A discussion on Jewish scholars interested in the books of Shaykh al-Albani and books of knowledge.

The questioner : This is Dr. Ibrahim al-Yahudi. This man is a Lebanese resident in Israel—or what is called Israel—and many of the doctors specializing in hadith—O our professor—

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.

The questioner : and the Islamic heritage, meaning they often focus on the old books, meaning they have a methodology in research,

The Shaykh : Yes, yes.

The questioner : They say the old books are the ones that contain knowledge, and modern things generally, well, we may agree or disagree, but the old books are the foundations.

The Shaykh : Correct, correct.

The questioner : They say we do not read from any of the hadith scholars except Shaykh Nasser, meaning he is the one who breaks the rule, he andThe Shaykh : Ahmad Shakir, they respectThe Shaykh : Ahmad Shakir with a strange and wonderful respect, considering him one of the great scholars. And I conveyed that

The Shaykh : and he is worthy of it, and the truth is that to this day we do not know of a counterpart to Shaykh Ahmad.

The questioner : One of the most distinguishing features ofThe Shaykh : Shakir is that he has the merit of pioneering; he is the one who opened the door to interest in hadith.

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.

The questioner : So I wanted to convey this trust, for they await any book that is published for you, immediately buying it, even if it is a small book, even if it is a book of the sermon of necessity, they tell you this is a good book as long as so-and-so wrote this book.
Truly, praise be to Allah, they respect with a very good respect.

Another questioner : One of their greatest professors, meaning his students are all professors, 75 years old, his name is Professor Kister, this man I asked him aboutThe Shaykh : Nasser, and he is a true scholar, he is the most knowledgeable of them and their teacher all.

Another questioner : In hadith?

The questioner : Ah, a scholar, a solid scholar, meaning, not just talk, I was asked aboutThe Shaykh : Nasser and I said I do not want to give my judgment until I truly study about him.
So he spent a full year poring over the books ofThe Shaykh : Nasser, then he said after reading them, I do not know of a counterpart to him on the face of the earth, and he said this is a testimony, meaning I mention it, and if Allah wills it is in its place. And may Allah guide them.

The Shaykh : Amen.

The questioner : When they say, I will tell you, O professor, the authentic, when I talk to them about the books that have been published, by Allah—I swear by Allah—that they talk about them as a lover talks about his beloved. How does a lover, for example, when he waits to find his beloved, by Allah, O Shaykh, when a book is published—for example—al-Zuhd by Hanad, they say, the book al-Zuhd by Hanad has been published? Is that possible? We have not seen it! A book such-and-such has been published
and they buy the book for huge amounts and do not haggle, they tell them, for example, this volume is for ten dinars, and they say, we give you a paper, but we take knowledge, this knowledge is not to be valued at a price. One of you in the old days would walk from Sham to Khorasan, whereas in our time, what does it cost me for the book? So-and-so or so-and-so? They are very happy with books of knowledge, and they have a fantastic follow-up of books of knowledge.

The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar! Do you mean fantastic, meaning imaginary?

The questioner : Imaginary, meaning there is no book, O Shaykh, that they do not know, on the level of the Arab world, on the level of the Islamic world, for example, now they are very interested in the Maghazi, they are very eager to read the Maghazi of Urwah ibn al-Zubayr, I had seen it published in the Emirates, but I tried to look for it and did not find it, they told me, get this book at any price, they say we want the book of the Maghazi of Musa ibn Uqbah, meaning they speak the language of the people of knowledge, meaning it is not that, by Allah

The Shaykh : Allah is sufficient for us and He is the best Disposer of affairs, there is no power and no strength except by Allah.
The questioner: Once you mentioned to us a story

The Shaykh : Why don't you mention it?

The questioner : There is a second story about the man, he is an old man, 75 years old, the man has been connected to knowledge for a long time, so once he was reading for Ahmad Shakir and found an error in his verification of one of the hadiths, so he wrote him a letter, so he answeredThe Shaykh : Ahmad Shakir with a letter he conveyed to me, he wrote to him—word for word—The Shaykh : Ahmad Shakir said: "To the Holy Land which the Jews have defiled, to Professor Kister, peace be upon him who follows the guidance, as for what follows,
your book reached me and I read what is in it, and it is regrettable for me to say that you have hit the mark and I have erred, but it is the trust of knowledge. Ahmad Shakir." He says, by Allah, O Shaykh, and I am looking at him, he speaks with debate, with great joy, he tells me I consider this the greatest medal on my chest, thatThe Shaykh : Ahmad Shakir wrote me a letter.
Abu Layla : As if he said you are a Jewish dog or

The questioner : No, he says the Holy Land which the Jews have defiled. He says with great joy, the first time I sat with him he said: "To hear of al-Mu'ayyid is better for you than to see him," he tells me of his humility, truly he is a humble man, an hour and a half I sat with him and the man, despite being old, but he means, truly, may Allah guide him to Islam.
There are those who believe he has become a Muslim, meaning when his students, the graduate students, study, they said to him, you keep saying the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) and so-and-so the Companion, such-and-such came to Muslim, "Ata Muslim" in Hebrew means are you Muslim? He said to them, why not? Meaning why not? Why should I not be a Muslim? So some of the doctors who have it, he told me that he truly became a Muslim, but he conceals his faith.
The questioner: What is his full name?

The questioner : His name is Professor Moshe Kister,
Famous: He has books

The questioner : His books are in English, the Hebrew language, and he is the most important person who cares about the Islamic heritage in Palestine, and one of the most important people who care about the Islamic heritage, then about Orientalism on the world level.
Famous: It reached me that he cares about the books ofThe Shaykh ؟

The questioner : He says I do not prefer any books over them, on the contrary, he is a man who says I do not read from the hadith scholars, I do not read except the old foundations. And all of them, subhan Allah, O my brother, imagine, O our professor, this man named Ibrahim tells me, our students, when they come to us to the university, we advise them on three books you must buy: Fath al-Bari, Lisan al-Arab, and Tafsir al-Tabari. He said every student of ours, if he does not buy these three sources, he is not considered to have a connection to knowledge, and he should read and always read. Meaning they rarely care about the books of hadith, the ones they care about are the original foundation books. Meaning, for example, they are very impressed by al-Basuni, they do not describe him with much knowledge, but he tells you he makes many things easy for us with the indexes he made. Even Ibrahim conveyed his greetings to him, I told him I am going to Madinah, if Allah wills, may the best of prayers and peace be upon its inhabitants, he said to me, by Allah, if you see al-Basuni, that is his phrase, he works at the Sunnah Center, greet him and tell him they are awaiting your efforts that you spoke about, because he says I want to make an encyclopedia, so you find that they are strangely and wonderfully fond of the Islamic heritage.

Another questioner : Kister or Kister?

The questioner : Kister.

Another questioner : At which university does he teach?

The questioner : At the Hebrew University, it is the largest university there, it has six million books, one of the largest universities on earth. And then they have a principle there, any book you bring them has value, immediately they buy it, any book, I personally sold to them for more than 5 or 6 thousand dinars, even they told me, and this is Kister specifically, he said you provided us with the books we were hearing about. Praise be to Allah, I provided them with the greatest books that the Islamic Library published, I bring them all to the West Bank, they are very interested in the histories of Madinah, O Shaykh, the history of Madinah by al-Fakihi, they are interested in it, they have ordered so many copies, the Maghazi, they are interested in them.
The books, of course, that are connected are the ones they are interested in, as for a book with a broken chain, for example, like the books of collections, like Mishkat al-Masabih, Majma' al-Zawa'id, he tells you these do not benefit us, the book that benefits us is the one with the connected chain and the one discussed in terms of verification and weakening.

The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar.

The questioner : They have a strange methodology in research.

The Shaykh: Allahu Akbar.

The questioner : They speak the language of the scholars. They write tafsir (Qur'anic exegesis) and take a strange interest in books of tafsir, specifically the works of the early scholars. By Allah, someone mentioned to me the name of a tafsir called "Muhammak bin Such-and-such." I have never heard of it in my life. He is one of the students of al-Tabari and narrates from al-Tabari. He gave me the name of his tafsir and told me it is four volumes. He said he bought it for forty dinars and considered it a treasure that he had obtained.
Famous: This is an Ibadi.

The questioner : By Allah, I do not know.

The Shaykh : Was it published?

The questioner : It is printed.
Famous: But it is Ibadi, O Shaykh.

The questioner : By Allah, I doubt it, my brother, because he told me he was a student of al-Tabari. Could he be an Ibadi and a student of al-Tabari? There is a "ha" in his name, "al-Hawari," or something like that.
Famous: He is certainly, he is an Ibadi.

The questioner : ... despite the abundance
Famous: It is found in al-Bashir ... .

The questioner : By Allah?
Famous: Yes, indeed ...

The questioner : By Allah, I doubt it is in al-Bashir, because I was there yesterday and today, and I checked their books one by one... .
Famous: ... you will find it, if Allah wills. I have seen the book.
Abu Layla : We need to get you some. If you are willing, can you take some of the Shaykh's cassettes? Is there a way?

The questioner : No. Because the Jews are automatic; any cassette that enters the bridge is surrounded and thrown into the trash. They do not check it; they immediately throw it in the garbage bin far from you. But cassettes can enter via Europe.

Another questioner : Okay, what about books, my brother... .

The questioner : All books enter except for a book that is very clearly inciting, meaning it is very clear. But if I get a permit, any book I get a permit for, the censorship will automatically enter its number... .

Another questioner : O Shaykh, what do you think if we send them your books that have not reached them?

The questioner : All his books have arrived. I have all of the Shaykh's books, so there is no book at all that is not present there.

The Shaykh: Allahu Akbar.

Another questioner : I said that they have a great interest in the history of Makkah.

The questioner : By Allah, my brother, and to tell the truth, they study our heritage. Of course, not all of them, meaning there are specializations: a specialization in Shari'ah, a specialization in Arabic language, a specialization in geography. They have a specialization in our heritage there, and it is a rare few and a select group, not hundreds or tens. You sometimes find five or ten, because for them our heritage is difficult. For them, as a group that speaks Hebrew, it is not easy, but they study it with intense passion.

The Shaykh : They are driven by their own interest. I say that these Jews, like the other disbelieving Europeans and Americans and others, in their capacity as disbelievers, if we find them paying great attention to getting to know the Islamic heritage and Islamic books from various sciences, it is not from the perspective of getting to know the truth in which people differ, no. Rather, it is from the perspective of getting to know the culture and strength of the Muslims, so that they prepare to confront it and block the path so that it does not reach their state and destroy it. So they do what they do with this broad culture they are interested in, as you just heard from our brother, only to learn how to eat the shoulder.