What is your opinion regarding al-Subki's words about Imam al-Dhahabi?
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The Shaykh : For example, al-Subki spoke about al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi, stating that his bias toward the Ash'aris led him to speak about them. This is what I recall, but perhaps this is not what you mean. What exactly do you want to know?
The questioner : The truth is, I have not read it. I read the beginning of the treatise and stopped at this point. When I saw a lot of talk about al-Dhahabi, I stopped reading and said I would ask about it first.
The Shaykh : There is no doubt that Imam al-Dhahabi is rare in his existence and in the precision of his critique of men and hadiths. Although al-Subki acknowledged al-Dhahabi's virtue and knowledge, and so on, in the end, he stated that his bias toward the people of hadith led him to be strict in criticizing the Ash'aris. This is something we do not truly find in al-Dhahabi (may Allah have mercy on him). From this came that old rule which states: "The criticism of a contemporary regarding his contemporary is not accepted". This is a statement that I see has validity, but I do not accept it in its absolute form. We cannot accuse all people of the fact that contemporaneity leads them to say other than the truth about someone they see has deviated from the path in opinion or narration. There is no doubt that the status of al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi among the scholars and the hafizs who came after him is much higher and more noble than that of Imam al-Subki. Al-Subki (may Allah have mercy on him) was inclined toward fiqh more than toward hadith, on the one hand, and he was not influenced by the madhab of the people of hadith; rather, Ash'arism predominated over him. From this arose the conflict between him and al-Dhahabi, and he attributed to him strictness in some of the rulings he issued regarding some scholars if they were from the Ash'aris.
The questioner : The truth is, I have not read it. I read the beginning of the treatise and stopped at this point. When I saw a lot of talk about al-Dhahabi, I stopped reading and said I would ask about it first.
The Shaykh : There is no doubt that Imam al-Dhahabi is rare in his existence and in the precision of his critique of men and hadiths. Although al-Subki acknowledged al-Dhahabi's virtue and knowledge, and so on, in the end, he stated that his bias toward the people of hadith led him to be strict in criticizing the Ash'aris. This is something we do not truly find in al-Dhahabi (may Allah have mercy on him). From this came that old rule which states: "The criticism of a contemporary regarding his contemporary is not accepted". This is a statement that I see has validity, but I do not accept it in its absolute form. We cannot accuse all people of the fact that contemporaneity leads them to say other than the truth about someone they see has deviated from the path in opinion or narration. There is no doubt that the status of al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi among the scholars and the hafizs who came after him is much higher and more noble than that of Imam al-Subki. Al-Subki (may Allah have mercy on him) was inclined toward fiqh more than toward hadith, on the one hand, and he was not influenced by the madhab of the people of hadith; rather, Ash'arism predominated over him. From this arose the conflict between him and al-Dhahabi, and he attributed to him strictness in some of the rulings he issued regarding some scholars if they were from the Ash'aris.