al-Barqānī, Abū Nu‘aym, and al-Dāraqutnī, as well as authentic hadith collections such as those of Ibn Khuzaymah, Ibn Mandah (1), Abū Hātim al-Bustī, and al-Hākim.

These also include reports authenticated by leading hadith scholars [who] (2) are more eminent than these scholars, or equal to them (3), from both earlier and later generations, such as Mālik, Shu‘bah, Yahyā ibn Sa‘īd, ‘Abd al-Rahmān ibn Mahdī, Ibn al-Mubārak, Ahmad, Ibn Ma‘īn, Ibn al-Madīnī, Abū Hātim and Abū Zur‘ah al-Rāzī, and countless others whose number Allah Most High alone knows.

When a discerning person reflects upon the authentic hadiths established as sound by these scholars and their peers, he can distinguish truth from falsehood. For these scholars are among those with the most thorough knowledge of this subject, the strongest desire to distinguish truth from falsehood, and the greatest dedication to defending the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. They are the emigrants to his Sunnah and hadith, and his helpers in religion. Their aim is to preserve his words accurately and convey them to people, while clearing him of what liars have fabricated (4) and of the errors made by those who err.

Whoever shares in their knowledge understands what they have said and appreciates something of their standing. Otherwise, let him entrust the bow to its maker, just as he defers to physicians in medicine, grammarians in grammar, jurists in jurisprudence, and experts in calculation in their field—even though all these groups may agree upon an error in