Question: Does the silsilah of Shaykh Al-Albaani contain all saheeh hadeeth (according to Shaykh Al-Albaani)?

[Tausif.Hussaini]

Is that the scope and underlying understanding of this book?

Clarification of the Question
Alhamdulillaah, we know Shaykh Al Albaani considers all of those hadeeth saheeh, and he was a capable muhaddith, rahimahullaah (may Allaah have mercy on him).

The question is: Did the shaykh consider that he had compiled all the saheeh hadeeth in existence to the best of his knowledge?

[Moosaa.Richardson]

The numbered hadeeths, which are the focus of each hadeeth study, in Silsilat al-Ahaadeeth as-Saheehah were considered authentic by Shaykh al-Albaanee.

At times, the shaykh was not 100% certain of the ruling and concluded that it seems authentic, or its very close to being hasan, or similar phrases were used.

Some hadeeths were re-evaluated later and he changed the ruling on them. An example of this would be #2922, where a stronger weakness in the chains was later discovered, and thus he ended up considering the hadeeth weak and unstrengthenable. Another example would be #267. Refer to: Taraaju' al-'Allaamah al-Albaanee feemaa nassa alayhe tasheehan wa tadh'eefan (The hadeeths that 'Allaamah Al-Albaanee explicitly changed his verdicts on) by Muhammad Hasan ash-Shaykh.

There are also hadeeths considered weak by the shaykh mentioned inside of his longer discussions on the numbered hadeeths. Sometimes he would mention them as a benefit of something not authentic but related to the subject. Other times, it was too show how it was not usable as a witnessing narration. So these hadeeths were never considered by him to be authentic in the first place. I have seen people make mistakes and reference this kind of hadeeth to the Saheehah, intending to say that they were considered authentic by the shaykh!

Regarding your question, "Did the shaykh consider that he had compiled all the saheeh hadeeth in existence to the best of his knowledge?" Then the answer is no, this was not the point of the Silsilah. It was just a book of discussions of some of the hadeeths he investigated. It was ongoing research published periodically, and did not seem to have an end in sight, nor a goal that would be accomplished after such and such hadeeth were studied.

It should also be known that earlier scholars who compiled Saheeh hadeeth collections (al-Bukhaaree, Muslim, Ibn Khuzaymah, Ibn Hibbaan, adh-Dhiyaa', etc., none of them considered their work complete. One might argue that the al-Haakim's al-Mustadrak had this aim, and Allaah knows best.

[Moosaa.Richardson]

Another example of a hadeeth in the Saheehah that he later said was weak: #1766. He retracted his ruling on it in Saheeh at-Targheeb wat-Tarheeb (#3260).

The enemies of the shaykh, and the enemies of the scholars in general, might say: Look how inconsistent he was! (thus unreliable)

We say: Look how honest he was! Look how sincere! He would correct himself openly when he felt he was mistaken. This is the case with the true scholars throughout history. It is why Imaam ash-Shaafi'ee and many great scholars of the Salaf have an "old" position and a "new" position, meaning they changed their positions on some issues, going against their earlier verdicts. That's sincerity, honesty, integrity, and true knowledge in practice, which in essence is what all Muslims consider RELIABLE. This is why Shaykh Al-Albaanee remains so honored and respected among the scholars. May Allaah have mercy on him.

[Moosaa.Richardson]

Sorry, but the first part of my original answer was cut off somehow...qaddarAllaahu wa maa shaa' fa'ala.

I mentioned that Shaykh Al-Albaanee did not intend to collect all the available authentic hadeeths, and that the Silsilah Saheehah is only a portion of his findings on some hadeeth he scrutinized.

I also mentioned that when the shaykh put a hadeeth in his Saheehah, the intention was that it was saheeh or hasan according to him. Sometimes the shaykh would include a weak hadeeth inside of his larger discussion of numbered hadeeths to explain how it is too weak to draw a benefit from or for another reason. but the numbered hadeeths are all authentic according to him. Sometimes people err by referencing to the Saheehah a weak hadeeth he was criticizing in the middle of his discussion of another numbered (authentic) hadeeth, thus misleading people into thinking the shaykh considered the criticized hadeeth to be authentic, just because the discussion of it is found in the blue Saheehah, not the red Dha'eefah!

EXCEPT for a few hadeeths he retracted his authentication of, and I mentioned a few examples. The example quoted in the last post should be sufficient.

Works have been done to track and record his retractions of rulings on hadeeth. May Allaah have Mercy on Shaykh Al-Albaanee, a man truly reminding us of the early hadeeth scholars!