(10) “You will surely follow the ways of those who came before you, handspan by handspan and cubit by cubit, until if one of them were to enter a lizard’s hole you would enter it, and even if one of them were to have intercourse with his wife in the street, you would do the same.” Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmiʿ 5067. The report is also in al-Ṣaḥīḥah 1348 with the wording: “You will certainly follow the ways of those who came before you, handspan by handspan, cubit by cubit, and fathom by fathom, so that if one of them were to enter a lizard’s hole you would enter it, and if one of them were to copulate with his mother in the street you would do likewise.” (Sound). The Shaykh remarks: (Note) – The correct wording is “his mother.” In al-Mustadrak of al-Ḥākim the word “his wife” appears instead of “his mother,” and that is an error on the part of one of the narrators or copyists. I neglected to point this out in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmiʿ, no. 5067.

(11) “There will surely come upon my community what befell the Children of Israel, step for step … Indeed, the Children of Israel split into seventy-two sects, and my community will split into seventy-three sects; all of them are in the Fire except one: that upon which I and my Companions stand.” Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmiʿ 5343—graded ḥasan; transmitted by al-Tirmidhī from Ibn ʿAmr; al-Mishkāt 171. The Shaykh says in al-Ṣaḥīḥah, under ḥadith 1348: “The corroborating narration previously mentioned from Ibn ʿAmr comes with the first, correct wording, ‘his mother,’ in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmiʿ, no. 5343. I made a mistake: I deleted the entire clause linked to that wording—‘so much so that if one of them were to have intercourse with his mother in the street, you would do it’—and replaced it with ellipses, following the practice in this book of indicating that the omitted text is weak. That was an error, and I ask Allah to forgive me, for the opposite is correct, as you now know. Therefore the text in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmiʿ should be corrected by restoring the deleted sentence. Allah, exalted is He, is the sole giver of success.”

(12) From Abū Saʿīd, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, noticed that some of his Companions were holding back, so he said: “Come forward and follow my lead, and let those who come after you follow yours; a people will go on lagging behind until Allah puts them behind.” Reported by Muslim, Abū Dāwūd, al-Nasāʾī, and Ibn Mājah; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Targhīb 509, Maʿārif edition. The Shaykh comments: In the earlier printings a grave error crept in—for which I seek Allah’s forgiveness—caused by blind copying and failure to return to the original sources. In short, the entire “holding-back” clause was said to have no basis with the four compilers who actually transmit the ḥadīth. Al-Ḥāfiẓ al-Nāǧī had stated categorically that it was an interpolation, and I was misled by his assertion. Now, while preparing this edition, I have verified that the clause is firmly established in all four collections, and praise belongs to Allah for His enabling grace.

(13) From ʿAlī, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: “I said to al-ʿAbbās, ‘Ask the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, to appoint you over the collection of zakāt.’ So he asked him, and the Prophet replied, ‘I would never appoint you over the wash-water of people’s sins.’” Reported by Ibn Khuzaymah in his Ṣaḥīḥ; Ṣaḥīḥ al-Targhīb 802, 2nd edition; also in the Maʿārif edition, 808, where it is judged sound by corroboration. The Shaykh writes in the footnote: “I say: This statement from ʿAlī is objectionable, for it is solely narrated by ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Razīn, who is unknown; no one other than Ibn Ḥibbān declared him reliable. What is authentically established from ʿAlī is the opposite: the request came from two youths of Banū ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, as in Muslim—cited in Ṣaḥīḥ Abī Dāwūd 2642; see also my note on Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Khuzaymah 4/79.” The ḥadīth appears in Ṣaḥīḥ Ibn Khuzaymah, no. 2390, where the Shaykh says: “Its chain is weak because ʿAbd Allāh—namely, Ibn Razīn—is unknown. Al-Dhahabī states, ‘Nothing is known about him.’ Moreover, the wording ‘I said to al-ʿAbbās: Ask the Prophet…’ is objectionable, for Muslim reports through an authentic chain that ʿAlī said to al-ʿAbbās and others, ‘Do not do it, for, by Allah, it is not something he will do.’”

(14) From Abū Kathīr, the freedman of Banū Hāshim, who said he heard Abū Dharr al-Ghifārī, may Allah be pleased with him, a Companion of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say: “Whoever recites the following words one hundred times after every prayer— ‘Allah is Most Great, glory be to Allah, praise be to Allah, there is no god but Allah alone with no partner, and there is no might or power except with Allah’—then, even if his sins were as vast as the foam of the sea, they would be wiped away.” Ḍaʿīf al-Targhīb 986. Reported by Aḥmad, but only as a mawqūf narration. The Shaykh says: “I say: Its chain is not sound; Abū Kathīr is unknown, and beneath him is Ibn Luhayʿah. Al-Suyūṭī was mistaken when he inserted it into his two Jāmiʿs, for he includes in them only prophetic narrations. I failed to alert readers to this in Ḍaʿīf al-Jāmiʿ 4263 (3rd edition) and 4268 (1st edition). It should therefore be annotated, and for this and other reasons I have traced it in al-Ḍaʿīfah 6851.”

(15) “If a man performs ḥajj with wealth that is not lawful and cries out: ‘Labbayk, O Allah, labbayk,’ Allah says, ‘No labbayk and no welcome for you; it is thrown back upon you.’” (Weak) al-Ḍaʿīfah 1433. The Shaykh remarks: “In every source from which I traced this ḥadīth, it is from the Musnad of ʿUmar—and so it is in al-Jāmiʿ al-Kabīr of al-Suyūṭī and in some manuscripts of al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr. The copy before me in the commentary of al-Manāwī, however, reads ‘Ibn ʿUmar,’ and so it appears in al-Fath al-Kabīr of al-Nabahānī, and then in Ḍaʿīf al-Jāmiʿ, no. 559. Whoever possesses a copy should correct it.” The ḥadīth is listed in Ḍaʿīf al-Jāmiʿ, 3rd edition, no. 460.