Did you receive any knowledge from Shaykh Muhammad Bahjat al-Baytar, and what was your relationship with him?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Well, regarding Shaykh Muhammad Bahjat al-Baytar, I mentioned to you earlier that when the first suggestion was made to this military man, it was either Shaykh Nasir al-Din al-Albani or Shaykh Muhammad Bahjat al-Baytar.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : Was he of the same generation as you, or was he of the previous generation?
The Shaykh : No, the previous one, of course.
The questioner : The previous one?
The Shaykh : Ah.
The questioner : Well, did you receive any knowledge from him?
The Shaykh : No, but there was a literary circle where they met in an area called al-Maydan, where Shaykh Bahjat lived. The prominent, well-known writers of that time in Damascus attended it, and they were members of the Arab Scientific Academy in Damascus. Among them, for example, was Professor Izz al-Din al-Tanukhi (may Allah have mercy on him), and others like Mustafa al-Shihabi. They would gather and study al-Hamasiyyah, the book al-Hamasiyyah. The specialized ones among them, like al-Tanukhi Izz al-Din, would take charge of the commentary, explanation, and clarification. So my brother, who passed away to the mercy of Allah, named Munir Abu Abdullah, and I would intentionally attend this session regularly to strengthen our Arabic language and to be refined by some of its etiquette. This was all that was related to knowledge; we attended this circle of which Shaykh Bahjat al-Baytar was a member, but I did not receive any knowledge from him.
The questioner : Well, what was the general relationship with Shaykh Bahjat?
The Shaykh : It was good.
The questioner : Did you have gatherings where you would discuss things and such?
The Shaykh : No, but he would deliver the Friday sermon there in his mosque, so we would intentionally pray behind him, just as we do now with the mosque of Abu Malik Muhammad Shuqara, because he was Salafi in creed and did not speak about matters that contradict the creed. However, he was predominantly following the Shafi'i school of jurisprudence; he did not have a study in comparative jurisprudence, nor did he have work in the field of hadith regarding authentication and weakening. But he was Salafi in creed one hundred percent.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : Was he of the same generation as you, or was he of the previous generation?
The Shaykh : No, the previous one, of course.
The questioner : The previous one?
The Shaykh : Ah.
The questioner : Well, did you receive any knowledge from him?
The Shaykh : No, but there was a literary circle where they met in an area called al-Maydan, where Shaykh Bahjat lived. The prominent, well-known writers of that time in Damascus attended it, and they were members of the Arab Scientific Academy in Damascus. Among them, for example, was Professor Izz al-Din al-Tanukhi (may Allah have mercy on him), and others like Mustafa al-Shihabi. They would gather and study al-Hamasiyyah, the book al-Hamasiyyah. The specialized ones among them, like al-Tanukhi Izz al-Din, would take charge of the commentary, explanation, and clarification. So my brother, who passed away to the mercy of Allah, named Munir Abu Abdullah, and I would intentionally attend this session regularly to strengthen our Arabic language and to be refined by some of its etiquette. This was all that was related to knowledge; we attended this circle of which Shaykh Bahjat al-Baytar was a member, but I did not receive any knowledge from him.
The questioner : Well, what was the general relationship with Shaykh Bahjat?
The Shaykh : It was good.
The questioner : Did you have gatherings where you would discuss things and such?
The Shaykh : No, but he would deliver the Friday sermon there in his mosque, so we would intentionally pray behind him, just as we do now with the mosque of Abu Malik Muhammad Shuqara, because he was Salafi in creed and did not speak about matters that contradict the creed. However, he was predominantly following the Shafi'i school of jurisprudence; he did not have a study in comparative jurisprudence, nor did he have work in the field of hadith regarding authentication and weakening. But he was Salafi in creed one hundred percent.