In some of your books, you refer to Shaykh Raghib as (our Shaykh by ijazah). What is this ijazah? And what is your story with him?

Abu Ishaq: All right, Shaykh, regarding Shaykh Muhammad Raghib al-Tabakh, in some of your books you call him our Shaykh by ijazah. We just want to shed light on the nature of the ijazah and the shaykhood, and so on.

The Shaykh : The nature of the ijazah is purely formal. All ijazahs, except for a rare few in the later centuries, are formal and have no value. The man was a member of the Arab Scientific Academy in Damascus, and he would frequent Damascus for this occasion or others. He was among the membersThe Shaykh : of Abd al-Qadir al-Maghribi. He had a son, perhaps you have heard his name, Muhammad al-Mubarak. Muhammad al-Mubarak was, for a period in the life of the brothers there, the head of the Muslim Brothers. I used to frequent the Muslim Brothers and travel with them on their trips, and attend their lectures. Of course, the goal of that was known, which was to convey the da'wah to them. And so many of them were influenced. Muhammad al-Mubarak was among those influenced. Of course, to a degree. Raghib (may Allah have mercy on him), due to his frequenting Damascus, had affection between him and Muhammad al-Mubarak's father, Abd al-Qadir. So he would stay with them and visit them. As Muhammad al-Mubarak told me, in a session my name came up, and Muhammad al-Mubarak mentioned me with good words, saying this is a young man who is rising, and he has his concern and energy in the science of hadith. I do not know the details, but he liked me in this way in absentia, and he said to Muhammad al-Mubarak, "I just have to come, give the news to Muhammad Nasir, because I want to grant him an ijazah." So Muhammad al-Mubarak conveyed that to me, and the days passed, and he came and stayed at a hotel there in Damascus, and he called me on the phone at the shop and said to meThe Shaykh : Raghib has come. So I went to him, and I did not know him before. I greeted him, and he told me what he had heard from Muhammad al-Mubarak, and he said, "I like you because the science of hadith has become forgotten, and so on. And I love to grant you an ijazah." I said, "May Allah reward you with good." He was doing an ijazah in the manner of the shaykhs, but it was a book he had titled *Al-Anwar al-Jaliyyah fi al-Ijazat*The Shaykh : or something like that. So he said to me, "Read." Meaning, it was all formalities. I read to him in the same book, perhaps in some place. After I finished reading, everything was done. The printed ijazah is in the same book. It is printed with blanks, so he dictates these blanks according to the people.Al-Halabi : or something like that; so he told me to read, meaning it was all just formalities. I read to him from the same book, perhaps in some specific place, and once I finished reading, everything was done. The license is printed in the same book, printed with blank spaces, and he dictates these blanks according to the individuals.
[Laughter of al-Huwayni and]
— with al-Huwaini laughing andThe Shaykh .

The Shaykh: Yes, so I point to this reality and I actually use it as a weapon against these poor people, who know that knowledge is what is received directly from the shaykhs, and even if they are not scholars, the matter is the same; I actually came out with an unbearable situation in Damascus regarding those who have no knowledge of hadith science; so I came out to them with the tone that this is authentic and this is weak and this is fabricated; and then this such-and-such issue is contrary to the Sunnah; and among that was what you know from the book "Warning the Prostrator from Taking Graves as Mosques," so I boycotted the Umayyad Mosque there and I no longer prayed in it during the time my father used to take me along for the sake of seeking blessing in praying there, because it came in the marginal notes of Ibn 'Abidin that "prayer in the Mosque of the Umayyads is equal to seventy thousand prayers." I said: Glory be to Allah, I say these shaykhs, how many are they in clear misguidance, they hear the hadith in Sahih Muslim . What did the Umayyad Mosque bring, seventy thousand prayers, more than the Prophet's Mosque? The point is that these issues caused a storm there and made people stand and sit, especially my father (may Allah have mercy on him) and his companion; the point is that the companion now sent for me one day and said to me, I want you at the house, I have a broken clock, when will you come? He said after Maghrib. I went and I found two students there, they were my classmates in the study of my father's fiqh and receiving the Qur'an with tajwid; I greeted him and his room was very far and very wide, I sat at the door and he was there in the corner, he cut off the lesson and said I want to speak to you a few words, do not be upset or angry; I said to him, good, if Allah wills, what is there? He said why did you leave your madhhab? I said I have no news.
How did I leave my madhhab? I am still a Hanafi. He said, "No, you raise your hands in prayer. This is among the things that came out and they took issue with me for it. And some of them said this deserves forty lashes because he left the Hanafi madhhab." I said to him, "My brother, I did not leave the Hanafi madhhab." He said, "You raise your hands." I said to him, "I raise my hands, but I do not, for example, turn my back. And most of the issues that I hold according to my previous study, one issue takes me out of my madhhab, and hundreds of issues do not keep me in my madhhab." And we entered into a discussion with him. He said to me, "You are not going to do ijtihad. Who are you and what is this, and I have been doing this for twenty years." And here is the point: twenty years broke my knee in front of the shaykhs, and I still do not dispense with

The Shaykh : Where are you? You have not studied, and you are still young, and so on. I was searching with him, and he was overcome by heat. A picture I will never forget: at the time he said, "I just want to speak to you a few words, do not be upset by them," he was there in the corner, then he would move like this, crawling like a small child. And I leaned my back against the wall and raised my leg like this until he reached me, and he was speaking with me, saying, "It is not like this. Where was it and where did it go? What is the reason?" Because he was fed up; they have no argument, they have no words. So the point is, this ijazah gives some people a stone in the mouth, that this person has no shaykh. So I say to them, "I have a shaykh in the ijazahThe Shaykh : Where are you, you have not studied and you are still young, and so on; then I was searching with him and he was having a fever, and an image I will never forget, at the time he said, but I want to speak to you a few words, do not be upset by them; he was there in the corner and then he would move like this, crawling like a small child, and I had my back against the wall and my leg raised like this until he reached me and he was speaking to me and saying it will not be like this, where was it and where did it go, what is the reason? Because he is fed up, they have no argument, they have no words; so the point is that this license gives some people a stone that this has no shaykh; so I say to you, there is a shaykh in the license.The Shaykh : the author of the History of Aleppo, and so on. But the truth is, I feel that some people ask me for an ijazah. I tell them, first, I am not accustomed to giving an ijazah. And then, I see giving an ijazah as extreme foolishness. Because this ijazah does not give knowledge, but it gives a form: "By Allah, so-and-so is licensed from so-and-so." What do the common people understand? "By Allah, this one is licensed from so-and-so." And the more licensors there are, the higher the sky of the licensed one, even though "stay in your place." I do not benefit from this ijazah at all, but he benefits from his ijtihad. "Establish the prayer." This is the story, meaning, of Raghib.Al-Halabi : the author of the History of Aleppo and so on; but the truth is I feel that some people ask me for a license, I tell them first, I am not accustomed to giving a license, and then I see giving a license as extreme foolishness; because this license does not give knowledge, it only gives a form, and Allah, so-and-so is licensed from so-and-so; what do the general people understand, Allah, this one is licensed from so-and-so, and the more licensors there are, the higher the sky of the licensed one, even though "stay in your place"; I do not benefit anything from this license, but he benefits from his ijtihad, "establish the prayer," this is a story, meaning a seeker.