Do you support a person who has spent five years or so in seeking knowledge to begin writing and taking a prominent position, or what do you say? And when should one write?

The questioner : He says: Do you support a person who has spent five years or so in seeking knowledge to begin writing and taking a prominent position, or what do you say? And when should one write?

The Shaykh : As for when one should write, this is "every soul" what? . As for whether I see someone who has spent five years working in this knowledge, I said yesterday and today as well that I do not advise anyone to write with the intention of publishing until they have spent a long life feeling that they have mastered this knowledge theoretically, and then the abundant modern scientific sources have helped them. No matter how careful a person is in collecting books, they cannot collect but a small portion of them. Their thirst is only satisfied if they are in a public library where many, very many sources are available, such that one person cannot handle all these sources alone, even if they are rich, unless their wealth is for collecting books to boast and compete and decorate the walls with shelves full of these books. So, if one finds such shelves containing various sources that help in scientific research to the furthest possible extent, and this requires, in addition to the availability of these sources, long-term scientific practice, I advise those who have not reached the age and do not have such sources, especially manuscript sources that have not yet seen the light of the sun, or have not seen the light of the sun, but I advise, there is no objection in my view, and perhaps this is the way for this novice in this knowledge to feel that with every year of his life he becomes more established in his field and increases in knowledge over his knowledge. There is no objection to writing for himself and placing these writings as references to which he can return when he needs to refer to something from them.
And I said recently, and today I mentioned an example concerning myself. I am among the first of my writings that I wrote personally without relying on anyone at all, not a shaykh, not a scholar, not a student, not a servant, or anything else. It is the one you see me attributing some of the tracing, statements, and weakenings to under the name "Al-Rawd al-Nadhir." "Al-Rawd al-Nadhir" perhaps most of our brothers who have reviewed my books have not come across the full name of this except rarely, and it is "Al-Rawd al-Nadhir in the Arrangement and Tracing of Al-Tabarani's Small Mu'jam." It is with me in two large volumes, each volume containing more than 500 pages, with the text at the top and the tracing at the bottom. The text is sometimes, and often, the length of the chain and the hadith, and below it is the explanation, commentary, and tracing. It may also take up a portion of the other side of the page. I wrote this book as the first work I can say was when I was under twenty-five years old. I benefit from it now when I lack the ability to refer to some of the sources from those who preceded me in knowledge and age, so I find myself needing to refer to this book, and I benefit from it greatly and very greatly. But I have discovered there many errors that I now know after having spent more than half a century in this knowledge. I discover errors that I correct for myself, so I do not see any benefit in publishing this book with the errors that I correct for myself. And I say, hoping that I am given the opportunity to review this book from beginning to end so that it is suitable for publication to the people.
This is despite the fact that I know that very, very few people are provided with what Allah has provided me with in terms of means and circumstances. The first of which is that I was in a free profession, I was not a tenant or an employee, but I repaired watches, so I worked for the amount of time that pleased me, one or two hours, then I closed the shop and immediately went to the Zahiriyyah Library. And I would sit in the library -- and peace and mercy of Allah be upon you -- and circumstances were provided for me that enabled me to sit in the library, indeed to enter the library before the employees and leave after the employees. These circumstances are arranged by Allah (Mighty and Majestic) for whom He wills, and my Lord (Mighty and Majestic) favored me with such a circumstance, so I would enter after the Fajr prayer before going to the shop, I would go to the Zahiriyyah Library, and I would start reading and studying, and so on. And when the employees leave after the designated time of leaving, six or seven o'clock according to local time, I would remain there. Then, manuscripts, this is a matter whose value is not known except by one who has experienced it. I do not know if you have, for example, public libraries with manuscripts, and what is the system for requesting manuscripts for review. The system there in Damascus, and I believe in all libraries in the world, because it was decreed for me to go to Britain and enter the library that has valuable manuscripts, is that they cannot give you more than one copy, so you read it and finish it, and you submit the book and submit a request slip for a second book, and so on, and much of your time is wasted in the way of obtaining other copies or other books. As for me, Allah arranged for me something I do not imagine is arranged for any person in all this world, and this is one of the wonders of the history of my life, for the doors of the manuscript bookshelf were opened to me, which no one enters except the employee. So I would place the ladder; where are the history books? Where are the biographical books? I would move the ladder with my hand and climb it, and search for the book one after another. When I obtained what I wanted, I would come down with it and enter my room, and I would throw myself into reading and studying it. And if I wanted to request whatever I wanted of manuscripts, they would come and fill the table in front of me with these manuscripts.
These are reasons that are not made easy for a person. First: I am free in my work, no one asks me why I closed your shop? I am not an employee with a boss, so I am the master of myself. Second: I go to the library and study these manuscripts extensively with complete freedom. That is not possible, and I do not know anyone who used to frequent the library from those with white turbans. In fact, I was there as you see me here, in fact, in this attire, like any person like you. As for there, the Arab attire is very old, and yet I was devoted to my work, and I was permitted what cannot be permitted, perhaps not even to the library manager himself. These are reasons that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) made easy for me, a success from Allah (Mighty and Majestic) for me to serve this pure Sunnah. So when I return -- the point is -- to this book "Al-Rawd al-Nadhir," I take upon myself things that I am surprised by now, and there is no surprise, and every person must go through this path. Therefore, I advise not to rush to write a book and publish it to the people.
And I see -- and I say this with complete frankness -- that any response issued to me, I benefit from it, and then the public benefits behind me. But the publisher does not benefit from it if it is after ignorance and has not matured, but rather he benefits after it matures with his knowledge. And what I see is that many of our young brothers now publish books that are expressions of criticism and response, and they do not publish books dealing with some topics for which we do not find a published book in the hands of people. So often books are written on dhikr that have no merit to be mentioned until the what? publication is repeated, but rather they take some hadiths from here, and some hadiths from here, and the writing of so-and-so and the research of so-and-so, where is the research? All of this is an expression of collecting from these books that we were preceded to by a lot. If a person had not written a writing as some of the nobles in Yemen didThe Shaykh : Muqbil "Sahih al-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh" or what? Does anyone know it?

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Yes?

The questioner : It may be...

The Shaykh : No, no, I think so.

The questioner : Al-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh.

The Shaykh : Yes?

The questioner : Al-Nasikh wa al-Mansukh.

The Shaykh : That's what I remember for him, a book, this is something useful, is there anything like that?

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh: What is it?

The questioner : "The Authentic Isnad of the Causes of Revelation."

The Shaykh : "The Isnad in the Causes of Revelation" is correct; but... it also reached me...

The questioner : "The Proofs of Prophethood."

The Shaykh : Yes?

The questioner : "The Proofs of Prophethood."

The Shaykh : "The Proofs of Prophethood." The point is that if someone tackles topics like these that have not been addressed before, that is what is beneficial. As for topics that have already been covered, or criticizing the mistakes of some predecessors, that is not appropriate. A person comes and writes, for example, something like "Causes of Revelation." There is no objection if a hadith comes to him that some have authenticated, and he clarifies that it is weak. But if he turns to criticism without having published a book on a chosen subject to the Muslim world, that truly makes people ask why he is turning to criticism? He does not direct his effort to collecting a type of hadith and presenting it to people; first, by authenticating it, and second, by explaining and clarifying it, and so on. So my advice, and I say this in Syria, in Damascus, when I was there and there were around me some young students like you, and also in Jordan, and also in every place, to our young brothers in this field: This knowledge, for some reason, has been abandoned by the masses of scholars. You find hundreds, if not thousands, of mufassirun (exegetes). You find fuqaha (jurists). You find linguists. You find writers, a number that only Allah can count. But count for me the huffaz (memorizers) of hadith and the critics in these fourteen centuries; their number may not exceed the fingers of the hands. Why? Is it because of the ease of this knowledge, as the young people today think who have risen in a single wave? No, but because of its extreme difficulty. The difficulty comes from many aspects; the most important is the necessity of having many sources. You, for example, 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 "The Glittering Gem in the Transmitted Exegesis." What facilitated this collection for him, even though there is no critical edition in it? And I say that if a strong student of knowledge today stood up and critically edited the narrations of this book, it would benefit people greatly, a benefit not hidden from anyone, because he collected whatever moved and crawled from narrations, a large part of which is not authentic, and in it are some fabricated ones. Until now, since the author compiled it until this moment, no one has turned to such work. He also...The Shaykh : Muqbil—may Allah reward him with good—and I do not know how far he has gone? We received the first volume of "Ibn Kathir's Tafsir"; has anything else been published?

Another questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Nothing else has been published.

Another questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Did you hear that?

Another questioner: Yes.

Another questioner : He is reviewing the critical edition of the first part.

The Shaykh : Yes?

Another questioner : He is reviewing the critical edition of the first part.

The Shaykh: The first volume.

Another questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : The point is: If such work were completed, it would have many benefits, and very many, especially since some of the contemporaries today, and this is one of the misfortunes 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 one of our Salafi brothers in Aleppo, I mean the book "Ibn Kathir's Tafsir," and he is...The Shaykh : Muhammad Nasib al-Rafai, and then after him or before him, Allah knows,The Shaykh Al-Halabi : the other one.

Another questioner : Muhammad Ali al-Sabouni.

The Shaykh : Muhammad Ali al-Sabouni, yes, he embarked on a very difficult path. Neither the first nor the second has any knowledge of hadith whatsoever. The first and the second wrote an introduction, and they stated in the introduction that they restricted their abridgment to authentic hadiths. When a person reads this introduction, he considers it an opening like the opening of Khaybar; because if such a book is served this service, and by Allah, it is a tremendous and very great service. As for our friend, I know that he is neither in the caravan nor in the raid. As for...Al-Halabi : the second, I know that he is a Hanafi Ash'ari jurist who is fanatical, and I do not know if he attended the lessons of any of the people of hadith, few as they were in those lands. Then you find in their abridgment weak and denounced hadiths, and even some fabricated ones, and they were presented as all being authentic. Why? Because they are not scholars in this field. Our friend 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. Therefore, theoretical lessons are not sufficient in the science of hadith and the critique and vindication of narrators; this knowledge must be applied specifically, and all sciences generally, through practical application.
And our friend added a straw to a camel's load for his fellow countryman and placed an index, and by that, he labeled every hadith as authentic, authentic, authentic, good, mursal, and so on. The reality—as I mentioned to you—is that this is an encroachment; an encroachment on knowledge, and arrogance with what was not 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 Sufism, it is 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 this path should rein in the galloping of their souls, and not rush to publish their writings; let them write them and keep them with them; for what was revealed to me in my book "The Lush Garden in the Arrangement and Tracing of al-Tabarani's Small Mu'jam" will be revealed to them.
I give you an example of how a person's knowledge develops; first, I was like all authors, old and new; whenever I saw a hadith in which a man was authenticated by Ibn Hibban, I concluded that Ibn Hibban is a hafiz, and he authenticated him; so the hadith is authentic. I proceeded on this basis in "The Lush Garden," but I went a distance and then I discovered something I was ignorant of. What was the reason? The reason is that I did not have "Lisan al-Mizan" at that time. I did not have it, and by the grace of Allah, I was a poor man at that time; I did not have the money that is present with many of our brothers, especially in this land, and praise be to Allah. And I was—and this is one of the things in which there is a lesson—borrowing books from libraries, borrowing them and sometimes renting them for money; because I could not author or establish a library.
The point is: I did not have "Lisan al-Mizan" when I started tracing this book, "The Lush Garden." Then Allah wrote for me that I came across a copy, so I acquired it. And there it states Ibn Hajar's rule in authentication, and that he authenticates unknown narrators. Now I took notice, and as you may know, I published in many of my books that the authentication of Ibn Hibban is not relied upon, because of what Ibn Hajar and Ibn 'Abd al-Hadi said in "The Sharp Sword" and others. I was fully convinced that Ibn Hibban is lenient in authentication. Do you see if this leniency is a consistent rule? I proceeded on this basis, but it became clear to me—also—that this is a mistake. And I believe that every student of knowledge is like me, but the difference is between a person noticing before others or being delayed.
And finally—and perhaps you have looked into this, and this is from a few years ago—something formed in me that was not in many of my writings in which I was more mature than I was in "The Lush Garden": that the authentication of Ibn Hibban, even if he is alone in the authentication, and the one he authenticated was narrated from by a group of trustworthy narrators, I found after much deliberation that al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi and al-Hafiz al-'Asqalani say in such a case that he is truthful, or they say that he is trustworthy. And thus a person becomes clear with his continuation. And whoever hastens the matter—as was also said in the wisdom: "Whoever hastens a thing before its time is afflicted with its deprivation." And forgive me, I have prolonged this, and perhaps we have strayed from something more beneficial than what you have heard.