1577—al-Maktab al-Islāmī edition) with the erroneous wording that al-Bayhaqī reported from the group (1), although he had cited it, in abbreviated form and without this error, at the beginning of his book (no. 8). I do not know whether this originated with him or with one of the copyists of the book. What is strange is that this error persists in most of its printed copies today; stranger still is that its commentator, Ibn ʿAllān, followed it in his commentary on the hadith (4/406), despite its evident invalidity, as I explained in my introduction to my critical edition of Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn.

On this occasion, I must say a brief word about the new 1412 AH edition of this book, Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn, published by al-Maktab al-Islāmī. They prefaced it with a disgraceful introduction, full of lies, slander, insinuation, and innuendo. This is not the place to discuss it in detail, for that would require a book of its own, and time is too limited and too precious—especially since anyone who reads it and some of its annotations will conclude with certainty that the man is embittered, inconsistent in what he says, and ... If the old saying goes, “A book’s title tells you all you need to know about it,” then the reader needs only consider the statement placed beneath the title of the book and the author’s name: “Critically edited by a group of scholars; hadith sourcing by Muḥammad Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Albānī.”

Thus, he altered what had appeared in the first edition—“Critically edited by Muḥammad Nāṣir al-Dīn al-Albānī”—replacing the words “critically edited” with “hadith sourcing,” so as to attribute the critical editing to others, namely, “a group of scholars”! The least that can be said is that he failed to observe the etiquette taught by the Quran: “Do not deprive people of what is rightfully theirs, nor spread corruption in the land.” Then who are these “scholars”? He refused to disclose their names for a reason that is not hidden