“We have removed four ḥadiths once it became clear to me that they do not meet our criteria … The second of them had already been pointed out to me—both in writing and in person—by some of our student brothers; the credit and thanks are theirs.”

You will find the same approach in the preface to the new printing of the first volume of Silsilat al-Aḥādīth al-Ḍaʿīfa (The Series of Weak Narrations): on the one hand it answers the likes of this bewildered critic, and on the other it explains the reasons for retracting certain earlier views and rulings—retractions that this wrong-doer brands “contradictions.” Refer to it, for it is exceedingly important.

And the same applies here, and here again—examples too many to enumerate.

Now we say to you: what is the difference between your accusation and what someone might say to you in these words:

“You—without the slightest doubt—are an infiltrator among the Muslims, one of Islam’s enemies such as the Jews or others, bent on corrupting their beliefs and sowing confusion among the masses through the works attributed to you. Those writings give the distinct impression that someone is backing you in your waywardness and in your attacks on the imams and ḥadith masters of the ummah. Witness, for example, your claim that Ibn Khuzaymah’s Kitāb al-Tawḥīd is a book of shirk (polytheism); your declaring the Imam of the Sunnah Ḥammād ibn Salamah to be weak; and your pronouncing takfīr on Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah and all who follow his path. All this is scattered throughout the works in question, especially your commentary on Dafʿ al-Shubah. If someone were to say this to you, what would be your reply? Whatever answer you give will be our proof against you.”

In closing this section I draw the readers’ attention to an audio cassette entitled “Die in Your Rage,” recorded by our esteemed brother Dr. Nāṣir al-ʿUmar; it contains ample clarification