All of those remarks are among the passages that Shaykh al-Sindi—may Allah guide him—kept back from his readers. They are all found in al-Mīzān, the very source from which he had quoted the earlier disparagements. He concealed them so that he could round off those scathing phrases with the conclusion:

“These reports are not suitable for corroboration or supporting evidence…; therefore the chain of this ḥadith is very weak.”

This, as the saying goes, is the heart of the matter: he hid those statements of accreditation because they would block the path to the severe weakening he had already adopted in his mind. Next, he selected from al-Dhahabī’s words whatever suited his purpose; and not satisfied with the preceding acts of concealment and distortion, he added insult to injury by saying after the statement just quoted:

“Consult the following references: al-Kāmil by Ibn ʿAdī… and other biographical works, so that you may learn the man’s true status. Allah’s help is sought.”

I say: together with al-Kāmil he listed seven other sources; should the readers consult some of them, they will find the very opposite of the severe weakening he has in mind. Among them are: