A word by Shaykh Al-Albani urging a return to the Book and the Sunnah according to the understanding of the Salaf of the Ummah.
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : The truth is that this hadith means that renewing the religion does not mean bringing something new; rather, it means removing what has attached itself to this religion that is not part of it, so that it returns to being as fresh and young as it was. If that is the case, only scholars of the Book and the Sunnah can do this, because it is expected of the renewer to explain the religion to the Muslims of his time as it was in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). It is self-evident that one who has not studied the Sunnah cannot explain to people how the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) performed wudu, which is the simplest of matters, because these are practical matters. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) performed wudu in front of people hundreds of times and they witnessed it. If he cannot describe to people the wudu of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), or rather, if he cannot explain to people the comprehensive Islamic law covering all matters related to Islam, whether economic, military, social, political, or devotional, then it is even more certain that he cannot do that at all. This is a long and lengthy discussion in reality, but let us give a simple example. Let us say to any person who is thought to have knowledge: "Pray for us the prayer of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)." Some of our brothers present may be surprised that the person to whom this is said, if he understands himself to be a scholar of the Sunnah rather than a follower of a madhhab, will tell you frankly: "What do I know about the prayer of the Messenger of Allah? I will tell you the prayer we studied in the madhhab." If he is more ignorant than necessary, he must be a follower, because there is no way to learn except through taqlid. But if he is more ignorant than necessary, he will tell you that the prayer of the Messenger was: when he stood for prayer, he said, "I intend to pray for Allah the Exalted four rak'ahs, the obligatory 'Isha, following as a ma'mum, facing the qiblah," and so on. This is the prayer of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). But he is unaware that the scholars of the madhhab themselves said that verbalizing the intention is a bid'ah, meaning the Messenger did not say, "I intend to pray for Allah the Exalted," and so on. This poor man, out of his intense knowledge of the prayer of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), began it by contradicting the prayer of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). These are very unfortunate truths. If people knew them, it would encourage them a little to be jealous of the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and to care for its study, or to make the shaykhs care a little. Because we feel in reality that some people of knowledge, due to the weakness of their personality, are carried along with the current, whether that current is good or evil. We know this. Until twenty years ago, you would not see a khatib saying in his khutbah, "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said so and so, narrated by al-Bukhari," not at all. Even until now, some of you, as young people, do not know the history before twenty years. You see these so-called "minbar diwans."
The questioner : Sermons.
The Shaykh : Minbar sermons; you would not find in them any hadith with a source cited at all. But today, in many mosques, with many khatibs, we hear them say, after mentioning the hadith, "Narrated by al-Bukhari," "Narrated by Abu Dawud," and "Narrated by so-and-so and so-and-so." Those who did not experience the previous state, which was the lack of citing sources for hadiths in sermons, and the subsequent state of citing sources, know the reason. The reason is that the Muslim youth have gained a little awareness, not much, but as it is said, "The first of the rain is a drop, then it pours down," if Allah wills. The Muslim youth, who previously had no awareness, would hear the hadith as they used to. Even though... "The Messenger of Allah said," the khatib would descend from the minbar and they would say to him, "My master, Shaykh, who narrated this hadith?" This is a new bid'ah; the shaykhs would never ask such a question: "Who narrated this hadith?" "Is this hadith authentic?" No, and it has actually become particularly strong among us in Damascus, in the school of the Al-Ghara' Association. This is called the Al-Nikis Association... Al-Nikis previously. About twenty years ago, there were two students from Lebanon in the school who got to know me, and I was working in the shop at that time. They started visiting frequently, and these two young men, out of all the students in the Al-Ghara' Association, regarding authentic and weak hadiths, "Narrated by al-Bukhari" and "Narrated by Muslim," not every hadith narrated by Abu Dawud is necessarily as authentic as al-Bukhari and Muslim, and so on. They started attending the lesson as they used to. The fiqh lesson, he teaches fiqh, brings a hadith. "Teacher, please, who narrated this hadith?" Patience, the first time, the second time. Then the Shaykh noticed that these are being cultured with a non-school culture. He taught tafsir and he brought a hadith during the tafsir. "Teacher, is this hadith authentic?" "No, by Allah, and also..." In summary, they verified and checked and found that these are an infection from Al-Albani. What was the method? They confined them and did not allow them to leave the school. We did not see them except as escapes. What is the story? They told us what the story was. The point is that the frequent hammering on the ears: "Who narrated this hadith?" "Is this hadith authentic?" and so on.
The khatibs, however much they are human, have a feeling. Eventually, they found no way except to yield to the requests of these youth. Therefore, the khutbah must be prepared, even if it is just preparing two hadiths, even from an easy-to-handle book "Riyad al-Salihin" by Imam al-Nawawi, yes, the book. So, take for yourself a few hadiths from the book: "Narrated by al-Bukhari," "Narrated by Muslim," "Narrated by al-Tirmidhi." By Allah, it is a good khutbah. And this phenomenon... is now in the ears of people today from the khatibs, the teachers, and so on.
And we found this also in letters written that have no relation whatsoever to the knowledge of the Shari'ah, in literature, in language, in grammar. A hadith comes in. For example, this... in his time, a book of hadith comes to Shaykh Al-Albani. "Come with me, here in the letter there are two or three hadiths, I want to know their source." So, if their source is easily accessible, I facilitated the way for him; otherwise, "Refer to such-and-such book, refer." It became so that this writer also sits and works on books of hadith. The *Jami' al-Saghir*, he had never touched it, now he refers to the *Jami' al-Saghir*, and so on. There is a movement, there is activity. So, if we find that we, the people of knowledge, have a deficiency from our side, we can say that they can make up for this deficiency for us, and present it to us in a polite, soft, and gentle way. Therefore, I see that in every khutbah where a hadith is mentioned by the khatib, if it is your companion, if it is your Shaykh, if it is strange to you... after the khutbah, not after the prayer... "Teacher, please, you mentioned such-and-such hadith, can I know its source?" Certainly, he will not know its source, but you from here, and the second from here, and the third from here, your Shaykh will become, your companion will become, and this one who is strange to you will work on hadith... Why? ... Supply and demand...
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Because there is demand, so what remains is... And thus, our belief is that the Muslims will not return to their past glory, nor will their desired state rise, ever, except by the way of the Book and the Sunnah.
Indeed, Allah will send for this Ummah one who will renew its religion at the head of every hundred years.
إن الله يبعث لهذه الأمة من يجدد لها دينها على رأس كل مائة سنةThe questioner : Sermons.
The Shaykh : Minbar sermons; you would not find in them any hadith with a source cited at all. But today, in many mosques, with many khatibs, we hear them say, after mentioning the hadith, "Narrated by al-Bukhari," "Narrated by Abu Dawud," and "Narrated by so-and-so and so-and-so." Those who did not experience the previous state, which was the lack of citing sources for hadiths in sermons, and the subsequent state of citing sources, know the reason. The reason is that the Muslim youth have gained a little awareness, not much, but as it is said, "The first of the rain is a drop, then it pours down," if Allah wills. The Muslim youth, who previously had no awareness, would hear the hadith as they used to. Even though... "The Messenger of Allah said," the khatib would descend from the minbar and they would say to him, "My master, Shaykh, who narrated this hadith?" This is a new bid'ah; the shaykhs would never ask such a question: "Who narrated this hadith?" "Is this hadith authentic?" No, and it has actually become particularly strong among us in Damascus, in the school of the Al-Ghara' Association. This is called the Al-Nikis Association... Al-Nikis previously. About twenty years ago, there were two students from Lebanon in the school who got to know me, and I was working in the shop at that time. They started visiting frequently, and these two young men, out of all the students in the Al-Ghara' Association, regarding authentic and weak hadiths, "Narrated by al-Bukhari" and "Narrated by Muslim," not every hadith narrated by Abu Dawud is necessarily as authentic as al-Bukhari and Muslim, and so on. They started attending the lesson as they used to. The fiqh lesson, he teaches fiqh, brings a hadith. "Teacher, please, who narrated this hadith?" Patience, the first time, the second time. Then the Shaykh noticed that these are being cultured with a non-school culture. He taught tafsir and he brought a hadith during the tafsir. "Teacher, is this hadith authentic?" "No, by Allah, and also..." In summary, they verified and checked and found that these are an infection from Al-Albani. What was the method? They confined them and did not allow them to leave the school. We did not see them except as escapes. What is the story? They told us what the story was. The point is that the frequent hammering on the ears: "Who narrated this hadith?" "Is this hadith authentic?" and so on.
The khatibs, however much they are human, have a feeling. Eventually, they found no way except to yield to the requests of these youth. Therefore, the khutbah must be prepared, even if it is just preparing two hadiths, even from an easy-to-handle book "Riyad al-Salihin" by Imam al-Nawawi, yes, the book. So, take for yourself a few hadiths from the book: "Narrated by al-Bukhari," "Narrated by Muslim," "Narrated by al-Tirmidhi." By Allah, it is a good khutbah. And this phenomenon... is now in the ears of people today from the khatibs, the teachers, and so on.
And we found this also in letters written that have no relation whatsoever to the knowledge of the Shari'ah, in literature, in language, in grammar. A hadith comes in. For example, this... in his time, a book of hadith comes to Shaykh Al-Albani. "Come with me, here in the letter there are two or three hadiths, I want to know their source." So, if their source is easily accessible, I facilitated the way for him; otherwise, "Refer to such-and-such book, refer." It became so that this writer also sits and works on books of hadith. The *Jami' al-Saghir*, he had never touched it, now he refers to the *Jami' al-Saghir*, and so on. There is a movement, there is activity. So, if we find that we, the people of knowledge, have a deficiency from our side, we can say that they can make up for this deficiency for us, and present it to us in a polite, soft, and gentle way. Therefore, I see that in every khutbah where a hadith is mentioned by the khatib, if it is your companion, if it is your Shaykh, if it is strange to you... after the khutbah, not after the prayer... "Teacher, please, you mentioned such-and-such hadith, can I know its source?" Certainly, he will not know its source, but you from here, and the second from here, and the third from here, your Shaykh will become, your companion will become, and this one who is strange to you will work on hadith... Why? ... Supply and demand...
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : Because there is demand, so what remains is... And thus, our belief is that the Muslims will not return to their past glory, nor will their desired state rise, ever, except by the way of the Book and the Sunnah.