There are doubts circulating regarding the methodology of the Shaykh specifically, and the methodology of the people of hadith today from the Salaf in general

The questioner : Praise be to Allah, and blessings and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah. There are doubts circulating regarding the methodologyThe Shaykh : specifically, and the methodology of the people of hadith from the Salaf today in general. Among them is thatThe Shaykh : Al-Albani proceeded to the four Sunan and manipulated them, bringing forth what had not been done before, and classifying them into authentic and weak; even though the issue of authenticating and weakening is a matter of independent legal reasoning. As for what concerns the people of hadith today, they are occupied with refuting one another, and in the reality of Muslims now, meaning, they do not offer solutions to the problems of Muslims now. Rather, they are occupied with refuting one another in branch issues that are matters of independent legal reasoning, where the disagreement is one of diversity. So we ask you, O your excellence, to clarify such doubts?

The Shaykh : This—as it has been said since ancient times—is: "A habit we know from Akhzam"! Those who claim that the Salafis do not offer solutions to the problems of the present age are saying something that indicates their ignorance of Islam. And the first word you mentioned, if it is from their speech, is also—as it is said—"a bundle of straw on a camel." It is true that Al-Albani came to the four Sunan and gave every hadith in each of those books the rank that the chains of those hadiths, their corroborations, and their supporting chains require. So we say to those who want to offer to the Ummah solutions for those problems they refer to: On what principle do they want to rely in offering that? There is no doubt that that principle is the first principle of the Islamic Shari'ah, the Noble Qur'an, and then the second principle is the Sunnah, also, by the consensus of all Muslims. And if the Sunnah has been entered into, for a wisdom Allah intended for this Ummah, with what is not from it of weak and denounced hadiths; how can those solutions be established on such hadiths in which the true and the false are mixed?
Therefore, the Salafis in reality are performing the obligatory duty of purification that the masses of Muslims have turned away from, both in the past and the present, and especially those who claim that they offer solutions for those problems. How excellent is the saying of Imam al-Shafi'i (may Allah have mercy on him) when he said in his "Risalah": "If the scholar is ignorant of the Sunnah, on what principle does he rely if he wants to perform analogical reasoning? And analogical reasoning is not valid except on the two principles, the Book and the Sunnah. So if the independent legal reasoner performs analogical reasoning or derives a ruling from the Sunnah, the first condition is that this Sunnah be authentic according to the scholars of hadith, and in accordance with their principles and rules."
So those who boast of what they do not have, that they offer solutions for those problems; on what basis? On the basis of ignorance; because those who do not know the Sunnah, and do not distinguish between its authentic and weak, are not able to establish practical solutions that are in accordance with the Islamic Shari'ah. And reality confirms that. Among them are groups or parties that have passed about half a century of time—or less or more—without being able to do anything. The individuals of these parties remained far from acting upon the Book and the Sunnah; because they do not know, and one who does not know cannot act, as we mentioned earlier that the principle in every action is that it be established on the Book and the Sunnah, and then that it be pure for the Face of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). So if we assume that every individual of the Ummah, including those groups or parties, is sincere in their actions, but their actions will be rejected and not valid; because they are not on the Book and the Sunnah.
So the classification of the Sunnah into authentic and weak, as we mentionedThe questioner : earlier, that this is a work that Al-Albani singled out; is this a defect? The great Imams from the scholars of hadith established for us this good practice; that they made the hadith authentic and weak. The most famous Imams in that are Imam al-Bukhari and Muslim; was their work criticized with bad criticism? Or was their work appreciated by the entire Ummah until their two books, after the Book of Allah, became a reliance upon them for these long centuries? So that was from them a praiseworthy effort, and they are rewarded for this work with a reward that only Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) can estimate.
The truth—and I say the truth—is that criticizing Al-Albani's work stems from not appreciating this knowledge, which enables its possessor to distinguish the authentic from the weak, or it stems from hatred, jealousy, and envy. And this is not from the morals of Muslims. Instead of doing this work well and helping the author to proceed a great distance in completing this work, they say: This is a work that Al-Albani singled out! So what do they want then? That the Islamic Ummah remain confused whenever a hadith comes to them from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and they do not know its authentic from its weak? And the result of that and the consequence of that is that they fall into fabricating against the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and that is what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informed about in many hadiths, the most important of which is his saying (peace be upon him): , and if it is not permissible to transgress against the rebels or the oppressors, and the reward for a bad deed is a bad deed like it; then I say: Those who do not appreciate this effort made in distinguishing the authentic from the weak; the meaning of that is that they are content to remain in their ignorance of the Sunnah, and they are content, consequently, to fall into lying against the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), due to the aforementioned hadith, which is a very serious hadith, and it addresses a real matter: .
Any writer who authored a book, or any writer who wrote a treatise, or any lecturer who delivered a lecture, who narrate in these articles hadiths from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) without distinguishing their authentic from their weak, have fallen—whether they wish it or not—into lying against the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). This alone is sufficient for them to know that it is obligatory for the tens—rather, the hundreds—of the Islamic Ummah to study this science of hadith well, and to be able to distinguish the authentic hadith from its weak; so that they spread the correct knowledge among the Muslims. At that time, the one who wants to place those solutions mentioned earlier can place them as Islamic solutions, otherwise they will be solutions far from Islam.
And we read every day articles in which things are permitted or forbidden by mere opinion. There is no "Allah said" or "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said"; even though it is known to the people of knowledge that in many of those studies, hadiths from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) have come, and yet in some of them, no hadith from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) is mentioned. And this is a defect that some of the former scholars have spoken about in some schools of jurisprudence; where a person reads a book of Islamic jurisprudence from its beginning to its end and does not hear "Allah said" or "The Messenger of Allah said," but it is merely the school of jurisprudence and merely opinion.
Long ago, I read a study by one of the famous writers on music and singing, and it did not address any of the hadiths that the scholars of hadith mentioned specifically regarding this issue. Instead, it only mentioned his own opinions, and in some cases, it relied on the statements of some of the early scholars. But knowledge is not about saying "so-and-so said this" and "so-and-so said that." Rather, as Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) rightly said:
“Knowledge: Allah said, His Messenger said, / The Companions said; it is not deception.
Knowledge is not: you setting up foolish disagreement *** Between the Messenger and the opinion of a jurist
No, nor denial of the attributes and their negation, *** out of fear of denial of the divine attributes and likening Allah to creation.
That study on singing and musical instruments did not mention the hadith that appears in al-Bukhari: . Why did he not mention this hadith? First, he has no knowledge of hadith. Second, if he had mentioned this hadith, his article would have collapsed from its foundation, and he would not have been able to give any weight to what he said. Is this how solutions are to be provided for the problems faced by Muslims today? One must return to the Book and to the authentic Sunnah. This is what the Muslims who adhere to the path of the righteous Salaf keep repeating.
And finally, I say a very simple word: Let us assume that Muslims today are each in their own school and on their own path, but without guidance from their Lord. Those who adhere to the path of the righteous Salaf are merely removing obstacles and clearing thorns from this path. Is the reward for that work to belittle their efforts and disparage them by saying they do not provide solutions?! Solutions are only put in place after the thorns and obstacles are removed from the path. This is among the meanings of the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): . So, anyone who does not care about the Sunnah means that he has not even raised his head to the verses, let alone the hadiths that command Muslims to return to them, especially when they disagree on a matter, a ruling, or a methodology they adopt for their current lives.
This is a reminder, and the reminder benefits the believers.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Yes, just as he did, what?

The questioner : Ahmad Shakir in "Al-Musnad" (may Allah have mercy on him).

The Shaykh : And Ahmad Shakir means...

The questioner : ... to the authentic and the weak.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : The originals remain as they are, and the hadiths are traced in the footnotes.

The Shaykh : And what does this mean? This is how we do it.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : This is how it appeared to us; so is this to be held against us? . I mentioned earlier this objection, and I pointed out earlier that this objection does not apply to Al-Albani, but rather to Imam al-Bukhari and Muslim. Why did they collect the authentic hadiths in the book? Was it not to advise the Ummah? So we make use of the knowledge they established for us to distinguish the authentic from the weak. When I planned this plan and followed it, the first thing I did was "Sahih Sunan Abu Dawud" and "Da'if Sunan Abu Dawud." I thought deeply: Should I follow the method that some people see, or the method that Allah opened my heart to in the end? For every person has a direction. I said: If I came to "Sunan Abu Dawud," which is the first of the four books of Sunan, and I started working on it about forty years ago, and if I left the Sunan as the author arranged it, and then I gave the grade of each hadith as to its authenticity or weakness, the result would be that I truly distinguished them, but I did not identify the authentic ones nor the weak ones separately. Not every individual in the Ummah, whether a student of knowledge or not, is able to comprehend this entire book and focus in his mind on the authentic and the weak within it. In fact, for most of them, the matter will become confused in terms of memorization and retention; the authentic and the weak will become mixed up for him. So I saw that this distinction helps every individual in the Ummah, even the memorizers of the Ummah, to memorize the authentic and memorize the weak.
For us now, it is sufficient to remember that a certain hadith is in the authentic collections, in al-Bukhari, in Muslim. And if we are clear in our religion, we know that this hadith cannot be considered weak. But if the book contains both the authentic and the weak sections, a person will remember that this hadith is in "Sunan Abu Dawud," and "Sunan Abu Dawud" contains the authentic, the good, the weak, the denounced, and other things. In other Sunan books, there are some fabricated hadiths. So the rope and the needle will become mixed up, and the authentic and the weak will become mixed up.
This is what my soul found peace in and my chest opened to. So what is the meaning of criticizing why I did this? This is my independent legal reasoning (ijtihad). If I am right, I have two rewards, and that is what I hope from Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). And if I am wrong, we say to those critics: Bring forth your work that is better and more beneficial for the Ummah than this?
Please proceed.