The Shaykh’s conversation with the students regarding books on the science of hadith and the Sunnah, their editions, and a discussion of their editors.

The student: Shaykh, a Yemeni brother has published "Al-Asma' wa al-Sifat" by al-Bayhaqi.

The Shaykh : Yes.
The student: In two volumes, a very meticulous edition!

The Shaykh : What Allah willed!
The student: Yes, by Allah.

The Shaykh: Where was it published?
The student: It was published in Saudi Arabia.

The Shaykh: In Saudi Arabia?!
The student: Ah, two volumes, glory to Allah. It includes numbering of the hadiths, a follow-up to al-Kawthari’s work, and a comparison with a manuscript, and other nice things, by Allah.

The Shaykh: May Allah reward him with good. Did he number the hadiths?
The student: Ah, he numbered the hadiths, yes. And then, our brother’s book: Shams al-Din al-Afghani on the Maturidiyyah, it was published! Have you seen it, Shaykh?

The Shaykh: You told me about it, ah.
The student: Three volumes. Three volumes reached me two days ago. Truly, Shaykh, he followed them up with an amazing thoroughness, what Allah willed, blessed be Allah.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward him with good.
The student: Yes, by Allah, three volumes, Shaykh. About seven hundred references he consulted.

The Shaykh: What Allah willed!! May Allah reward him with good.
The student: Yes, by Allah, also the book of Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, "Al-Istidhkar." The book "Al-Istidhkar" by Ibn 'Abd al-Barr was also published in Egypt.

The Shaykh: Ibn 'Abd al-Barr?
The student: "Al-Istidhkar" by Ibn 'Abd al-Barr.

The Shaykh: By Ibn 'Abd al-Barr.
The student: Ah, this was published, Shaykh, in two volumes long ago, I remember it.

The Shaykh: Yes.
The student: Now it has been published in full.

The Shaykh: In full. The old two volumes, regarding the original, were in quarter size.
The student: I have not seen it for a while. It is still in the chapter of purification.

The Shaykh : Yes?
The student: The two volumes are still in purification. I expect it to be more than fifteen volumes.
Another student : Yes, exactly.
The student: It was published in full.

The Shaykh: Oh, Sami!!
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh: Since you are not busy, please return these volumes to their place.
The student: Until I am finished, Shaykh.

The Shaykh: Is that how it is?
The student : Better.

The Shaykh: As you wish.
The student : May Allah reward you with good.
Another student: Also, there is a book, Shaykh. I can say it is repetitive, but it is not devoid of benefit, and a good benefit at that. The author is Bashar 'Uwaid Ma'ruf, along with some Egyptians, and he named it: Al-Musnad al-Jami'. He collected twenty books from the books of the Sunnah, headed by Musnad Ahmad and the six books, in addition to al-Darimi, al-Humaydi, and 'Abd ibn Humayd. These books, and in addition to al-Shama'il by al-Tirmidhi, 'Amal al-Yawm wa al-Layl, and so on. He arranged them according to the order of the Companions in the musnads.

The Shaykh : Yes.
The student: Then, for each Companion, he arranged them according to the fiqh chapters, like Musnad al-Faqih ibn Makhlad.

The Shaykh: Yes.
The student: And it seems they are closer to perfection in terms of the work, so it is not devoid of benefit.

The Shaykh: Correct.
The student: As an evaluation of the chains of narration, I think he also included Musnad Abu Ya'la.

The Shaykh: Has it been published?
The student: It was published in twenty volumes.

The Shaykh : What Allah willed!!
The student: About eighteen thousand hadiths.

The Shaykh: About?
The student: Eighteen thousand hadiths.

The Shaykh : What Allah willed!!
The student: Bashar Ma'ruf?
Another student: Bashar 'Uwaid, and also with the Egyptians there.

The Shaykh: Yes, so his method of collection is that he attributes each hadith to these references?
The student: All of them, yes.

The Shaykh: All of them, every hadith has an attribution in it?
The student: Ah, the point of convergence of the paths, the point of convergence of the paths, meaning how is it called? Al-Asraf, "Tuhfat al-Asraf" regarding its paths. It was narrated by so-and-so from the path of so-and-so, all of them from the path of so-and-so, and he presents the chain of narration...
Another student: But selecting the texts, Shaykh, requires long and very long experience.

The Shaykh: Of course, without a doubt, it is known.
The student: Selecting the texts and so on, so I hope they have been successful.
Another student: Their work is more about the chains of narration than the texts.

The Shaykh: That is observable. As you know, I have been working on the sources for a long time!
The student: Exactly, "Mawarid al-Zum'an."
Another student: Have you seen it, Shaykh, by the way—I do not want to interrupt you—the edition of "Mawarid" edited by Husayn Asad, six volumes?

The Shaykh: It came to me from Majma' al-Zawa'id!
The student: No, not Majma' al-Zawa'id. Did Masak publish "Mawarid" in six volumes?

The Shaykh: I have not seen it.
The student: This is truly necessary, by Allah.

The Shaykh: Yes, by Allah.
The student: This is available in Sham. If al-Khatib is in contact with you, or if you can contact him, have him bring it with him.

The Shaykh: All right.
The student: It is available in Sham, it will be much cheaper there. Yes, Shaykh, please, you wanted to say something!

The Shaykh: The point is that he often omits some texts even though they meet his criteria. Why? Because this text is not in the two Sahihs or in one of them, but it is in "Al-Ihsan" or in "Al-Asl" as authentic. And it is also possible that the text has an addition that is not in the two Sahihs. So this should be included in "Mawarid."
The student: Correct.

The Shaykh: And therefore, although I did not intend it and I cannot intend it.
The student: I followed them all.

The Shaykh: I followed them, but incidentally, like this.
The student: They pass by.

The Shaykh: I discovered, meaning, dozens of hadiths like these. And on the contrary, we find what the Syrian mentioned: Salim.
The student: Salim Asad, Husayn Salim Asad.

The Shaykh: We find that when he traces a hadith, for example:
The student: Abu Ya'la.

The Shaykh: In Musnad Abu Ya'la, the hadith is in Musnad Abu Ya'la.
The student: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh: -- And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah and His blessings -- with a wording that has an addition to the "two Sahihs." He adds to the "two Sahihs" and does not mention the difference between what is in the "two Sahihs" and what is here. And the major reason is that the chain of narration in Musnad Abu Ya'la may be weak, so he considers what is in the "two Sahihs" as a corroborating narration for it. And this is, as we say in our specific terminology: it is a deficient corroborating narration.
The student: Correct.

The Shaykh: Ah, and this is what Shu'ayb often falls into, very much, in "Al-Ihsan." Yes, these are examples of what the brother mentioned.
The student: I am mentioning, Shaykh, your follow-ups on our brother al-'Abaylan in his thesis: "Al-Tanbihat al-Malihah 'an Muqaddimat Muslim." You followed them up and pointed to these follow-ups.

The Shaykh: Yes.
The student: That he says: he omits a hadith. For example, I, for instance, Musnad Ahmad, Musnad Ibn Munayyir, Musnad so-and-so. He says: it is in the Sahih. He says: he does not observe the difference between the two narrations, so I mention it for the sake of the addition.

The Shaykh: Yes.
The student: And it is not hidden that the hadith is in the "two Sahihs"!

The Shaykh: Yes.
The student: I know. The Shaykh gives several examples of this in the introduction to the new edition of the abridgment of Muslim.
The student: Like this Saqaf, when I mean the Shaykh’s follow-up on the hadith: They omitted this, approximately.

The Shaykh: Yes.
The student: Many.