Advice from Al-Albani to a girl from the Sufi group of al-Habashi.

... This is advice fromThe Shaykh : Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani, via telephone, to a girl from the group of al-Habashi who was surprised and expressed disapproval upon seeing a book from the books ofThe Shaykh : Nasser.

The Shaykh: ... You must know that we are in the last of times, the end of times. And you must know, along with this factual reality in which no person doubts, another reality: that we are in a time in which the Muslims have become divided. Part of this division is something they inherited from the previous division, and part of it is a division that occurred in this later time, in verification of his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) in a well-known authentic hadith, the beginning of which is: So I hope you will stand with me at this word, which is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) described the saved group, which is one group out of seventy-three groups, all of which are in the Fire except this saved group. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) described it as being upon what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was upon. Not only that, but he added to that his saying: "and my Companions." Undoubtedly, holding fast to the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) alone is sufficient, and it is the guidance and the light. But since there are fourteen centuries between us and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and there are the many groups that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) referred to in the previous hadith, the Muslim must, in addition to his acknowledgment of or knowledge of the Sunnah, know what the Companions were upon. And so he (peace be upon him) said: This is because the Companions of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) received the explanation of the Shari'ah from his mouth, fresh and green. As for us, there are many intermediaries between us and him (peace and blessings be upon him). And these intermediaries, in order to distinguish what is permissible to hold fast to from what is not permissible, or what is permissible to cite as evidence from what is not permissible, led to the establishment of a science called the science of hadith, and the science of al-jarh wa al-ta'dil (the critique and vindication of narrators). Therefore, if we want to know what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was upon, we know it through the scholars of hadith, who connect us to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). And what his noble Companions were upon. After this brief introduction, we come to the example that our brother Abu Ahmad told us about, may Allah reward him with good. It is the hadith of the slave girl, established in the authentic books of the Sunnah, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked the slave girl: So you, following Shaykh Abdullah al-Harari, deny this which the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) approved from the slave girl's statement that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is in the sky, knowing that what the slave girl said is what our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) specified in the Noble Qur'an in His saying in the Surah "Tabaraka" (Blessed): And I know that there are ta'wil (figurative interpretations) of such a verse that come from al-Habashi and others. And here I say to you: you must return to the understanding of the Book and the Sunnah as it was with the Companions, whom the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) made a guide, such that whoever holds fast to what they were upon, following the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), is from the saved group. Did you learn, through the books of al-Habashi or others, that anyone from the Salaf (the earliest generations) denied this which al-Habashi denied, namely the statement like what the slave girl said, that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is in the sky? Then whoever denies that Allah is in the sky will be one of two things, and there is no third. The first thing: that he is under the sky, and this is explicit, clear disbelief. Or he will say that Allah is in all of existence, as the Mu'tazilah (a rationalist theological sect) used to say explicitly in the past, and those who imitate them recently say implicitly, not explicitly, where they say on occasion and without occasion, "Allah is present in every place," "Allah is present in all of existence." And this is disbelief, because it means the statement of the unity of existence, which the extremists of the Sufis (the Sufiyyah) say, and they are those who say there is no Creator and no created, but it is one thing. As some of their extremists say, "Everything you see between you is Allah," and another says, "Why did the Majus (the Zoroastrians) worship the fire? They did not worship except the One, the Subduer." This is because they believe the statement of the naturalists and the materialists that there is no Creator distinguished by His attributes from the created things, but it is only this age (time). And this is what the Noble Qur'an explicitly stated: regarding the first disbelievers. Therefore, denying the statement that Allah is in the sky, which is explicit in the Qur'an and the hadith of the slave girl and others, necessitates that these deniers say that Allah is under the sky, or say that Allah is in every place. And whether they say this or that, it is disbelief. As for when the Muslim says that Allah is above the Throne, He has istawa' (risen above the Throne), an istawa' befitting His Majesty and His Perfection, this istawa' and this elevation by which Allah is glorified when he prostrates humbly to his Lord, saying, "Subhan Rabbi al-A'la" (Glory to my Lord, the Most High), "Subhan Rabbi al-A'la" (Glory to my Lord, the Most High). What should the Muslim think and interpret his saying "Subhan Rabbi al-A'la" if he does not believe that it is a reality that Allah is above the Throne, but only believes that He is with him on the earth or under the sky, while Allah, as is the belief of the Salaf (the earliest generations), , He has istawa' (risen above the Throne), He has istawa' (risen above the Throne) in a manner befitting His Majesty. Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak interpreted this istawa' by saying: "Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) is above the Throne with His Essence, and He is distinct from His creation, and He is with them with His Knowledge." So Allah does not miss anything hidden on the earth or in the sky, but He is above the Throne, having istawa' (risen above the Throne). The summary of this word is that it is obligatory for every Muslim to understand Islam as it was with the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and his noble Companions, and not as al-Habashi says from his own opinion. And you are now facing a test. If al-Habashi or others say a word about one of the Companions, let alone a hadith from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), that Allah is not above the Throne, they find nothing except what is called the science of kalam (theology). And the science of kalam is a slip of the feet. This is advice and a reminder, and the reminder benefits the believers. And peace be upon you.
Abu Layla: May Allah reward you with good, O my teacher, and may He bless you. And peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.