whomsoever Allāh guides, none can mislead him, and whomsoever He leads astray, none can guide him. Indeed, the best speech is the Book of Allāh... " the ḥadīth. In another narration from him with the wording: "He used to say in his sermon after the testimony of faith: Indeed, the best speech is the Book of Allāh... " the ḥadīth narrated by Aḥmad and others. This wording indicates that what is in the first wording before "Indeed, the best speech..." is the testimony of faith, and although it is not mentioned explicitly, it is indicated by his saying in it: "praising Allāh and extolling Him." It has been clarified in other ḥadīths regarding the sermon of necessity that praising Him, the Exalted, included the two testimonies, and for this reason, we said: the testimony of faith in this ḥadīth refers to the testimony mentioned in the sermon of necessity, thus it agrees with the second wording in Jābir's ḥadīth in indicating that. I have discussed it in "The Sermon of Necessity" (p. 32, Islamic Office edition), so whoever wishes may refer to it. His saying: "like a maimed hand" means cut off, and "maimed" means quickly cut, indicating that any sermon in which praise and extolling of Allāh are not included is like a severed hand that has no benefit "Manāwī. I said: Perhaps this is the reason, or at least one of the reasons, for the lack of benefit from many lessons and lectures delivered to students, as they do not begin with the mentioned testimony of faith, despite the Prophet's (ṣallá Allāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) great emphasis on teaching it to his Companions, as I explained in the aforementioned treatise. Perhaps this ḥadīth serves as a reminder to preachers to rectify what they have neglected of this sunnah, which we have often highlighted in the introduction of this series and elsewhere. (Note): Al-Suyūṭī attributed the ḥadīth in "al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr" to Abū Dāwūd only and added..