The Shaykh’s commentary on al-Nawawi’s statement in *Riyad al-Salihin*

The Shaykh: "And if I say at the end of a hadith: agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim, it means: narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim." In this sentence, the author (may Allah have mercy on him) refers to a convention used by all hadith scholars, with the exception of Imam Ibn Taymiyyah, the grandfather of Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah, in his book *Al-Muntakha min Akhbar al-Mustafa*. The hadith scholars agreed that whenever they say a hadith is "agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim," they mean it was narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim. Thus, "agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim" is an abbreviation for "narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim." This is unlike Ibn Taymiyyah in that book, where he means by the phrase "agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim" that it was narrated by al-Bukhari, Muslim, and additionally Imam Ahmad. This is specific to *Al-Muntakha*. Therefore, if one of you reads a hadith in *Al-Muntakha* and sees the term "agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim," do not let the convention mentioned by Imam al-Nawawi just now dominate your understanding, because this is the convention of the majority of hadith scholars, while that is the convention of that author, Ibn Taymiyyah, in his book *Al-Muntakha*.