Do you support the student of knowledge in relying on Al-Albani’s books for authenticating hadiths without referring to the original sources?

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : Regarding whether you support the student of knowledge in relying on Al-Albani’s books for authenticating hadiths and speaking, saying, for example, “This hadith was narrated by Al-Albani in the Series or such,” when making an argument, without referring to the original sources that preceded Al-Albani?

The Shaykh : Now, I have clarified your question when you said “without referring.” We say: No, we do not approve of this. It is necessary to refer to the sources. This is the answer to your question.

The questioner : Shaykh, I mean that many of the young people, especially now, you find that many of the scholars, due to certain factors or emotions or such, may not care, for example, about the authenticationThe Shaykh : of Nasir. When he comes and says, for example, “This hadith was authenticated by Al-Albani,” problems arise. We have seen this a lot, especially in the Prophet’s Mosque.

The Shaykh: All right.

The questioner : So what do you advise the Salafi students of knowledge regarding the authentication of hadith? I mean, regarding accepting the authenticity of a hadith.

The Shaykh : Okay. I asked you a question. Do you know what it was?

The questioner : I do not know.

The Shaykh : You did nothing. You repeated your first question with some new phrases, but in terms of the result, according to military discipline today, it is “stay in your place.” You move your legs, but you do not advance or retreat. This is from one side. From another side, I asked you a question. Do you remember it?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh: What is it?

The questioner : Is this your answer?

The Shaykh : Before, before. I gave you the answer, and to confirm that you understood the answer first, and secondly, is it the answer or not? You deviated from the short answer to my question and repeated your previous question, as I said, in another way. So, do you remember the answer I gave you to your first question?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh: What is it?

The questioner : I said he should refer back.

The Shaykh : Refer back to what?

The questioner : To the original sources.

The Shaykh : Good. What do you want other than this? Now, if I repeat the answer to your second question, which is the first one, what is the benefit? I will tell you something else as an addition, as you did, so I will follow your lead. I will say: The student of knowledge should not be content with relying on Al-Albani and his books, but he must refer to the original sources and confront people with them, and so on. The answer is the same. If you believe in the correctness of the answer, tell me, “This is the answer, I understood it. May Allah reward you with good.” I do not want something else. Specify it to me so that I can look into it and give you the answer.

The questioner : Yes, I want to know if he refers back and then finds, for example, in one of the Sunan or in one of the collections, a ruling that differs from what he found with Al-Albani, what does he do?

The Shaykh : What does he do? Is he a scholar or a student of knowledge?

The questioner : A student of knowledge.

The Shaykh : Okay. What does a student of knowledge do when he finds that the Hanafi said one thing and the Shafi'i said another? What does he do?

The questioner : ... He goes to the hadith of the Messenger of Allah.

The Shaykh : Okay. If there is no hadith of the Messenger of Allah. May Allah bless you. If a student of knowledge refers to the principles, because not every fiqh issue has a statement from Allah or the Messenger of Allah. There is something, as you know, called consensus (ijma'), and finally, there is analogy (qiyas) and opinion. So, if the scholars disagreed on an issue where there is no explicit text, and thisThe student : disagreement is found, what does he do? He does not prefer one over the other. If one of the two sides has “Allah said” and “The Messenger of Allah said,” this is easy. But if the issue is very thorny, meaning it has precision, what does he do? ThisThe student : Should he not form a personal conviction within himself to prefer one of the two opinions, or what does he do?

The questioner : He prefers one.

The Shaykh : My brother, do not take part of my words. I know people. Take my words in their entirety. I told you: Does he prefer one, or what does he do? You held back the word “he prefers.” Leave that. It is a second question. What does he do? Ah, the issue is clear to me, and I am surprised by your silence. There is no...

The questioner : This is my question, Shaykh.

The Shaykh : What is your question?

The questioner : I mean, what does he do?

The Shaykh : I am telling you, if he is able to prefer one, he prefers one.

The questioner : He is not able. He is a student of knowledge.

The Shaykh : He is not able. Okay. The previous question returns: What does he do when he is between the two opinions regarding the Hanafi or the Shafi'i, and as you say, he is not able to prefer one? What does he do?

The questioner : He asks.

The Shaykh : Who does he ask?

The questioner : Someone who knows it.

The Shaykh : Okay. These people are asking Al-Albani, and he is giving them an answer. What do we tell them?

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : No, we must see what he is... Because the issue is not that we are facing criticism or objection in a problem we want a solution for, even in another way. Our reality today is like this, as you say: He is not able to prefer one. Indeed, he is not able to prefer one. What does he do? What is the solution in your view? If he finds Al-Albani saying, “This is an authentic chain,” and he finds, for example, al-Khatib al-Baghdadi saying, “This is a weak chain,” what does he do? He must lean toward one or the other, right? Or is there a solution other than this? I do not want the young people to live in confusion, in turmoil, in anxiety. Today, the Muslim world, without doubt or hesitation, is afflicted with Al-Albani, and it is afflicted with them as well. And I mean by “afflicted” the Qur'anic meaning, i.e., the test and the trial. Do you see? So, the Muslim world today does not find in the arena anyone who critiques hadiths, authenticates them, and weakens them with the extent that you are seeing, other than this poor man. So, he has gathered the emotions, feelings, and culture of people to his research, knowledge, and verification, while the culture of the previous people, in their view, is limited. I mean, if he finds al-Khatib authenticating a hadith or weakening another, how many hadiths did he authenticate and weaken? Perhaps in the knowledge of this person, it does not reach ten hadiths. Whereas he finds Al-Albani with hundreds of hadiths being authenticated, graded as good, and weakened, and classified, if I may use the expression. So, it has become a psychological issue that is not easy to treat. We tell him, or you ask me: Is it permissible for him to say, “Al-Albani said, Al-Albani authenticated it,” regarding the people who are opponents of Al-Albani, for example? I gave you an answer: If it is a student of knowledge, he does not take this path. The student of knowledge will use the path that Al-Albani is following, but from the method of da'wah: “Speak to people according to their intellects. Do you want Allah and His Messenger to be lied about?!” So, if this opponent who stands before the student of knowledge is an opponent of Al-Albani, it is not wise at all for you, O student of knowledge, to tell him, “You are saying this hadith is authentic, but Al-Albani weakened it,” because he does not have trust in Al-Albani. Perhaps if he did not declare him a disbeliever, he is not free from misleading him. So how can he argue before him with his statement? But thisThe student : If he remains here, the research has the ability to refer to some other books and see in them statements that match Al-Albani’s statement. He will say, “My brother, Al-Albani is not the only one who said this statement. There are those who preceded him to that, and this is the text.” But as they say in our region in the Levant, “The talk between us now,” how many students do you find in all the universities of this caliber in terms of knowledge and insight? Very few. So, my brother, the natural result will be that these students refer to Al-Albani’s statements, right? Because the arena is empty, and as it is said in our region in the Levant: “Every rooster crows on its own dung heap.” Do you understand this phrase? “Every rooster crows on its own dung heap.” So, if there is no one left to crow except Al-Albani, to whom will they listen? They will not listen to anyone but Al-Albani. And this is, in reality, the duty of the students: that they produce from among themselves, from their sons, people who verify, so that a time, near or far, comes when Al-Albani becomes a forgotten memory, right? Because, praise be to Allah, there are now scholars among us who research hadith like Al-Albani and better than him. But the reality now, and this is one of the calamities of the Muslim world, and as you see, look at the magazines, look at the newspapers, look at the types and forms of cultures being presented in the arena of the Muslim world today. You do not hear the voice of “This hadith is authentic, this is weak, this was narrated by so-and-so, and there is so-and-so,” and so on, except the voice of this poor servant who was afflicted by people and people were afflicted by him.