The Shaykh Al-Albani’s disagreement with his father regarding the issue of praying in the Banu Umayyah Mosque due to the graves within it.
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : And it was his custom, may Allah have mercy on him, to pray in the Banu Umayyah Mosque. He was influenced by some of the statements and reports mentioned in the books of the Hanafis regarding the virtue of praying in the Banu Umayyah Mosque. For example, what is found in the last of the relied-upon Hanafi books, *Hashiyat Ibn ‘Abidin*: “It is mentioned therein from Sufyan al-Thawri that praying in the Banu Umayyah Mosque is equal to seventy thousand prayers”. I did not understand this virtue for such a mosque that was built after the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, and I was not prepared to accept such an exaggeration in virtue by nature. Then the days passed with the years, and my research and study led me to study the most well-known Islamic history, which is *Tarikh Dimashq* by Ibn ‘Asakir. This report mentioned in *Hashiyat Ibn ‘Abidin* regarding the virtue of the Umayyad Mosque is attributed to Ibn ‘Asakir. And so, the jurists of the last days are convinced that a hadith is established if it is attributed, even if only to Ibn ‘Asakir, until it becomes, as the common people say, an established hadith. When I was able to do this—and this was, of course, after years—my turn came to studying all the manuscripts in the Zahiriyyah Library.
The questioner : What year was that, O Shaykh?
The Shaykh : I do not remember the years, no. And the reason for that is that I am not a student of knowledge in the systematic way, where a guide directs you to say, “You, record it.” I did not have that thought at all. So, when my research and study reached *Tarikh Ibn ‘Asakir*, I went through it all. There are seventeen volumes of it in the Zahiriyyah Library, each volume being large like this, and this report passed by me.
The questioner : The Banu Umayyah Mosque?
The Shaykh : Yes, and the chain of narration to it is darknesses, some above others! So I said: Glory be to Allah! How do these jurists, due to their negligence in studying hadith, narrate a report that, first: if the chain to it were authentic, as you know in the science of hadith, it would be a mursal (a report missing the Companion link)!
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : So how is it when the chain to it is, as we said, darknesses, some above others?!
And thereby they do harm while they intend to do good.
Then I looked into the story of the burial of Yahya, peace be upon him, or the alleged grave of Yahya, peace be upon him, in the Banu Umayyah Mosque. I read that in *Tarikh Ibn ‘Asakir* as well.
The important thing is that my research led me to the conclusion that praying in the Banu Umayyah Mosque is not permissible. Look at this Sufi Salafi!
The questioner : I mean, and he had the right to it!
The Shaykh : There is no power and no strength except with Allah. I do not know how they can coexist in one person?!
One who respects his Shaykh in the way of the Sufis, but he is a Salafi.
The questioner : Yes, indeed.
The Shaykh : The point is that it became clear to me that praying in this mosque is not valid. And I did not reach that conclusion in a leap, but gradually and with deliberation. This idea formed in my independent legal reasoning, so I wanted to take the opinion of some of the Shaykhs, among them my father, and among them Shaykh al-Barhani. So, on one day, after I had prayed the midday prayer with him—perhaps, and Allah knows best—I confided in him that it had become clear to me that praying in a mosque that contains a grave is not valid.
The questioner : You confided in your father?
The Shaykh : No, al-Barhani, I am saying. He said: Write down the things you have obtained. So I wrote them and presented them to him, perhaps in three or four pages. The time, as I believe, was in the month of Ramadan. When I presented these pages to him, he said to me: If Allah wills, after the festival I will give you the answer. After the festival, he said to me: All this that you have written and collected has no value. I said to him: Why? with surprise?! He said: Because these books from which you quoted are not relied-upon books with us.
The questioner : With us?!
The Shaykh : Yes, what is relied upon with us is *Maraqi al-Falah*, *Hashiyat Ibn ‘Abidin*, and that is it, I mean! I quoted to him from *Mabariq al-Azhkar Sharh Mashariq al-Anwar* by Ibn Malik, and he is a Hanafi. I quoted to him from *Mirqat al-Mafatih Sharh Mishkat al-Masabih* by Mulla ‘Ali Qari, and he is a Hanafi. And I no longer remember other texts. He cast them aside like casting away a date stone, and said: These have no value. Moreover, there were hadiths that I had collected for him, but he did not care about them, and he did not raise his head to them. He said: Our reference in religion is only the books of jurisprudence, not the books of hadith. And on this pattern was the position of my father as well. And that was the seed for my writing the book *Tahdhir al-Sajid min Ittiyad al-Qubur Masajid* (Warning the Worshipper from Taking Graves as Mosques).
And the important thing is that among my faults, which some people think, is that I do not want my action to contradict my words. So, since I adopted the position that praying in mosques built over graves is not permissible, then I was obligated to no longer go with my father to the Banu Umayyah Mosque. And so it was. Of course, this annoyed him and angered him, but he kept it to himself.
The questioner : What year was that, O Shaykh?
The Shaykh : I do not remember the years, no. And the reason for that is that I am not a student of knowledge in the systematic way, where a guide directs you to say, “You, record it.” I did not have that thought at all. So, when my research and study reached *Tarikh Ibn ‘Asakir*, I went through it all. There are seventeen volumes of it in the Zahiriyyah Library, each volume being large like this, and this report passed by me.
The questioner : The Banu Umayyah Mosque?
The Shaykh : Yes, and the chain of narration to it is darknesses, some above others! So I said: Glory be to Allah! How do these jurists, due to their negligence in studying hadith, narrate a report that, first: if the chain to it were authentic, as you know in the science of hadith, it would be a mursal (a report missing the Companion link)!
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : So how is it when the chain to it is, as we said, darknesses, some above others?!
And thereby they do harm while they intend to do good.
Then I looked into the story of the burial of Yahya, peace be upon him, or the alleged grave of Yahya, peace be upon him, in the Banu Umayyah Mosque. I read that in *Tarikh Ibn ‘Asakir* as well.
The important thing is that my research led me to the conclusion that praying in the Banu Umayyah Mosque is not permissible. Look at this Sufi Salafi!
The questioner : I mean, and he had the right to it!
The Shaykh : There is no power and no strength except with Allah. I do not know how they can coexist in one person?!
One who respects his Shaykh in the way of the Sufis, but he is a Salafi.
The questioner : Yes, indeed.
The Shaykh : The point is that it became clear to me that praying in this mosque is not valid. And I did not reach that conclusion in a leap, but gradually and with deliberation. This idea formed in my independent legal reasoning, so I wanted to take the opinion of some of the Shaykhs, among them my father, and among them Shaykh al-Barhani. So, on one day, after I had prayed the midday prayer with him—perhaps, and Allah knows best—I confided in him that it had become clear to me that praying in a mosque that contains a grave is not valid.
The questioner : You confided in your father?
The Shaykh : No, al-Barhani, I am saying. He said: Write down the things you have obtained. So I wrote them and presented them to him, perhaps in three or four pages. The time, as I believe, was in the month of Ramadan. When I presented these pages to him, he said to me: If Allah wills, after the festival I will give you the answer. After the festival, he said to me: All this that you have written and collected has no value. I said to him: Why? with surprise?! He said: Because these books from which you quoted are not relied-upon books with us.
The questioner : With us?!
The Shaykh : Yes, what is relied upon with us is *Maraqi al-Falah*, *Hashiyat Ibn ‘Abidin*, and that is it, I mean! I quoted to him from *Mabariq al-Azhkar Sharh Mashariq al-Anwar* by Ibn Malik, and he is a Hanafi. I quoted to him from *Mirqat al-Mafatih Sharh Mishkat al-Masabih* by Mulla ‘Ali Qari, and he is a Hanafi. And I no longer remember other texts. He cast them aside like casting away a date stone, and said: These have no value. Moreover, there were hadiths that I had collected for him, but he did not care about them, and he did not raise his head to them. He said: Our reference in religion is only the books of jurisprudence, not the books of hadith. And on this pattern was the position of my father as well. And that was the seed for my writing the book *Tahdhir al-Sajid min Ittiyad al-Qubur Masajid* (Warning the Worshipper from Taking Graves as Mosques).
And the important thing is that among my faults, which some people think, is that I do not want my action to contradict my words. So, since I adopted the position that praying in mosques built over graves is not permissible, then I was obligated to no longer go with my father to the Banu Umayyah Mosque. And so it was. Of course, this annoyed him and angered him, but he kept it to himself.