the newspaper al-Ribat, when he said: “This hadith is suspended”—that is, interrupted, as he himself explained later.
Let the reader consider how he denied what I had not attributed to him—namely, the argument—while not denying what I had attributed to him, namely discontinuity, thereby giving readers the impression that I had ascribed to him something he had not said! What do readers call such conduct on his part? It is undoubtedly a kind of deceptive concealment, whether he likes it or not—unless he is simply incapable of expressing what he means!
- He denied my statement concerning him that “he went beyond Ibn Hazm by asserting that no one besides al-Bukhari and Ibn Hibban had authenticated it,” objecting: “Where did I say that in my article? Indeed, where is there anything in it that could be understood to mean this?!”
I say: I did not say that you had said this. Rather, I said, “He went beyond...” and so forth, as stated above. Thus, you have no right to attribute such a statement to me. It seems to me that, deep down, you realized your mistake in what you had attributed to me; hence you abandoned it by saying: “Indeed, where is there anything in that article that could be understood to mean this?!”
My answer is that I understood it from the language of your conduct and from the style of your article. The scholars say: “The language of one’s conduct speaks more eloquently than the language of one’s words.” I am certain that you know that many imams—besides al-Bukhari and Ibn Hibban—declared this hadith authentic. Yet you mentioned no one but those two. From the combined evidence of what you mentioned and what you omitted, I made the statement cited above—particularly since you are known for concealing scholars’ statements that count against you. Some examples of this will follow, Allah willing.
Then I wonder: why were you concerned with what you supposed to be my error in attributing to you something you had not said—although your supposition, had it been the supposition of believers, would harm me rather than you—yet you showed no concern over what I attributed to you with certainty: namely, your مخالفة of the consensus of the imams who declared this hadith authentic? You quoted this from me in your rebuttal, but did not address it at all, even though this certain attribution harms you and does not