So I said to myself: This journey of yours must be completed, and that is by searching for the page in the volumes of hadith.
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The Shaykh : So I said to myself: This journey of yours must be completed, and that is by searching for the page in the volumes of hadith. The volumes of hadith in our possession at the al-Zahiriyyah Library number more than five hundred. So I began to search. Here, searching for the lost page is much easier, because the collections remain small in size, whether long or short, whereas in the subject of hadith sciences, most of them are large. The lost page is short, but I entered into another search, which was acquiring and collecting such topics and precious books. So I began taking titles, even if the book was a large volume, and I recorded them in my drafts. I finished going through five hundred volumes without finding the lost page.
And as they say in our region of Sham: "Without a long story", meaning in short: I went through all the manuscripts present in the al-Zahiriyyah Library. I was hoping that perhaps in such and such a science, perhaps, perhaps, because it was a matter of an error by the binder. So I went through the books of biography, books of history, books of literature, books of Sufism, meaning all the sciences that have manuscript books. Allah the Exalted facilitated this search for me in a way that would not be facilitated for anyone but an official employee tasked with it. The facilitation reached the point where I would place the ladder on the cabinets, because there are high shelves that the hand cannot reach. So I would stand on the ladder, and the shelf, for example, is one meter high. I would start here, pull out, finish here, and I would be on the ladder. If I found something precious, I would come down and record it, then I would continue my journey. And so I passed through the entire library and did not find the lost page, but I felt that I was the winner. I ended up with hundreds of names and titles of precious books.
In the end, I learned that they have something called the "dast" or the "dasht" in language, which consists of papers piled up in cabinets that no one visits or reaches for. So I asked the specialized employee, who was one of those whom Allah facilitated for my scholarly service, and he was responsive to me. I said to him: O Abu Mahdi, where is this dasht? He said to me: Here, show me two or three cabinets. So I began searching in these loose papers and found nothing, but I also found rarities. Among them, in our al-Zahiriyyah Library, are two copies of *Musnad al-Shihab* by al-Qudai, and both are incomplete. One is Eastern and the other is Maghrebi. The Maghrebi one has a very beautiful Maghrebi script and is cared for by some of the preservers among the people of hadith. It is written next to many, if not all, of the hadiths: "Weak, fabricated," and so on. But the first booklet is missing from it. The other copy is Eastern, and it is none of our concern now.
And lo, I was surprised by this "dasht". I found the missing booklet from the Maghrebi copy, and thereby the precious copy was completed. So I took it, happy and delighted, and went to the manager responsible for the manuscripts. I said to him: This booklet is from the "dasht", and this is the book that is listed in your index as unknown identity, where the author and the book are not known. So I said to him: This is the book and this is the author. But he did not care about it, because as they say in our region of Sham: "Everyone sings to their own tune!", so this search was my concern, not his.
Then the years and days passed, and lo, our brother 'Abd al-Majid al-Salafi undertook to print and edit this book from this copy. One thing reminds one of another, so you know the nature of people. He printed the book *Musnad al-Shihab* by al-Qudai in the office where Shu'ayb works.
The questioner : The al-Resalah Foundation.
The Shaykh : Yes?
The questioner : The al-Resalah Foundation?
The Shaykh : The al-Resalah Foundation. So I had written on this booklet for the record: "Extracted from the dasht by Nasser", the word Nasser only. So what did he do? He placed a paper and covered this fact. And now you find a picture of the main title of this book in the copy of *Musnad al-Shihab* that our brother Hamdi edited, and this scientific fact is obscured. What drives him to do that? You know the answer!
The point is: This is one of the rarities that I obtained in this search.
And finally, I despaired of obtaining the lost page, but I never regretted it, because the gain was more than I imagined.
The important thing is that I later returned to the names I had recorded for these works and authors, and I wrote them again on cards, and I arranged the cards by the names of the authors, each author and what he has.
The questioner : Is this an effort for yourself, individually?
The Shaykh : Of course, individually. I have never worked as an employee in any department, and this is from the favor of Allah upon me.
Then, after I finished arranging these slips by the names of the authors, I arranged the works in alphabetical order. And among that was *An Index of Selected Manuscripts of the al-Zahiriyyah Library*.
Then came the final stage, which is the blessed fruit of that first effort. So I began to read these manuscripts and extract from them the hadith benefits with their chains of narration. I now have, and which helps me to feed my scientific projects, about forty volumes containing the hadiths that I extracted from these manuscripts with their chains of narration, and I arranged them to facilitate reference also in alphabetical order. So this is a brief account of the story of the lost page. And so that we do not waste any time on a matter that may not concern you, let us see what other question you have.
And as they say in our region of Sham: "Without a long story", meaning in short: I went through all the manuscripts present in the al-Zahiriyyah Library. I was hoping that perhaps in such and such a science, perhaps, perhaps, because it was a matter of an error by the binder. So I went through the books of biography, books of history, books of literature, books of Sufism, meaning all the sciences that have manuscript books. Allah the Exalted facilitated this search for me in a way that would not be facilitated for anyone but an official employee tasked with it. The facilitation reached the point where I would place the ladder on the cabinets, because there are high shelves that the hand cannot reach. So I would stand on the ladder, and the shelf, for example, is one meter high. I would start here, pull out, finish here, and I would be on the ladder. If I found something precious, I would come down and record it, then I would continue my journey. And so I passed through the entire library and did not find the lost page, but I felt that I was the winner. I ended up with hundreds of names and titles of precious books.
In the end, I learned that they have something called the "dast" or the "dasht" in language, which consists of papers piled up in cabinets that no one visits or reaches for. So I asked the specialized employee, who was one of those whom Allah facilitated for my scholarly service, and he was responsive to me. I said to him: O Abu Mahdi, where is this dasht? He said to me: Here, show me two or three cabinets. So I began searching in these loose papers and found nothing, but I also found rarities. Among them, in our al-Zahiriyyah Library, are two copies of *Musnad al-Shihab* by al-Qudai, and both are incomplete. One is Eastern and the other is Maghrebi. The Maghrebi one has a very beautiful Maghrebi script and is cared for by some of the preservers among the people of hadith. It is written next to many, if not all, of the hadiths: "Weak, fabricated," and so on. But the first booklet is missing from it. The other copy is Eastern, and it is none of our concern now.
And lo, I was surprised by this "dasht". I found the missing booklet from the Maghrebi copy, and thereby the precious copy was completed. So I took it, happy and delighted, and went to the manager responsible for the manuscripts. I said to him: This booklet is from the "dasht", and this is the book that is listed in your index as unknown identity, where the author and the book are not known. So I said to him: This is the book and this is the author. But he did not care about it, because as they say in our region of Sham: "Everyone sings to their own tune!", so this search was my concern, not his.
Then the years and days passed, and lo, our brother 'Abd al-Majid al-Salafi undertook to print and edit this book from this copy. One thing reminds one of another, so you know the nature of people. He printed the book *Musnad al-Shihab* by al-Qudai in the office where Shu'ayb works.
The questioner : The al-Resalah Foundation.
The Shaykh : Yes?
The questioner : The al-Resalah Foundation?
The Shaykh : The al-Resalah Foundation. So I had written on this booklet for the record: "Extracted from the dasht by Nasser", the word Nasser only. So what did he do? He placed a paper and covered this fact. And now you find a picture of the main title of this book in the copy of *Musnad al-Shihab* that our brother Hamdi edited, and this scientific fact is obscured. What drives him to do that? You know the answer!
The point is: This is one of the rarities that I obtained in this search.
And finally, I despaired of obtaining the lost page, but I never regretted it, because the gain was more than I imagined.
The important thing is that I later returned to the names I had recorded for these works and authors, and I wrote them again on cards, and I arranged the cards by the names of the authors, each author and what he has.
The questioner : Is this an effort for yourself, individually?
The Shaykh : Of course, individually. I have never worked as an employee in any department, and this is from the favor of Allah upon me.
Then, after I finished arranging these slips by the names of the authors, I arranged the works in alphabetical order. And among that was *An Index of Selected Manuscripts of the al-Zahiriyyah Library*.
Then came the final stage, which is the blessed fruit of that first effort. So I began to read these manuscripts and extract from them the hadith benefits with their chains of narration. I now have, and which helps me to feed my scientific projects, about forty volumes containing the hadiths that I extracted from these manuscripts with their chains of narration, and I arranged them to facilitate reference also in alphabetical order. So this is a brief account of the story of the lost page. And so that we do not waste any time on a matter that may not concern you, let us see what other question you have.