Ali Hasan transmitted the Shaykh Al-Albani’s latest words regarding Safer al-Hawali.
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Also, the words ofThe Shaykh : Nasser, in which he praises these people, stating that they are upon the Salafi creed.
Al-Halabi : I recently asked our Shaykh about the book *The Phenomenon of the Murji'ah*, in which its author accuses our Shaykh of being a Murji'i. Our Shaykh (may Allah preserve him) read it thoroughly and wrote dozens of comments on it. I said to him, "O my Shaykh, what is your opinion of the book after you have looked into it?" He said, "It is the worst possible thing. We had thought well of these people, but here they are, not as we thought, but something else. It seems that our brothersThe Shaykh : Rabee' and those with him knew them better than we did in their criticism of them. This is the word of our Shaykh, in his exact words; if not in his exact words, then in his full meaning. And Allah knows best. I know that you heard the tape, and I heard the tape.
Another questioner : There was a problem with the footnotes.
Al-Halabi : There is no problem. This statement was before the one that confirmed that the footnotes are his and the comments are his. A fax came to us from the publishing house. I swear to Allah, I heard them send it to me when they heard the wordsThe Shaykh : out of caution, asking if these comments were by so-and-so. They said, "We swear to Allah that they are his comments, written before he was imprisoned." Then let us leave the comments aside; the book itself revolves entirely around this idea. And one of the witty people said a very beautiful word: "This book is two volumes. The first volume is in praise of Sayyid Qutb and his thought, and the second volume is in refuting the words ofThe Shaykh : Al-Albani and his call. And I say, yes, this is what emerges for every one who looks into it. Yes, and Allah the Exalted knows best. There are many examples. It is enough that he says thatThe Shaykh : Al-Albani fell into the words of the Murji'ah, which al-Bouti fell into in his book *The Great Cosmic Certainties*. And he said regarding some of the hadiths of intercession, or some of the hadiths cited in the issue of the disbelief of the one who leaves prayer, "They said this hadith is not cited as evidence except by the Murji'ah." What did our Shaykh write in his own hand on this? I am quoting what I read in his handwriting, and I have a copy of it for the record. He said, "The Shaykh of Islam Ibn Taymiyyah cited this hadith as evidence in his book *Al-Iman*. Is he one of the Murji'ah?" And the matters are, of course, far more numerous. For example, at the end of his research, he created a conflict between a statement he attributed to me and a statement ofThe Shaykh : Nasser. So, who do we refute?The Shaykh : The student or the teacher? And the truth is that the transmission he attributed to the student is actually the Shaykh's own statement, but he did not distinguish between the student andThe Shaykh : the Shaykh. And on top of all this, he cast doubt on every place where he mentioned our Shaykh's letter on the ruling of the one who leaves prayer. Do you remember the letter attributed to Al-Albani, the letter such-and-such? And this, in truth, means—there is no power and no strength except in Allah. And yet, we ask Allah to guide him and expand his chest to the truth and return him to the straight path. He is the All-Hearing, the Responsive. And we do not wrong those who wronged us. We say as the Imams of the Salaf said: "It is not sufficient for one who disobeys Allah in you to obey Allah in you, or to fear Allah in you." And I do not know if he has any Salafiyyah left, at least in these fundamentals. As for the other issues, that is between him and his Lord. To accuse the Imam of Salafiyyah in this era, or one of the Imams of Salafiyyah, of being a Murji'i? This means... you know the words of Abu Hatim al-Razi and al-Lalika'i. Have you heard them speak about Ahmad and Abu Hatim? They accused them in their religion. And Allah the Exalted knows best.
The questioner : These are tapes ofThe Shaykh : Al-Albani in which he praisedThe Shaykh : Safer al-Hawali, and they are now being circulated among the youth.
Al-Halabi : I know, like a bankrupt merchant searching through his old ledgers.
The questioner : Is it not true that our Shaykh spoke about them recently and certified them?
Al-Halabi : This is the last thing. This is the last thing. This is the last we heard fromThe Shaykh : before his illness.
The questioner : ... One of the signs of the people of innovation is slandering the Salaf.
Al-Halabi : There is no doubt this is correct. This is correct. One of the signs of the people of innovation is slandering the people of Athar. And we say, perhaps it was confused for these people. And we still think well of them, despite everything they have said, published, spoken, and written. Perhaps it was confused for them, so we ask Allah to expand their chests. Yes, yes.
The questioner : We ask about the condition ofThe Shaykh
Al-Halabi : We reassure you thatThe Shaykh : he is well, and we ask Allah for health for us, for you, and for him. He is ill, but he is not in the hospital; he has left the hospital, praise be to Allah. And Allah the Exalted knows best. May Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon his family and all his Companions. And our final supplication is that all praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. ... We have no means to restrict people. Do you want to speak about the general public who do not distinguish? This layman does not distinguish. He may be influenced by his style, and the idea may deceive him while he is unaware. How do you know? And what do you know of him? He may hear every word with him, or he may hear something. Then you think he understood it, but he did not understand it as intended. It is possible, or not. That is the path, the path, the serious path... And how does he know if he is from the people of knowledge? And how does he distinguish errors? A while ago, I heard a tape of Muhammad Mukhtar al-Shinqiti, who is one of the great preachers, is he not? I do not listen to his tapes, but we were traveling in America, and the brother put on his tape. He said, "Praise be to Allah, and the prayer... Abu Bakr was such-and-such." And he said in it, "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, 'Abu Bakr did not precede you in prayer or fasting, but he preceded you with something that settled in his chest.'" A fabricated hadith. What will this one who tells you "preacher" distinguish? Do you know if this hadith is fabricated? This layman who hears this preaching is a scholar to whom we must go and learn. Do you understand me? The issue is, in truth, O brothers, I know there is something I want to conclude with, and we have not ended the session from sitting. We will not stand to leave, but nevertheless, I conclude by saying: I know that many of these issues are looked at emotionally, not scientifically. And Allah is sufficient for the believers in the fight. And may Allah reward you with good.
Al-Halabi : I recently asked our Shaykh about the book *The Phenomenon of the Murji'ah*, in which its author accuses our Shaykh of being a Murji'i. Our Shaykh (may Allah preserve him) read it thoroughly and wrote dozens of comments on it. I said to him, "O my Shaykh, what is your opinion of the book after you have looked into it?" He said, "It is the worst possible thing. We had thought well of these people, but here they are, not as we thought, but something else. It seems that our brothersThe Shaykh : Rabee' and those with him knew them better than we did in their criticism of them. This is the word of our Shaykh, in his exact words; if not in his exact words, then in his full meaning. And Allah knows best. I know that you heard the tape, and I heard the tape.
Another questioner : There was a problem with the footnotes.
Al-Halabi : There is no problem. This statement was before the one that confirmed that the footnotes are his and the comments are his. A fax came to us from the publishing house. I swear to Allah, I heard them send it to me when they heard the wordsThe Shaykh : out of caution, asking if these comments were by so-and-so. They said, "We swear to Allah that they are his comments, written before he was imprisoned." Then let us leave the comments aside; the book itself revolves entirely around this idea. And one of the witty people said a very beautiful word: "This book is two volumes. The first volume is in praise of Sayyid Qutb and his thought, and the second volume is in refuting the words ofThe Shaykh : Al-Albani and his call. And I say, yes, this is what emerges for every one who looks into it. Yes, and Allah the Exalted knows best. There are many examples. It is enough that he says thatThe Shaykh : Al-Albani fell into the words of the Murji'ah, which al-Bouti fell into in his book *The Great Cosmic Certainties*. And he said regarding some of the hadiths of intercession, or some of the hadiths cited in the issue of the disbelief of the one who leaves prayer, "They said this hadith is not cited as evidence except by the Murji'ah." What did our Shaykh write in his own hand on this? I am quoting what I read in his handwriting, and I have a copy of it for the record. He said, "The Shaykh of Islam Ibn Taymiyyah cited this hadith as evidence in his book *Al-Iman*. Is he one of the Murji'ah?" And the matters are, of course, far more numerous. For example, at the end of his research, he created a conflict between a statement he attributed to me and a statement ofThe Shaykh : Nasser. So, who do we refute?The Shaykh : The student or the teacher? And the truth is that the transmission he attributed to the student is actually the Shaykh's own statement, but he did not distinguish between the student andThe Shaykh : the Shaykh. And on top of all this, he cast doubt on every place where he mentioned our Shaykh's letter on the ruling of the one who leaves prayer. Do you remember the letter attributed to Al-Albani, the letter such-and-such? And this, in truth, means—there is no power and no strength except in Allah. And yet, we ask Allah to guide him and expand his chest to the truth and return him to the straight path. He is the All-Hearing, the Responsive. And we do not wrong those who wronged us. We say as the Imams of the Salaf said: "It is not sufficient for one who disobeys Allah in you to obey Allah in you, or to fear Allah in you." And I do not know if he has any Salafiyyah left, at least in these fundamentals. As for the other issues, that is between him and his Lord. To accuse the Imam of Salafiyyah in this era, or one of the Imams of Salafiyyah, of being a Murji'i? This means... you know the words of Abu Hatim al-Razi and al-Lalika'i. Have you heard them speak about Ahmad and Abu Hatim? They accused them in their religion. And Allah the Exalted knows best.
The questioner : These are tapes ofThe Shaykh : Al-Albani in which he praisedThe Shaykh : Safer al-Hawali, and they are now being circulated among the youth.
Al-Halabi : I know, like a bankrupt merchant searching through his old ledgers.
The questioner : Is it not true that our Shaykh spoke about them recently and certified them?
Al-Halabi : This is the last thing. This is the last thing. This is the last we heard fromThe Shaykh : before his illness.
The questioner : ... One of the signs of the people of innovation is slandering the Salaf.
Al-Halabi : There is no doubt this is correct. This is correct. One of the signs of the people of innovation is slandering the people of Athar. And we say, perhaps it was confused for these people. And we still think well of them, despite everything they have said, published, spoken, and written. Perhaps it was confused for them, so we ask Allah to expand their chests. Yes, yes.
The questioner : We ask about the condition ofThe Shaykh
Al-Halabi : We reassure you thatThe Shaykh : he is well, and we ask Allah for health for us, for you, and for him. He is ill, but he is not in the hospital; he has left the hospital, praise be to Allah. And Allah the Exalted knows best. May Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon his family and all his Companions. And our final supplication is that all praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. ... We have no means to restrict people. Do you want to speak about the general public who do not distinguish? This layman does not distinguish. He may be influenced by his style, and the idea may deceive him while he is unaware. How do you know? And what do you know of him? He may hear every word with him, or he may hear something. Then you think he understood it, but he did not understand it as intended. It is possible, or not. That is the path, the path, the serious path... And how does he know if he is from the people of knowledge? And how does he distinguish errors? A while ago, I heard a tape of Muhammad Mukhtar al-Shinqiti, who is one of the great preachers, is he not? I do not listen to his tapes, but we were traveling in America, and the brother put on his tape. He said, "Praise be to Allah, and the prayer... Abu Bakr was such-and-such." And he said in it, "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, 'Abu Bakr did not precede you in prayer or fasting, but he preceded you with something that settled in his chest.'" A fabricated hadith. What will this one who tells you "preacher" distinguish? Do you know if this hadith is fabricated? This layman who hears this preaching is a scholar to whom we must go and learn. Do you understand me? The issue is, in truth, O brothers, I know there is something I want to conclude with, and we have not ended the session from sitting. We will not stand to leave, but nevertheless, I conclude by saying: I know that many of these issues are looked at emotionally, not scientifically. And Allah is sufficient for the believers in the fight. And may Allah reward you with good.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.