Introduction by Ibrahim Shuqqa before the Shaykh (may Allah have mercy on him).

Abu Malik: Indeed, praise is to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness, and we seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our souls and the badness of our deeds. Whom Allah guides, none can mislead, and whom He leaves to mislead, none can guide. And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His messenger. As for what follows, the most truthful speech is the Book of Allah, the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), and the worst of matters are their innovations, and every innovation is a misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire. I ask Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) to make us among the best of His slaves, the righteous, and to gather us in the company of the master of the messengers, and to make us among the righteous callers, and to make our worldly life abounding in mindfulness of Allah and obedience, so that it becomes a path to the pleasure of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in the Hereafter. O Allah, teach us what benefits us, and benefit us with what You have taught us, and remind us of what we have forgotten, and teach us what we do not know. O Allah, nothing is easy except what You have made easy, and if You will, You can make the difficult easy. My brothers, may Allah reward you. Perhaps this blessed hour in this noble, pure house is among the hours that will be mentioned, if Allah wills, among people in life and after death. That is because time is not measured by its passing in hours, days, weeks, months, and years, but rather by what happens within it. It is not befitting for a Muslim to make his time or his era a place where he lets his soul run without benefit, tires his mind without returning to him with any profit, and exhausts his body without touching anything that benefits him in his worldly life or his Hereafter. How beautiful is the word of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in this meaning: of these five things about which he is asked . And this body is nothing but a trust; you are not responsible for it, but rather Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is not responsible for it by your command or what you see for yourself of good or benefit. Rather, you are responsible for this trust with what Allah has deposited in you: your mind, your soul, and your spirit, and the knowledge you have, by which He has facilitated for you the means of recognition that place you at the point of command and prohibition. Thus, you are commanded by the command of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and the command of His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and you are restrained by the prohibition of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) and the prohibition of your Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Thus, you are in a station, or in a station between the two stations, between command and prohibition. The desire for what is with Allah binds you to the command, and the fear of the punishment and retribution of Allah restrains you from the prohibition. And thus should the believer be in his entire life, for if he directs it otherwise, he is without guidance and without insight...

The Shaykh : ... compete with one another in charity, and you will have mercy upon one another...
Abu Malik: And perhaps this blessed gathering, which brought together this fine group of our brothers in Allah, the youth, from whom we see a high character and a guidance they are upon, reassures the heart that the true call of Allah will be the prevailing one on earth, and that people will return to it, whether near in time or far. And a gathering is not established except by what is in it, and I do not think except that in it, or that everything in it, if Allah wills, is good, guiding to the expanses of the Hereafter and to the vastness of Paradise which Allah has prepared for the righteous. And how could this session not have what I say, when it has the righteous guidance, and it has the noble reference, and it has this apparent brotherhood, with the closeness of bodies, the convergence of ideas, and the nearness of hearts, to the good for which we traveled or came, and we met with you in this house. May Allah reward its owner with the best of what He rewards a righteous slave from His righteous slaves. It is not hidden from any one of us that in this gathering is a sign of the Sunnah and a mountain of the mountains of knowledge in this time, whom Allah has caused to appear our call in a general manner in the corners of the earth, whether those who are pleased with it are pleased or those who are angry with it are angry. And since that is the case, it is not befitting for us to miss, I do not say a minute, but it is not befitting for us to miss a second that we can seize, and we are in the gathering of our Shaykh, the hadith scholar.The Shaykh : Muhammad al-Nasir al-Albani. May Allah reward him with good and bless his life, and delight the Muslims with the length of his life, and cause it to be, if Allah wills, that his future in knowledge is better than his present and his past, so that Allah completes for us the blessing through him, which we ask Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to complete for us by the completion of his many numerous projects that he has presented to the Muslims in all parts of the earth. And I am not in need of prolonging the discussion of the virtues of our Shaykh, for you are all aware of a little of it, which suffices for a lot, how much more for the much, much that only the very few know. We ask Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) to make us true students of knowledge, to turn away from us the deviation of the misguiders, the slander of the liars, the fabrication of the oppressors, and the envy of the envious, and to make us, if Allah wills, by His true call, and with the truth, and upon the truth, apparent, if Allah wills. And now we leave the space for our Shaykh to answer the questions that can be answered. I do not say this because he does not want to answer, and I do not say that the questions are difficult for him, and we do not know that from him at all, and praise be to Allah, but for two reasons. The first reason is that some questions may have been repeated or were repeated in other gatherings. And the second reason is that the time may not be sufficient for the total of these questions that are before us, so we will suffice with some of them, especially given what we have become accustomed to and know from our Shaykh: his elaboration in answering the question. And now, permit us, our Shaykh, may Allah bless you.

The Shaykh : Excuse me, may Allah bless you.