The Shaykh Ali al-Halabi’s remarks on what took place in the first debate.

The Shaykh : And then the matter was over?
Al-Halabi : In fact, Sunday, which was the scheduled date for the debate, was the day my father passed away (may Allah have mercy on him).

The Shaykh : To the mercy of Allah.
Al-Halabi : So, of course, how could we proceed when everyone had gathered, as they say? My brother Wafiq went with some of our brothers to see what had happened. It was Allah’s decree that I did not hear the recording or the session. The session had, I mean, more tension and pulling than the previous sessions. In the previous sessions, I was holding my nerves back more, otherwise a period of time had passed in which we were known for our strictness, but the more one learns, the more one becomes... and so on. Although some of our brothers say that the leniency this time was a bit more, as some of our Egyptian brothers say.

Another questioner : Until it went beyond leniency...
Al-Halabi : So I do not know; I tried to be lenient in order to win over the entire audience through my style, because his behavior and the words he used were different. So I would state the ruling and tell the judge, "Look at what he says and what he does, look at this."

The Shaykh : And what was the judge’s position?
Al-Halabi : The judge’s position was that he would tell him, "Be silent" or "Do not do that." He said this more than once.

The Shaykh : It was, I mean...
Al-Halabi : So the point is that my brother Wafiq’s session was heated, and there was raising of voices and such. May Allah guide our brother Wafiq to good. One of the funniest things that happened in the session was that he would say, "As for the statement of Hasan al-Saqaf," and he would not say the word...The Shaykh : This made them go wild, and they would tell him, "Say it..."The Shaykh : And so on.