He (Dr. Faaris) repeats the shaky story of هلكت وأهلكت (alledged to Ali) without authenticating it.
On page 33, he promises to authenticate that story in the introduction of the book author, Shu`la, but he actually doesn't. Instead, he refers the reader to the book الإتقان في علوم القرآن, by As-Suyooti, volume 2, page 20.
So, I decided to look it up. I didn't find it! What I found, on page 55, is a mention of the story without a narration chain.
So, I decided to look it up the narration myself. What I found is this,
انتَهى عليٌّ إلى رجلٍ وَهوَ يقصُّ فقالَ علمتَ النَّاسخَ من المنسوخِ ؟ قالَ : لا قالَ : هلَكتَ وأَهلَكتَ
Translation: Ali encountered a man telling stories. He asked him: Do you know the abrogating from the abrogated? He said: No. He said: You are doomed and you caused doom.
The narration is made by Abu-`Abdir-Rahmaan As-Salmi and reported and rated authentic by Ibn Muflih in his book الآداب الشرعية (Legal Disciplines), volume 2, page 86.
This confirms that the man in question is not a judge, as quoters of the story often have reported, but a story teller. Such is not expected to know of abrogation. The narration, and Ali's words, are general. The man could have been telling Israelite stories for all we know. How such a flimsy story keeps being cited as evidence for abrogation is beyond me.
The narrator's name appears as Abu-`Abdir-Rahmaan Al-Juhani, instead of As-Salmi, in a narration rated authentic by Al-Albaani and reported by Abu-Khaythama in his book العلم, page 130. That narration too mentions nothing about what the story teller was talking about.
Then I found the narration, attributed to Ibn Abbaas by Ad-Dhahhaak ibn Muzaahim. That narration is not clearly rated but it has, in its chain of narrators, a man by the name of Abu-Ya`la Raashid, a servant of the Banu `Aamir folk and no one has evaluated his credibility. The narration appears in the book مجمع الزوائد, volume 1, page 159, by Al-Haythami.
BTW, As-Suyooti mentions, on page 55 of that book, the name of the hadeeth reporter Abu-Daawood as one of the scholars who wrote about and classified abrogation. But I haven't seen any of his writing about that, nor any other reference to him as an abrogation scholar elsewhere.
Those are the only three versions of the story found narrated in the Dorar database (
) of Saudi Arabia. Worth noting are: