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Did Al-Dhahabi severely criticize Ibn Taymiyyah in the treatise "Bayan Zaghal al-'Ilm wal-Talab," and does this treatise exist?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The treatise titled "Clarification on the Aberration of Knowledge and Seeking" or "The Golden Advice," attributed to Imam Al-Dhahabi, is not authentically ascribed to him. This is because it is not mentioned in his works. Furthermore, Al-Dhahabi was a close student of Ibn Taymiyyah, and all his authenticated statements contain praise for Ibn Taymiyyah. The treatise, however, is written in the hand of an opponent of Ibn Taymiyyah. No evidence has emerged to authenticate its attribution to Al-Dhahabi, and no one attributed it to him after Ibn Qadi Shuhbah except Al-Sakhawi and some contemporaries, but without evidence.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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