The Shaykh’s remarks on Abu Bakr Abu Zayd and Shaykh Ali al-Tuwajiri regarding the issue of uncovering the face.

The questioner : ... In Saudi Arabia, there is a lot of this, especially regarding the face. They add to it; it’s not just two, they add three, especially concerning the uncovering of the face.

The Shaykh : What do you mean by "three"?

The questioner : They add a lot, not just two.
Al-Halabi : They added two. They added three.

The questioner : They say that even if a book is written on unveiling or uncovering, they putThe Shaykh : Al-Albani at the beginning in this regard. And I see that you are strict with many people in refuting these individuals, being very polite with them.

The Shaykh : Who are these people?

The questioner : Among them is al-Tuwajiri, and among them is ... .

The Shaykh : Where did you get strict, and with what?

The questioner : I did not get strict with him.

The Shaykh : Do you want us to be strict?
AThe questioner : By Allah, because he is strict. And especially in this issue, I mean, I say they exaggerate the limit in it.

The Shaykh : By Allah, people differ. These people speak about creed, even if they are mistaken; it does not mean they speak out of desire. Some of them speak out of desire, but the elders among them speak out of creed, unlike these modern people. These modern people, without a doubt, speak following their desires and defending their opinions. Therefore, those who discuss with us in a scholarly manner, we discuss with them in a scholarly manner. And to the extent of 'Azmi’s request, we do not get strict with him, we do not get strict with him.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good. I mean, you are responding to their responses from days or years ago, but we have not seen a response from you to many of their doubts, regarding Ibn Uthaymeen, Ibn Baz, or al-Tuwajiri.

The Shaykh : This is on the way, if Allah wills, in the new edition of *The Hijab of the Muslim Woman*.

The questioner : In a new edition.

The Shaykh: It is known.

The questioner : I mean, if Allah wills, you will mention it. Try, may Allah reward you with good, to collect ... .

The Shaykh : Perhaps the introduction will be the size of the book, and Allah knows best, and if Allah wills, He will help us with strength.

The questioner : Our Shaykh, the Saudi brothers took it as a custom, not as worship, and Allah knows best. We gathered with some of the brothers in Buraydah and established the proof against them with authentic hadiths. The brothers said: By Allah, if the scholars of the earth, Ibn Baz andThe Shaykh : Nasir, and everyone, agreed that it is permissible, we would not permit it. This is a custom we have become accustomed to. We said this is a custom, and a good custom, if Allah wills, but do not consider it worship, andThe Shaykh : do not say it is recommended.

The Shaykh : No, do not tell them not to consider it worship.

The questioner : But in the answer ... .

The Shaykh : But you do not tell them not to consider it worship; because worship has categories, as you know, and the lightest of them is recommendation. And we say that the virtue is in covering the face, meaning, but we say do not make it obligatory for all women; because the evidence for obligation is weak and sick.

The questioner : The brother 'Azmi says we should be strict with them ... No, no.

The questioner : The Shaykh : Al-Tuwajiri has sons from the great Salafis who loveThe Shaykh : with intense love, and one of them obtained a doctorate, and now one is presenting for a doctorate, and the truth is they have very good positions, and by Allah, they love you and appreciate you.

The Shaykh: May Allah reward them with good.

The questioner : May Allah bless you.

The questioner : ... Abu Bakr Zayd considers himself a student ofThe Shaykh : and one of the lovers ofThe Shaykh : , andThe Shaykh : always gets strict with him.

The Shaykh : I did not get strict with him, no problem, where is the strictness? Bring it so I can see, especially from the one who says I was strict. Where is the strictness?

The questioner : The Shaykh : Al-Tuwajiri, according to his students, titled his book *The Famous Strict Sword against the People of Tabarruj and Unveiling*, and he put that the uncoverers and the naked ones ... and he lumps Al-Albani in with them.

The Shaykh : Who is he?

The questioner : Al-Tuwajiri.

The Shaykh : We are talking about Abu Bakr now.

The questioner : I understand ... in his book on tabarruj and unveiling, he puts Al-Albani in with them.

The Shaykh : Yes, yes.

The questioner : I do not say the Shaykh said fanaticism, and said tabarruj, he says this in the introduction of the response ... .

The Shaykh : You did not remind me, Professor 'Azmi, where is the strictness that you are now denying to me regarding the man? What is it? What did I say?

The questioner : Among them is fanaticism for the madhhab.

The Shaykh : Did I say he is a fanatic for the madhhab, or is there something in the introduction? For example, perhaps we said that affected him, and you are seeking help from us that perhaps madhhab fanaticism overcame him, and what is wrong with that?

The questioner : I said perhaps he also leans toward desires.

The Shaykh : No problem, one by one, we will see and be held accountable for it. If I said he leans toward desires, I mention the issue of madhhab fanaticism, I may have said it, but I did not dress it up like this, I know how this man says this. I said perhaps madhhab fanaticism led him to it. What else is there? Desires?

The questioner : That he is biased, taking from the evidence what agrees with him and leaving ... , the important thing is we recorded them one, two, three, four, five.

The Shaykh : I see that it was necessary to hold a session where you discuss these errors with me so that we see if it is decreed for the book to be printed in another edition, if there is an error, we correct it.

The questioner : May Allah bless you, because by Allah ... .
Al-Halabi : Our Shaykh, visited meThe Shaykh : Abu Bakr Abu Zayd after the book was printed, he visited me at home, Subhan Allah, he mentioned something to me and asked me to mention it to you, but Allah did not allow me to remember it until now,

The Shaykh : Good, if Allah wills.
Al-Halabi : He says, by Allah, I did not attribute anything to our Shaykh and our teacher, first and last, but what upset me was the position of the opponents toward him. He says that even one of the students of Abu Ghuddah printed a seal, the intended one isThe Shaykh : Abu Bakr Abu Zayd, and bought twenty copies and printed the response, the intended one isThe Shaykh : Abu Bakr Abu Zayd, and started distributing them for free in order to show that look how your Shaykh, you say this, and this, and he responds to this, ... and he said some enthusiastic young men came to me and said, why don’t you respond? He said to them, I cannot respond toThe Shaykh : and defend myself or something like that, and I mean if there is something, I forgive, and so on, and he mentioned something, meaning.

The questioner : May Allah bless you, we are comparing al-Tuwajiri and Abu Bakr Abu Zayd. Al-Tuwajiri puts our Shaykh in a position of great difference.
Al-Halabi : I mean, after all that,The Shaykh : Abu Bakr Abu Zayd, may Allah reward him with good, in the book *Warning from al-Sabuni in Tafsir*, our Shaykh, this al-Sabuni, may Allah guide him, the Exalted.

The Shaykh: Amen.
Al-Halabi : He says, as for Al-Albani, he is such and such, and he speaks bad words, soThe Shaykh : Abu Bakr Abu Zayd says, approximately, words meaning, as for the global status of Al-Albani and his defense of the Sunnah and the creed of the Salaf, it is a known matter that no denier denies, and so on, and so on, and we leave the judgment to the readers, so we do not lengthen it, two lines but compressed with praise and good words, I heard you speak.

The Shaykh : No, that I read this speech, I do not doubt this, my brother, but for every occasion there is a speech, I mean, what do you say, by what can the point that I took withThe Shaykh : Abu Bakr be explained? What can be explained? I mean, his madhhab fanaticism, if you remember the issue and its details?
Al-Halabi : The issue of kneading and his weakening of the hadith.

The Shaykh : I say, return to the issue of the rest stop, he doubts it, and prioritizes research in it, and it is more worthy of research, while he took the hadith of kneading, which requires special knowledge and special study, so he took to tracking the error in this hadith, and that for example there is no kneading. Okay, there is no kneading, is there a rest stop or not? Why did he not circle around it?
Al-Halabi : Our Shaykh, he mentioned that to me; because he has a specific part on it.

The Shaykh : No problem, at least a reference, why does he not refer to it? This is correct, this is for example, kneading is not established, but relying on the hands is established, this is in Sahih al-Bukhari, why does he not circle around this? I mean, he takes from the words ofThe Shaykh : Al-Albani, he weakens it, and comes and responds to it, and the stronger one he does not refer to, and it is supposed that he refers to it, even if just a reference, and you heard that he has a part, we do not know what is in this part.

The questioner : In its non-acceptance.

The Shaykh : This is the most confusing point. So, if a person casts doubt on a well-established Sunnah found in Sahih al-Bukhari and other sources, and which is established in two hadiths or even one, by questioning the narrator’s reliability— I used to wonder and say to myself, why is he going on and on about this sensitive point and referring to the issue of placing the hands, whether open or folded, which is called the hadith of kneading? He casts doubt on it absolutely and directs the research to a specific part. I used to say that, may Allah know best, he does not see the issue of placing the hands at all; because this is the position of the Hanbali school. So, what came out of me was that it could be attributed to sectarian bias. And now my belief in this report I heard is increasing. Why? Not because of the weakness of the hadith; this is a hadith of al-Bukhari, it is authentic, and it contains the placing of the hands, whether the placing is like this or like that. Why does he not say anything about that? There is no evidence at all. If a person frees himself from sectarian bias, there is no evidence that it is obligatory for a person to stand up. And you know, he should bring the hadith of Wail ibn Hujr, which relies on the knees, and try to strengthen it.
Al-Halabi : I mentioned this and followed it up, as if he had brought seven wordings, when in fact it is all three.

The Shaykh : This is it. Then, with three, how does one strengthen the others?
Al-Halabi : All right, our Shaykh, perhaps the words of our brothers are based on what they know about him and his methodology, that the man is not actually affiliated with any school of jurisprudence. Is it not possible, out of good opinion of him, that we say his erroneous independent legal reasoning coincided with the Hanbali school?

The Shaykh : Yes, it is possible. And I did not assert, as far as I remember, that I asserted it; I said it could be attributed to his bias. I said it is possible that it was due to his bias or something similar to that in terms of wording. So we should be careful, but I feel that our brothers want to avoid the word "sectarian bias" in any wording, in any wording.
Al-Halabi : ...he, in fact, his books indicate that. May Allah reward him, our Shaykh,

The Shaykh : I know, my brother ... .