Who is qualified to critique the texts?

The questioner : What is your opinion, O Shaykh?

The Shaykh : The opinion is theirs.

The questioner : We agree with the group.

The Shaykh : The recording is in his hands.
Al-Halabi : With the approval of the group...

The questioner : I say, O Shaykh, I asked them to write so that the youth would be on clear knowledge. They said, if Allah wills, tomorrow, and then it became an indefinite period.

Another questioner : To whom?

The questioner : To those who follow the methodology of the early and later scholars.
Al-Halabi : So that we can clarify the matter, confirming your words, O our Shaykh. I wrote a letter to Abdullah al-Sa'd, O our Shaykh, asking him about his methodology as soon as, as it is said, his light began to shine, about eight years ago.

The Shaykh: Yes
Al-Halabi : Yes, by Allah, O our Shaykh.

The Shaykh : What Allah willed.
Al-Halabi : It was a good, pleasant, and friendly letter, an introduction and such. He did not give me an answer from that time. Four years ago, he sent it to me with a Jordanian who was working there in Riyadh. He told him, "Greet so-and-so and tell him the letter arrived and wait for the explanation of the methodology in the introduction of a book that will be published on the narration of Abu al-Zubayr from Jabir." And also, the book has not been published to this day.

The questioner : O Shaykh, O our Shaykh.The Shaykh : Sa'd al-Humayd is the one we study hadith with. This issue became a commotion with him. He asked al-Sa'd for sessions, and he told him, "In a week," then "in a few days." Until he wrote to him asking who among the previous scholars, scholars of the Sunnah or scholars of innovation in hadith, said this methodology and this distinction. He gave him the questions and never answered him on this.

The Shaykh : This is their methodology; this is their ignorance.

The questioner : And the calamity, O Shaykh, is if we say this matter is not exaggerated and does not mean we are taking the lead in this matter, except when we know that...The Shaykh : Abdullah al-Sa'd has there more than a hundred and a hundred and fifty attending him. So what is their sin that they follow this erratic methodology in hadith?

The Shaykh : I had heard a tape of him addressing these students around him, and they undoubtedly do not know anything, that it is necessary to pay attention and care for the critique of the texts.

The questioner : Yes, it is recorded, O Shaykh. I collected...
Al-Halabi : Our brother Riyadh listened to several tapes of al-Sa'd's tapes, then he selected, O our Shaykh, the most important points to make it easier for you to review them, because sometimes the tape gets tiring.

The Shaykh : Ah
Al-Halabi : As for these, you need...

The Shaykh : I had read something of this and said, "Woe to him." This is the critique of the texts; barely can the great scholars of hadith rise to it.

The questioner : Allahu Akbar.

The Shaykh : He is spreading this among the students who do not understand anything, and the truth is that in this time, the old Arabic proverb applies to many of the young students: "The small birds in our land are imitating the eagle." As you know, the small bird acts and imitates the great eagle, or as it is said, "It defecates before it is hatched," or as al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi (may Allah have mercy on him) said, "It wants to fly before it has feathers." Fear Allah, fear Allah, it is a fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) We used to complain about rigidity, but now we complain about laxity.

The questioner : Allahu Akbar.

The Shaykh : And moving without limits or constraints.
Al-Halabi : I say, I recall to you a word from a few years ago. We were in a gathering in the city of al-Husn, which is near Irbid. You said that regulated taqlid (following a scholar) is better than reckless ijtihad (independent legal reasoning).

The Shaykh : Correct, by Allah, it is correct.
Al-Halabi : Allahu Akbar.

The Shaykh : This speech is for you, not a critique.

The questioner : Never, O Shaykh. All the speech is from his tape. And there is an observation, O Shaykh, in the tape: he is weak in grammar. So I am afraid you will think that I am the one who wrote it. No, all...

The Shaykh : No, no.

The questioner : ... Abu al-Harith, all of it, O Shaykh, is present, and on the tape, with the tape number.

The Shaykh : I understand.

The questioner : Yes, exactly.

The Shaykh : I am now reading excerpts and snippets, so I am asking you specifically: is this speech his or yours?

The questioner : He says al-Hakim is lenient, and in fact, this is his, O Shaykh.

The Shaykh : All of it is his.

The questioner : All of it.

The Shaykh : Do you limit his speech to the old method or the new method?

The questioner : No, to both the old and the new methods.
Al-Halabi : He did not do anything, O our Shaykh. Our brother Riyadh... and not a word of his, all of it.

The Shaykh : Meaning he has no word at all.
Al-Halabi : Not a word, not a word.

The Shaykh : Ah
Al-Halabi : Except the name of the tape and its number.

The Shaykh : Okay, okay. Did you read this?

The questioner : Yes, exactly.

The Shaykh : And I saw it, and necessarily...

The questioner : Yes, exactly.

The Shaykh : I wanted to ask, so after this clarification, I ask: is the first paragraph clear?

The questioner : No, it is not clear, O Shaykh. It seems like just bullet points for him, meaning...

The Shaykh : Meaning just a claim.

The questioner : Just a claim. Now, O Shaykh, without interrupting your speech, he has his way of discussion. He says, "What al-Nasa'i was silent on is authentic." And he argues with the phrase of Ibn Hajar in *Nata'ij al-Afkar*. He says Ibn Hajar said, "Al-Nasa'i mentioned this hadith and did not mention a defect for it, so it necessitates that it is authentic with him." I said to Shaykh Abdullah al-Sa'd, "This does not necessitate all of this." So are the hadiths of the bird among those al-Nasa'i was silent on? Is it from this category? He says, "It is not the majority," and gives us a stretchable phrase, combining this and that.

The Shaykh : Yes, yes. O Allah, guide us among those You have guided.

The questioner : Amen.

The Shaykh : O Allah, guide us among those You have guided.

The questioner : O Shaykh, in Riyadh, they have become confused, looking at...The Shaykh : Now, he holds dictations. He says, "Narrated to us by our Shaykh Abdullah ibn al-Siddiq al-Ghumari with his chain," and then he lists them from memory. It is amazing, but this does not justify it. About two hundred attend him. Whereas our Shaykh Sa'd al-Humayd, only ten attend him in the foundations of terminology from *Alfiyyat al-Suyuti* and *Tadrib al-Rawi*. They finished all of that, even *Fath al-Mughith*. So they become confused. We tell them, "Attend the gatherings and read the series, not for the sake of al-Albani, but because it is explained in the series. And read *Fath al-Mughith*." They said, "There is no investigation, there is no methodology of the early scholars. This is ambiguity, this is rigidity." And these are their phrases.

The Shaykh : We seek help from Allah.
Al-Halabi : O our Shaykh, the word "investigation" and "sifting" in these later times, where there are not in the hands of the scholars of hadith who work in it except one or two books of the people of hadith, except a very few, so that they can let their tongues loose with the word "investigation," "tracking," and "sifting."

The Shaykh : Desires blind and deafen; desires and ignorance.
Al-Halabi : Allahu Akbar.

The Shaykh : Yes, some young men from Syria came to me. The biggest problem is that general awareness is not spread among Muslims, regardless of whether they have a legal or hadith culture. They think that everyone who speaks is a scholar. This means simplicity in thinking.

The questioner : Naivety.

The Shaykh : Naivety. Yes. This young man from Syria posed a question to me, saying, "Some people among us today, or before this, say, 'We know that one of the principles of usul al-fiqh (the principles of jurisprudence) is that the original ruling for things is permissibility.' What is your opinion?" I said to him, "This is the known view." He said, "A new idea has sprouted among us. They say the matter is not so." The point is not just this negation, but the support for this negation. He said, "And he argued with his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) " I said to him, "This does not support it; on the contrary, this proves that it is not permissible to set a condition that the Lawgiver has not legislated." He said, "He says that in a narration instead of ." We told him, "This narration, first, is unknown and contradicts the narration of the authentic one. And even with that, this has not proven the opposite of the rule." The point of my speech: I mean, your problem is that you think everyone who speaks is a scholar. O my brother, do not pay attention to everyone who speaks.

Another questioner: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.

The questioner : ... I conclude, O our Shaykh, that the thought of the early and later scholars...The Shaykh : Sa'd al-Humayd, that he is moving from Makkah, because we gave him the letters of al-Malibari, "Glimpses in the Sciences of Hadith," and the hadith to the end. So everyone who came with this methodology had a prior study in Makkah. Now, O Shaykh, al-Malibari wrote in Riyadh; as soon as it is published, the copies are sold out within four days. I tracked this by investigation, as they say.
Al-Halabi : Who is al-Malibari?

The Shaykh : Hamza al-Malibari. One of the apparent scholars from India, now residing in Algeria.

Another questioner : He was a teacher at Dar al-Hadith in Makkah.

The questioner : Dar al-Hadith in Makkah.
Abu Malik: There is a Malibari, I think, at Imam University...

The questioner : That one is in Madinah.
Abu Malik: No, no, there is one.

Another questioner : ... .
Abu Malik: Other than al-Malibari.

Another questioner : ... What Allah willed for him.

The Shaykh : Who is he?

Another questioner : ... In a narration, the one who verified the asceticism, O our Shaykh.

The Shaykh: Yes

The questioner : So I say, O Shaykh, as soon as "New Glimpses in the Sciences of Hadith" came down, they flew at it and it became, O Shaykh, as if he revealed what they were hiding, or one of their methodologies. He explicitly stated...

The Shaykh : Meaning, he agreed with what layer?

The questioner : He agreed with what layer?

Another questioner : Meaning, what does that mean?

The Shaykh : We seek help from Allah.

The questioner: That is, distinguishing between the methodology of the early scholars and the methodology of the later scholars. That is, more accurately, they do not give weight to the books of terminology and

The Shaykh: This is a new phenomenon, Professor.
Abu Malik: This is like what exists now in Saudi Arabia.

The Shaykh : It is this one.

The questioner: 'Abd al-Sa'd.
Abu Malik: 'Abd al-Sa'd.

The Shaykh: It is this one. The brother has copied it. May Allah reward him with good. These are tapes of one of the callers to this deviant methodology.The Shaykh : 'Abd al-Sa'd. You must have heard something about him.
Abu Malik: I have heard about him... I have heard from some... .

The Shaykh: Yes, I told the brother that, first, regarding his deviation in this knowledge and not placing things in their proper place, and second, this is, of course, contrary to wisdom. He teaches the students who attend his circle that we should not limit ourselves to criticizing hadiths by their chains of narration, but rather it is obligatory that we also criticize them by their texts.
Abu Malik: I seek refuge in Allah

The Shaykh: This is destruction of the Shari'ah.
Abu Malik: I seek refuge in Allah

The Shaykh: This is the methodology of the materialists or the secularists. That is, we do not doubt that the great imams of hadith used to criticize the texts, but they had capabilities and they had, I mean, justifications.

The questioner: They had... .

The Shaykh: ... If it is him, or anyone else of the young people today, how can these beginners teach
Abu Malik: There is no power nor strength except by Allah.

The Shaykh: Like this explicit demolition of the Sunnah. Criticizing the texts, which they now call in Western terminology "internal criticism," and this is an expression that, in fact, means demolition from within.

The questioner: He keeps going on and on, Shaykh, about the issue of criticizing the texts here.

The Shaykh : Ah

The questioner: The problem, Shaykh, is mostly that... .

The Shaykh: And he denied authentic hadiths, I mean, in this manner.