The Ruling on Smoking. The Shaykh mentioned a story that happened to him with an Arna'uti Sufi.

The Shaykh : This problem you just reminded me of a story, I hope you can bear with me in it, if Allah wills.

The questioner : ...

The questioner : There was in Damascus a Shaykh from the Shaykhs of the Arna'ut Albanians, and he was in terms of scholarly fame among them in a position second only to my father (may Allah have mercy on him). My father was the most knowledgeable of the people, the Hanafi Albanians or Arna'ut, and after him was this man whose name isThe Shaykh : Sulayman, and he is the father of Wahbi al-Ghawwashi. He has some writings that indicate his Hanafi affiliation. His father, Sulayman, was completely different from my father; he was a talker, a great talker, and he would dominate the atmosphere of the gathering with his speech, even though he had absolutely nothing of jurisprudence, especially according to our way and our Salafi methodology. I do not say there was anything worth mentioning. Do you see the difference between the two expressions?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : What is it?

The questioner : Absolutely, and he mentions "absolutely" in the absolute sense; there might be something, and he mentions what is absolutely there.

The Shaykh : Well done, so that at least someone else understands it—laughs—meaning: We were in a gathering where the people there knew about IbnThe Shaykh : Nuh al-Albani, who is the one you have in your hands now.

The questioner : May Allah reward you.

The Shaykh : That he has anomalous opinions, one of which is that he says smoking is forbidden. In the gathering was a Sufi man, an Arna'uti Albanian Sufi afflicted with smoking heavily, and he claims Sufism. So I spoke with him more than once that this is forbidden, and that it has a foul smell and a foul taste, and so on. The room we were sitting in was full on all four sides, and it was a room in my uncle's house (may Allah have mercy on him). So he wanted to exploit this Sufi's presence,The Shaykh : Sulayman's presence. It seems he knew that he does not say that wine—excuse me—even though it is not a very grave error, it is an error—laughs—The Shaykh : (may Allah have mercy on him)—meaning that smoking is forbidden. He does not state it explicitly, he does not say it like that, and it seems this Sufi knows this man's opinion,The Shaykh : and therefore he wanted to arm himself with his opinion against me, and the gathering was full of people sitting. He said to him, "My master,The Shaykh : I want to ask you a question." He said to him, "Go ahead." He said: "Is it true that smoking is forbidden?" Here is the point now. He said to him, "If it is harmful, it is forbidden, and if it is not harmful, it is lawful." This is an answer given to you.
Al-Halabi : This is where the horse is tethered.

The questioner: Okay

The Shaykh : This is not a good answer.

The questioner : I want to answer from your words.

The Shaykh : I am asking you, my dear, no problem, later, later you will give an example; because if I come with an example, I gave the same answer. I am going to admit that this is not an answer. I do not do like others and insist and say this is an answer—laughs, the brothers students (may Allah preserve them), and also Shaykh al-Sunnah al-Albani (may Allah have mercy on him)—this is an answer.The Shaykh .

The questioner : We learn from you.

The Shaykh : No, but you learn from me, not just the wording, you want to learn from me the wording and the meaning as well. This is one thing, and the other is you learn from me the wording and the frankness about reality. Do not say to me, "Ah, yes, this is an answer," like they say about us in Syria, "Your eye was your eye," meaning "Jikr." This is not an answer. And therefore now you feel, when this Sulayman said, "Smoking, if it is harmful it is forbidden, and if it is not harmful it is not forbidden," you feel with me completely in this detail that this is not an answer. Why? BecauseThe questioner : What is understood by this answer? Nothing. And therefore I replied toThe Shaykh : Sulayman, and my reply to him was when I was a young boy, maybe my age was sixteen or seventeen years old. My reply to him was what angered my uncle against me, that I did rudeness withThe Shaykh : in his house, and these people are very zealous for the formalities of the non-Arab Shaykhs. Where is Ghazi Effendi? Not here.

The questioner : ... The Shaykh : Abu Hudhayfah said ... directly.

The Shaykh : In summary:—laughs—I said to him, "Shaykh Sulayman, the man asked you to benefit from you, so he wants to know whether smoking is forbidden or lawful? When you conditioned the issue with harm for prohibition, and no harm for permissibility, it means you did not give him an answer. Now I am asking you on his behalf: Does smoking harm or not? We left the lawful and the forbidden. Does smoking harm or not? He did not answer, he became angry and agitated, and so on. Why? Because he knew he had fallen into the trap.

The questioner : He knew he had to answer.

The Shaykh : Yes, he had to answer ... because if he answered, he knew that he was going around and around the gathering when he said to them, "If it is harmful it is forbidden, and if it is not harmful it is not forbidden." So may Allah reward you.

The questioner : Okay, my Shaykh, a moment after your permission.

The Shaykh : Even if I wanted to complete the supplication for you, and you cut the chain of supplication.

The questioner : I am on the contrary, I hope you will supplicate for me.

The Shaykh : Okay, but you did the opposite of what you hope.

The questioner : Okay, Shaykh, supplicate for me.

The Shaykh : -He laughsThe Shaykh : I say, may Allah reward you. If you want to give an answer, think about it before you throw it out. Is this suitable as an answer? Then if your tongue precedes your mind, and all of us fall into this without blame, but leave a way back, leave a trench to retreat to in the end. If the question does not come to you, do not say, "Ah, yes, it is an answer," and it is not an answer; because it is conditioned by a condition, the condition may be realized or may not be realized, right or not? So how can it be suitable as an answer? We have spoken a lot.

The questioner : Okay, my Shaykh, a simple point after your permission.

The Shaykh : No, permission does not come to you in this way.

The questioner : Go ahead, our Shaykh.

The Shaykh : I said we have spoken a lot. Do you feel with me that the speaking has been completed?

The questioner : Okay.

The Shaykh : It is going, but it is not going. I am asking you a question, it is not going, it is not going. This is your style, it is not a style.

The questioner : What do you want from me, Shaykh?

The Shaykh : Now if I asked you right now, "Is the sun up?" you would say to me, "It is going." Tell me.

The questioner : Okay, I will say what you want.

The questioner : You want it up, up ... absent.

The Shaykh : -He laughsThe Shaykh : (may Allah have mercy on him)—this is the most difficult, there is no power and no strength except by Allah—it means, let me speak, like they say about us in Syria, "East and West," meaning like you want to speak, or you are the one who wants to speak East and West as you want. Like this you want the research to proceed, forgive me, Allah, supplicate for me for forgiveness.

The questioner : ...