The claim by GF Haddad that Hafidh Shams al-Din Dhahabi later in his career disclaimed his own book 'Uluww is refuted in the article above.

GF Haddad's claim: http://www.abc.se/~m9783/n/slfm_e.html
3. Imaam adh-Dhahabee said in the final lines of his most excellent work, 'al-Uluww lil-'Aliyyil-Ghaffaar' (pp.286-287):

I have this edition in front of me and the title is incorrectly reported. The actual title is: Mukhtasar al-`Uluw i.e. the abridgment - in 300 pages - edited by the chief innovator of our time, Nasir Albani. The complete edition is not that of Albani but that of Hasan al-Saqqaf - in over 600 pages - which I also have.

Now, if it was a "most excellent work" then why did al-Dhahabi disclaim it later in his adult career (he wrote the book as a young man)? He wrote on its manuscript with his own hand, "I have realized it [this book] contains baseless narrations and statements by many people that spoke loosely, and so I neither subscribe to those expressions nor follow those people in them - may Allah forgive them - nor do I consider them binding upon me as long as I live, and this is my firm conviction, and I know that Allah - there is nothing whatsoever like Him." As reported by the Hadith Master Ibn Nasir al-Din al-Dimashqi in his handwriting on the front page of the original manuscript of al-`Uluw.

And in the biography of Hafidh Dhahabi, GF Haddad claims:

33. Al-`Uluw li al-`Ali al-Ghaffar ("The Exaltation of the All-High and Most-Forgiving"), a book written under Ibn Taymiyya's influence - as stated by al-Kawthari in his Maqalat - when al- Dhahabi was twenty-five and
which he later disavowed as related by its copyist the hadith master Ibn Nasir al-Din al-Dimashqi (d. 842):

Its author stated - as Allah is His witness - in his own hand-writing as I read it in the margin of the original manuscript written in the year 698: "This book contains narrations against the unreliability of which I
am cautioning the reader, and the statements of a number of people who spoke in outlandish terms. Neither do I subscribe to their terms, nor do I imitate them. May Allah forgive them! Nor will I ever consider myself
bound by such terms. This is my belief, and I know that Allah - (There is nothing whatsoever like unto Him) (42:11)!" [41]

Al- Dhahabi nevertheless commits several blunders in al-`Uluw, despite its small size, because of his evident search for evidence that supports the conception of Allah's literal height so dear to his teacher. The most glaring of those mistakes are the inaccurate referencing of several narrations to al-Bukhari or Muslim or both when in fact they are not narrated by them. For example:

1) He cites the hadith of `Imran ibn Husayn from the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him -- with the wording: "Allah was on the Throne (kana Allah `ala al-`arsh), and He was before everything, and He wrote on the Tablet everything that shall ever be." Then he says: "This is a sound hadith, al-Bukhari narrates it in several places." [42] However, none of the versions al-Bukhari narrates in several places of his Sahih contains the words "Allah was on the Throne," by which al- Dhahabi purports to support the anthropomorphist perspective of his book. Nor is this wording found in any authentic hadith in the first place, nor is it found in any book of hadith, whether authentic or forged. [43]

2) He cites a hadith whereby Ibn `Abbas explains the verses (the heaven that He built, He raised the height thereof and ordered it) (79:28) to mean: "He created the earth two days before the heaven, then He turned to the heaven and ordered them in two other days, then He descended to the earth (thumma nazala ila al-ard) and spread it, its spreading meaning that He brought forth from it water and pasture." Then al- Dhahabi said:"al-Bukhari narrated it from Yusuf ibn `Adi [twice], once with part of its chain." [44] However, nowhere in his Sahih does al-Bukhari mention the phrase" then He descended to the earth" upon which al- Dhahabi depends so as to include it as evidence for literal height. That phrase is only found in two very weak narrations outside al-Bukhari, one by al-Tabarani, the other by Abu al-Shaykh. [45] The sound narration found in al-Bukhari states that Ibn `Abbas said: "He created the earth in two days, then He created the heaven, then He turned to the heaven and ordered them in two other days, then He spread the earth, its spreading meaning that He brought forth from it water and pasture."

3) He refers a hadith to al-Bukhari and Muslim thus: "It is narrated in the two Sahihs that the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him -- supplicated Allah on behalf of a group of people saying: `May the pious
eat from your food, may those who fast break their fast in your house, may the angels invoke blessings upon you, and may Allah mention you among those who are with Him.'" [46] However, nowhere in the two Sahihs is the phrase "may Allah mention you among those who are with Him" found. It is a measure of al-Albani's overall unreliability that he caught only one out of these three mistakes, confirming al- Dhahabi on (1) and (2) but correcting him on (3). [47]

[41] Cited and photo-reproduced at the beginning of Shaykh Hasan `Ali al-Saqqaf's edition of al- Dhahabi's `Uluw (p. 3-4).
[42] Al- Dhahabi , al-`Uluw (239-240 #112) and Mukhtasar al-`Uluw (p. 98 #40).
[43] On the hadith of `Imran ibn Husayn see our post "Allah Is Now As He Ever Was."
[44] Al- Dhahabi , al-`Uluw (p. 216 #77) and Mukhtasar al-`Uluw (p. 94 #26).
[45] Al-Tabarani in al-Kabir (10:245-246) with a chain containing Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hajjaj al-Misri, who Ibn `Adi said was accused of lying, as stated by al- Dhahabi himself in Mizan al-I`tidal (1:133 #538); Abu al-Shaykh, al-`Azama (3:1039) with a chain containing al-`Ala' ibn Hilal ibn `Umar al-Bahili who is very weak as stated in Arna'ut and Ma`ruf's al-Tahrir (3:132 #5259) and accused by some of forgery as stated by al- Dhahabi himself in al-Mizan (3:106 #5748) and in al-Tahrir.
[46] Al- Dhahabi , al-`Uluw (p. 335 #225) and Mukhtasar al-`Uluw (p. 123 #84).
[47] See Mukhtasar al-`Uluw (p. 98 #40, p. 94 #26, and p. 123 #84).
--- End of GF Haddad's claim.

REPLY TO GF HADDAD ON HAFIDH DHAHABI'S BOOK 'ULUWW