Al-Dhahabi . . . Why was his silence interpreted as agreement, and not as hesitation, for example?

The questioner : Al-Dhahabi ... So why was his silence interpreted as agreement, and not as hesitation, for example?

The Shaykh : I answered in some of my responses that his silence allows for one of two possibilities: either his opinion was not clear to him, or his agreement was dropped by the printer. Do you understand? And the printed copy is actually a very poor copy, and we need an edition of al-Mustadrak that is collated with more than one manuscript. To my knowledge, they found a copy in Yemen, but it may not be sufficient to carry out the correction, especially if the hadith is ... in the writing on history, al-Dhahabi’s silence may have been intentional on his part, or it may have been dropped by the printer. It is also possible—this is a third and remote possibility—that it was dropped from his pen, that he passed over it. Now, I say on this occasion: this has happened to us; when you find me now in some of the four Sunan that were printed with my corrections, you will find in the printer’s notes that he says: thatThe Shaykh : he did not place a mark of authentication or weakening, and you have seen some of that, so it is of this kind; it can happen to al-Dhahabi himself, clear? Good.

The questioner : ... And if it is confirmed that it was dropped?

The Shaykh : If it is confirmed that ... it is ... .