(41) “A group will keep holding back from the first row until Allah holds them back (in the Fire).” Ṣaḥīḥ al-Targhīb (2nd ed.) no. 510. The same report is found in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Targhīb (Maʿārif) no. 510 without the words “in the Fire.” The Shaykh said: “In the ḥadith this phrase stood where the ellipsis now appears; I deleted it because its chain is weak.”

(42) “When the imam says, ‘…not of those who have incurred wrath, nor of those who have gone astray,’ then say ‘Āmīn,’ for whoever’s utterance coincides with that of the angels, all those in the mosque will be forgiven.” Narrated by al-Nasaʾī (al-Kubrā); see Ṣaḥīḥ al-Targhīb (2nd ed.) no. 514. In Ṣaḥīḥ al-Targhīb (Maʿārif) no. 514 the Shaykh, after citing the sound wording that ends, “his past sins will be forgiven,” wrote: “In the original a note follows—‘the narration of al-Nasaʾī…’—yet I could not locate it in either the minor or the major Sunan of al-Nasaʾī. It is found only in Sunan al-Bayhaqī and the Musnad of Aḥmad. The report is solitary and anomalous; its transmitter contradicts the reliable narrators from Abū Hurayrah with the wording ‘he will be forgiven.’ I have explained this in al-Ṣaḥīḥah no. 3476.”

(43) “No man bathes on Friday and purifies himself as best he can …” Al-Ṭabarānī narrated it in al-Kabīr with a ḥasan chain, parallel to al-Nasaʾī’s version, adding at the end: “it shall be an expiation for what lies between that Friday and the next, so long as he avoids major sins, and for that entire period.” Ṣaḥīḥ al-Targhīb (2nd ed.) no. 689; also in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Targhīb (Maʿārif) no. 689 with the wording: “it shall be an expiation for what lies between that Friday and the next, so long as he avoids major sins….” The Shaykh said: “In the original the words ‘and for that entire period’ were present; I removed them because al-Ṭabarānī’s chain contains Mughīrah ibn Miqsam al-Ḍabbī, a mudallis who gives the report in an ʿanʿanah form. This version is also related by al-Nasaʾī (al-Kubrā), but he did not include the phrase.”

(44) Abū Hurayrah Ⱡ reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Every day that dawns upon the servants two angels come down. One of them says, ‘O Allah, give a replacement to the one who spends,’ and the other says, ‘O Allah, give ruin to the one who withholds.’” Narrated by al-Bukhārī and Muslim. Ibn Ḥibbān records it in his Ṣaḥīḥ with the wording: “An angel at one of the gates of Paradise declares, ‘Who will give a loan today that will be repaid tomorrow?’ and another angel at a different gate says, ‘O Allah, give a replacement to the one who spends and ruin to the one who withholds.’” Al-Ṭabarānī transmits the same as Ibn Ḥibbān but says “at a gate of the heaven.” Ṣaḥīḥ al-Targhīb (2nd ed.) no. 905; also in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Targhīb (Maʿārif) no. 914. The Shaykh omitted al-Ṭabarānī’s version because of its weakness, saying: “In the original appeared: ‘Al-Ṭabarānī also narrated it like Ibn Ḥibbān, except that he said “at a gate of the heaven,”’ but I have deleted it. Al-Ṭabarānī relates it in al-Awsaṯ through his shaykh Miqdām ibn Dāʾūd al-Ruʿaynī, whom al-Nasaʾī declared unreliable. Ibn Ḥibbān’s wording is documented in al-Ṣaḥīḥah no. 920.”

(45) “Those who are many will be the lowest on the Day of Resurrection, except for the one who gives with his wealth like this and like this (and earned it lawfully).” Al-Ṣaḥīḥah no. 1766. The ḥadith also appears in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Targhīb (Maʿārif) under no. 3260, and Ibn Mājah narrates the abridged form: “The majority will be the lowest on the Day of Resurrection, except for the one who gives like this and like this.” The Shaykh wrote in the marginalia to al-Targhīb: “At the end of the ḥadith there is the addition ‘and earned it lawfully’; I removed it because it is anomalous and conflicts with the other routes of the report. It is cited in al-Ṣaḥīḥah no. 1766, where I unfortunately neglected to note its irregularity—let that now be corrected.”

(46) “Whoever stands (in prayer) during Ramadan out of faith and seeking reward, his past sins will be forgiven; and whoever stands during the Night of Decree out of faith and seeking reward, his past and future sins will be forgiven.” The addition “and his future sins” is anomalous; see al-Ḍaʿīfah no. 5083. The Shaykh said: “In short, ʿUbādah’s report has no sound chain: one route is broken, the other contains an unknown narrator. Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-ʿIrāqī, in Ṭarḥ al-Tathrīb 4/163, cited Ibn ʿAqīl’s statement that ‘his ḥadith is ḥasan’ without noticing the disconnection and the unknown narrator; al-Haythamī 3/185 followed the same course, as did Ibn Ḥajar 4/99 when he said, ‘The report of ʿUbādah in Aḥmad’s Musnad has a ḥasan isnād.’ Such assessments from these imams led me, for a time, to deem this addition—‘and his future sins’—ḥasan in ʿUbādah’s ḥadith and ṣaḥīḥ in Abū Hurayrah’s, and I accordingly marked it so in my personal copy of al-Targhīb, which I used to teach verified aḥādīth to the brothers. Now, after Allah enabled me to gather all the routes and lay them out in a manner that makes plain to any serious student that the stated addition is unsound from every angle, I have retracted that grading and returned the report to the category of weak. Allah is the Disposer of success.” See also Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmiʿ no. 6325 and Ṣaḥīḥ al-Targhīb (Maʿārif) no. 992, footnote 1.