The second copy, by contrast, contains numerous corruptions and transcriptional errors. It is preserved on microfilm in the Manuscripts Department of King Saud University under no. 1203, and I am inclined to think it was filmed from a manuscript kept in the Awqāf Libraries in Baghdad. It is a relatively late witness, having been copied in 1304 AH.

As for the printed version, it is the edition prepared by Shaykh Muḥammad Ḥāmid al-Fiqī and produced at the Maṭbaʿat al-Sunnah al-Muḥammadiyyah. This is the second printing, dated 1369 AH. Although the work has appeared in print several times, this edition is one of the best and most widely circulated in the marketplace and among readers. Its ḥadīths and transmitted reports were not sourced, nor were the notable figures identified; only a few marginal notes were appended. Moreover, Shaykh Muḥammad Ḥāmid—may Allah have mercy on him—did not indicate the manuscript from which he produced his text.

Because this edition is widely used and well known—and is likely to remain so—I collated it with the manuscript witnesses to maximize benefit and to serve both the reader and the work itself. Accordingly, I have deemed it necessary to draw attention to its variants in light of the manuscripts.