the chain of transmission neither concerned nor appealed to them, because they do not understand it, it was enough for them to conceal their ignorance and their deficient command of Arabic by merely quoting al-Dhahabi’s statement: “And it is very singular!”
Thirdly: They could have avoided falling into that falsehood, had they possessed knowledge of this noble discipline: either by grading the hadith’s chain of transmission as sound, as required by the science of hadith, or by following someone who had declared the hadith authentic, as mentioned above. But, most regrettably, they are not even capable of following others! So how could they possess knowledge?!
Fourthly: Today I came across a new book of theirs. They are competing with publishers and authors of their ilk in producing attractively embellished new works for display at the book fairs held from time to time in various countries. They had given this book resounding publicity in the final volumes of their edition of al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib—a work filled with delusions, ignorance, and falsehoods, of which this hadith is a plain example. They called it, “A Refinement of al-Targhib wa al-Tarhib from Hadiths from the Sound Collections”!
This title alone is sufficient evidence for the fair-minded researcher of their ignorance and deficient command of Arabic, for, as they say in some lands, “What is written is made clear by its title”! That is because they mean the opposite of what they have titled it. For beneath it they wrote: “A verified edition, distinguished by the authenticity of its hadiths ...” Thus, what they intend contradicts what they have said: they mean refining it of weak hadiths, not of authentic ones!!
When I came across their alleged “refinement” today, I was appalled by what I saw of their disregard for established hadiths which they themselves had declared authentic in their annotations to al-Targhib. I became certain of what I had strongly suspected: that they published the book in four large volumes for no reason but greed and the pursuit of forbidden wealth, while posing as researchers, hadith critics, and scholarly editors—though, as the saying goes, they have no part in either the caravan or the muster. I have already shown above