, theoretical lessons are not sufficient in the science of hadith and al-jarh wa al-ta'dil (the critique and vindication of narrators). One must apply this knowledge in a particular way, and all sciences in a general way, through practical application. And our companion added a straw to a camel's load over his other compatriot by placing an index and placing next to each hadith: authentic, authentic, authentic, authentic, good, mursal (a report missing the Companion link), and so on. And the reality, as I mentioned to you, this is an aggression, an aggression on knowledge, and boasting of what one has not been given. This is not permissible in Islam. What drove these two? There is a phrase that says, and even if this phrase has the characteristics of Sufis or the expressions of Sufis, it is the truth: "The love of appearing cuts off appearing". So the love of appearing is now, unfortunately, a characteristic and a sign of many people. And therefore I see that our brothers who are with us on the line should rein in the galloping of their souls and not rush to publish their works. Let them author them and keep them with them, and what was revealed to me in my book, *Al-Rawd al-Nadhir fi Tartib wa Takhrij Mu'jam al-Tabari al-Saghir* (The Fragrant Garden in the Arrangement and Tracing of al-Tabari's Small Encyclopedia), will be revealed to them.
The student: ...
Another student: ... Asbab al-Nuzul (occasions of revelation)
The Shaykh : No, no, I think
The student: Al-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh (the abrogating and the abrogated)
The Shaykh : Yes
The student: Al-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh (the abrogating and the abrogated)
The Shaykh : That is how I remember it. He has a book in it. Is this something useful? Is there not something like that?
The student: No, no.
The Shaykh : What then?
The student: *Al-Musnad fi Asbab al-Nuzul* (The Musnad on the Occasions of Revelation)
The Shaykh : *Al-Musnad fi Asbab al-Nuzul* (The Musnad on the Occasions of Revelation), this is correct, but there is also something in my mind.
The student: *Dala'il al-Nubuwwah* (Proofs of Prophethood)
The Shaykh : Yes
The student: *Dala'il al-Nubuwwah* (Proofs of Prophethood)
The Shaykh : *Dala'il al-Nubuwwah* (Proofs of Prophethood). The point is that if someone tackles topics like these that have not been preceded in the past, that is what is beneficial. As for topics that have been tackled, or criticizing the errors of some of those who came before in transmission, it is not appropriate for a person to come and author, for example, something like this, *Asbab al-Nuzul* (occasions of revelation). There is no harm if a hadith comes to him that some have authenticated, and he clarifies that it is weak. But as for directing oneself to criticism while one has not published a book to the Muslim world on a chosen topic, this in reality makes people ask why this person directs himself to criticism and does not direct his effort to collecting a type of hadiths and bringing them closer to people, first: by authenticating them, and second: by explaining and clarifying them, and so on. So my advice, I say this in Sham, in Damascus, when I was there and there were around me, of course, some young students like you, and also in Jordan, and also in every place, our young brothers in this field, in this knowledge, for some reason the masses of scholars have turned away from it. You find the mufassirun (exegetes) by the hundreds, if not thousands. You find the fuqaha (jurists). You find the linguists. You find the literati, a number that only Allah can count. But count for me the huffaz (memorizers) of hadith, the critics, in these fourteen centuries; their number probably does not exceed the fingers of the hands. Why? Is it because of the ease of this knowledge, as the young people today think? Did they all rush in one wave? No, but it is because of its extreme difficulty. And the difficulty comes from many sides, the most important of which is the necessity of the multitude of sources. For example, you notice that al-Hafiz al-Suyuti has books that amaze a person how he was able to collect their abundant material. Take, for example, his book *Al-Durr al-Manthur fi al-Tafsir al-Ma'thur* (The Scattered Pearls in the Transmitted Exegesis). What facilitated this collection for him, even though there is no verification in it? And I say now, if a strong student of knowledge stood up and verified the narrations of this book, he would benefit the people greatly, meaning it would not be hidden from anyone, because it is a book that collected whatever came from narrations, a large portion of which is not authentic, and in it are some fabrications. Until now, since the author authored it until this hour, no one has directed himself to such a work. Shaykh Muqbil also stood up, may Allah reward him with good, and I do not know how far he got. We reached the first volume of Ibn Kathir's Tafsir. Has anything else been published?
The student: No.
The Shaykh : Nothing else has been published.
The student: As far as we know, he delegated the rest of the project to one of his students or more than one student.
The Shaykh : Did you hear this?
The student: Yes, I heard. He is reviewing the verification of the first part.
The Shaykh : Yes
The student: He is reviewing the verification of the first part.
The Shaykh : The first part.
The student: Yes, that is right.
The Shaykh : The point is that if such a work were completed, it would have many and very many benefits, especially since some of the contemporaries today, and this is one of the evils of authorship in the present age, are those who do not master this knowledge. You know, and I have no favoritism, that one of those who abridged this book is from our Salafi brothers in Aleppo, I mean the book *Tafsir Ibn Kathir*, and that is Shaykh Muhammad Nasib al-Rafai. Then after him, or before him, Allah knows, the other Shaykh al-Halabi.
The student: Muhammad Ali al-Sabuni.
The Shaykh : Muhammad Ali
The student: Al-Sabuni.
The Shaykh : Ali al-Sabuni. Yes, they embarked on a very difficult path. Neither the first nor the second has any knowledge of hadith at all. The first and the last wrote an introduction and stated in the introduction that they abridged in their abridgment based on the authentic hadiths. When a person reads this introduction, he considers that he has opened a conquest like the conquest of Khaybar, because a book like this, if it serves this service, and by Allah, it is a tremendous and very great service. As for our companion, I know him; he is neither in the caravan nor in the raid. As for the other al-Halabi, I know him; he is a Hanafi, Ash'ari jurist, and a fanatic. And I do not know if he attended the lessons of any of the people of hadith, few as they are in those lands. Then you find in their abridgment weak and denounced hadiths, and even some of them are fabricated, and they have presented them as all being authentic. Why? Because they are not scholars in this field. Our companion may be closer to being a scholar in this knowledge because he attended my lessons there when I used to go to Aleppo, but those lessons were theoretical lessons. Therefore, theoretical lessons are not sufficient in the science of hadith and al-jarh wa al-ta'dil (the critique and vindication of narrators). One must apply this knowledge in a particular way, and all sciences in a general way, through practical application. And our companion added a straw to a camel's load over his other compatriot by placing an index and placing next to each hadith: authentic, authentic, authentic, authentic, good, mursal (a report missing the Companion link), and so on. And the reality, as I mentioned to you, this is an aggression, an aggression on knowledge, and boasting of what one has not been given. This is not permissible in Islam. What drove these two? There is a phrase that says, and even if this phrase has the characteristics of Sufis or the expressions of Sufis, it is the truth: "The love of appearing cuts off appearing". So the love of appearing is now, unfortunately, a characteristic and a sign of many people. And therefore I see that our brothers who are with us on the line should rein in the galloping of their souls and not rush to publish their works. Let them author them and keep them with them, and what was revealed to me in my book, *Al-Rawd al-Nadhir fi Tartib wa Takhrij Mu'jam al-Tabari al-Saghir* (The Fragrant Garden in the Arrangement and Tracing of al-Tabari's Small Encyclopedia), will be revealed to them.