On this occasion, I draw the readers’ attention to a treatise entitled Waqafāt maʿa al-Naẓarāt (Remarks on “Observations”), by the distinguished brother Samīr Amīn al-Zuhayrī. In it, he offers a concise and beneficial refutation, by Allah’s permission, of the reckless and unjust Naẓarāt (Observations) of al-Muʾadhdhin and his companion al-ʿAdawī, which cast doubt upon the authenticity of hadiths in the first volume of this Authentic Series. May Allah reward him well. He states plainly that they were not correct concerning even a single hadith. He also gives several examples of this, along with samples of their unsuccessful critiques. He then advises them to occupy themselves with their own books and revise them, for they contain much that requires reconsideration before they concern themselves with the books of others.
In the introduction to the treatise, he mentions the reasons that impel them to respond to me, confining them to four:
- Youthfulness.
- Shallow learning.
- Personal desires.
- Love of prominence.
He then discusses each of these reasons in some detail. I therefore refer readers to it and encourage them to benefit from it, for it is rare in its field.
To what he has mentioned, I would add: old age. Some of them only came to recognize the importance of this discipline at an advanced age, and so they began declaring hadiths authentic or weak, making many mistakes.
- Finally, I wish to draw attention to what I mentioned under hadith 516: I had been mistaken, along with al-Ḥākim and al-Dhahabī, in our statement that ʿAṭāʾ, the father of Yaʿlā, meets Muslim’s criteria. In reality, he does not meet his criteria; indeed, he is known only through his son’s narration from him. Exalted is He who never forgets. Strangely, I had been imitated in this error by some