A Brief Account of the Life of Shaykh Abd al-Rahman Abd al-Samad (Abu Yusuf) (may Allah have mercy on him).

The questioner : We askThe Shaykh : The long question, if possible, is about the topic of Abu Yusuf. Is it possible for you to put it on a tape for us so that we can hear sufficient information, because we want to include this in a booklet about Abu Yusuf, if Allah wills.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : So, Shaykh, if Allah wills, will you prepare a tape for us?

The Shaykh : If you called me by my kunya, that would be better than calling me "Shaykh." I am Abu Abd al-Rahman, O Abu Abd al-Rahman.

The Shaykh : We got to know him while he was in Aleppo, and naturally he attended my monthly lectures, which I used to travel to Aleppo for. I had a system of traveling from Damascus to some of the northern countries like Hama, Homs, Aleppo, Idlib, and Latakia. The center of the da'wah after Damascus was Aleppo itself. So Abu Yusuf was extremely keen to attend these lectures. In my opinion, it was from there that he absorbed the Salafi da'wah. Then he was transferred or appointed as an imam in some villages far from Aleppo, and there he began to spread the Sunnah. As is usual, the mobs rose up against him. Every time he brought them a Sunnah, their unspoken attitude—and it may have been the attitude of some of their tongues—was . This would lead to some disturbances against him, until the result was that they would report his case to the intelligence services. The intelligence services would then send people after him to interrogate and question him. The intelligence services there, without a doubt, are not interested in a Salafi da'wah or a Khariji da'wah, but rather they are concerned that there be no uprisings, revolutions, or disturbances that bother them. They also do not know what lies behind these disturbances; perhaps there are disturbances against the state behind them. Therefore, they often try to silence these voices that call for the Salafi da'wah, to appease the public. Otherwise, many of them, deep down in their hearts, would admit that we support this da'wah, and so on, but we do not want to stir up unrest and commotion. This is a matter that happens with every da'i in those countries. Naturally, it happened to us repeatedly. One of the most important instances was when I began transferring the da'wah to Idlib, which is a large town west of Aleppo, about sixty kilometers away. When I began visiting it, some of the shaykhs and muftis there stirred up trouble around us. The consequence of that was that they sent a complaint to the Mufti of the Syrian Republic, who at that time was Abu al-Yusr 'Abidin. They sent him protests saying that this man comes to our town.

The questioner : ...

The Shaykh : No problem, but I am now giving you an example of what they do with the da'is, and I am one of them. The Minister of the Interior said to me, and I had a request from the Mufti, and this is something that makes the widows laugh, as they say. The Mufti requested the Minister of the Interior to strip me of my scholarly robe. He imagined that I was a shaykh from the shaykhs, wearing a turban like a tower, and a jacket like a sack. What kind of attire is that? The people of knowledge there imagined me to be like that. And I am there as you see me here; there is no special attire, because we see that the specific attire for the people of knowledge is one of the foreign innovations in Islam. So I laughed when I heard him say, "Strip him of the scholarly robe." I said to him, "Which robe? This is the robe you see me in." And he requested my expulsion to al-Hasakah. Al-Hasakah is a town in the northeastern desert, connected to the borders of Iraq. This was meant as a punishment for me so that I would not stir up fitnah. The minister said, "Of course, we will not carry out the Mufti's requests, even though the Mufti has his status in the state, an official status, and so on. Because in reality, I believe that your da'wah is a da'wah of truth, that is what he said. So our job, and this is the point, our job is to maintain security, and there should be no unrest or commotion. Therefore, we only ask you not to visit that town. Otherwise, we do not deny your da'wah at all, because it is the da'wah of the Book and the Sunnah, the da'wah of every Muslim." Sweet talk, good words. The point is, this is approximately how they treated Abu Yusuf. It appears, and Allah knows best, that I did not hear from him that these harassments he suffered in the path of his da'wah were what led him to emigrate to Kuwait. Then, as far as I have been informed, his brother-in-law followed him. And now I am asking about him; do you know him?

The questioner : His brother-in-law is there in Kuwait.

The Shaykh : In Kuwait, and was he constantly with his uncle?

The questioner : Like he is at times, but now he lives far from him and does not stay with him except when he comes to the majlis in the neighborhood where he is, or he visits him once a week at his home.

The Shaykh : I forgot his name. Do you remember the name of this man?

The questioner : It is recorded in my notes as Ibrahim ibn ...

The Shaykh : Yes, Ibrahim. Is he a constant, committed person?

The questioner : Committed, yes.

The Shaykh : And does he have a beard?

The questioner : He has a beard, a full beard, meaning...

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah. What I wanted to say is that our brother Abu Yusuf (may Allah have mercy on him) was one of the most capable of the brothers there and the most keen on the correct knowledge. But we noticed in him, or about him, I do not know, perhaps the days and circumstances polished him, we noticed in him a bit of sharpness. Is that so?

The questioner : He told us that.

The Shaykh : How do you mean?

The questioner : He told us that and gave an example of his sharpness. He said that one day he saw one of the people who smoke tobacco, and I remember he said, "I took the cigarette from him and put it on..."

The Shaykh-Laughter- ... Allahu Akbar. This sharpness is sometimes useful, but it is usually harmful. It appears that another person, who was similar in his sharpness, in defense of himself, placed a hadith attributed to his Prophet. He said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: -Laughter- Yes, and otherwise I testify to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) that he was one of the most sincere of the brothers I have seen, and meaning the most keen on the da'wah, eager for the da'wah.

The questioner : By Allah, we felt this, and this is not in one example, but in examples over ten years.

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.

Another questioner : Is he Syrian, our Shaykh?

The Shaykh : No, he is Palestinian, yes.

The questioner : ...

The Shaykh : He is Palestinian (may Allah have mercy on him and forgive us and him).

The questioner : And what was your scholarly relationship with him? How did he take knowledge from you? Especially since, as we observe, he was very influenced by your thought.

The Shaykh : First, I mentioned to you that he attended my lectures there.

The questioner : in Syria.

The Shaykh : In Syria, in Aleppo particularly, and sometimes he would visit us in Damascus, sometimes. But mostly his connection with me was due to my visits to Aleppo and his attendance of my lectures. He was extremely keen on that. And it is not hidden from you that now people become students of a person without seeing him; they become students of his books. On this occasion, a person I saw in the Al-Abbar Mosque, do you know him? Do you know his name?

The questioner : He is our shaykh, coming from abroad, from Saudi Arabia.

The Shaykh : I know him, but he is not Saudi; he studies in Saudi Arabia. Last year he met me and said, "Personally, I do not know you, but I graduated from your books." And one day, two or three days ago, and Abu Muhammad is witnessing now, he insisted on me, "We must visit him." He is from Ajloun, married to a girl whose father lives here, and he stays when he comes at the home of his uncle, who is the uncle of this wife of his. He insisted on me that we must visit him, either here or there in Ajloun. So I thought that visiting him here first is closer, and secondly, perhaps it will pave the way for conquering Ajloun later. What do you think?

The questioner: All right.

The Shaykh : So the point is, this person says that we are your students from behind the books. So do not exclude the possibility that Abu Yusuf was a student of ours in two ways: the way of his personal connection and his attendance of my lectures there, and the other way is his saturation with what he reads, meaning in my books.

The questioner : How many years was the relationship in Syria?

The Shaykh : This is something I cannot answer, because one of my faults is that I do not care about dating. Yes, so I do not remember how many years, but they were blessed years. As for how many years, I do not know. Yes, and he visited me here in Amman. Did he tell you?

The questioner : Yes, he told me.

The Shaykh : Yes, he told you.

The questioner : And he came for a special visit.

The Shaykh : And we hoped to see him more than that, but what Allah willed was, and what He did not will did not happen.

The questioner : The difficulty of obtaining a visa and entering here was what prevented him; it was difficult.

The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar. May Allah help our brothers, these people who call them family and then treat them like enemies.

The questioner : As for his relationship with you in the city, they also mentioned to us that you were there in the city.

The Shaykh : I was in the city, but

The questioner : Studying?

The Shaykh : Yes, indeed. I spent three years studying. I do not remember what this relationship was.

The questioner : I mean, he was among the people who used to listen to you in hadith, there at the university.

The Shaykh : Was he a student at the university?

The questioner : A student at the university.

The Shaykh : This is something I have completely forgotten from the college.

The questioner : And 'Umar al-Ashqar, and 'Abd al-Rahman 'Abd al-Khaliq.

The Shaykh : I know 'Umar al-Ashqar well, and 'Abd al-Rahman; these were among my students at the Islamic University. As for Abu Yusuf, now you are trying to remind me.

The questioner : He was with them.

The Shaykh : He was with them.

The questioner : And he went out with them.