al-Nasiha bil-Tahdhir min Takhrib Ibn Abd al-Mannan li-Kutub al-Aimma al-Rajiha wa Tadaifihi li-Mi'at al-Ahadith al-Sahiha
- Author died
- 1420 AH
- Editions
- Dar Ibn 'Affan lil-Nashr wal-Tawzi'
al-Nasiha bil-Tahdhir min Takhrib Ibn Abd al-Mannan li-Kutub al-Aimma al-Rajiha wa-Tadaifihi li-Mi'at al-Ahadith al-Sahiha (Counsel of Warning Against Ibn Abd al-Mannan's Ruining of the Authoritative Books of the Imams and His Declaring Hundreds of Authentic Hadiths Weak) is a polemical and methodological hadith treatise written by the hadith scholar Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani (1332–1420 AH / 1914–1999 CE) . The book is dedicated to criticizing the editorial work, hadith methodology, and critical judgments of the contemporary editor Hassan ibn Abd al-Mannan (also known by the kunya Abu Suhayb al-Karmi) .
Background and Composition
Al-Albani had previously criticized Hassan Abd al-Mannan across various works, particularly in his Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahiha . Their personal disagreement intensified during an in-person scholarly debate held at al-Albani's residence in Ramadan 1412 AH regarding Abd al-Mannan's weakening of the well-known hadith of al-Irbad ibn Sariya: عليكم بسنتي وسنة الخلفاء ("Adhere to my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs"), which al-Albani defended on the basis of its numerous transmission lines and authentication by major classical scholars .
The immediate catalyst for composing a standalone monograph was Abd al-Mannan's published edition of Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya's Ighathat al-Lahfan min Masayid al-Shaytan, which al-Albani regarded as corrupting classical texts under the guise of critical editing (tahqiq) and authentication (takhrij) . Al-Albani also criticized Abd al-Mannan's editorial interventions in other texts, including al-Nawawi's Riyad al-Salihin and al-Bukhari's Sahih . The text remained in manuscript form for more than five years before al-Albani decided to publish it, completing the author's preface in Amman on 18 Muharram 1420 AH .
Method and Content
In the introductory section, al-Albani systematically outlines several recurring methodological flaws that he identifies in Abd al-Mannan's scholarly output:
- Attribution and Selective Authentication: Abd al-Mannan cited narrations from Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim while still declaring some of their hadiths weak or expressing reservations, and often passed over narrations in other Sunan and Musnad collections in silence or merely designated their narrators as trustworthy without establishing explicit authenticity rulings .
- Protracted Weakening of Accepted Hadiths: Abd al-Mannan engaged in lengthy critiques of narrators and transmission routes specifically to declare authentic hadiths weak—especially those encouraging adherence to the Sunnah and the way of the early generations—contrary to the consensus of classical hadith masters .
- Neglect of Corroboration Principles: He rejected or ignored the foundational rule recognized by hadith scholars and jurists, including Ibn Taymiyya, whereby multiple corroborating paths of transmission (mutaba'at and shawahid) elevate hadiths to the ranks of sahih li-ghayrihi (authentic through external corroboration) or hasan li-ghayrihi (sound through external corroboration) .
- Concealment of Prior Scholarship: Abd al-Mannan drew upon the research and source attributions of earlier and contemporary scholars while presenting them as his own findings, while omitting corroborating paths previously identified by others .
The body of the book examines specific hadiths one by one, refuting Abd al-Mannan's critiques and defending the authenticity of each transmission through detailed analysis of isnads and narrator criticism (al-jarh wa-al-ta'dil) .
Publication
The book was published in Cairo by Dar Ibn 'Affan in a single standard volume comprising 303 pages (second edition: 1420–1421 AH / 2000 CE) .
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