. . . When I attended the Bahrain conference that was held . .

The questioner: ... When I attended the Bahrain conference that was held ... MuhammadEid Abbasi ... The Shaykh : Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (may Allah have mercy on him) is not a Salafi in the branches of jurisprudence nor in hadith, but rather he is a Salafi in creed, ... I took this information from the book that the Dar al-Mas'ulin (House of the Responsible) published at the conference. The answer to this is that we say:
First: The Shaykh al-Islam is a Salafi in creed, there is no doubt about that. As for the statement that he is not a Salafi in the branches, I see—and Allah knows best—...The Shaykh : Among the examples where he differed from the school of thought, and this is by way of example ... soThe Shaykh : (may Allah have mercy on him) differed from the school of thought in this issue ... the later books of the school, and the most correct is the book "Al-Insaaf," which is one of the most important books of the Hanbalis, ... and there are several examples, but I will not lengthen the discussion on that.
The second aspect ... that he is not a Salafi in hadith, and reality contradicts that, soThe Shaykh : (may Allah have mercy on him) traveled to Madinah and studied hadith withThe Shaykh : Muhammad Hayat al-Sindi (may Allah have mercy on him), and he is mentioned in a section ... and also—as far as I know—he studied with al-Basri (may Allah have mercy on him), who is ... from Makkah.
The third point: ... thatThe Shaykh : is not a Salafi, ... the other people say that the one who does not engage in the science of hadith is called not a Salafi, ... doctors or engineers and other students of knowledge study—for example—fiqh or tafsir and do not engage in authentication and weakening; it is said that they work in hadith if they differ from their school—for example; it is said that they are not Salafis ... so what is your answer?—may Allah preserve you—.

The Shaykh: May Allah forgive you! Listen, my brother—may Allah guide you—, do you knowEid Abbasi ؟

The questioner : Yes?

The Shaykh: Do you knowEid Abbasi ؟

The questioner: No, I do not know him personally.

The Shaykh: Do you hear anything from him?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh: What is it?

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh: Okay, as far as you know, is he dead or alive?

The questioner: I do not know about him.

The Shaykh: Okay, this which you quoted and lengthened in speech and commentary, and it has become clear that you are not a questioner, but rather you are a refuter, refuting; so may Allah forgive you!
First, we were not at the conference, and the other man whom you say—proud of what you read—proud of what you read; the man has been a prisoner for eight years, and when was the conference held?

Another questioner : .

The Shaykh: Ah, so this which you read, you had to verify first one thing—first of all!; is it true that al-Albani andEid Abbasi : who is my student—as you say—and he is, was present at the conference? This is the first error, and this is the error of most students of knowledge who do not verify on one hand, and on the other hand do not know the plots of the other groups. Do you know who organized this conference?

The questioner : No.

The Shaykh: You do not know! So you do not know this or that, and then you built upon your ignorance ... and what is built upon what is not valid is not valid. Second: I do not think that you obtained what you read in that book as you memorize the opening chapter of the Qur'an, so I say: you can say now that I said based on what you read thatThe Shaykh : Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (may Allah have mercy on him) is not a Salafi in hadith, can you be certain of this? I do not think you can! And I do not think you would dare to involve yourself in this entanglement; in that case, if you had been well-versed in covering such a question, you should have recorded what you read on a piece of paper and the question would come as follows: Did you deliver this speech at the conference? We would tell you: We did not attend the conference, nor were we invited to it, nor can our companion attend it even if invited; because he is a prisoner—may Allah free him from his prison—and he may be among those who.

Another questioner : ... .

The Shaykh: Yes, and he may have become among the dead, so may Allah have mercy on him. This is what you should have asked; did you attend this conference and so-and-so? So we would tell you that we know nothing about it whatsoever.
Second: Do you believe in this speech? I have lived in this worldly life as much as I could—I do not say self-praise, but rather speaking of Allah's blessing—I do not hide or practice hypocrisy, I say what I have. So I believe that Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab is as you read and as you mentioned; he is undoubtedly an Imam who is a Salafi in creed, and he has the merit and ... and so on, of the words that he deserves in the field of reviving the call to tawhid (the oneness of Allah) in those lands first, and then the fruit of the blessed call in the other Islamic lands second.
But I cannot say ... that they told the truth in what they quoted, and we do not know from where they quoted. But first, we were certainly not present at that session. If someone said: If you asked me now: Do you believe that Imam Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab was a hadith scholar? I would tell you no, he is not a hadith scholar. And I think you are of such intellect that you understand with me that it is not necessary for a person who read hadith from a certain person, and who is famous for hadith, to become a hadith scholar. I think you agree with me on this. So this enthusiasm that we heard from you is, unfortunately, words in the air with no value; first: because it is built upon something we do not know and were not present for, second: it is not appropriate to believe that every Imam of the Muslims is a hadith scholar, he is a mufassir, he is a historian, he is a linguist, he is such and such, and so on!
If someone told you: Imam Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab is not a linguist, perhaps you would not share his imamate in language—also—with your enthusiasm for honoring him or ...—may Allah forgive you!. And I hope that Allah will accept repentance from us all.

The questioner : ... .
...

The Shaykh: Did I tell you that you lied to me?

The questioner: I say this conference lied to you ... .

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh: I do not hold a grudge against you now, but I want to clarify to you that you should have done such and such, in the context of caution and prudence.

The questioner: ... I did not say that Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab is a hadith scholar, absolutely not, and I do not say this.

The Shaykh: Okay, and did I say that he is not a Salafi in hadith?

The questioner: This is what I understand, O Shaykh.

The Shaykh: You do not understand it, my brother, you need to be ... complete, so that you discuss the text first, you prove that I said this text, and you tell me where I said it; so that we answer about it, either we tell you this is correct and we defend it, or we tell you we ask Allah to forgive us because it is a mistake, .

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good, O Shaykh.

The Shaykh : And beware of that.

The questioner: I and others who have seen this speech ... .

The Shaykh: Without a doubt, I have not heard this speech except in this period in this country.

The questioner: ... We love you for the sake of Allah, O Shaykh.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good.

The questioner: ... But when I saw the speech, I did not look into it until ... informed me about it, he opened it for me, and said to me: Look at what he saysThe Shaykh : Al-Albani.

The Shaykh: Okay, in any case; shorten it, shorten it for him, shorten it for him if it is established.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : And beware of that.