(1) On this occasion I would like to note that it is both difficult—and, in fact, improper—for a novice student to take his shaykh’s lecture, transcribe it, then print and distribute it without the teacher’s review or even knowledge. The reason is that scholars—especially senior ones—may answer orally from memory, whereas when they write they refine their wording and exercise greater precision. For this reason the leading jurist of his age, the scholar Muhammad bin Salih al-Uthaymin—may Allah have mercy on him—used to forbid the transcription and publication of his recorded lectures unless he had first examined them. In the introduction to his Sharh al-Aqidah al-Wasitiyyah (1/17–18), which was originally released as audio tapes and later transcribed, he wrote: “It is well known that an explanation taken down from oral delivery is not like an explanation written with deliberation, for the first is subject to omissions and additions that do not affect the second … I therefore deemed it important to read the Sharh slowly so that it would appear in satisfactory form. I did so—praise be to Allah—deleted what was unnecessary, and added what was needed.” Similarly, the scholar Dr. Salih al-Fawzan—may Allah preserve him—has said: “Audio tapes are not a sufficient, dependable source for quoting the words of scholars, because they are unedited; how often would a scholar, if a tape were played back to him, retract what it contains.” He made this statement in his article “A Warning about the Book Defeat of the Takfiri Thought by Khalid al-Anbari,” published in the magazine ad-Da‘wah, issue no. 1749.