So whoever yearns to be seen in the seat of prominence
and despises the words “I do not know” has suffered a mortal blow.

There is no doubt that such caution—in other words, refraining from issuing legal opinions—was the practice of the righteous predecessors. The reports transmitted from them on this point are too numerous to mention here; the reader may consult the relevant sources (1).

Thirteenth: His Readiness to Retract When the Truth Became Clear

The Shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—never felt ashamed to announce his return to the truth once it became evident, even if the view he abandoned was one he had publicized, published, and championed for many long years. This can be seen clearly in his discussion of verse (5) of Surat Baraʾah, where he tackled the issue of fighting during the sacred months. He said:

“We used to hold this opinion—namely, that the prohibition of fighting in those months had been abrogated. For a long time we defended that view and maintained that it was the soundest. Later, however, it became clear to us that the sounder and more correct of the two positions is that the sanctity of the sacred months remains in force and has not been abrogated.”

While commenting on verse (34) of the same surah he said:

“Yesterday we mentioned that what had previously appeared to us—and what we used to defend—was that the prohibition of fighting in the sacred months had been abrogated. What we have since verified and now affirm with certainty is that the prohibition remains in effect to this very day….”

Similar instances may be found in several issues he had affirmed in his Sharḥ Maráqī al-Suʿūd, only to oppose and retract them later in Aḍwāʾ al-Bayān.