It is often the case that al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar quotes the words of al-Hakim and says, “It is authentic according to their conditions” or the like, without addressing the work of al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi.

The questioner : There are some questions I wanted to verify the answers to, due to things that occurred to me after you left, may Allah preserve you. When you spoke about and divided the method and work of al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi in his summary of al-Mustadrak into three categories, it seemed to me afterward that al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar often quotes the words of al-Hakim and says, “It is authentic according to their conditions” or the like, without addressing the work of al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi. Does the silence of al-Hafiz regarding the work of al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, about the method of al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi in the summary, imply that al-Hafiz does not consider it a verification by al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi? That is the end of the matter.

The Shaykh : It is not necessary that we interpret the fact that al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar did not transmit the agreement of al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi with al-Hakim, or rather, no, because these scholars consider themselves peers. They may not pay attention as we do when we quote from the predecessors to support our opinion and independent reasoning in authenticating or weakening hadiths. We are dwarfs in knowledge compared to them, so we need to support our opinion and independent reasoning in authenticating and weakening with such imams of hadith. I do not think that al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar looks at al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi as we look at both of them together. This is what appears to me, and Allah knows best.