The Shaykh’s account of his Hajj and 'Umrah trips, the holding of lessons and sessions there, and the questions he received regarding the Mahdi in the year that Juhayman appeared
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The Shaykh : And the season ended. Before that, of course, I would pass through Madinah and I had to stay there for a few days. Some sessions and some gatherings for da'wah were also held. I remember clearly that this Ali Mushrif, who is now famous for summoning or expelling jinn, invited me to dinner and gathered a group of people. Among them was the university president at the time, whose name was Abdullah ibn Zayd. He directed a question to Muhammad Ali Mushrif about the Mahdi: what is authentic regarding him? I spoke specifically about this, and it is recorded. When the season came and we heard those words, I understood why the question had come from Ali Mushrif. Perhaps he also mentioned to me that they say the Mahdi emerged there in this land.
The point is: I returned from the season to Damascus, and then after I rested a little, I went back to Amman to my son-in-law, Nizam. On the morning of the second or third day, I heard the Saudi radio speaking about the incident at the Haram. At that moment, I understood what they had been talking about; it was about a plot. I said to my son-in-law and my daughter: Do you know who these people are who started this fitnah? They said: No. I said to them: I think they are the group of Salafis who were asking me about the Mahdi in Mina. Then the news became clear and it was established that they were indeed from the Salafis. Their leader, this Juhayman, was in Madinah, and he used to visit me and ask me questions. He was with Muqbil, who is now in Yemen and serves the hadith. Muqbil was a student at the university, and they used to meet at the library and at the mosque. So I said: Subhan Allah! This was not what was expected, and this is what we fear from carrying out revolutions and coups under the claim of reform. This contradicts what I have adopted for about twenty years, that reform does not happen except through purification and education.
This is, in summary, the answer to your question.
In short, of course, I had absolutely no knowledge of what was going to happen or what actually happened, except after the Saudi broadcast. But the Saudi state—excuse me—was informed of this by my brothers while I was in Damascus. After this incident occurred, of course, the police spread throughout all areas of the city, indeed the Kingdom. Among their actions, they began visiting the hospitals because they assumed that there must have been injured people from among them who were taken to the hospitals, and they wanted to get hold of them. So they would come to the hospitals with lists of names, saying that if a name such as so-and-so or so-and-so comes to you, you must inform us. One of the doctors there, who had a connection with some of our friends in Damascus, informed him that the name of so-and-so was mentioned on the list. Yes, indeed. So when I learned of that, I contacted Shaykh Ibn Baz because the next season had arrived, and I asked him for his opinion: What do you think, should I perform Hajj as usual or not? His answer was to wait and see. And so, for approximately three or four years, I did not perform Hajj or 'Umrah as I used to. When the matters became clear to the authorities there and the truth was established for them, especially some of the tapes, including a tape belonging to Ali Mushrif, because Ali Mushrif was among those who were summoned, what did Shaykh Al-Albani tell them? He said to them: These are tapes. Of course, we do not support all these revolutions and coups. When this truth became clear to them, and in the first place there was no official ban on me, I began to visit as I did before, and praise be to Allah.
The point is: I returned from the season to Damascus, and then after I rested a little, I went back to Amman to my son-in-law, Nizam. On the morning of the second or third day, I heard the Saudi radio speaking about the incident at the Haram. At that moment, I understood what they had been talking about; it was about a plot. I said to my son-in-law and my daughter: Do you know who these people are who started this fitnah? They said: No. I said to them: I think they are the group of Salafis who were asking me about the Mahdi in Mina. Then the news became clear and it was established that they were indeed from the Salafis. Their leader, this Juhayman, was in Madinah, and he used to visit me and ask me questions. He was with Muqbil, who is now in Yemen and serves the hadith. Muqbil was a student at the university, and they used to meet at the library and at the mosque. So I said: Subhan Allah! This was not what was expected, and this is what we fear from carrying out revolutions and coups under the claim of reform. This contradicts what I have adopted for about twenty years, that reform does not happen except through purification and education.
This is, in summary, the answer to your question.
In short, of course, I had absolutely no knowledge of what was going to happen or what actually happened, except after the Saudi broadcast. But the Saudi state—excuse me—was informed of this by my brothers while I was in Damascus. After this incident occurred, of course, the police spread throughout all areas of the city, indeed the Kingdom. Among their actions, they began visiting the hospitals because they assumed that there must have been injured people from among them who were taken to the hospitals, and they wanted to get hold of them. So they would come to the hospitals with lists of names, saying that if a name such as so-and-so or so-and-so comes to you, you must inform us. One of the doctors there, who had a connection with some of our friends in Damascus, informed him that the name of so-and-so was mentioned on the list. Yes, indeed. So when I learned of that, I contacted Shaykh Ibn Baz because the next season had arrived, and I asked him for his opinion: What do you think, should I perform Hajj as usual or not? His answer was to wait and see. And so, for approximately three or four years, I did not perform Hajj or 'Umrah as I used to. When the matters became clear to the authorities there and the truth was established for them, especially some of the tapes, including a tape belonging to Ali Mushrif, because Ali Mushrif was among those who were summoned, what did Shaykh Al-Albani tell them? He said to them: These are tapes. Of course, we do not support all these revolutions and coups. When this truth became clear to them, and in the first place there was no official ban on me, I began to visit as I did before, and praise be to Allah.