Moreover, the esteemed reader should know that our Shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—would return to this book from time to time, adding and deleting, refining and verifying. Although his revisions were few—given the press of his many duties—death overtook him before he could bring the work to completion. We therefore took great care to publish it in the finest form: we collated the printed text with the Shaykh’s own manuscript and arranged it in two volumes. The first ends at (p. 514); the second begins with (p. 515) and concludes at (p. 851). We also prepared several scholarly indexes to facilitate consultation and enhance benefit: an index of the hadiths and reports cited in the book, an index of the narrators discussed in terms of criticism and commendation, a glossary of unusual terms, and an index of topics and points of benefit.

We ask Allah, exalted be He, to make it beneficial to all Muslims, to place it on the scale of our Shaykh’s good deeds, and to grant us the reward of cooperating in righteousness and piety.

May blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.

5 Jumada al-Awwal 1422 AH

The Publisher