6 – The Shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—sometimes alludes to certain narrations by means of general, hard-to-identify symbols, especially when the report is weak or fabricated. Tracking them down therefore consumes much time and effort. One instance is on p. 965, where he says: “like the ḥadīth of the four angels,” and notes that it is a fabricated report.

In spite of the size and variety of these obstacles, the labor involved has been a pleasant labor, for I have witnessed how greatly the topics of this book benefit students of knowledge. Whoever longs for honey must endure the bee’s sting.

My outline for this study will be as follows:

Introduction

Prolegomenon:
I shall treat here the deviant sects and the danger they pose to sound belief.

Part One:
The Study

It contains two sections.

Section One:
The Author—His Life and Times

Comprising three chapters:

Chapter One:
His Life, with two sub-topics:
1 – His name and birth.
2 – His upbringing and characteristics.

Chapter Two:
His Era, with three sub-topics:
1 – The political milieu.
2 – The social milieu.
3 – The scholarly milieu.

Chapter Three:
His trial and his death.

Section Two:
His book al-Tisʿīniyyah and a study of selected issues.

It contains two chapters.

Chapter One:
An introduction to the book, with several sub-topics: