The Shaykh’s remarks regarding his interactions with certain newspapers that offered him the opportunity to respond to some of his opponents through their pages.

The Shaykh : These are personal matters... all of them, which our noble Shaykh, Abu Malik Shuqara (may Allah reward him with good), has revealed, leaving no room for any claim. If I must say a word on this occasion, it is that some merchants, yes, some journalistic merchants, urged me to enter the arena of responding to opponents with sweetened words, offering me a special column. I would have liked to have had the free time to respond to that desire, were it not for my certainty that most newspapers... if not all of them, do not care about establishing the truth and refuting falsehood. Rather, they publish whatever comes their way, even what is clearly false. The clearest proof of this is their publication of an article by that so-called mujahid, whom you know.
The student : Who do you mean? Ah, finished, clear. Ah, ah, clear, clear, clear. This one needs an exclamation mark enclosed in crescents, my Shaykh.

The Shaykh : Yes, so that it is clear: two large crescents around "mujahid."
The student : Ah, beautiful.

The Shaykh : One of them published an article by that so-called mujahid, who also published my picture through theft and embezzlement.
The student: Allah is the Greatest!

The Shaykh : This picture.
The student : A new picture, my Shaykh.

The Shaykh : Yes, yes.
The student : Did you notice the new picture?
Another student: By the way, how did he place it?

The Shaykh : What was that wicked one doing? I was sitting at the table, for example, and he would have one of the employees say, "Shaykh, Professor," and I would be leaning over like this, doing this... what was it... and we were.
The student : In the middle of the work, between you and him, he would take a picture of you together.

The Shaykh : No, that is impossible.
The student : No, I mean, for example, he would tell them, "Take our picture," and he would be like this. My professor, by Allah, you cannot rule it out, my Shaykh.

The Shaykh : No, but it was closed.
The student : For four days, my Shaykh, and then some would call, call, call.

The Shaykh : Wicked, I am telling you.
The student : I tell Umm Abdullah, "Tell him I am busy." She says, "Okay." Then she calls, and I am sitting there with nothing to say, so I tell her, "Tell him I am busy."

The Shaykh: Allahu Akbar.
The student : He does not give up at all.

The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar, he has amazing activity.
The student : Amazing, amazing, but by Allah, the article... he needs to strive, my Shaykh.

The Shaykh: Yes.
The student : He is looking for him, he will call now, he is looking for him.

The Shaykh : Do you see? The conclusion is that the clearest proof of this is the publication by one of them of an article by that so-called mujahid, who also published my picture through theft and embezzlement. He, or the one in charge of publishing the articles, titled it with the word, and in capital letters, "Al-Albani was among the Muslim Brothers." It is known to near and far that we do not support all party groupings, but rather we believe they are contrary to the explicit texts of the Book and the Sunnah, among other lies and fabrications. Especially since I had entered into an experience a few years ago when I published three consecutive articles, which you remember better than I do, in some newspapers.
The student : Bring it... the fourth authentic one.

The Shaykh : Here, a response to one of the writers who encroached upon the Sunnah. And then I was surprised by the owner’s refusal to continue publishing the rest of the response. It was three or four.
The student : Four, my Shaykh. Here it is written here, my Shaykh. He wrote it here.

The Shaykh: Yes.
The student : Yes, my Shaykh, I am with you.

The Shaykh : Okay, and then I was surprised by the owner’s refusal to continue publishing the rest of the response. And experiences like this are many, many. This and that is what led me to not involve myself in responding to those who are in the wrong, because they did not include in their responses anything indicating that their goal was to support the truth that appeared to them. Rather, it was personal desires. If it were not for this, I would have responded to those twenty-odd doctors, because they were polite in their response. But where were they during the fitnah of the Gulf War, and before that, the Afghan jihad? And where were they regarding the sermon of that poor man who is the head of the fitnah, when he explicitly denied that there are Islamic lands? He said, word for word, "I see nothing but that migration is obligatory from Algeria to Tel Aviv." And he said.
The student : I seek refuge in Allah from this phrase, my Shaykh.

The Shaykh : With this phrase, word for word, from his mouth. If I were given the choice, I swear by Allah that I would choose to live in any Arab capital over living in Jerusalem under the occupation of the Jews. Are these sayings not more dangerous, O doctors, and more misleading than the one who says migration is obligatory, which is the opinion of all scholars? Your silence regarding these sayings, which we do not doubt you agree with us on their falsehood and the misguidance of their author, among other explicit statements of his declaring the one who says migration from the Jews a disbeliever, is the greatest proof that your gathering to respond to the one who says migration is permissible, and your silence regarding that poor man, was not for the sake of Allah. This is a matter that has become clear, and praise be to Allah, to many wise readers. Therefore, all you who cause fear, I have kept silent, calling upon my Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He) to make the circle turn against the unjust and the wrongdoers, and saying, "O Allah, I am oppressed, so avenge me, and the outcome is for the righteous. And you will surely know the news of it after a time."
The student : Masha'Allah, very good.

The Shaykh : In the field...
The student : We will arrange it, my Shaykh, we will arrange it.
The student : But I have, my Shaykh, an idea that just came to my mind.

The Shaykh : They will say about us, "We arranged it, we arranged it, Halebun..."
The student : Allahu Akbar, my Shaykh, I have, I mean, now I have an idea in my mind.

The Shaykh: Go ahead.
The student : This, of course, needs a page, but it occurs to me that we add two lines in your handwriting with your signature after the last word here. Of course, the opinion is yours, my professor, as to what it is. And I repeat that what has been compiled here from my fatwa is a collection of my scattered words. So whoever quotes from me or understands otherwise is either mistaken or in the wrong.

The Shaykh : Under this.
The student : Ah, ah, under this. Like this, two lines in handwriting with your signature. What do you think, Abu Abdullah? And photograph them, my Shaykh.

The Shaykh : Ah, I have no objection.
The student : This one, I don't need it...
Another student: But I want this line.
Another student: Regarding declaring the one who says migration a disbeliever, or... from the other explicit statements in declaring the one who says migration from the Jews a disbeliever, is the greatest proof that your gathering to respond to the one who says migration is permissible, and your silence.
Another student: Migration from the Jews.

The Shaykh : Yes, put it down, write "from the Jewish occupation."
The student : Migration from the Jewish occupation.

The Shaykh : I am confused here.

The questioner : Okay, why not have this whole thing, my Shaykh, in your handwriting? Like this, it gets arranged, isn't it better?
The student : ... .

The Shaykh : Because the group is in a hurry.

The questioner : What are they in a hurry for?
The student : Besides that, there is space now. This has become two pages now. The message might have gone down to the printing presses.