The Shaykh Shu'ayb al-Arna'ut told me that he used to visit you, and you had moved your library to the shop. Is this correct?

The Shaykh : Please go ahead.

The questioner : The Shaykh Shu'ayb al-Arna'ut told me that he used to visit you, and you had moved your library or something like that to the shop?

The Shaykh : His statement that he used to visit me is a lie and falsehood. In fact, he only attended at my place once, and I was pressing him for a meeting to reach an understanding.
The student: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : And peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
The student: If Allah wills, it is nine, Professor.

The Shaykh : Did she tell you that?
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : What Allah willed! Hey, he gave you the lion's share.
The student: Praise be to Allah, may Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : As I said, he was a fierce enemy of my call to the Sunnah, and he was extremely fanatical about his madhhabic study under his Shaykh, Salih Farfur. So he would spread false, fabricated news about me, as is the constant practice of the people of innovation and those who follow scholars blindly toward the people of the Sunnah.

The questioner : Who is my teacher?

The Shaykh : Shu'ayb al-Arna'ut. And among his unforgettable deeds is that when my first wife, Umm 'Abd al-Rahman, died, I took charge of lowering her into her grave, contrary to the Sunnah of the Shaykhs, of course, and especially the Hanafis. This is because the Hanafis hold that when a woman dies, the marital bond is dissolved, and therefore it is not permissible for him to see her or look at her after her death. This is contrary to the known practice of the Salaf, who would, for example, take charge of washing one another, and it is contrary to his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) to 'A'ishah when he entered upon her and she was saying: . So I also broke with the customs of the fanatics there in that I took charge of lowering my wife into the grave. Among those who participated in the funeral procession was Shaykh Shu'ayb. And this was not motivated by following the Sunnah or by prescribed consolation, but rather because my wife was an Arna'uti and he was an Arna'uti, so he had to come out for the procession. Otherwise, if he had been able, he would not have taken a single step, because he considers me a misguidance due to my opposition to the madhhab. What he did after the people left with me from the burial indicates this to us. We finished the burial, so he gathered the people and began to shout and denounce what I had done. There were some of our brothers from the Salafi Muslim Brotherhood, led by 'Isam al-Attar, whom you must have heard of, and Zuhayr al-Shawish. These were among the senior members of the Brotherhood who had adopted the Salafi call, even though they remained in their Brotherhood affiliation. So they took him aside and calmed him down, meaning they calmed his anger and softened their speech with him until the flame of his fire went out. This is one of his deeds. So I was always saying to those around me and those who reported his intense hostility toward me: Let us gather, brothers, and see what we have! In the end, for the first time, he entered the shop, and we sat with him in discussion for hours, perhaps four or five hours, I do not remember exactly. The outcome of the session was his ultimate agreement that it is permissible for me to issue fatwas based on what my opinion and independent legal reasoning reached within a narrow circle, and that I should not call people to these opinions of mine. I said: First, this is not possible practically. Then, what is the difference, from a scholarly perspective, between calling Zayd and calling 'Umar? What is the difference? And I gave him an example: I had an older brother named Muhammad Nadi, Abu Ahmad, who worked as a carpenter in a state factory called: "The Foot Factory". Although he was almost uneducated, he memorized every word he heard from me and every opinion, and because of this, he stood out in the factory and became like a Shaykh among them.

The questioner : Yes, Shaykh.

The Shaykh : So I gave him the example of my brother Abu Ahmad, who worked there as a carpenter in "The Foot Factory". I said to him: If my brother asked me the following question:
My brother, I performed the ablution and got injured in the factory, and some blood came out of me. What is your opinion? Does this ablution become invalid or not?
Naturally, I would, Shaykh so-and-so, I would have to give him my opinion, because it is not permissible to conceal knowledge. I would have to say to him: No, the ablution does not become invalid!
So you are saying that you may issue fatwas to those around you, but this "around" extends, and this is its example. My brother took this answer, and he was in the factory. Any worker who had something happen would go to Abu Ahmad. "Abu Ahmad, the story is such and such." And a man came and said to him: I performed the ablution and got injured. What would Abu Ahmad say?
He would say to him: By Allah, my brother says that this does not obligate the ablution. So how can you restrict the matter from a practical standpoint in the first place?!
Then, from a scholarly standpoint, what is the difference between me issuing a fatwa to my brother in kinship and in religion, and another brother of mine in religion to whom I do not issue a fatwa about what I believe to be from the religion?
This session was what weakened some of his fanaticism, but intense hatred and envy overcame him. Therefore, to this day, the effect of the discussion is not apparent in his behavior in his obedience and his worship. Then he slanders the Salafis as much as he is able to do so, as if he is saying: I do not accept the Salafi madhhab as a madhhab.
And for this reason, we were distant from each other, and he did not visit my shop. But I know that the first time he softened a little, he and 'Abd al-Qadir attended some of the lessons I was delivering in the venue we had rented. They attended and then stopped, fearing that it would be said that so-and-so and so-and-so are from the group of so-and-so, and it passed.
And he used to proofread the galley proofs of my books that Zuhayr was printing, considering that he was an employee there. If he found an error, he concealed it, and did not inform me of it until the book was finished. If you have a copy of the book *Sharh al-'Aqidah al-Tahawiyyah* in which I did the takhrij, there is a note in the final addendum about a hadith. Perhaps the hadith is: . This hadith appeared in one of my books, and I said: Perhaps it is the same takhrij, that I did not find a basis for it. So when he was proofreading these galley proofs, he came across this mistake, this error, and did not inform Zuhayr of it until after I had traveled to Saudi Arabia to teach the subject of hadith at the Islamic University. The book was under press, so Zuhayr wrote to me about it. I wrote this addendum, and I wrote to Zuhayr that this was from the plot, hatred, and envy of this man, concealing the error until after the book was finished printing!!
Knowing that I am the one who does the takhrij of the hadith in *al-Mishkat*, but this was a mistake and I was in a hurry because of the travel, preparing for the trip to Saudi Arabia, so this error occurred on my part and he concealed it.

The questioner : So, your saying "some of the proofreaders" is Shu'ayb?

The Shaykh : Yes, well done, yes, it is him, yes. So we ask Allah to guide us and him to the straight path.

The questioner : Ameen