Continuation of the discussion regarding the Tabligh Jama'ah, including the Shaykh's mention of some of the harassment he experienced in Syria and Jordan.

The Shaykh : Therefore, I want you to pay attention to this observation. Arguing with texts—I mean texts that the practice of the Salaf did not follow—is an error that opens the door to many religious innovations that we agree are to be denounced. Their proponents will then argue against us using the same evidence we use to justify our current reality. This is with regard to going out in the path of Allah, the kind of going out that is known today. But, Professor, do you not agree with me that we are returning to the agreed-upon point? You mentioned, and we do not deny this, that the conditions of many people have improved through this going out. I drew your attention to the fact that some people of knowledge, and others as well, have had their conditions improved without this going out. Do you not agree with me that instead of an individual from these common people—and in Syrian terms, instead of them "packing their bags" to leave their country and their people, and so on—would it not be better for them to sit in their country as a group, forming circles in the mosques to study the Qur'an, study the Sunnah, and study Islamic jurisprudence? Is this not better than this going out?

The questioner : This is good talk, but...

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you. Therefore, we advise these people, and I know well that many of those who go out do so for the sake of Allah, seeking no reward or gratitude, but...
"Sa'd drove them in, and Sa'd was wrapped up. This is not, O Sa'd, how camels are driven in."
As for these sincere ones, our discussion is with them, otherwise every group has people with ulterior motives. Let these sincere ones call out to find someone to teach them the Qur'an, for example, and tajwid, in one of the mosques, in one of the houses of Allah, as He (peace be upon him) said: Is this not better than this "packing of bags" and scattering across the lands? And without a doubt, I advised you earlier that if you are afflicted with a job and there are some women in the room where you work, we said that here I do not know if you are compelled or not. But I advise you not to live in this atmosphere. What about the one who lives here like a farmer who does not know what a city is—a city that has everything one desires and everything one does not desire? And with this plane, where did they go? They went to lands of open sinfulness and lewdness, and they saw all kinds of forms and colors. Where is the immunity? Where is the fortification you fortified yourselves with? Not educationally, morally, or otherwise? In knowledge, thought, and guidance? So I do not know, even from this aspect...

The questioner : Excuse me... a little. You, may Allah will it, have a vast ocean, and I have a cup, taking a little bit at a time.

The Shaykh : May there be blessing in you.

The questioner : May Allah bless you

The Shaykh : Bring it out so we can see the blessing you have.

The questioner : May Allah reward you. The speech you delivered is excellent, and I truly benefited from many things in this session. May Allah reward our brother who raised this topic with good. The session was for my sake, and this speech is also for me...

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good. As for me, praise be to Allah, my opinion of you has never been disappointed, nor will it be. You are a name that fits its bearer—may Allah have mercy on him, he laughs.

The questioner : The speech you favored us with regarding whether it is not better for them to sit in the mosque and learn the Qur'an, and so on—this is actually happening. We learn in our going out in the path of Allah. Among the things we learn and focus on is seeking knowledge along with dhikr. This is one of the six characteristics we learn. The first is certainty in "La ilaha illa Allah" (there is no deity but Allah), faith, and prayer with humility and submission. After this, the third is seeking knowledge along with dhikr. We are advised to respect scholars and revere the gatherings of knowledge. It is necessary for a person to sit with a scholar and have regular study with him so that he benefits from knowledge in all areas of the religion, especially what concerns him. And praise be to Allah, if only you personally had a circle of knowledge that we could maintain continuously, this would have been my wish for a long time, since the first time I knew you here. But due to your special circumstances and the conditions you live in, this is not possible...

The Shaykh : My special circumstances? What do they mean? Do you know them well, my special circumstances? Because I am afraid that you do not know them, and they are?

The questioner : I know. You are prohibited from holding circles of knowledge in your home or in the mosque...

The Shaykh : Good, good. Because I heard some people say why...The Shaykh : they do not go out, and they say this, excusing themselves because they do not know the truth.

The questioner : By Allah, I defend you a lot. They ask me this question, why? So I tell them that...The Shaykh : he is prohibited by the state, and this is his excuse.

The Shaykh : Is this the intention? That the Muslim must live in realities, not in illusions?

The questioner : Exactly.

The Shaykh : Especially regarding his Muslim brothers. Many people ask this question and deny it in themselves or with their tongues, some of them. So I was afraid that something of the idea might have leaked to you that...The Shaykh : why he does not go out, and you do not have the answer? You have the general answer you mentioned earlier. Therefore, I focused on what it is? So you know exactly what it is.

The questioner : I defend you...

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good. By Allah, Professor, I do not speak so that you will defend me. The correct thing is for you to defend yourself, because I am your Muslim brother—he laughs.The Shaykh : (may Allah have mercy on him).

The questioner : May Allah bless you, may Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : But now, many people think that people are being slandered without right. I get fed up, and what do you say? A word I learned from this country: "Ah, bazhaq." This is a word we do not know in Sham.

The questioner : "Infaraz."

The Shaykh : "Infaraz" and "bazhaq" in life. By Allah, I remember in some of what I read about al-Hasan al-Basri (may Allah have mercy on him), the great Tabi'i, that a word reached him from some of his enemies and enviers, and that they backbite him...

The questioner : Excuse me, a linguistic word on the margin, a question: Is it permissible for me to say "haqidihi"? "Hasidihi" is correct, but "haqidihi"?

The Shaykh : "Haqidihi"? Your question is from the perspective of the Shari'ah or the Arabic language?

The questioner : No, the linguistic one.

The Shaykh : The linguistic one. Yes, why not?

The questioner : We say "from those who are envious of him."

The Shaykh : No, we add the pronoun "ya" to "haqd" (envy) and drop the "nun," and it becomes "haqidihi."

The questioner : So it is permissible.

The Shaykh : Like "zalimihi," meaning they are wrongdoers to him.

The questioner : Yes, correct.

The Shaykh : The point is, he called the boy who followed him and said to him, "Take this plate, in it are pairs of every fruit, and present it to so-and-so. Tell him that so-and-so is saying to you: This is the reward for the good deeds you send to me, following me"—he laughs.The Shaykh : (may Allah have mercy on him) — Ah; so in reality, I have not been upset for my own sake regarding this aspect, because I am a provider, and if a person wrongs me, that is a material matter. I do not pay much attention to obtaining this right from him, but if it is within my power, I do not fall short; I give with my hand, but if the matter requires great effort, I say, "Allah is his accountant, and on the Day of Resurrection, Allah will increase my expiation of my sins at the expense of what? His good deeds." So I am the one who profits. My intention is not that the people stop talking about me, but rather that they do not fall into error, that they do not fall into backbiting. So, by the grace of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), when I was in Damascus, despite the intensity of the intelligence services against me—I was summoned repeatedly to the intelligence services and imprisoned for months on two occasions, and so on, and they would send the police after me and forbid me from leaving Damascus for the sake of the activity I was doing—and all these movements were from the shaykhs, not from the rulers whom we always complain about and say rule by other than what Allah has revealed. Nevertheless, I always embodied the wisdom attributed to Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with them both). What is it? He said, "If there were a hair between me and the people, I would not let it break." It was said to him, "How?" He said, "Whenever they loosen, I tighten; whenever they tighten, I loosen, so I do not let it break." I followed this policy with the people there. I was forbidden from leaving; do you understand "Balad"? For a month or two, or a Friday or two, and so on, until the matter becomes what? Forgotten. Then I would resume my activity anew. The shaykhs would stir up trouble and file complaints. And by the way, first as a lesson and second as a joke, my clothing is as you see it; we might call it general or popular clothing. Once, the Grand Mufti there died (may Allah have mercy on him), and they sent me a summons saying that in Sham, there is a report from the Mufti of Idlib. Idlib is located in northern Syria, to the west, between Aleppo and Latakia. So I moved the da'wah from Damascus to Homs, Hama, and Aleppo, and settled in these areas. After that, I moved west to Idlib and Latakia. We began to frequent Idlib, and, praise be to Allah, there was good response. The Mufti moved against us and sent what? A report that this man comes and causes fitnah among us, and says such and such and does such and such, and so on, and they requested his prohibition. A paper came to me from the police stating the necessity of meeting the Minister of the Interior. We went, and the Minister of the Interior interrogated me, saying, "There is a complaint against you that you go to those lands and cause problems and fitnah, and the people have divided into two groups. And indeed, they divided into two groups: people who support the Sunnah and people who support bid'ah (religious innovation). And thus is the Sunnah of Allah in His creation, and you will not find any change in the Sunnah of Allah." The minister said, "Therefore, we are forced, unfortunately, to inform you that you are forbidden from leaving your city of Damascus for those lands, because a report has come to us, and this Mufti is the Mufti of the entire republic, and he sent a request." And what is the point? The request was to exile Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani to the desert. The desert, in our case, means a barren, desolate area between Iraq and Turkey.

The questioner: Allahu Akbar.

The Shaykh : Yes, first, and here is the point and the lesson, and second, the removal of the scholarly robe — (laughs)The Shaykh : (may Allah have mercy on him) and the students with him — what does this imply?The Shaykh : The poor Mufti who does not know his time? That it is a jibbah and a turban? So the point is, and praise be to Allah, if it were not for the Ba'ath Party and the shaykhs of evil, Syria would have turned entirely to the Book and the Sunnah, the Book and the Sunnah; but for every term, there is a record. So I, praise be to Allah, was active there in the da'wah completely. We came here and began the same activity until the last meeting in the house ofThe Shaykh : Ahmad 'Atiyyah on the roof in the summer. I do not know if you entered Ahmad's house and saw the roof? It is very wide, and the roof was full of people. A few days later, a request came to the intelligence services, and so on, and after that, we were exiled immediately without any time for a person to at least change his luggage. They exiled us to Syria, and after that, I traveled to some other countries, namely the United Arab Emirates, and I stayed there for six months. Later, we were allowed to return here, and I established and spent everything I had saved for this building on the condition of what? No meetings. But blessed is Allah, the best of creators; if I had wanted to plan for this, it would not have been in my hand. I have now gathered all my determination and all my activity; no activity remains in the path of authorship and publishing what? Knowledge without what? Confrontation and meeting through athar (reports) and books, just as you, my respected guest, said a good word just now, may Allah reward you with good. My books are now in Britain, in Germany, in America, in Russia

The questioner : In the whole world

The Shaykh : In the whole world, and recently, I received a letter from America saying they are translating my book "Adab al-Zawwaj" (Etiquette of Marriage) into English, and in Turkey, they are translating my book "Hijab al-Mar'ah al-Muslimah" (The Muslim Woman's Veil) and "Sifat Salat al-Nabi" (The Description of the Prophet's Prayer), translated in India or Pakistan, I do not know, and "Tahdhir al-Sajid" (Warning the Prostrator) translated, and so on.

The questioner : Did they get your prior permission for this?

The Shaykh : No, but what is happening after they put us under a fait accompli? And the good of them is that they consult us afterwards; as for some people, they do not ask at all.

The questioner : They translate...

The Shaykh : It just goes on.

The questioner : What is your position regarding them?

The Shaykh : Yes, ah, my position—I was going to tell you what my position is? I mentioned my position to the one who was in charge of printing my books, which was the Islamic Office in Damascus previously, and then in Lebanon later.

The questioner : Zuhaer al-Shawish?

The Shaykh : Ah, before I settled in this country, I used to travel from Damascus to Beirut, which is a hundred kilometers away, and I had a car there that was not bad. One day, when I went to him, he told me that this great Mufti, Hasan al-Shurbatli, do you hear of him, who is in Jeddah?

The questioner : The Saudi, yes.

Another questioner : He appears like al-Sabuni.

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly. This man printed my book "Sifat al-Salah" (The Description of Prayer) and printed forty thousand copies of it and wrote on them "distributed for free." Our friend, the owner of the bookstore, wants to file a lawsuit against him because he printed it without permission, neither from the author nor from the publisher, and he knows that the primary authority is the author if he files an objection, and then the secondary authority is the publisher. I said to him, "By Allah, Professor, since he has stated that the book is distributed for free, I have no complaint. In fact, I thank everyone who does not trade in my books for material gain but hopes for the reward of the Hereafter. I am a partner with him in that and I thank him for it. But if he trades materially on my shoulders and the publisher's shoulders, that is injustice itself, and we do not accept it, but we have no way to measure our diligence as the diligence of thieves, and how many of them there are in this time. I think I have given you the answer to your question, or is there something else?"

The questioner : You have done well, may Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good; so the point is, the prohibition from da'wah forced me to sit here in order to follow up on my scholarly projects. Yes.