Does the compiler of the Major and Middle Rulings cite the hadiths with his own chain of narration or with the chains of the original compilers?

Al-Halabi : Shaykh, regarding the Minor and Middle Rulings, in what you have seen of the Major Rulings, is his method as al-Dhahabi indicated in his biography in *Al-Sirah* (Biographies of the Notable Figures of the Faithful), that they are with his own chain of narration?

The Shaykh : It is this.
Al-Halabi : Or with the chains of the original compilers?

The Shaykh : No, no, with the chains of the original compilers.
Al-Halabi : With the chains of the original compilers, not with his own chain.

The Shaykh : No, no. He says, for example, "The Book of Faith," and then says, "Muslim narrated to me so-and-so, who said: So-and-so narrated to me," and then he mentions the *Sunan* of Abu Dawud with its chain, al-Bazzar, al-Tabarani, and so on. Is it with his chain? To the compilers of the hadith.
Al-Halabi : Al-Dhahabi says in his biography in *Al-Sirah* that he has the Major Rulings, and it was said that they are with his chain, so it seems that al-Dhahabi (may Allah have mercy on him) had not seen them at that time.

The Shaykh : No. If this statement is authentic from al-Dhahabi, it has an explanation, which is: You know that the early authors used to narrate the books of the Imams with their chains. So he might mention the chain at the beginning of the book, and this is what I have not seen, up to Muslim, for example, and then he abbreviates it afterwards by saying, "Muslim said in his *Sahih*," and so on.
Al-Halabi : As some others do.

The Shaykh : That is it, but even so, I do not remember that he began his book with such a narration that connects his chain to Muslim or al-Bukhari or Abu Dawud, or similar to other books. So I do not know what al-Tirmidhi meant by that statement of al-Dhahabi.
Al-Halabi : Well, Shaykh, if this is the case, then the Major Rulings are with the names of the compilers, and the Middle Rulings which you worked on?

The Shaykh : No, the Middle Rulings contain only "Muslim narrated it." He mentions the hadith and says "Muslim narrated it," he mentions the hadith and says "Abu Dawud narrated it," and sometimes he explicitly states "with a sound chain" or "with a weak chain." This is the Middle Rulings, whereas the Minor Rulings he restricted to the sound ones only.
Al-Halabi : So...

The Shaykh : Yes, so this is the difference between the Major, Middle, and Minor Rulings.
Al-Halabi : Very good.

The questioner : Professor, regarding *Sahih Abu Dawud* and *Da'if Abu Dawud*, how far have you gotten in them?

The Shaykh : Yes, I have reached past the Book of Authority.

The questioner : Meaning approximately two-thirds of the book?

The Shaykh : Yes, two-thirds of the book.

The questioner : And in detail, like *Al-Arwaa al-Ghalil* for example?

The Shaykh : No, a little less.

The questioner : Well, the *Sunan* of Abu Dawud that the Tربية Library in Riyadh published, did you complete it?

The Shaykh : Yes, I completed it a long time ago and sent it to them, but this is in the style of the *Sunan* that were published before it.

The questioner : Which is a summary of sound, good, or weak hadiths.

The Shaykh : But, yes.

The questioner : Professor, I read in *Al-Sirah* by Imam al-Dhahabi, he says about Imam al-Nasa'i that he has a condition regarding men (narrators) stricter than the condition of Imam Muslim, and he says that he is more memorizing than Imam Muslim, whether it was he or someone else, I do not remember exactly whether he said this or cited it in *Al-Sirah*, and he says that al-Nasa'i ran in the track of al-Bukhari and Abu Zur'ah. What is your opinion of this statement? It seems as if he is preferring him over Muslim.

The Shaykh : I do not have an opinion right now. This is the work of the memorizers, and we are not among them. This requires comprehending the hadiths, their routes, and their chains, so that a person can be able to prefer one over the other. Without that, it is like spinning the thorns for us.

The questioner : It is indeed observed that the number of weak hadiths in al-Nasa'i is very few, meaning, it seems as if it is allowed to be five percent or something close to this only.

The Shaykh : By Allah, honestly, I conducted a count of the percentage, but there is a percentage, and usually the weakness comes from the unknown narrator. Then my opinion is that al-Nasa'i is almost on the level of Ibn Khuzaymah and Ibn Hibban in authenticating those who are unknown to others. And this means it scratches a little at what al-Dhahabi transmitted, which is known about him, because we do not find anything of this kind in the booksThe Shaykh : except rarely, yes.

The questioner : Do you hear about the weak hadiths in al-Nasa'i?

The Shaykh : No, that is what I said earlier that I did not count them.

The questioner : Does that mean you did not complete it?

The Shaykh : I completed it and it was printed.

The questioner : Printed? ... .

The Shaykh : Ah, no, only the sound ones, whereas the weak ones have not been published yet, just as the weak ones of al-Tirmidhi have not been published.