Muhammad Zahri al-Najjar and Shaykh al-Albani.

The Shaykh : A man named Muhammad Zahri al-Najjar; perhaps some of the people present remember this name, because later he became a student at al-Azhar and graduated from al-Azhar. He began annotating some hadith books. For example, he printed the book *Sharh Ma'ani al-Athar* by Abu Ja'far al-Tahawi, which had been printed in India. He printed it in Egypt in volumes and added some annotations to it. I did not know this man, Muhammad Zahri al-Najjar, before. My first meeting with him was at a book seller in Damascus, whom I visited frequently. One time when I went to him, I found he had customers, among them a man who offered him a book to sell to the bookstore owner. It was a book by al-Qasimi, that Najdi who later became an innovator. What was the name of the book? I do not recall the name now. The point is, he offered it so that I would buy it. My heart leapt for the book, because I had information about this man, before he deviated, that he was a Salafi and a strong debater. He had a book titled *Shuyukh al-Azhar*, in which he refuted them with a scholarly response. The point is, as soon as I saw this book and the author's name, I said to the bookstore owner, "If you buy it from him, I will buy it from you." He heard this from me, took me aside from the shop, and began advising me. I was a young man at the time, as they say, after my mustache and beard had grown a little here; this is better than I am now, you see, I am very light. He said to me, "These are Wahhabis. These people deny tawassul (seeking nearness to Allah through a means) and so on," and he began listing some of their defects in his view. When I stood up to respond to him, he was surprised by me. He was a student of knowledge, wearing a black robe and a white turban. Indeed, he was a strong student of knowledge, Hanafi in madhhab (school of jurisprudence), and he was surprised by my response to him. Of course, I silenced him. My second meeting was in front of my brother Abu Ja'far al-Mansur's shop in al-Miskah.

The questioner : Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace. The occasion arose regarding the addition of sending blessings upon the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) after the adhan (the call to prayer). And this man, as I later learned, was a neighbor of this elderly Shaykh with an iron temperament, named 'Abd al-Fattah al-Imam, who has some books. In the School of Tailors in Damascus, this school has a mosque. The school has a corridor above rows of rooms for the students. Shaykh 'Abd al-Fattah al-Imam had taken a room. Of course, this has lost its effect and its system; it now gives rooms to some people, students of knowledge as individuals. Shaykh 'Abd al-Fattah took an eastern room, and this Muhammad Zahri al-Najjar took a western room. Between them was a disagreement that forged iron. 'Abd al-Fattah al-Imam was a Salafi... and hot-tempered. That one was cold, Hanafi, and Shadhili, combining both misfortunes. But there was no severance between them, though there was no agreement or harmony. It appears, or I am certain, that later I learned that Shaykh Muhammad Zahri came after the two times I had met him. He said to Shaykh 'Abd al-Fattah, "I have found for you a young Wahhabi who will please you, O Shaykh 'Abd al-Fattah. And he adds to that that I do not bring him a hadith (a report of the Prophet's words or deeds) but he says, 'This hadith is weak,' and 'This is authentic,' and I do not know what, and he has confused me."

The questioner : How old were you...?

The Shaykh : I mean, younger than you. How old are you?

The questioner : Seventeen years old.

The Shaykh : I mean, around that age. The point is, Shaykh 'Abd al-Fattah did not believe it. He heard about this person, especially when he heard about the merit of the hadith. One day he came to me at the shop, and I was working. It was the first time I saw him. "Peace be upon you." "And upon you be peace." He took a pocket watch out of his pocket. Pocket watches are finished today; today we have wristwatches. He took it out and said to me, "Look at this watch for me. I have repaired it repeatedly and repeatedly, and they did not advise me about it." I, as usual, naturally took the watch and took the knife that opens the cover, and put on the magnifying glass. Because of the sharpness of his character, he said to me, "Put the watch down. I am not coming for it." (The Shaykh and the students laugh). I said to him, "May Allah reward you with good, if Allah wills." He said, "I have heard things about you, and I want to verify them." I said to him, "Please." He said, "What is your opinion of the mawlid?" I said to him,

The questioner : ...

The Shaykh : Yes, and so the matter did not last long. I mean, he was like what he had heard and more. He said to me, "And I heard that you have a study in hadith." I said to him, "By Allah, some of it." He said to me, "I have a book titled *The Voice of Nature Calls to the Greatness of Allah*. It is a printed book. This is indeed so, and in a beautiful modern style. But I have no value for it, because with this voice he proves tawhid al-rububiyyah (oneness of lordship). Tawhid al-rububiyyah is something people are created with, and we are in need of tawhid al-uluhiyyah (oneness of worship) and tawhid al-asma' wa al-sifat (oneness of the names and attributes). But the book is beneficial and not harmful." He said to me, "I have this book and I have hadiths, and I want to hold sessions with you in order to extract them, and as they say in our land in Sham, without a long story, we agreed with him that every Friday after the prayer we would gather at his place. And here is the point. We set the table and we sit, him and I, facing the table between me and him. He reads from the book. Shaykh Muhammad Zahri al-Najjar comes out of his room, and he walks around the rooms like this on one side and like this on the other, the second floor. And here is a heavenly space, and below is a courtyard, in the old style. He goes around in a circle and comes out to the market. He just sees us sitting here together. He looks with a look that has meaning, as if his state is saying, "What have we done? We were in a misfortune and we became in two misfortunes." (He laughs). But the point is with our friend 'Abd al-Fattah. When I saw the Shaykh passing by, I would call him and say, "Please, O Shaykh Muhammad." He would smile a smile like this, cold, meaning he did not like this session. What could he do in it? And he would leave. Shaykh 'Abd al-Fattah... leave him, there is no good from him. I have been working on him for six months, there is no good from him, leave him. And he would shout at the top of his voice. I would say to him, "O Shaykh 'Abd al-Fattah, matters are tied to their times, and they need patience and need long temper." With my frequent visits to Shaykh 'Abd al-Fattah to trace the book to its sources repeatedly, Shaykh Zahri would pass by us. And I would call him the first time, the second time, the third time. In the end, I hung the net, and he came and attended with us. And he began to attend with us. And we would sit and discuss. Shaykh 'Abd al-Fattah with his shouting, and I with my cold blood, to the end. The man, as I told you, is a man Hanafi in madhhab and a strong student of knowledge. Then he is a follower of the Shadhili method. His Shaykh was Muhammad al-Hashimi al-Tilimsani al-Maghribi. We began to talk with him about the path... types in which you do not find good. The discussion between me and Shaykh Zahri began, first of all, about the path and dhikr (the remembrance of Allah). We said to him, "O Shaykh Muhammad, you are a student of knowledge and you say you are Hanafi. Well, do you not know what came in the marginal notes of Ibn 'Abidin regarding these people who dance with dhikr? That the earth in which they remember Allah in the mosque must have its soil dug up and thrown away, and after this..."

The questioner : Is this the saying of Abu Hanifa, O our Shaykh?

The Shaykh : No, this is the view of the later scholars, because Abu Hanifah did not see these bad scenes. After this, he mentioned it or learned about it, I do not know. I told him about a treatise by Shaykh Muhammad al-Halabi, the author of a small book in the Turkish expression, a Hanafi jurist whose style is completely different from the jurists, because he brings the issue and brings its evidence from the school, even though he is not free from following a scholar without knowing his evidence, but he took steps when he brings the evidence. This man is of Halabi origin, and by his grace, he authored a treatise titled "Sufficient for you from its content," *Al-Rahs wa al-Waqas for the one who permits dancing*, *Al-Rahs wa al-Waqas for the one who permits dancing* with such quotations and patience with Muhammad Zahiri al-Najjar, the man turned around and became with us. But he seemed to be slow, and he had the right to that. He used to attend the dhikr circle of his Shaykh, Muhammad al-Hashimi, and these Shadhiliyyah stand and hold each other's hands, and the circle ignites, going right and left, so you find the whole circle going and coming right and left. When we showed him that this is play with the remembrance of Allah, and they took their religion as play and amusement... he could not get out of the circle, but the veil was lifted on his turning around. He stood like a pole, like a pillar, a single unit, while the circle moved right and left, and he stood like a piece of iron. The man was revealed in this way. Do you see what happened? They became his group. I forgot to mention to you that this is from his politeness and knowledge. He was a candidate to be the successor after the Shaykh, as is their way. What happened to this Muhammad Zahiri al-Najjar? They started circulating talk about him. The talk naturally reached the Shaykh. The Shaykh sees with his own eyes, as well as for a wisdom that Allah wills. I was with Shaykh Muhammad 'Abd al-Fattah after the Friday prayer. We saw Shaykh al-Hashimi, and we learned later that for the first time he was visiting his student, for the first time coming to his room to visit him. When he left, the student came out to bid farewell to the Shaykh. After he bid him farewell, he came to us smiling. We said to him, "Tell us what the Shaykh advised you." He told us, as he had told me, that these are Wahhabi, the same cliché, a carbon copy. The Shaykh advised his student that these people must not be associated with, that their creed is defective, that these are such and such, and so on. Later, the person was appointed as the imam of a mosque in a neighborhood close to my shop, which is my father's shop, in a place called al-'Uqayba with us. Glory be to Allah, the news reached the imam of the mosque, which is opposite my shop, called the Mosque of Repentance, whose imam is Shaykh Sa'id al-Barhani, a student of Shaykh al-Hashimi, meaning they are companions in the way, and also in the school, both are Hanafi in school. So this Shaykh set the boys of the neighborhood against Muhammad Zahiri al-Najjar, so whenever they saw him on the road, they threw banana peels and orange peels at him, meaning they humiliated him. What was the reason? It became that when he called the adhan, he did not add the extra part, so it was said he had become a Wahhabi. The news reached Shaykh Sa'id, who was a student with him under Shaykh al-Hashimi, meaning he was humiliated. He could not bear this, so he left Damascus and went to Aleppo, and from there he arranged a trip to Egypt. In Egypt, he entered al-Azhar, and he was distinguished and strong in knowledge. He took the certificate and graduated, and he is still there. The point is, I was saying to Shaykh 'Abd al-Fattah,

The questioner : he is alive and well now.

The Shaykh : Yes, as far as I know, and I have no new news. The point is, I was saying to Shaykh 'Abd al-Fattah, "O Shaykh 'Abd al-Fattah, do not say there is no salvation. This Shaykh Zahiri has found salvation." Who would have thought that 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, with his extreme hostility toward the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), who was thought that Satan would fear him, would become... Therefore, the call requires patience, forbearance, and a long temper. The point is that our brother Abu Yusuf, may Allah have mercy on him, praise be to Allah who knew this result, that he rectified himself later. And this is the result of knowledge, meaning knowledge, and sincerity in it. May Allah have mercy on us and him. Perhaps he left behind someone after him to take his place there?

The questioner : From his sons? No, his sons did not accompany him in his gatherings.

The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar, there is no power or strength except in Allah.

The questioner : And we would sit for hours in his diwan, and his sons did not attend his gatherings, but they are not disobedient.

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah.

The questioner : For they are from the common people, ordinary.

The Shaykh : How old is the eldest?

The questioner : Twenty-five, twenty-four, meaning they are from the common people. They love the Salafi call, and you can say the eldest of them is... a Salafi, because he used to sit with his father.

The Shaykh : Good, praise be to Allah.

The questioner : As for the middle one, 'Abdullah, he is a craftsman.

The Shaykh : How?

The questioner : A craftsman.

The Shaykh : One who has a trade.

The questioner : And he works...

The Shaykh : Meaning he is concerned with his livelihood.

The questioner : Yes, he does not sit in the gatherings of knowledge, meaning he is an ordinary person from the common people.

The Shaykh : Yes

The questioner : And the younger 'Abdullah, this one is in the middle.

The Shaykh : The eldest?

The questioner : Yusuf.

The Shaykh : Yusuf and the second.

The questioner : 'Abdullah and 'Abd al-'Aziz, the younger one is 'Abd al-'Aziz.

The Shaykh : You spoke about Yusuf, 'Abdullah, and 'Abd al-'Aziz. What is his news?

The questioner : The youngest 'Abd al-'Aziz, they are all bearded.

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah.

The questioner : 'Abd al-'Aziz is also bearded, and he loves his father, and they love

The Shaykh : their father.

The questioner : Their father, and they love the Salafi call and belong to it.

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah.

The questioner : But they are not, meaning, like students of knowledge.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : Meaning, I do not call them students of knowledge, except only the eldest.

The Shaykh : The eldest, we consider him a student of knowledge.

The questioner : Yes, a student of knowledge.

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, and he has no one else but these three.

The questioner : Yes, these three.

The Shaykh : He has no one else.

The questioner : He has four daughters.

The Shaykh : Married?

The questioner : Two are married and the two are not married.

The Shaykh : How old is the youngest?

The questioner : One is eighteen and the other is fourteen.