(64) “…Beware the garb of monks, for whoever adopts it in affectation or imitation is not of me.” Al-Ḍaʿīfah 3234. The Shaykh comments in al-Ḍaʿīfah—after listing the defects in its chain: “From this detailed investigation it becomes clear that al-Ḥāfiẓ erred, or at least showed undue leniency, when he said in Fatḥ al-Bārī, ‘Al-Ṭabarānī transmitted it with a chain that is unobjectionable.’ I had quoted that remark and relied on it in my book Ḥijāb al-Marʾah al-Muslimah, but once I examined the isnād myself and realised how weak it is, I hastened to delete the report there and place it here.”

(65) “You do not return to Allah with anything better than that which has come from Him—meaning the Quran.” Al-Ṣaḥīḥah 961 (Maʿārif); also in al-Ḍaʿīfah 1957. The Shaykh writes—after presenting the weaknesses of the isnād: “I had overlooked this flaw and therefore inserted the ḥadīth in al-Ṣaḥīḥah 961, giving it a takhrīj similar to what is found here without noticing the problem. Anyone who comes across that entry should strike it out.” See as well: al-Tirmidhī 2911; Mishkāt 1332; Hidāyat al-Ruwwāt 1281; Ḍaʿīf al-Targhīb 866; Ḍaʿīf al-Jāmiʿ 2042.

(66) Abū Kabshah al-Anmārī (may Allah be pleased with him) reports that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to have cupping performed on the crown of his head and between his shoulders, saying: “Whoever lets some of this blood flow will suffer no harm if he resorts to no other treatment for any ailment.” Narrated by Abū Dāwūd and Ibn Mājah. Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmiʿ 4926; Mishkāt 4542; Abū Dāwūd 3859; Ibn Mājah 3484. The ḥadīth is also in al-Ḍaʿīfah 1867. The Shaykh remarks: “Its chain would be ḥasan were it not for a break. I had placed it in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmiʿ—whether through inadvertence or on the basis of a supporting route that I can no longer recall. The phrase ‘between his shoulders’ does have a corroborating chain that I documented in al-Ṣaḥīḥah 908.”

(67) “When Allah intends evil for a servant, He makes bricks and mud appear verdant to him until he begins to build.” Al-Ḍaʿīfah 2294. The Shaykh writes: “I had earlier graded this ḥadīth while annotating al-Ṭabarānī’s al-Muʿjam al-Ṣaghīr (published as al-Rawḍ al-Naḍīr, p. 179), where I cited al-Ḥāfiẓ al-ʿIrāqī’s attribution of the report to Abū Dāwūd with a ‘good’ chain from ʿĀʾishah, though I could not find it in Sunan Abī Dāwūd. I penned that over thirty years ago, before the appearance of many reference works and indexes. Now, as I write these lines in 1403 AH and have re-examined resources such as al-Mizzī’s Tuḥfat al-Ashrāf, my conviction has only grown that the attribution is mistaken; most likely al-ʿIrāqī confused it with another report of ʿĀʾishah: ‘Allah did not command us, in what He has provided us, to clothe stone and bricks.’” See Ḍaʿīf al-Targhīb 1174 and Ḍaʿīf al-Jāmiʿ 336.

(68) Jābir (may Allah be pleased with him) relates that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade plastering graves and writing on them. Al-Tirmidhī declared it “ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ.” The Shaykh states in al-Naṣīḥah, pp. 152–153: “Al-Tirmidhī narrated it through Muḥammad ibn Rabīʿah; al-Ḥākim through Ḥafṣ ibn Ghiyāth and Abū Muʿāwiyah; Ibn Ḥibbān as well (3154); and al-Ṭaḥāwī in Sharḥ al-Maʿānī 1/296—these three routes all go back to Abū Muʿāwiyah Muḥammad ibn Khāzim, from Ibn Jurayj, from Abū al-Zubayr, from Jābir. Al-Ḥākim judged it ‘ṣaḥīḥ according to the criteria of Muslim,’ and al-Dhahabī concurred. That is the first chain. The second chain, found with Abū Dāwūd, al-Nasāʾī and Ibn Mājah, runs through Ibn Jurayj and Sulaymān ibn Mūsā from Jābir; Ibn Ḥibbān also records it, while Ibn Mājah mentions only the clause on writing. I originally deemed this second isnād sound in al-Irwāʾ 3/308 (ḥadīth 757, p. 208), but I later realised there is a disconnection between Sulaymān ibn Mūsā and Jābir.” See Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ 1709; Hidāyat al-Ruwwāt 1650; al-Janāʾiz 204.

(69) “Allah has set limits, so do not transgress them; He has made obligations, so do not neglect them; He has forbidden certain things, so do not violate them; and He has remained silent about other matters—not out of forgetfulness on the part of your Lord but as a mercy to you—so accept this and do not probe into them.” The Shaykh says in his verification of Ibn Taymiyyah’s Kitāb al-Īmān: “Narrated by al-Dāraquṭnī; its status is ḥasan because of the strong corroboration that precedes it (p. 43).” In his commentary on al-ʿAqīdah al-Ṭaḥāwiyyah, p. 302 (9th ed.), he again classed it as ḥasan for the same reason. He later discovered, however, that the supporting routes are exceedingly weak and therefore unfit to strengthen it, as he clarified in Ghāyat al-Marām 4. See Ḍaʿīf al-Jāmiʿ 1597; Mishkāt 197; al-Taʿlīqāt al-Raḍiyyah 3/24.

(70) “O Allah, let the widest share of Your provision reach me when I am advanced in age and my life is drawing to a close.” Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmiʿ 1255 (3rd ed.); graded ḥasan in al-Ṣaḥīḥah 1539. The report is also found in al-Ḍaʿīfah 1385 with the wording: “He would supplicate: O Allah, make the widest portion of my provision…” After pointing out the flaw in its chain the Shaykh writes: “The ḥadīth therefore remains severely weak. I have transferred it here after having cited it in the other book in deference to al-Haythamī’s grading of ḥasan. On that basis I had entered it in the first edition of Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr, no. 1266; it should now be moved to Ḍaʿīf al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr.” In the third edition of Ḍaʿīf al-Jāmiʿ it appears as number 1163.