The Shaykh was asked about "Abd al-Rahman Abd al-Samad Abu Yusuf" so that he could speak about some of his positions?

The questioner : ... We would like to ask the Shaykh a long question, if possible, on the topic of Abu Yusuf. If possible, please put it on a tape for us to hear, as this is sufficient news; because we want to include it in a booklet about Abu Yusuf, if Allah wills.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : So, Shaykh, if Allah wills, could you just prepare a tape for us?

The Shaykh : If you had called me by my kunya, that would have been more pleasing to me than calling me "Shaykh" in my own mind. Abu Abd al-Rahman.

The questioner : Abu Abd al-Rahman.

The Shaykh : O Abu Abd al-Rahman, yes, indeed.
By Allah, I have nothing that comes to mind right now about our brother Abd al-Rahman Abd al-Samad Abu Yusuf (may Allah have mercy on him). I have nothing, as I think, that is worth recording. We got to know him while he was in Aleppo, and naturally he attended my monthly lectures, which I used to travel to Aleppo for. I had a system of traveling from Damascus to some of the northern countries like Hama, Homs, Aleppo, Idlib, and Latakia. And the center of the da'wah after Damascus was Aleppo itself. So Abu Yusuf (may Allah have mercy on him) was, I mean, extremely eager to attend these lectures. And in my opinion, it was from there that he absorbed the Salafi da'wah. Then he was transferred or appointed as an imam in some villages far from Aleppo, and there he began to spread the Sunnah. And as usual, the mobs rose up against him, saying that whenever he brought them a Sunnah, their unspoken words—and it may have been the words of some of them—were: . And because of that, some disturbances would occur against him, until the result was that they would report his case to the intelligence services. So the intelligence services would send after him, interrogate him, and question him. And the intelligence services there, without a doubt, did not care about a Salafi da'wah or a Khariji da'wah, but what concerned them was that there would be no disturbances or fitnah that would bother them, I mean. And they were ignorant of what lay behind these fitnahs, perhaps there were fitnahs against the state behind them; therefore, they often tried to silence these voices calling for the Salafi da'wah to please the public. Otherwise, many of them, deep in their hearts, used to admit that we support this da'wah, and so on.
... And naturally, that happened to us repeatedly and often. One of the most important instances was when I began transferring the da'wah to Idlib—which is a large town west of Aleppo, about sixty kilometers away. When I began visiting it, some of the shaykhs and muftis there stirred up trouble around us. And the consequence of that was that they sent to the Mufti of the Syrian Republic, who at that time was "Abu al-Yusr 'Abidin." They sent him protests that this man, I mean, comes to our town.
Excuse me, please go ahead.

Another questioner: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
And he was stirring up = -- All right, in the name of Allah, please go ahead -- = and the Minister of the Interior, naturally, sent me a paper requiring me to meet him at a specific time on a specific day. So I went to him, and he started talking about how you have activity in traveling around the northern countries in the da'wah, and in general in Idlib, and that you are stirring up problems and disturbances there.
Yes?

Another questioner : Abu Khamal was there.

The Shaykh : Who is he?

Another questioner : In Abu Khamal, Abu Yusuf was like...

The Shaykh : No problem, but I am now giving you an example of what they do to the da'iyah, and I am one of them.
So the Minister of the Interior said to me: And I have a request from the Mufti, and this is something that makes the bereaved laugh, as they say. The Mufti requested the Minister of the Interior to strip me of my scholarly robe. He imagined that I was a shaykh among the shaykhs, with a "turban like a tower and a robe like a sack!!" What is this dress? The people of knowledge there, he imagined me to be like this. And I am there as you see me here; there is no special dress, I mean. Because we see these dresses for the people of knowledge as innovations that have crept into Islam. So I laughed when I heard him say: strip the scholarly robe. I said to him: What robe? This is the robe you see me in. And he requested my exile to al-Hasakah. Al-Hasakah is a town in the northeastern desert, connected to the borders of Iraq. This means punishing me so that I do not stir up fitnah. This minister says: Of course, we will not carry out the Mufti's requests; even though the Mufti has his status in the state, I mean, an official status, and so on. Because in fact, I believe that your da'wah, I mean, is a da'wah of truth. That is what he says. But our job—here is the point—our job is to maintain security, and that there be no disturbances or commotion; therefore, we only ask you not to visit that town. Otherwise, we do not deny your da'wah at all; because it is the da'wah of the Book and the Sunnah, the da'wah of every Muslim. Sweet, good talk.
The important thing is that this is approximately what they did to Abu Yusuf. It appears—Allah knows best—I did not hear from him that these harassments he suffered in the path of his da'wah were what led him to emigrate to Kuwait. Then, as far as I have been informed, his brother-in-law followed him. And now I am asking about him. Do you know him?

Another questioner : His brother-in-law is there, yes, in Kuwait.

The Shaykh : In Kuwait; was he constantly with this uncle of his?

The questioner : He stayed with him at times, but now he lives far from him, and does not stay with him except when he comes to the Diwaniyyah in the neighborhood where he is, or he visits him every week at his home.

The Shaykh : I forgot his name. Do you remember this man's name?

The questioner : I have his name recorded, "Ibrahim ...".

The Shaykh : Yes, is he a committed, dedicated person?

The questioner : Committed, yes.

The Shaykh : Committed, does he have a beard?

The questioner : He is cultured and has a beard, I mean.

The Shaykh : Yes, indeed, praise be to Allah.
What I wanted to say is that our brother Abu Yusuf (may Allah have mercy on him) was, I mean, one of the most capable of the brothers there and the most eager for the correct knowledge. But we used to notice in him, or about him, I do not know, perhaps the days and circumstances polished him. We used to notice in him something of sharpness; is that so?

The questioner : He told us that.

The Shaykh : [The Shaykh laughs!] How, I mean?

The questioner : He told us that, I mean, and gave an example of his sharpness that he saw one day one of the people who smoke tobacco. I remember he said: I took the cigarette from him and put it on his body.

The Shaykh : [The Shaykh laughs!] Allahu Akbar!!
This sharpness, I mean, is useful sometimes, but it is harmful most of the time.

The questioner : Yes, yes, it may be harmful.

The Shaykh : And it appears that another person was similar in his sharpness, and in defense of himself, he fabricated a hadith and attributed it to his Prophet, saying: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: !

Those present : [Everyone laughs!].

The Shaykh, yes, indeed. And otherwise, I bear witness to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) that he is among the most sincere of our brothers that I have seen; and I mean, the most loving of the da'wah; he is, I mean, eager for the da'wah.

The questioner : By Allah, we have felt this not in one example, but in examples over ten years.

The Shaykh: Yes.

Another questioner : Is he Syrian, our Shaykh?

The Shaykh : No, he is Palestinian.

The questioner : From "...".

The Shaykh : Yes?

Another questioner : From "...".

The Shaykh : Yes, he is Palestinian. May Allah have mercy on him and forgive us and him.