Al-Raqqi, too, is weak; his biography appears in al-Mizan and Lisan al-Mizan.

In sum, none of these corroborating reports is sufficiently sound to inspire confidence in its authenticity. Yet, even if they are of no benefit and add no further strength to the hadith, they will cause no harm.

Moreover, the alternative wording, “There is no deity worthy of worship but Allah,” is found in Ibn Hibban through the route of ʿAbd al-Razzaq; in Ahmad, in one narration, through Hammad ibn Salamah; and in al-Hakim through Humayd. In his annotations to al-Ihsan (15/262), Shaykh Shuʿayb mistakenly attributed it to Muslim.

The one who has encroached upon my rights, my books, and my projects—the owner of al-Maktab al-Islami—has made the same mistake. I have been compelled to draw attention in some of my writings to certain of his infringements, in the hope that he may come to his senses and repent to his Lord. One such infringement is that he abridged the Four Sunan collections in a deficient—indeed, scandalously deficient—manner, and transferred to them the gradings of authenticity and weakness that I had assigned to their hadiths. I had submitted these verified Sunan collections to the Director of the Arab Bureau of Education for the Gulf States at his official request. Yet I do not know how what I am about to explain came to pass! Was it by agreement between the two offices? Or was it something plotted under cover of night?

In any case, I was surprised to find that the aforementioned “gentleman” had exploited the project I submitted to the Education Bureau and published what he called The Authentic Sunan of Ibn Majah, with Abridged Chains of Transmission. He did the same with the remaining Sunan collections, in both their “Authentic” and “Weak” sections, styling all of it: “The Weak [Hadiths] of Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani”!

This is a lie and a dishonorable attempt to profit from al-Albani’s name; and he has committed another similar offense before. For the abridgement is his, not mine, and it contains very many errors, confusions, and displays of ignorance—too numerous to count. We shall mention some of them, as occasion arises, for clarification and as a warning. One example is this hadith: the aforesaid “gentleman” included it in Sahih al-Tirmidhi (2/242/1798), and beneath it he wrote, abridging al-Tirmidhi’s words: