The Story of Al-Albani with Muhammad ibn Sarur

The Shaykh : Unity upon the word "La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah" and upon the Book and the Sunnah, no taqlid (following a scholar without knowing his evidence), no fabrication, nothing but the Book and the Sunnah, the methodology of the Salaf (the earliest generations) and the righteous. And Allah, so-and-so is saying such-and-such. Fine, if you have knowledge, explain it to him. As for his having made a mistake, it is not befitting for us to take him as an enemy. We must cooperate with him. That is what I see. As for the occasion of Sarur, for the first time a conversation took place between me and him. First of all, personally, I have not met him in my life except once, and that was the first time I entered the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia via Qatar, may Allah know, or somewhere else.
The student : Yes, Qatar.

The Shaykh : ...drop.
The student : ... .

The Shaykh : No, Qatar, may Allah know. The point is, before I knew him, I found a teacher, a professor in Saudi Arabia, and we sat with him for a little while, then we continued our journey. The point is, I did not see him except that one time. And from that time, I knew him to be from the Muslim Brotherhood, and he is Syrian, of course. Then he published the magazine al-Bayan. After my coming here to Amman a few years later, a person came to me on his behalf, the one who publishes the magazine al-Bayan, whose name is al-'Abdah, Muhammad al-'Abdah. Do you know him personally?
The student : I do not know him.

The Shaykh : Do you not know him personally? I got to know him here when he came to Jordan, to Amman. He is from Syria, from Mada'iyah. The point is, he presented to me a letter from Sarur, wanting to get my approval to print the four letters. Do you remember them?
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : The Book of Faith, and Faith and Knowledge, and Knowledge. I gave him the approval. This was his agent. He told me, "You have my agent so-and-so, we want to print some books, including your books or your researches." I gave him the approval. This al-'Abdah used to come here repeatedly, as if he was at the Islamic University, may Allah know. The point is, I did not feel anything from him except with us, who is al-'Abdah? As for Sarur, there is no relationship or any understanding between me and him except that meeting. And days passed and days came, as they say in our region in the Levant. And if al-Bayan is coming out with him, the magazine al-Sunnah, you must know this magazine.
The student : ... a disagreement occurred between them ... .

The Shaykh : Yes, and here is the point. al-Bayan comes to me, approximately in a continuous manner, or more than a year. The year did not start coming to me except since a year ago. And I hear of Saruriyyun, Saruriyyun, and I do not know what the truth of the matter is. Until a few days ago, it was reported to me that there are Saruriyyun in Irbid. And that means they are present, just as the saying goes, "If your neighbor shaves his head, you will be next." So the Saruriyyun disagreed in Irbid two or three nights ago. One of our Salafi (a follower of the Salaf) brothers in Irbid, whose name is 'Abd al-Halim, called me. I said to him, "I want to ask you, do you have Saruriyyun?" He said, "Yes." I said to him, "Fine, do they have a leader, for example, whom they turn to?" He said, "By Allah, I do not know." I said to him, "You must give me a detailed answer." After a day or two, he called me and said, "I called them and got to know one of them who split from them and started circulating among us, because he said he found that they have no knowledge and no fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), and so on. The point is, two or three weeks ago, the phone rang after 'Isha' (the night prayer). He opened the conversation with "As-salamu alaykum," and I said, "Alaykum as-salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh." I said, "I am so-and-so, Sarur, Zayn al-'Abidin." "Welcome, welcome." Good talk at first. Then he asked me a question. He said to me, "I heard a tape of yours, and here is the point, you say in it that I and Muhammad al-'Abdah went to London and published the magazine al-Bayan, then we disagreed, so he took al-Bayan alone, and I published the magazine al-Sunnah." I said, "Yes, I say this, and this is what was reported to me." He said, "This statement has no basis." I said, "That is what we hope for, that it has no basis." After that, I was unable to... I closed the conversation with him by saying, "This is what we hope for."
The student: Yes ... .

The Shaykh : Yes, and then I do not have scientific evidence to sit and argue with him. That is what we hope for. He said, "And also, it was reported to me, it was reported to me."
The student : Like this, in this language.

The Shaykh : Yes, it was reported to me that in your gatherings you say "Saruriyyun," and "not Saruriyyun," and you say "they do such-and-such" and "they do such-and-such." I said, "As for this, it has no basis, because I, to this day, here is the point, and I am speaking now, but the truth is, it is an answer when I might be asked. I say to this Sarur that to this day I do not know what the call of the Saruriyyun is, or your call." He said to me, "I mean, I am reminding you not to believe what is said about me or about the Saruriyyun." I said to him, "It is not my business to believe everything that is said." When I saw it like this, I said to myself, "So let me enter into the matter with him." And frankly, I said, "I see you, before anything else, prove to me or declare to me that he is a Salafi, that he is a Salafi." I said to him, "Also, that is what we hope for." He said, "Do you remember when the disagreement occurred between you and Abu al-'Udah because of the introduction to the explanation of the al-Tahawi Creed?" I said to him, "Yes." He said, "I was defending you with Abu al-'Udah and arguing with him, and I said to him, the truth is with..."The Shaykh : ... and so on. I said, "May Allah reward you with good, and this is your duty, and you have done it." When I saw him like this, I said, "Yes." And he also mentioned to me, "Glory be to Allah, I almost forgot that you used to say, 'By Allah, I do not know if this Sarur is a Salafi or a Muslim Brother.'" I said, "As for this, I say it and I still say it." He said, "I left the Muslim Brothers twenty years ago." I said to him, "That is also what we do not want, but the fact that you left the Muslim Brothers twenty years ago when you saw their deviation from the correct line, but this is not apparent in your magazine. Here is the point."
The student : Yes, there are remnants.

The Shaykh : Yes, this is not apparent in your magazine. And the other thing, I see you use: here is the crux of all my speech. I see you use the word "Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah" (the people of the Sunnah and the community). So I see that you should not use this word. He said, "Why?" I said, "Because the first thing that comes to mind from this word is that the intended meaning is the Asha'irah (the Ash'ari theological school) and the Maturidiyyah (the Maturidi theological school). The Asha'irah and the Maturidiyyah, and the Salafi call and its callers do not fall into this in the opinion of the majority of people. And you know that we are commanded to speak to people according to the capacity of their minds, as in the athar (a report from a Companion or successor) of 'Ali in Sahih al-Bukhari (an authentic hadith). Yes, yes. And therefore, I see that you should not use this word." He said to me, "I am convinced that using it is not a problem." I said to him, "This is based on your opinion, but I say this to you and I repeat it in your hearing, and I do not impose it on you, but I advise you not to use this word and to put a substitute for it, the word 'Salaf' and 'Salafiyyah,' so that first, your call is apparent, and it eliminates the attribution that I was hesitating about, whether you are a Salafi or a Muslim Brother. And by Allah, when I first presented my opinion to him, when he said he sees no problem with it, I said to him, 'I advise you not to use this word for the reason I mentioned, but rather use the term 'Salafiyyah' and 'the righteous Salaf.'" So he promised me that he would clarify that in the magazine. If he does it, what do we have against him? And if he does not do it, we record it against him. Who was with me here staying up that night? 'Asim ibn Abu Malik Shuqara. Do you know him?
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : I think the brother Abu Yusuf does not know him.
The student : I do not know him.

The Shaykh : Yes, Muhammad Shuqara. This is the preacher of the Salah al-Din mosque here with us.
The student : He has writings, O Shaykh.

The Shaykh : He has some letters.
The student : Letters.

The Shaykh : Yes, we can say about him here, with truth, that he is the preacher of the Salafis. Yes, and his mosque can be said to be the only mosque that follows the Sunnah (the Prophet's way) to the extent that there are decorations and so on. But it is enough for you to know, after patience and calling and so on, that the pulpit which used to cut off two rows is now abolished.
The student : Praise be to Allah.

The Shaykh : So he climbs it by two steps, besides straightening the rows and caring for reminding to follow the imam and the prayer with tranquility, and so on. His son 'Asim was with me. His son 'Asim married one of the daughters of our son-in-law 'Ali Khushan.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : So his daughter is now 'Asim's wife, and she was here. My wife went to visit her sister in Iraq, so I was left alone here. 'Ali's daughter, 'Asim's wife, saw that she and her husband should come to me here, meaning to keep me company and serve me a little, and so on. May Allah reward them with good. That night he stayed up here.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : So he was very pleased with this meeting or this phone call, and he wished that it be recorded.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : There was no preparation on our part because it was a surprise. In conclusion, may Allah reward you all, it is obligatory for us to bear the mistakes of our brothers. This is not based on the principle of the Muslim Brotherhood, where we cooperate on what we agree upon and excuse one another in what we differ on. No, it is not on that basis; rather, we advise one another in what we differ on. This is my answer to [the question].