A comprehensive statement of knowledge and its merits

Written by Ibn Abd al-Barr

Investigation by Abi Al-Ashbal Al-Zuhairi

My humble work to serve the text of the book can be summarized in the following steps:

First: I copied the book by hand, relying on version (A), then I compared it with version (B), and I also compared it with the rest of the printed edition, and I mentioned the differences in the footnote, unless version (A) had clear errors, misprints, or distortions, in which case I established the correct text from

(b) or (t) and I indicated that in the footnote.

Second: I attributed the Qur’anic verses to their surahs by their numbers, and I put that in the text.

The book without the footnote.

Third: I have graduated the texts included in the book, including those that are attributed to the Prophet, those that are attributed to the Companions, and those that are disconnected. However, I was particularly concerned with grading and verifying those that are attributed to the Prophet. As for those that are not attributed to the Prophet, I did not exert myself in searching for them as I did with those that are attributed to the Prophet.

Note: I had papers in which I had collected the chains of transmission of some hadiths, such as the hadith: “Seeking knowledge is an obligation,” and the hadith about concealing “knowledge,” and the hadith of Safwan ibn Assal and the hadith of Abu al-Darda’ on the virtue of knowledge. When I came across these hadiths here, I put in the margins what I had of papers. Perhaps these papers were not consistent or arranged according to the order of the chains of transmission of al-Hafiz Ibn Abd al-Barr, so let this be an excuse for us before the noble reader.

Fourth: I spoke about some of the men in the chain of transmission, and I also translated some of the people who were mentioned in some of the narrations - without going into detail for fear of burdening the footnotes without...

benefit .

Fifth: I corrected many words and proper nouns, especially those I expected many readers would make mistakes in.

Sixth: I have given serial numbers to the texts of the book, whether they are attributed to the Prophet, the Companions, or the Disconnected, as well as to the poetry and the sayings of scholars alike, in order to facilitate reading the book and referring to its paragraphs.

Seventh: I explained the strange words, relying on books on language and strange hadith.

As for the scientific indexes for the book “Jami’ Bayan Al-Ilm,” my virtuous brother, Sheikh Muhammad Hasan, a teaching assistant at the Faculty of Dar Al-Ulum, Cairo University, prepared them on my behalf - may God reward him with good. When I looked at them, I found them to be indexes of the utmost quality and beauty. I knew the extent of the effort my brother had put into producing them in this manner, just as he had put in the effort he had put in before in reviewing the book itself. He directed me to some of the linguistic errors in the book, so I turned to the argument he had brought me and thanked him for that. Whoever does not thank people does not thank God, as the Truthful and Trusted One has said. It is his right upon us to attribute this work to him, to establish the truth and attribute the work to its owner, for the one who claims what he has not been given is like the one who wears my garment, falsely. Among the blessings of knowledge is attributing the saying to its speaker and attributing the work to its doer. We ask God Almighty to grant us beneficial knowledge and honesty in it. I ask God to illuminate my heart with the light of knowledge so that I may know the truth so that I do not deviate in the darkness of ignorance toward falsehood, and to inspire me with my guidance so that I may give everyone his due, and place every man in a lower position. His status, so may Allah have mercy on the person who knows his worth and stops at it, as I ask Him, the Almighty, to grant us the grace to not say our word except seeking His pleasure and in the path of His obedience, because the word “No to Allah,” and in which he does not observe His side and stand before Him, is a word worthy of not being uttered. In conclusion, I can only extend my sincere thanks to the honorable brothers who offered us a helping hand in publishing this book, or offered us advice and counsel, asking Allah, the Almighty, to reward them for that with the best reward. And after: This is my humble effort that I have made to accomplish this great book, asking Allah, who has blessed us by producing it in this manner, to accept it from us, to rectify our intentions, to guide us to serve His Noble Book and the Sunnah of His purified Prophet, and to benefit me from it on the Day of Judgment, for He is Generous and Kind. I do not claim that it is free of errors, for that is the work of humans, and Allah has refused that anything but His Book be correct. So I hope that the honorable reader will excuse me for any error resulting from forgetfulness, a slip of the pen, or a miscalculation, and to advise me, with thanks, for religion is advice. If he finds that I have been correct, then let him pray for me with a righteous supplication through which Allah, the Most High, will benefit me in this world and the hereafter. Praise be to Allah first and last.

And the emptiness of writing these mental lines was within us

And his books

Abu al-Ashbal al-Zuhairi