The Shaykh's statement regarding the one who accused him of religious innovation for the reason that the Shaykh sends blessings upon the Prophet, his family, and his Companions in all his books
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : I do not know if a very small message reached you, small in size, small in subject, and contemptible in that. Its title is sufficient for you regarding its content, and it is *The Conclusive Response in Refuting Al-Albani the Innovator*, refuting Al-Albani the Innovator.
The questioner : I have not seen it, by Allah, and it is strange.
Another questioner : Praise be to Allah.
The Shaykh : Do you know why he called me an innovator, while he knows for certain that our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) has favored me by making me a defender of the Sunnah to a great extent and a fighter against religious innovation, as is not hidden from the entire Muslim world? But the innovator in truth is the one who claims to serve the Sunnah through hadith and tracing hadiths to their sources, but he is a follower of the Sharqiyyah order, and he is a shaykh from among the shaykhs of this order. So as the old Arabic proverb says: "He cast his ailment upon me and slipped away". I am the innovator? Why? Because I sometimes say in some of the introductions of my books: "Praise be to Allah, and blessings and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and his Companions." He said: Why did you mention "and his Companions" when it did not come in the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) teaching to his Companions when the word of Allah the Exalted came down:[Al-Ahzab 33:56] They said: "O Messenger of Allah, we know this peace for you, but how do we send blessings upon you?" He said: "Say: Jami` at-Tirmidhi 3220Sahih (Darussalam) up to the end of the Ibrahimi prayer. So he says: This Messenger of Allah did not teach his Companions to send blessings upon the Companions, but only said "the family" and the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). So he made me an innovator because I mentioned in some introductions sending blessings upon the Companions in conjunction with the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and the family, even though this is what the practice of the Muslims has been, both ancient and modern. And I responded to him in some prefaces, and among the responses is that I responded on his behalf—may Allah have mercy on you—that he himself sent blessings upon the Companions in conjunction with the Messenger and his family. So how did he attribute innovation to me for this phrase, when he fell into the same thing? And his brothers are many, all of whom I quoted the phrases from, with reference to the book and the page number in it.
The point is: Suppose I made a mistake and innovated by mentioning sending blessings upon the Companions in conjunction with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the family. But this may have been a slip of the pen or a fleeting thought that does not necessitate ruling that this person has innovated. Therefore, the matter requires those who want to criticize others a great deal of patience, deliberation, breadth in knowledge, and expansiveness in it, so that his judgment is fair. From here, we said what we said regarding the trustworthy narrator, but he is an innovator. It is possible that he truly innovated, but he did not intend to draw near to Allah with an innovation he knew was an innovation. Rather, it was made to appear to him as either a good innovation, as some say, or rather it is not an innovation at all. Because the hadith regarding that came, and an example is: Al-Shawkani considers seeking nearness to Allah through the Messenger after his death permissible, not from the perspective that it is a good innovation, but from the perspective that the hadith of the blind man indicated that. We say the hadith of the blind man indicates the permissibility of seeking nearness to the Prophet, meaning through his supplication, not through his person and essence. So from here his error came, but we do not say he is an innovator.
Rather, we now ascend from Al-Shawkani and come to the Imam of the Sunnah, who is Imam Ahmad. He said regarding the permissibility of seeking nearness to Allah through the Prophet after his death, only through the Prophet, and it is not permissible to seek nearness through the prophets, the awliya (close friends of Allah), and the righteous, standing also at this hadith. So do we say about the Imam of the Sunnah that he is also an innovator?!
When it is said about a person, as was mentioned about Ibn Taghlib, what is his name?
The questioner : Aban.
The Shaykh : Aban. He was a Shi'i. What is the meaning of this Shi'ism? Is it that he believes, for example, as some believe today, that this Qur'an has a deficiency, and that what is preserved is only the Mushaf of Fatimah, even though they deny this before people, but there are writings that testify to it? So this is undoubtedly apostasy and exiting the religion. But if his Shi'ism is expressed by the statement that Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) is better than all the Companions, including the three Caliphs, this is also, in our certainty without doubt, an error. But we do not declare him a disbeliever or misguiding him. All that is the case is that we point out his error, and that is sufficient. Therefore, this word requires much, as I said earlier, of knowledge, deliberation, and slowness, so that we do not attack people and let their evil prevail over their good. So this Aban ibn Taghlib is a Muslim who testifies that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and that when he narrates, he is truthful. But he had this Shi'ism. So do we discard his hadith? The answer is: No.
The questioner : I have not seen it, by Allah, and it is strange.
Another questioner : Praise be to Allah.
The Shaykh : Do you know why he called me an innovator, while he knows for certain that our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) has favored me by making me a defender of the Sunnah to a great extent and a fighter against religious innovation, as is not hidden from the entire Muslim world? But the innovator in truth is the one who claims to serve the Sunnah through hadith and tracing hadiths to their sources, but he is a follower of the Sharqiyyah order, and he is a shaykh from among the shaykhs of this order. So as the old Arabic proverb says: "He cast his ailment upon me and slipped away". I am the innovator? Why? Because I sometimes say in some of the introductions of my books: "Praise be to Allah, and blessings and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and his Companions." He said: Why did you mention "and his Companions" when it did not come in the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) teaching to his Companions when the word of Allah the Exalted came down:
O you who have believed, ask [Allah to confer] blessing upon him and ask [Allah to grant him] peace.
يا أيها الذين آمنوا صلوا عليه وسلموا تسليماًO Allah! Send Salat upon Muhammad and upon Muhammad's family just as you have sent [upon Ibrahim and]
اللهم صل على محمد وعلى آله محمد كما صليت على إبراهيمThe point is: Suppose I made a mistake and innovated by mentioning sending blessings upon the Companions in conjunction with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and the family. But this may have been a slip of the pen or a fleeting thought that does not necessitate ruling that this person has innovated. Therefore, the matter requires those who want to criticize others a great deal of patience, deliberation, breadth in knowledge, and expansiveness in it, so that his judgment is fair. From here, we said what we said regarding the trustworthy narrator, but he is an innovator. It is possible that he truly innovated, but he did not intend to draw near to Allah with an innovation he knew was an innovation. Rather, it was made to appear to him as either a good innovation, as some say, or rather it is not an innovation at all. Because the hadith regarding that came, and an example is: Al-Shawkani considers seeking nearness to Allah through the Messenger after his death permissible, not from the perspective that it is a good innovation, but from the perspective that the hadith of the blind man indicated that. We say the hadith of the blind man indicates the permissibility of seeking nearness to the Prophet, meaning through his supplication, not through his person and essence. So from here his error came, but we do not say he is an innovator.
Rather, we now ascend from Al-Shawkani and come to the Imam of the Sunnah, who is Imam Ahmad. He said regarding the permissibility of seeking nearness to Allah through the Prophet after his death, only through the Prophet, and it is not permissible to seek nearness through the prophets, the awliya (close friends of Allah), and the righteous, standing also at this hadith. So do we say about the Imam of the Sunnah that he is also an innovator?!
When it is said about a person, as was mentioned about Ibn Taghlib, what is his name?
The questioner : Aban.
The Shaykh : Aban. He was a Shi'i. What is the meaning of this Shi'ism? Is it that he believes, for example, as some believe today, that this Qur'an has a deficiency, and that what is preserved is only the Mushaf of Fatimah, even though they deny this before people, but there are writings that testify to it? So this is undoubtedly apostasy and exiting the religion. But if his Shi'ism is expressed by the statement that Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) is better than all the Companions, including the three Caliphs, this is also, in our certainty without doubt, an error. But we do not declare him a disbeliever or misguiding him. All that is the case is that we point out his error, and that is sufficient. Therefore, this word requires much, as I said earlier, of knowledge, deliberation, and slowness, so that we do not attack people and let their evil prevail over their good. So this Aban ibn Taghlib is a Muslim who testifies that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and that when he narrates, he is truthful. But he had this Shi'ism. So do we discard his hadith? The answer is: No.