The Shaykh Al-Albani’s statement that his scholarly discussions with other sects are beneficial for both parties

The Shaykh : Then, after that, something much stranger than this happened. You know, the youth tend to get overly enthusiastic about issues, right? So these people got enthusiastic about those, and those about these, and so on. There were some among them who were not with either group, but they wanted to know the truth. They saw two Shaykhs, or two groups, or two sects, differing. So why don’t they meet? Why don’t they come together? My position does not change, just as we told you regarding the Muslim Brotherhood and the Tahrir Party. People, let’s gather. And I always say, and I will always say: Any gathering I join, I benefit from it. Because either the one I am gathering with is more knowledgeable than me, in which case it is clear that I will benefit from him, or he is less knowledgeable than me, in which case it is clear that I will benefit from him by him benefiting from me. The matter is an act of worship, meaning, it is like a saw going up and down; the benefit is realized in both directions. Therefore, I do not look at the issue of whether someone is big or small, knowledgeable or ignorant; I completely set all these matters aside. That is why I say: Gather us, gather us. The youth got enthusiastic and went to Lebanon to look for the Shaykh, but they did not find him. Yes, of course, they found some of the big names. The answer was that it was difficult for the Shaykh to come to Sham and meet with the Shaykh. But they sent someone, meaning one of our scholars, to meet with him and debate with him. And indeed, they sent me a man from Tripoli, a young man enthusiastic about the party, and he was, as I said, somewhat impetuous. So we met at my shop, and we set out points, like methodologies for discussion, and so on. And we actually started, for one or two days, or less, or more; I do not remember exactly. Then the man stopped coming. The intermediary between me and him was this Abd al-Rahman al-Maliki. I asked Abd al-Rahman: “My brother, where is your companion? Did we end the discussion?” He said: “By Allah, I feel that the intelligence is tailing him, so he saved himself.” We said to him: “Good.” And the emotional battle is still ongoing, that they want a meeting, they want a meeting.