1.2. THE PLAN OF ACTION FOR THIS BOOK
1. Summarization of the text. This was achieved by concentrating on the most important events narrated in the book. In doing so, we took care not to leave out any important details which would cause loss of meaning or import.
2. We relied on a number of printed and handwritten copies of the book and in cases where any contradiction or omission was found, we succeeded in establishing the most accurate and authentic text.
3. We left out the hadith which proved to be baseless or weak and confined ourselves to the hadith which are authentic or Hasan and those which are acceptable due to the existence of other supporting narrations. On rare occasions, when it was found that there were no other hadith in the chapter, we included some weak hadith whose weakness was not of an extreme nature.
4. We performed takhreej of the ahadeeth with ascription of the number of the section and the page, the number of the ahadeeth and in many cases, the precise location of then hadeeth in the original source, then the ruling on its authenticity, if it was not from the Saheehain, because the ahadeeth therein do not require any ruling on their authenticity and they have been widely accepted by the Muslim Ummah. As for the hadith in this book, we have relied on the opinions of the Imams and scholars of Hadith – including the earlier scholars, the later scholars and those of the present day. On some occasions, we have recorded the] weak hadith, while making it plain that they are not authentic. We have not omitted them because the author has included them in order to warn the people against them due to their widespread popularity amongst the Muslims in general. In such cases, we desired not to oppose the author in this effort and so we left them, at the same time making the scholars’ ruling on them clear, so as to warn the people against them.
5. We summarised the asaneed present in the book, in most cases mentioning only the Companion who narrated the Hadith, or the person who reported it from him.
6. We omitted many of the Isra’iliyat found in this book which the author referred to in the preface, where he said: “We do not record the Isra’iliyat except those which the Lawgiver has permitted, i.e., those which do not contradict the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him). These are stories which are neither believed nor believed and they have been recorded because they provide details of unclarified narratives that we have, or they provide names for people and places that have only been mentioned in passing in our Revelation, due to there being no benefit in specifying them for us. Thus we have reported them in order to provide extra detail and not with the intention of citing them as evidence or placing any reliance on them. Only the Book of Allah and the authentic Sunnah of His Messenger (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) may be relied upon and depended upon. It is from Allah that we seek help and it is He in Whom we place our trust;there is no help and no power except in Allah, the Almighty, the All-Powerful, Most Wise and Most High.
7. In some instances, we have referred back to the original manuscript in order to verify the wording of a Hadith from its source. In some cases, the author has combined two narrations of the same Hadith together and so where this has occurred, we have noted it and separated the two narrations, placing our own words between brackets, i.e., (and in another narration…) and we have also identified the source of the addition in the footnotes.
8. We have written the Qur’anic Verses in the Uthmani script, in conformity with the copy of the Qur’an published by Al- Madinah Al-Munawwarah Printing Complex.
9. We vowelized the words of many of the hadith in the book and, in addition, the poetic verses, wherever possible.
10. We mentioned the meters of the poetic verses between parentheses.
11. We explained the meanings of some difficult or obscure words, relying on dictionaries, books containing ghareeb hadith and narrations and other sources.
12. We furnished a brief biography of the author, Hafiz Ibn Katheer, though in reality, he requires no introduction and no description.
Finally, I ask Allah, Most High, to accept this humble work from us and to acknowledge it as having been done purely and sincerely with the aim of pleasing Him and to grant us and our brothers, who assisted us in the production of this book, pardon and forgiveness in religious and secular matters. In addition, we ask Him that He include this work in the weight of our good deeds on the Day of Resurrection – a Day on which neither wealth nor sons will benefit anyone – except for those whom Allah has blessed with pure hearts. And our final declaration is that all praise and thanks are due to Allah, and we invoke blessings and peace upon Prophet Muhammad and upon all his righteous family and Companions until the Day of Reckoning.
By: Ibn Katheer
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