What is the ruling on the narrators in the *Mustakhraj* who are between the compilers of the *Mustakhraj* and the men of the *Sahih*, and how is the contradiction of al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar in this matter to be reconciled?

The questioner : Well, I have a question, our Shaykh, in this chapter. They mentioned in the benefits of the *Mustakhrajat* that the new men, or the new narrators, who are brought in between them and, I mean, the men of the *Sahih*—al-Hafiz mentioned that this serves as a validation for them. So if we do not find a specific validation for them, this is sufficient for validation. However, in another place, he retracted that and said that this does not necessarily imply validation, because their concern is elevation (in the chain). So wherever they found a narrator from any of the men, they extracted from him without looking at their conditions. This is also the statement of al-Hafiz in *al-Nukat*.

The Shaykh : In any case, this is possible due to a difference in independent legal reasoning, but I continue to say that the original principle is reliance.

The questioner : The original principle is reliance.

The Shaykh : Yes, indeed.

The questioner : May Allah bless you. Well, al-Diya' in *al-Mukhtarat*, which means regarding a hadith that exists, and we do not find that al-Diya' extracted it for him.

The Shaykh : He is known for leniency, without a doubt, I mean.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : And even though al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi, as you know, considers him much better than al-Hakim's *Mustadrak*, and this is a fact, but I see that he extracts from the unknown narrators and selects for them from the hadiths what he includes in *al-Mukhtarat*.

The questioner: Yes.