(24) “Allah has turned my face toward al-Shām and set my back toward Yemen. He said to me: ‘O Muhammad, I have made what lies before you booty and provision, and what lies behind you continual support. Islam will go on increasing, while polytheism and its people will keep on diminishing, until two women can travel without fearing anything but oppression. By the One in whose hand is my soul, the days and nights will not pass until this religion reaches as far as this star.’” Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmiʿ no. 1716. The Shaykh noted that it is also cited in al-Ṣaḥīḥah no. 35, yet it was removed from the Maʿārif edition. He wrote there—al-Ṣaḥīḥah 1/81: “Note: Under this same number, 35, the earlier printings contained another ḥadith. When it became clear to me that its chain includes an unknown narrator, I did not deem it permissible to keep it here, so I moved it to al-Ḍaʿīfah no. 5848.”

(25) “Allah refuses to accept the deed of an innovator until he abandons his innovation.” Ṣaḥīḥ al-Targhīb (2nd ed.) no. 53; the Shaykh declared it sound. The report nevertheless appears in Ḍaʿīf al-Jāmiʿ no. 29, al-Ḍaʿīfah no. 1492, Iṣlāḥ al-Masājid nos. 83 and 81, and al-Sunnah by Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim no. 39. In the introduction to Ṣaḥīḥ al-Targhīb, p. 31 (Maʿārif), the Shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—said: “I deleted from it certain ḥadiths which, with the passage of time, I realized belonged more appropriately in the other book, Ḍaʿīf al-Targhīb,” and he listed their numbers, including the present narration as no. 53. He then added: “As for the second of them, no. 53, it is judged weak in Ẓilāl al-Jannah no. 39 and had long since been produced in al-Ḍaʿīfah no. 1492, so—by Allah—I do not know how it found its way into Ṣaḥīḥ al-Targhīb!”

(26) “A servant may give charity with nothing more than a morsel of bread, yet with Allah it grows until it becomes like Mount Uḥud.” Ṣaḥīḥ al-Targhīb no. 851 (2nd ed.). The narration is found in Ḍaʿīf al-Targhīb (Maʿārif) no. 508 and Ḍaʿīf al-Jāmiʿ no. 1501. It is one of the ḥadiths the Shaykh mentioned that he removed from Ṣaḥīḥ al-Targhīb; see the introduction to al-Targhīb (Maʿārif), pp. 31–32.

(27) “The Prophet ﷺ liked to break his fast with three dates or with something that fire had not touched.” Ṣaḥīḥ al-Targhīb no. 1070 (2nd ed.). The ḥadith appears in Ḍaʿīf al-Targhīb (Maʿārif) no. 652 and is among the reports the Shaykh said he deleted from the new Maʿārif printing of al-Targhīb. It is also in Ḍaʿīf al-Jāmiʿ no. 4540; see likewise Ḍaʿīf Mawārid al-Ẓamʾān 101/892 and 102/893, al-Ḍaʿīfah no. 996, and Irwāʾ al-Ghalīl no. 922.

(28) “He ﷺ used to dislike being asked questions and would reproach such behavior, but when Abū Razīn asked him he answered and was pleased.” Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmiʿ no. 5007. The report is also in Ẓilāl al-Jannah no. 640. The Shaykh said: “Its chain is weak.”

(29) “The best number of companions is four; the best number for a raiding party is four hundred; the best number for an army is four thousand; and twelve thousand are never defeated because of being too few.” Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmiʿ no. 3278; al-Ṣaḥīḥah no. 986. Later the Shaykh wrote in al-Ṣaḥīḥah (Maʿārif), pp. 682–685: “(Addendum) This represented the extent of my knowledge for more than twenty years. I have since come upon material that obliges me to retract my earlier verdict declaring the ḥadith sound, and I pray the Most High to guide me to what is right… In sum, the ḥadith is not authentic, and whatever in my writings contradicts this I hereby withdraw, saying: ‘Our Lord, do not take us to task if we forget or err.’” See also Ḍaʿīf al-Targhīb (Maʿārif) no. 1814; Mishkāt no. 3912; Abū Dāwūd no. 2611; al-Tirmidhī no. 1555; and Ḍaʿīf Mawārid al-Ẓamʾān 205/1663.

(30) “Beware of transmitting from me except what you know for certain.” Mishkāt no. 232; related by al-Tirmidhī. The Shaykh graded it ḥasan, while I observed: “Its chain is weak; however, Ibn Abī Shaybah reported it with a sound chain, as Ibn al-Qaṭṭān stated and as al-Manāwī cited in Fayḍ al-Qadīr—Allah knows best.” The Shaykh later wrote in Ṣifat Ṣalāt al-Nabī ﷺ, p. 41 (Maʿārif): “It has since become clear to me that the ḥadith is weak. I had relied on al-Manāwī’s grading of Ibn Abī Shaybah’s chain, but when I examined it I found it weak—the very same chain as that of al-Tirmidhī and others. See my Silsilah al-Aḥādīth al-Ḍaʿīfah no. 1783.” Refer also to Tirmidhī no. 2951.

(31) “Beware of a dwelling called the ḥammām (public bath).” They said, “O Messenger of Allah, it removes dirt!” He replied, “Then screen yourselves.” Ṣaḥīḥ al-Targhīb (2nd ed.) no. 161. The narration is in Ḍaʿīf al-Targhīb (Maʿārif) no. 127. The Shaykh said: “Weak and anomalous.” See Ghāyat al-Marām no. 193; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmiʿ no. 116; and Irwāʾ al-Ghalīl no. 2582.

(32) “He forbade urinating in running water.” Ḍaʿīf al-Jāmiʿ no. 6004. The Shaykh observed: “This report appeared in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmiʿ no. 6690 (first edition); that is a mistake and it should be removed.” It is also found in al-Ḍaʿīfah no. 5227 and Ḍaʿīf al-Targhīb (Maʿārif) no. 118.