Imam Ahmad says: "There are three things that have no second," and he mentioned tafsir, the campaigns, and histories.

The questioner : Imam Ahmad says: "There are three things that have no second," and he mentioned tafsir, the campaigns, and histories. What are the best statements of the scholars that support this saying, in your opinion?

The Shaykh : This means it is not an absolute statement, but rather it is the case in most instances. As we were discussing earlier regarding al-Dr al-Mathur by al-Hafiz al-Suyuti, returning to this book reminded me, when I intended to digress into it, and before I forget the answer to this question, I say: A book like this contains many, and very many, narrations related to tafsir. Similarly, the campaigns, particularly the Mughazi of Ibn Ishaq, where most of his narrations revolve around reports from non-Companions, or mursal reports, or reports with missing links; therefore, they are not authentic. The Imam does not intend that there is nothing authentic in tafsir, nor that there is nothing authentic in the campaigns. It is enough for a person to remember that Imam al-Bukhari included a book of the campaigns in his Sahih, and in it is what Allah wills, a great deal of good. However, this great deal, compared to what has been narrated in the campaigns, is actually few. Therefore, Imam Ahmad made that statement.
Returning to what I mentioned earlier as an example of al-Suyuti's extensive scope in his compilation of al-Dr al-Mathur, and I wanted to add, in connection with this book, his other book, al-Jami' al-Kabir by al-Suyuti, which is currently being printed in Egypt. This al-Jami' al-Kabir by al-Suyuti, from which al-Jami' al-Saghir may have been derived, and in addition to al-Jami' al-Saghir, there are two known books by him. He has al-Jami' al-Kabir, from which al-Jami' al-Saghir branched off, and the addition to al-Jami' al-Saghir. How was this Hafiz able to gather this massive material in al-Jami' al-Kabir and in al-Dr al-Mathur? There was a library in Egypt, and he was its custodian, so he was free to devote himself to it, and he was able to gather it, but he was not able to verify it. If a person were to verify al-Jami' al-Kabir by al-Suyuti, it would require al-Suyuti's lifespan and more, if he wanted to assign the grade of authenticity to every hadith. Therefore, while gathering is easy, only this Hafiz accomplished it, but as for verification, how few are those who verify!
And with this amount is sufficient, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.

The questioner : ... by al-Suyuti.

The Shaykh : According to the concept and what is mentioned in some copies, this requires verifying approximately forty thousand hadiths. This will become clear when this al-Jami' al-Kabir is printed in Cairo, because they have numbered the hadiths in the modern way; so we will confirm whether this number is close to being accurate or weak.