Explaining the ignorance of the people of desires regarding the science of hadith, and speaking about Muhammad al-Ghazali and his story with al-Albani in the takhrij of the book *Fiqh al-Sirah*.

The questioner : Regarding the study, I mean, they say that in authenticating and weakening hadiths, we refer to Shaykh Nasser.

The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar.

The questioner : Yes, I mean, this is his specialization and field.

The Shaykh : You reminded me of the Tahrir Party when I was debating them in Damascus. I would say, "People, you want to establish the state of Islam, and it is the book by Taki al-Din al-Nabhani (may Allah have mercy on him)."

Another questioner : The State.

The Shaykh : No, the one he named is an old book.

Another questioner : The System of Governance.

The Shaykh : *The System of Governance in Islam*. Well done. He establishes rulings based on weak hadiths that have no basis. So how do you want to establish the state when your constitution is not yet clear to you? And I used to say, and I say, the research is long, and so on. You come back to me and consider me an opponent, and you accept my testimony that this hadith is authentic and this hadith is weak. So, this speech I quoted earlier is evidence for what we said earlier: they did not study the Book in light of the Sunnah, nor did they study the Sunnah in light of the science of hadith and the terminology of hadith, and the critique and vindication of narrators. Therefore, these people focus on free opinion and breaking away from the rulings explicitly stated in the Book and the authentic Sunnah. And I give you an example, or more than one example. There are two famous books in the Islamic world today, and they are of this type, even though they did not raise the title you are now announcing about them, but they apply it literally. Recently, one of them passed away, and we ask Allah to forgive us and him.The Shaykh : Muhammad al-Ghazali, an Egyptian. This man is a great Islamic writer, and some newspapers here and elsewhere, and so on. On the occasion of his death, they elevated him to the heavens because they do not know knowledge. And as it was said in the weak hadith, which is never authentic but its meaning is correct: You find writers, and there are many of them in this age, who think that anyone with a fluent tongue or a flowing pen can write about the Qur'an, the Sunnah, and the biographies of scholars, and they elevate this one and lower that one, and so on. The point is that al-Ghazali, with this global fame he gained in Islam, even the Saudi state gave him what? The King Faisal Prize. He received the prize from here and then set out to attack them from here. This man was establishing a school of thought, the title of which I mentioned, even though he did not title it. You find that he does not follow the authentic Sunnah, and his intellect rules over the authentic Sunnah. He does not follow the jurists, yet he claims to be with the distinguished great jurists, and so on. And his famous book, what is its name? It follows him.

Another questioner : The Prophetic Sunnah Between the People of Jurisprudence and the People of Hadith.

The Shaykh : Yes, this contains disasters, disasters from the jurisprudential side and disasters from the hadith side. It is a victory for some of the sects existing today, for nothing other than what the poet also said: "My love for her came before I knew love, *** And it found a heart empty, so it took hold." So this man's intellect took hold. This man is a rationalist, and some of the living follow his path and walk in his footsteps, heel to heel, behind him. So he denies hadiths whose authenticity is agreed upon and authenticates weak hadiths, and he states this openly. At the beginning of my scholarly career, I wished to do a work by which I could serve the Sunnah. One of our Salafi brothers who were in Damascus and traveled to Cairo and affiliated with al-Azhar wrote to me thatThe Shaykh : Muhammad al-Ghazali asked me to ask you to do the takhrij of his book *Fiqh al-Sirah*, and its first edition had been published. I am, as they say about us in the Levant, "not one to joke." At that time, I mean, but today, as you know, in any case, I accepted that with great joy. So I did the takhrij of the book for him, and he placed an introduction... in it about his scientific methodology. After presenting the introduction, he naturally elevates the status of the one who did the takhrij, as is the nature of all people. It is about his creed, it is about politics, it is about hypocrisy, Allah knows best.

Another questioner : He focused on it.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : The point is, he is like that. The witness says, butThe Shaykh : May Allah reward him well. According to his scientific methodology, he authenticated some hadiths and weakened others. But in my opinion, some of these hadiths are authentic and do not become authentic, and some of what he weakened are authentic in my view. He gives an example of when he authenticated a hadith from al-Bukhari: He says, "This hadith cannot be authentic. Why? Because Islam..."

Another questioner : ...treachery.

The Shaykh : Yes, Islam does not fight a people except after warning them. This claim is correct, this claim. But we say, where do you get that he did not warn them before? Where do you get that the call of the Messenger did not reach them? He stayed among their people for so many years. So your claim that he raided them and the call of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not reach them is merely a claim, merely a claim. He weakened the authentic hadith. So I said, "You claim that he raided them and the call did not reach them. What is your evidence?" He has no evidence. So it is merely a claim. He weakened the authentic hadith. Then I said, there are other authentic hadiths that the Messenger (peace be upon him), when he wanted to raid a people, would feint. And he (peace be upon him) said: or or narrations. I said, "Do you want the Messenger (peace be upon him), may he be far from that, to say every time he wants to raid a people, 'Take heed, I am attacking you, Allahu Akbar'?"

The questioner : No

The Shaykh: Yes

The questioner : Impossible.

The Shaykh : Impossible. This is impossible religiously, impossible rationally, impossible politically, and so on. So there is no doubt that we understand from these hadiths that the Messenger (peace be upon him), when he said that war is deception and a stratagem, does not deceive a people to whom the call has not reached, but rather he deceives the enemies of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), and so on. He came to another hadith that we weakened from the Sunan of al-Tirmidhi. He said, "But I see it as an authentic hadith. Why? Because its meaning is acceptable."

The questioner : Because I am an Arab, and the Qur'an is Arabic, and the tongue of the people of Paradise is Arabic.

The Shaykh : No, "Love Allah for three things: for His blessings, for His Household, and the like." Other than this famous hadith. In summary, we said, "O man, I met with him in some sessions that were held at the Islamic University in what is called the Supreme Council."
Abu Malik: The Supreme Council of Trustees.

The Shaykh : Yes, and I said to him, "O Shaykh, you spoke in the introduction thus and thus, and I spoke with him in detail about this speech. And I told him that you should reconsider, especially your rejection of the authentic hadith. And you have no proof that the Messenger raided them and the call did not reach them. And we agree with you that the Messenger, may he be far from that, would not fight a people. And Ibn Abbas said, as in Sahih al-Bukhari, 'The Messenger of Allah did not fight a people except after Islam had been conveyed to them.'" So he promised me well. But I wrote some comments, and to this day he has not fulfilled...
Abu Malik: Has not fulfilled.

The Shaykh : ...and perhaps he will fulfill it. And he moved to the mercy of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). So the point, O brother of Islam, is that this free opinion, in reality, the following applies to it: "It gives you sweetness from the tip of the tongue, *** And it slips away from you as the fox slips away." So this is a plot against the Muslims today. So take heed.
Abu Malik: O Shaykh, clarification...

The Shaykh : Please go ahead.