Ibn al-Ṣalāḥ, who said in his Sciences of Hadith: “It has been claimed that, once the repeated reports are omitted, the collection contains four thousand hadiths.” He then explained this, saying: “It is possible that the earlier scholar whose figure they followed, whenever he encountered a hadith in an extended form in one place and then saw it abridged elsewhere, assumed—either because a long time had passed or through limited familiarity with the discipline—that the abridged version was a different narration from the extended one. There are many instances of this kind in the book, and thus the reason for the disparity between the two totals becomes clear. Allah is the Grantor of success.” Here his words end—may Allah forgive him, have mercy on him, and reward him for his wholehearted service to the Sunnah, especially to the most authentic of the hadith compilations, with the finest reward.