A statement by Professor Abu Malik on the trustworthiness of transmission, and that the chain of narration is a unique characteristic of this Ummah, and Shaykh Al-Albani’s response to it.
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Abu Malik: May Allah reward you with good, our Shaykh, for this kind answer. It is perhaps appropriate that we remind our brothers, especially those who follow the methodology of the Book and the Sunnah, that the chain of narration is a unique characteristic of this Ummah. Were it not for the chain of narration, people would have said in religion what they have said.
The Shaykh : Whoever wills, wills.
Abu Malik: Whoever wills, wills.
The truth is that this chain of narration teaches us that our righteous predecessors, the scholars and practicing imams, did not narrate from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) alone; rather, none of them would narrate from someone of his own generation, or from someone below him, or from someone before him, unless he traced that narration back to its source with a valid chain.
This reminds us, in truth, of the scholarly etiquette by which this Ummah is distinguished. It reminds us that it is also necessary for the scribes or writers who write for publication these days not to take shortcuts for themselves. One person may come with a phrase, a saying, a paragraph, a sentence, or even a single word, and insert it into his speech, giving the impression that this word, paragraph, or sentence is his own creation. We have seen, our Shaykh—may Allah bless you—something astonishing, even from some of those who follow the methodology of the Book and the Sunnah. One of them will take many pages and include them in his book or work, omitting the name of the person from whom it was quoted. The person quoted may even be a contemporary. He may take his entire book and attribute it to himself, changing the style of narration or the style of composition between sentences, rearranging them, and perhaps adding words to connect one paragraph to another or one sentence to another, moving them forward or backward, spacing them out or bringing them closer, to mislead the reader into thinking that this is his own work!
This is undoubtedly, as you mentioned in your speech—may Allah bless you—one of the causes of the loss of the blessing of knowledge, the lack of action, and the spread of ignorance among people. That is because when a person takes the lead in writing, he is taking the lead in issuing fatwas. And if people are suspicious of this scholar regarding what they know, and this—praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds—is a virtue by which Allah distinguished our Shaykh—may Allah reward you with good—because you, praise be to Allah, do not quote a single word without attribution. In fact, this is also a unique characteristic that you possess, which we do not know of in any contemporary of this time: when you quote a word, verify a hadith, or attribute a saying, and then it becomes clear to you that there was a mistake in the transmission or an error, you quickly retract it. This is well known and customary in your books. May Allah reward you with good.
I wish our authors, who have stood up and are competing with the great scholars for positions and status, would take this unique characteristic from you, so that you would also be a role model for them in this. But I ask Allah that this speech they are hearing may bring them much good, if Allah wills.
The Shaykh : If Allah wills, in addition to what you mentioned about the loss of blessing due to quoting the words of others without attributing them to them—which we can call a modern precedent or a new innovation that scholars before did not know—besides this act, not only is the blessing lost from this knowledge that is stolen and quoted from others in a way of theft, but there is also a very clear indication that this knowledge is not for Allah (Mighty and Majestic). This is a very major problem: that this knowledge is not for Allah. Because if it were for Allah (Mighty and Majestic), they would not have fallen into the warning of His saying (peace and blessings be upon him):.
The Shaykh : Whoever wills, wills.
Abu Malik: Whoever wills, wills.
The truth is that this chain of narration teaches us that our righteous predecessors, the scholars and practicing imams, did not narrate from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) alone; rather, none of them would narrate from someone of his own generation, or from someone below him, or from someone before him, unless he traced that narration back to its source with a valid chain.
This reminds us, in truth, of the scholarly etiquette by which this Ummah is distinguished. It reminds us that it is also necessary for the scribes or writers who write for publication these days not to take shortcuts for themselves. One person may come with a phrase, a saying, a paragraph, a sentence, or even a single word, and insert it into his speech, giving the impression that this word, paragraph, or sentence is his own creation. We have seen, our Shaykh—may Allah bless you—something astonishing, even from some of those who follow the methodology of the Book and the Sunnah. One of them will take many pages and include them in his book or work, omitting the name of the person from whom it was quoted. The person quoted may even be a contemporary. He may take his entire book and attribute it to himself, changing the style of narration or the style of composition between sentences, rearranging them, and perhaps adding words to connect one paragraph to another or one sentence to another, moving them forward or backward, spacing them out or bringing them closer, to mislead the reader into thinking that this is his own work!
This is undoubtedly, as you mentioned in your speech—may Allah bless you—one of the causes of the loss of the blessing of knowledge, the lack of action, and the spread of ignorance among people. That is because when a person takes the lead in writing, he is taking the lead in issuing fatwas. And if people are suspicious of this scholar regarding what they know, and this—praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds—is a virtue by which Allah distinguished our Shaykh—may Allah reward you with good—because you, praise be to Allah, do not quote a single word without attribution. In fact, this is also a unique characteristic that you possess, which we do not know of in any contemporary of this time: when you quote a word, verify a hadith, or attribute a saying, and then it becomes clear to you that there was a mistake in the transmission or an error, you quickly retract it. This is well known and customary in your books. May Allah reward you with good.
I wish our authors, who have stood up and are competing with the great scholars for positions and status, would take this unique characteristic from you, so that you would also be a role model for them in this. But I ask Allah that this speech they are hearing may bring them much good, if Allah wills.
The Shaykh : If Allah wills, in addition to what you mentioned about the loss of blessing due to quoting the words of others without attributing them to them—which we can call a modern precedent or a new innovation that scholars before did not know—besides this act, not only is the blessing lost from this knowledge that is stolen and quoted from others in a way of theft, but there is also a very clear indication that this knowledge is not for Allah (Mighty and Majestic). This is a very major problem: that this knowledge is not for Allah. Because if it were for Allah (Mighty and Majestic), they would not have fallen into the warning of His saying (peace and blessings be upon him):
Whoever boasts of what he has not been given is like one who wears two garments of falsehood.
مَن تشبَّع بما لم يُعْطَ فهو كلابس ثوبي زور
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.