The Shaykh Al-Albani’s response to some of Sayyid Qutb’s statements mentioned in *Al-Zilal* (The Shadows).

The questioner : The first question, and both questions are from the book *Shadows of the Qur'an*.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : The author of the book *Shadows of the Qur'an* stated at the beginning of Surat Taha that the Qur'an is a cosmic phenomenon like the phenomenon of the heavens and the earth. What is your opinion of this statement, especially since it uses the particle of comparison, O Shaykh?

The Shaykh : My brother, we have said more than once that Sayyid Qutb (may Allah have mercy on him) is not a scholar, but rather a literary man and a writer. He does not express Islamic legal beliefs well, especially the Salafi belief. Therefore, we should not dwell too much on his words, because he was not a scholar in the sense that we require a scholar to be of the Book and the Sunnah and upon the methodology of the righteous predecessors. In many of his expressions, they are rhetorical and eloquent expressions, not scientific ones, and especially not Salafi expressions; they are not from this category at all. So we do not hesitate to condemn such an expression and this comparison. The least that can be said about it is that it does not mean that it is the speech of Allah in reality, as is the belief of the people of the Sunnah and the community, or that it is the speech of Allah metaphorically, as is the belief of the Mu'tazilah, that it is poetic speech. But I do not see that we should stand long over such a statement, except to clarify that it is not permissible in the Shari'ah and does not express the writer's belief in the Noble Qur'an. Is it the speech of Allah in reality or not? This is what I believe, and this is the answer to the first question.