The Shaykh’s (may Allah have mercy on him) discussion with one of the preachers regarding the evidence on which he based his ruling on the obligation of emigrating from Palestine

The Shaykh: All right, let us hear your argument for why I am wrong, and I have heard the verse and the hadiths.
The student: Yes, my belief, which I have placed before Allah, just as you have placed your belief before Allah, is that the people of Palestine who remained there with the intention of holding their ground and preserving its Islamic character, their reward for that is with Allah and will not be lost, by the permission of Allah.

The Shaykh: The issue is not this; you are going off on a tangent, may Allah reward you. I do not want that for you. Religion is sincere advice; religion is sincere advice.
The student: How am I going off on a tangent?

The Shaykh: First of all, my words are not specific to Palestine. I mentioned Algeria earlier, and I mentioned Libya. People from Libya have been in contact with me, and he observes the worshippers and observes the young men who do not agree to mix with the girls at the university, and so on. So, first of all, my words are not specific to Palestine. But my words are with you. You say, quite frankly, that I am wrong in my speech. What is my speech in which you say I am wrong? You go back and ask about your opinion of the Palestinians who are fighting the Jews, with good intentions, and so on. Our brothers here remember well when they ask me, “What is your opinion of those who are fighting the Jews and dying?” My answer is: “What, Professor? I say that their matter is with Allah regarding their intentions.” You mentioned earlier, in the context of jihad in the cause of Allah, . This statement that you are making: first, I said it before you; second, it is not the subject of the question. Allow me, allow me, my brother. May Allah reward you. Leave the stick in the wheel. This is not our topic. This is an interjection. Now, you said that I am wrong in my statement about emigration. So when I asked you in what way you say I am wrong, you started talking about your opinion of the Palestinians and the fighters against the Jews, and so on. This is not the subject of the discussion. How can you say I am wrong when I have the Qur'an, the Sunnah, the hadith, reason, the sayings of the scholars, and the consensus of the Muslim community that emigration continues until the Day of Resurrection? How can you say I am wrong?
The student: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) says: . So if the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) says this, what do we hear and what do we understand regarding anything else? If the Imam of the Abode of Emigration (may Allah be pleased with him and grant him satisfaction) says, “Every person is taken from his statement and responded to,” and you are no more than a person whose statement is taken and responded to, except for the one in this position, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Do not pressure me. May Allah be pleased with you. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) is the only one from whose statement is taken and to whom no response is made. Rather, we take his statement, place our hands on our heads, and say, “We hear and obey you, our Master, the Messenger of Allah.”

The Shaykh: Slow down, slow down. Enough of this tangential talk.
The student: No, I am not going off on a tangent, and, if Allah wills, I will not go off on a tangent. If Allah wills, I will not go off on a tangent.

The Shaykh: Allow me. Enough of this tangential talk. This statement, you are repeating it from my words. It is recorded on the tape. You have forgotten.
The student: I mean, if I mention a hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), am I required not to make use of it?

The Shaykh: May Allah guide you.
The student : May Allah guide us.

The Shaykh: I ask you a question. Have you not heard my words regarding the hadith of emigration?
The student: I heard it, I heard it.

The Shaykh: Why do you repeat the words?
The student: No, I am not repeating them, but my understanding of them is different from your understanding. You say that emigration is not intended , that it is emigration from Makkah. I understand that there is no emigration at all from any place. Rather, the one who confronts the oppressor is the master of martyrs, as evidenced by his statement (may the prayer and peace of Allah be upon him): . Allow me, my brother.

The Shaykh: ... an interjection.
The student: It is not an interjection. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) says: .

The Shaykh: Our discussion is about the master of martyrs. Our discussion is about emigration. Do you say that there is no emigration?
The student: No, I am the one who says that. I am mentioning the statement of the Messenger.

The Shaykh : Allow me.
The student: Go ahead.

The Shaykh: Do you allow me?
The student: Go ahead.

The Shaykh: All right, I mentioned two hadiths earlier, but take it easy with me, because I see you are of a hot-tempered nature, to the point that you have hurt your neighbor.
The student: I did not hurt him. He pressed on my foot twenty times, so on the twenty-first I told him to move aside. But this is your friend’s son. How can you anger him? It is impossible. By Allah, I considered you above this.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good.
The student: Believe me.

The Shaykh: Be patient. We have mentioned two hadiths, one of which is . Do you remember the second hadith?
The student: I remember, yes.

The Shaykh : What is it?
The student: I mentioned that .

The Shaykh: What do you say about this hadith?
The student: It is upon my eye and then upon my head.

The Shaykh: This is not consistent with your statement.
The student: The words of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) do not contradict one another. The words of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) do not contradict one another.

The Shaykh: Does any of you say that the words of the Messenger contradict one another? May Allah forgive you.
The student: These are two hadiths that contradict each other on the surface.

The Shaykh: I know that his words are contradictory.
The student: These are two hadiths that contradict each other on the surface, or are they not contradictory? .

The Shaykh: You are being deliberate, may Allah reward you.
The student: These two hadiths contradict each other on the surface, or are they not contradictory? Is one weak and one authentic? Which one is the weak one? Both are authentic. So, what is your opinion of these two hadiths?
Another student: ... We wanted to send you off after the session ends.
Another student: By Allah, may Allah reward you with good for me. It is not the etiquette of hospitality to send me off. If Allah wills, I will invoke good for you. This is part of honoring you. May Allah reward you with good. May Allah bless you, my brother. In truth, I heard, I heard from the Shaykh, if Allah wills, what did not rest me. But I see that continuing in this may mean, Glory be to Allah the Great, that he, in his visit, mentioned that when he visited the sick person, he saw what pleased him and then heard what disturbed him. So, in truth, I want to keep the rest of the pleasure that I heard, and I do not want, because, Glory be to Allah the Great, everyone has his opinion, and we ask Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) that we may stand at the limits of Allah.

The Shaykh: Do you hear me?
The student: I hear you. All right.

The Shaykh: You, as is the case, in religion, logic, and reason, you worship Allah as you wish. And everyone, you or I or any Muslim, his account is with Allah. You are now facing two hadiths. One hadith: , and so on, and another hadith: . You do not want to continue in the discussion of this topic, which has reached its end, and it becomes clear to everyone who has an atom of knowledge, let alone someone like you who has, may Allah be pleased with you, a large portion of knowledge, that the first hadith is not in the meaning that you mentioned. Because in this case, you would demolish the second hadith and invalidate it. Therefore, we ask you for two things, and I propose a suggestion: if you wish, let us hold a private session in which there is no one between us but Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), only, so that you may know that I am not the one who is wrong, but rather it is the other one who is wrong, because I am acting in accordance with both hadiths.
The student: I accept both...

The Shaykh: If you allow me, if you allow me, because I am acting in accordance with both hadiths and I do not strike one with the other. This is one of the scientific, usuli, fiqhi, and hadith rules: if two hadiths appear to contradict each other, it is obligatory to reconcile them by one of the methods of reconciliation. Al-Hafiz al-'Iraqi transmitted that there are more than one hundred ways in which two apparently contradictory hadiths can be reconciled. So now, you have taken the position of denying the second hadith. Allow me, allow me.
The student: I seek refuge in Allah. I am not the one denying it, but the truth is that I stopped at a point where I did not think we would reach a result.

The Shaykh : May Allah bless you.
The student: Allow me. You want me to state my opinion.

The Shaykh : My brother.
The student: On the topic of emigration.

The Shaykh: Allow me. The exact words have no answer. I offered you that we hold a session to complete this topic.
The student: I accepted.

The Shaykh: So then, allow me to conclude this topic.
The student: Go ahead.

The Shaykh : So I say: Just as I explained it, which is recorded, and your words are recorded. This is our book that speaks the truth. I interpreted the first hadith in the way that Muslim scholars interpret it, and at the head of the list is Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani in his book *Fath al-Bari*, where he says: " Meaning: to Madinah." Why is this? This is not ta'wil (figurative interpretation); this is reconciling this hadith, whose apparent meaning is as you understood it, with the second hadith, first, and the consensus of the Ummah, which I mentioned at the beginning of the session, second. Both of these compel the jurist, truly, to qualify the hadith. You know that there is the general and the specific, the absolute and the qualified, the abrogating and the abrogated, and so on. It is not permissible for a jurist to take a text and run with it. We often see, for example, some of the brothers asking a scholar: "Shaykh, what do you say about dead fish in the sea? Is eating it forbidden or permissible?" He says: "No, it is forbidden. Allah said: to the end of the verse." Then he asks another scholar, who says: "Is it forbidden or permissible?" He says: "No, it is permissible. Why? The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: " So what did we do? I am shortening the hadith because the point here is: what did we do with the verse? If we take the verse in isolation from the hadith, we say, as the mufti did, that eating fish is forbidden because it is dead. But if we combine the hadith with the verse, we arrive at an exceptional result: "Forbidden to you are dead animals, except fish." Where does the "except" come from? From the hadith. So the issue here is: "There is no hijrah after the Conquest" to Madinah. Why? Because he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . Therefore, I want you now, so that you have studied the topic in depth in the previous session, not the next one—excuse me—to place before you these two texts that appear contradictory. I mentioned the reconciliation to you from Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar and others. Then I told you that the Muslim scholars, the scholars of the Muslim Ummah, are unanimous that hijrah continues until the Day of Resurrection, and no Muslim can contradict this absolutely. I have placed this picture before you. I do not want to control you; on the contrary, I want to present what is before you. So you study the topic, and whenever you want, I am ready, and our brother Abd al-Rahman will arrange or set the appointment between us. What do you think?
The student : May Allah reward you.

The Shaykh : May Allah bless you. When do you want this meeting to be?
The student : I mean, during the coming week, if Allah wills.

The Shaykh : And I hope that this meeting will yield, first, an Islamic benefit and brotherly affection. Then you will know the injustice of the unjust, the oppression of the oppressors, and the tyranny of the rebels when they attributed to this poor man that he is a Jewish agent, the Shaykh of the Dajjals, and the Shaykh of the devils, and they cursed him, saying in the mosque, "What is this?"
The student : Even in cursing, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) warned against cursing Shaytan because he grows large and becomes great. So even from Shaytan we seek refuge in Allah. How then with cursing the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)? When I cursed the beast, he said: .

The Shaykh : ... .
The student : Glory be to You, O Allah, and praise be to You. I bear witness that there is no god but You. I seek Your forgiveness...