You mentioned that the best book for you from a scholarly perspective is *Irwaa' al-Ghalil*; we ask for clarification.
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Al-Halabi : Shaykh, you mentioned in some gatherings that the best book for you from a scholarly perspective is *Irwaa' al-Ghalil*. We would like a little detail and clarification on this topic.
The Shaykh : It is a book that is, in a sense, jurisprudential. Despite its brevity from a jurisprudential standpoint, it gathers the evidence for the rulings mentioned by the book's author, mostly according to the Hanbali school, and regarding the other schools, this is a distinctive feature not found in the books of later jurists. This is because these later jurists are generally characterized by partisanship for their own school and arguing for their school without explaining the evidence of the opposing view. In reality, this detracts from their style, given what is known among the people of the Sunnah and the community (Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah) that one of the characteristics of the people of hadith is that they narrate what is in their favor and what is against them. This book seems to have deviated from the path followed by the majority of jurists, as if it was influenced by the description of the people of hadith and the Sunnah that Ibn Taymiyyah quotes in his books. This is from one aspect. From another aspect, the Hanbalis, although in their following of their imam, Imam Ahmad, the imam of the Sunnah, are closer to the early, hadith-based jurisprudence than others, provided they had followed the path of their imam. Therefore, I have always been, and still am, surprised that books on the tracing of hadiths (takhrij) for some of the well-known schools, such as the Hanafi and Shafi'i schools, are circulated among Muslims, both the general public and the specialists, even though the school of Imam Ahmad is more deserving of care in tracing its books and jurisprudence than all the other schools. This was one of the incentives and motivations for caring about the tracing of this book, after I distinguished it by the point I mentioned earlier. Perhaps I mentioned in the introduction to this book or another, I have forgotten, the time is long past, that with this book I served the Sunnah first, and secondly I served the imam of the Sunnah, Imam Ahmad.
The Shaykh : It is a book that is, in a sense, jurisprudential. Despite its brevity from a jurisprudential standpoint, it gathers the evidence for the rulings mentioned by the book's author, mostly according to the Hanbali school, and regarding the other schools, this is a distinctive feature not found in the books of later jurists. This is because these later jurists are generally characterized by partisanship for their own school and arguing for their school without explaining the evidence of the opposing view. In reality, this detracts from their style, given what is known among the people of the Sunnah and the community (Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah) that one of the characteristics of the people of hadith is that they narrate what is in their favor and what is against them. This book seems to have deviated from the path followed by the majority of jurists, as if it was influenced by the description of the people of hadith and the Sunnah that Ibn Taymiyyah quotes in his books. This is from one aspect. From another aspect, the Hanbalis, although in their following of their imam, Imam Ahmad, the imam of the Sunnah, are closer to the early, hadith-based jurisprudence than others, provided they had followed the path of their imam. Therefore, I have always been, and still am, surprised that books on the tracing of hadiths (takhrij) for some of the well-known schools, such as the Hanafi and Shafi'i schools, are circulated among Muslims, both the general public and the specialists, even though the school of Imam Ahmad is more deserving of care in tracing its books and jurisprudence than all the other schools. This was one of the incentives and motivations for caring about the tracing of this book, after I distinguished it by the point I mentioned earlier. Perhaps I mentioned in the introduction to this book or another, I have forgotten, the time is long past, that with this book I served the Sunnah first, and secondly I served the imam of the Sunnah, Imam Ahmad.
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