The Shaykh's remarks on Ibn Hibban's authentication of narrators.

The Shaykh : And I will give you an example of this that has become the talk of the people today. I believe this example applies, in the same way or similarly, to the young students of knowledge in the present era, those who have directed themselves in their university to the study of the science of hadith, either personally or by studying with some of their shaykhs. That example is that I relied on Ibn Hibban's authentication to strengthen some of the hadiths in this book. As for me, perhaps some of you have an interest in this because he authenticates unknown narrators. I, like the people today and before today, was unaware of the need to investigate this authentication by Ibn Hibban, until Allah made it easy for me to obtain a copy of *Lisan al-Mizan* by al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi. In it, I was guided and came to know that Ibn Hibban's authentication was based on a specific principle of his, which is the authentication of unknown narrators. After a period of time following my completion of the book *al-Rawd al-Nadhir*, I learned this fact and began to publish it in some of my writings. I proceeded on this basis for years, meaning: if Ibn Hibban is the sole authenticator, his authentication is not considered. Until I came across a statement by Shaykh 'Abd al-Rahman al-Mu'allimi al-Yamani (may Allah have mercy on him) in his beneficial book, titled *al-Tankil li-ma fi Ta'neeb al-Kawthari min al-Abatil*. I saw for the first time him alerting to a principle that I had not seen from anyone else, which is that after mentioning what I mentioned earlier, that Ibn Hibban's authentication, if he is the sole authenticator among the hafiz, is not relied upon, he made an exception and said: "Except when his authentication is restricted to his shaykhs." In this case, his authentication is relied upon, because in the first case he authenticates based on the principle that the default status of a narrator is that he is trustworthy, even if he is unknown. Therefore, we find him saying in many of the narrators he mentioned in his book *al-Thiqat*: "So-and-so narrated from him, and I do not know him, nor do I know his father." He explicitly states that the narrator is unknown to him; yet he authenticates him. As for his shaykhs, they are not like that; he certainly knew them because he studied under them and received hadith from them. So these are excluded from the rule. Then another exception occurred to me, which I explained in some of my books, including *Tammam al-Mannah fi al-Ta'liq 'ala Fiqh al-Sunnah*. This type includes some narrators whom Ibn Hibban mentioned in *al-Thiqat*, and no one else authenticated, but this narrator, who is authenticated by Ibn Hibban, was narrated from by a group of trustworthy narrators. In this case, it finally occurred to me that this one authenticated by Ibn Hibban is trustworthy.
So look now at these stages I have gone through. Therefore, we advise—as I advised myself—I do not allow this book to be published until more than fifty years have passed since I wrote it; because I wrote it when I was about twenty-four years old, and I am now sixty-six. So I do not allow myself to publish this book unless Allah makes it easy for me to review it from beginning to end, and to correct what I missed regarding this observation I mentioned earlier.
My experience in this long life, and with this specific science, is that I advise the young people today who are eager to study this science that if they author a work on a topic, or comment on a book or treatise, they should not rush to publish it. Rather, they should let it wait on their shelf, as I have done with this book for all these long years; because I wrote it before reaching scientific maturity in this great art, which is the science of the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).