The Shaykh Al-Albani’s Praise of His Father

The Shaykh : We refused to belong to the group we had belonged to before. As you know, I am Al-Albani.

The questioner : May Allah reward you.

The Shaykh : And all the Albanians are Hanafis, and they do not know Islam except from the angle of the Hanafi school. My father, my grandfather, and every grandfather we know up to that point were Hanafis. I sought knowledge on this basis from my father. My father (may Allah have mercy on him and forgive us and him) was a scholar of the Hanafi school, and he has a special favor over me, two special favors beyond the general favors every father has over every child. You know the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): So every father has favors over every child, but my father has two favors over me that distinguish him from all fathers. The first favor is that he migrated with his family, including his children, one of whom was I, from Albania to Damascus in the Levant. This was the first cause of our deliverance from ignorance, if not outright irreligion, which surrounded the Albanians after my father’s (may Allah have mercy on him) migration. He saved us from this calamity through this migration. That is the first point. Second, it was the cause that allowed me to learn the Arabic language, so that when I recite the Qur’an, I can understand the hadith of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). This migration and its consequences are a great favor, to Allah first of all, and then to my father as the cause.
The Shaykh: The second thing is that when I graduated from primary school, my father was poor and had a family to support, so we were forced to stop continuing our studies, especially the regular government schooling. We had to take up a trade. My first trade was carpentry, specifically Arabic carpentry. I worked at it for two or three years. In those days, there were rains and snow in Damascus, and we would be out of work. One day, my father said to me, “What do you think, my son? I see this work is not real work. What do you think about working for me by the hour?” I said to him, “As you wish,” naturally. And so it was. I learned the trade and excelled in it, and I saved time for seeking knowledge. I will not go on at length here. My father (may Allah have mercy on him) is the one who had the favor of saving us from the land of disbelief and bringing us into the land of Islam. My point is to say that the call I grew up with initially was my father’s school, the school of Abu Hanifah. But when I gained insight and was illuminated by the light of the Book and the Sunnah, I refused to cling to this school, to follow it, and to be sincere to it. I shifted my sincerity in following from this school to my Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). Therefore, as time passed, I came to the conclusion that just as it is obligatory for a Muslim to make Allah unique in his worship, it is also obligatory for him to make his Prophet unique in his following.

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : So may Allah bless you. We have no connection to any school in the world. If it were a matter of belonging to a school, we would have remained with the school of my father and my grandfather, and so on, especially since it belongs to the school of one of the four Imams, who are attested to for their knowledge, virtue, righteousness, and asceticism, namely Abu Hanifah al-Nu'man ibn Thabit (may Allah have mercy on him). But I did not find it permissible to be sincere to any individual by following him, except the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family).
The Shaykh: Therefore, do not hold it against us, Abu Usamah, if I tell you that when you mentioned the Wahhabis, it made me feel whether this is correct or incorrect. That knowledge is with my Lord, and it does not concern me that you suspect we are connected to a school called the Wahhabi school. No.
The Shaykh: And I tell you frankly, those who are called Wahhabis are Hanbalis. And as you quoted on the occasion of bowing to prostration on the knees, and on this occasion or another, from al-Mughni by Ibn Qudamah al-Maqdisi, which is the reference for the Hanbalis in all parts of the world, including the Najdis who are given the label of Wahhabis.
The Shaykh: As for me, I am not a Hanbali. I did not accept being a Hanafi, so consequently, I do not accept being a Hanbali. Because in my belonging to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), I was made sufficient in every other belonging. So I worship Allah alone... and Muhammad alone. Allah has no partner in His worship, and Muhammad has no partner in his following.

The questioner: All right.

The Shaykh : And I mentioned the hadith So in light of this, I tell you repeatedly: if you have an observation regarding such a call, I hope you will clarify it and that we will advise one another in it. As for the Wahhabis, what do I have to do with them? I critique them, perhaps more than others, and our brothersThose present : know that. This is what we came to advise one another about, and only for that. Nevertheless, as they say in Damascus, the young man is a "carpet of Ahmad."
The Shaykh: Do you think you are hearing us read what you have read about the Wahhabis? I have no objection, but I see that first of all, we should advise one another regarding this call, which I think a righteous man like you, who has some Islamic culture and awareness, and so on, cannot deviate from by a hair's breadth.
The Shaykh: Some of the common people, some of the fanatics, and so on, may deviate from this. We know this well. But that someone who has knowledge would deviate from it, I cannot imagine that. I may be mistaken, and for this reason, we came to you to seek your advice. And it is the right of the Muslim, as it came in Sahih Muslim, This is what we want from you.