A Word of Truth Regarding Hasan al-Saqaf.

The Shaykh : Remember this truth that the scholars say: The defect in news lies only in its narrators.
I believe I am forced to say to your shaykh: Hasan al-Saqaf, whatever you wish, if Hasan al-Saqaf would cast out the deep-seated hatred from his heart and meet withThe Shaykh : Al-Albani, his misguidance would change to guidance that he does not know even to this hour.

The questioner : Do you like him to meet with you? I wish he would meet.

The Shaykh : Because meeting with me has conditions, not in the manner of 'Abd al-Rahman, not in his manner, because it would be an academic session.

The questioner : By Allah, I wish you would set conditions,

The Shaykh : Listen. Before we knew the man, he called me on the phone a few years ago. He said: He wants to research the topic of tawassul (seeking nearness to Allah through a means). We said to him: Fine. We made an appointment, and he came and we sat in the guest room there.

The questioner : About nine years ago.

The Shaykh : By Allah, I have known him for a long time, but I do not date it. The point is, he started talking about things other than what we agreed to meet and make an appointment for. I said to him: We agreed to research the topic of tawassul (seeking nearness to Allah through a means). If you are in agreement with this, I am with you. He said: No, I am not ready now. When he left, he sat for a while and then left. He reached the door before the stairs and said to me: I want a session with you alone, with no one else present. I said to him: Why? If the truth is with you, let the group benefit. If the truth is with me, let the group benefit. The truth is shared by everyone and is not confined between you and me. And this is what the guest is. This was the first word that passed between us directly.
There may have been very few phone calls between me and him. Finally, here is the point: there is a person you must know, his name is Noah the American.

The questioner : I have heard of him. I saw one of his writings.

The Shaykh : Yes, a small paper about the reason for his Islam.

The questioner : A book on fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence).

The Shaykh : The point is, I only saw this translation. The point is, we met in a gathering with a man, a full gathering. He started asking questions that indicated intelligence, alertness, and eagerness for knowledge. In fact, I responded to him in such a way that the brothers who were sitting knew that I was directing all my attention to him, and the people present were only listening. So I answered his questions. Later, some of our brothers who know him, I said to him: I want to visit this person because I sensed from him soundness and an attempt at correct understanding of the Book and the Sunnah. The point is, we made an appointment. His house is very modest, and inside, if you stretched your hand like this, you could not walk because of its narrowness. We entered and sat, and suddenly facing meThe Shaykh : was Hasan. The American, Noah, started asking me a very strange question. He said: Is Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan truly from the people of the Fire? I said to him: I seek refuge in Allah. What is this talk? Mu'awiyah is a man from the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and he has services to Islam and the spread of Islam to Cyprus and so on. And whenThe Shaykh : Hasan started talking, when the American stated to me: This man says that he is from the people of the Fire. I said frankly in front of him: Do not pay attention to him. This man is not a scholar. This is a woodcutter who collects from here and there. He does not have scientific principles and rules that would enable him to reconcile his being a Companion and his having made such and such an error and his having good deeds like mountains, so he discards all the good deeds and holds onto his errors in which he fell. Do not pay attention to this man because he is not a scholar. He started talking. I said to him: I have no conversation with you. First, you are not a scholar, and second, you are from the people of desires. How can you say that Mu'awiyah is from the people of the Fire? He started going around and around and did not say: Like what Noah said, that he is from the people of the Fire, but he did such and such. And he started listing things that are not denied against him, meaning: they are known in history. I said to him: You are a man specialized in tracking stumbles. This man, being a Companion, is to be treated with respect, and all the Companions are just, let alone that he was a king of the Muslims and carried the call of Islam to the lands of disbelief and so on. And I was talking with Noah about what he was asking.
The point here is: He said like what Taha ibn Adam said. He said: By Allah, this is good talk, because he was directing questions from inside, from his wife, about what the common man does when he hears contradictory statements? So I answer him with what we always and forever issue as a ruling: The Muslim differs in that he is in a town where there are no scholars except scholars of a specific madhhab (school of jurisprudence). So this Muslim must follow this specific madhhab and it is not permissible for him to exercise independent legal reasoning or claim: I understand the Qur'an and the Sunnah, and so on. And between another Muslim who is in a wider community with many scholars, so he is not obligated to adhere to a specific madhhab from these madhhabs, but he applies the noble verse with which we began our speech earlier: He should ask those in whom he trusts their knowledge. A long discussion took place on this.
Another person is in a community, in our expression, the Salafi or hadith scholars, who take from the Book and the Sunnah and are qualified for that. They may differ in some details, as happened with the Companions, but their reference is all: Allah said, the Messenger of Allah said.
This person asks the one in whom he trusts his knowledge in the Book of Allah and in the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah. The man stated it, and he had no choice but to say: By Allah, this is a good thing. So I believe the man clears his heart and stays away from fabrication by the handful. Do you say: by the handful, or do you not say it?

The questioner : By the handful, meaning?

The Shaykh : By the handful, without calculation. He stays away from this vile character which is not among the characteristics of Muslims, and he writes what his knowledge has reached. There is no objection. But the Islamic brotherhood, because of differences that can be agreed upon, should not be destroyed by fabrications, one fabrication following another to no end. The last thing we looked into was the one who ascribes a body to Allah, the one who ascribes a body to Allah. And this is not only that; the book of Ibn al-Jawzi inserts into it what is not in it. Have you looked into this book?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Fine, did this lesson catch your attention?

The questioner : But the issue of the word "one who ascribes a body to Allah." He indicated in the introduction that he said: I placed it in parentheses like this. He said: ... .

The Shaykh : Is it permissible?

The questioner : As long as he gave a warning, it is permissible. It is permissible to insert into a book, meaning: Now, may Allah reward you, do you think everyone who read, for example, Abu Hamid al-Hanbali, the one he accuses of ascribing a body to Allah, Abu Hamid the one who ascribes a body to Allah, do you think everyone who read "the one who ascribes a body to Allah so-and-so," "the one who ascribes a body to Allah so-and-so," read the introduction? Say: No. Say it frankly because this is the truth.
Often a person holds a book and reads like this,

The questioner : The original is like this.

The Shaykh : Do not say the original. There is no power or strength except in Allah. Often a person holds the book and reads or looks at the index and selects topics. He does not read the book in its introduction or conclusion. He selects issues to refer to. In that case, he understands that the one who ascribes a body to Allah inserted from the introduction? He does not understand it. Then suppose he read the introduction, do you imagine that everyone who read the introduction had it fixed in his mind with all its details and particulars? Say also: No, and do not be afraid.

The questioner : Of course not.

The Shaykh : So this is an excuse, my brother, to facilitate misguidance.

The questioner : Meaning: We assume the best about him.

The Shaykh : He left no room for assuming the best about him. Like the aphids spraying like this and this, he left no room for assuming the best.

The questioner : If it were to happen between you and him, by Allah, your talk is good. I wish, by Allah, my master, that a meeting would happen between you. We wish for this, by Allah.

The Shaykh : After we see him clear the deep-seated hatred.

The questioner : Fine, how! You set conditions for him and we will see.

The Shaykh : Allow me, brothers. The conditions, may Allah reward you, must emanate from our lives, not from our words.

The questioner : Meaning: How? I did not understand this exactly. Meaning: by action and application?

The Shaykh : Yes, indeed. This character did not appear from the man.

The questioner : How? Meaning, what he wrote, for example.

The Shaykh : In his books, in his comments. Nothing appeared from him except hatred and resentment, which we rarely see even from disbelievers—may Allah protect us from that. So when we see him, in writing, he changes his opinion, even if it is clear misguidance, let him give it, it is fine, but in the best manner, as He (Glorified and Exalted is He) said: .
When he improves his style of writing and leaves off slandering people, what do you say in your hour? Do not talk about this. He is from the household. But is it not permissible to talk about the household? And the Muslims, meaning, is their blood lawful? Is their honor lawful?

The questioner : No, all Muslims, and the people of the house in particular.

The Shaykh : That is good, but this does not take into account the rights of Muslims, whether they are protected people or not.

The questioner : This is the reason we are holding the meeting, which is to remove the resentment in the hearts.

The Shaykh : Yes, but I am telling you, my brother, that resentment is not removed simply by saying, "Come, meet with Al-Albani on such and such conditions," because one who lacks a thing cannot give it. When he develops his life and presents proofs beforehand that he has now turned to knowledge and left off slandering the honor of all Muslims.

The questioner : He originally believes that I am writing, and this is my belief, and this is what is established for me, so we cannot wait, because we must change his belief and then see the results.

The Shaykh : Do the disbelievers believe like that? I mean: Is this an excuse you are offering him?

The questioner : No, it is not an excuse.

The Shaykh : The disbelievers believe like that. Our Lord said: , my brother, are there any other authors in this world besides him or not?

The questioner: Certainly.

The Shaykh : Show us a book similar to his book, show us a book similar to his letters.

The questioner : The book "Al-Azud," a book by Shaykh Ali.

The Shaykh : The Shaykh : Ali responded to him, what do you see it amounted to? Do you remember the old Arabic proverb: The wall said to the nail, "Why do you split me?" It said, "Ask the one who drives me." Record it.

The questioner : This was preserved.

The Shaykh : Because of its sweetness, I mean.

The questioner : I remember that in that same session, something happened that must be mentioned for Brother Iyad and Brother Abd al-Rahman.

The Shaykh : Were you present?

The questioner : Yes, my Shaykh, Brother Hasan said a word, and it is a word of truth. He said: "O Shaykh Nasser, I do not know you like this, and O Shaykh, I want affection and I want closeness to you." I say: After he mentioned this, he said: "O Shaykh, we want to come to you." He said to him: "No, O Hasan, if we see sincerity of intention and purity from you, we will come to you, and it is not you who come to us."

The Shaykh : No, but my question has no place in the grammar; I took the answer just now.

The questioner : I want to reach a conclusion, so after he mentioned this, our Shaykh said:The Shaykh : "Refrain from slandering us in your introductions." So what was Hasan's answer? He said: "And you likewise refrain from slandering my Shaykh al-Kawthari." SoThe Shaykh : his answer was: "Now, between you and me, leave al-Kawthari alone." So after that, what did he say? He said: "And I will mention this in the second part of the Contradictions, which is still in my hands, O my Shaykh, and he says: 'I want affection and I want this.' How can you say in front ofThe Shaykh : and I will mention this second part of the Contradictions, and you want affection and you say: 'O Shaykh, we do not know you like this' in this meaning, in this opposite sense.

Another questioner : Contradictions, a scientific research.

The questioner : A scientific research, may Allah bless you! We do not want to enter into the issue of the correctness of this scientific research or its error. I want to mention that he wants affection, and he is placing this affection among the objections.

The Shaykh : He is putting a stick in the wheel.

The questioner : Yes, so may Allah bless you, you, leave al-Kawthari aside for now, you are responding toThe Shaykh : , and you accuseThe Shaykh : of ascribing a body to Allah, and you accuseThe Shaykh : of more than one false accusation, including that he issues certificates of forgiveness, and you with your own tongue said just now: that this word is not understood or does not carry except one meaning, so may Allah bless you, this does not come.

Another questioner : We did not tell him: this carries one meaning, when we heard the speech ofThe Shaykh : tonight.

The questioner : Even if you had not heard it.

Another questioner : If I had not heard it, I would say: indeed he issues certificates of forgiveness.

The Shaykh : It is not permissible. You and many like you, in truth, do not know Al-Albani. Why? Because Al-Albani is secluded in this monastery, and in front of him are these books.
We have our companions, we are tired of hearing them *** Hoped for in the unseen and the seen
If you say they are alive, you are truthful *** And if you say they are dead, you are not a liar
These books, I am living among them, so you do not know Al-Albani, neither in his knowledge nor in his style. I am willing to meet with the most knowledgeable people, the best people, the most misguided people, and the most ignorant people, because I say to my brothers who know me: I am like a saw, going up and down, I benefit. How is that? If I meet with a man more knowledgeable than me, I benefit from him, and if I meet with one less than me, he benefits from me, so I benefit going up and down. But when does this happen? When the souls are pure. But if the souls are filled with hatred, malice, and envy, then there is no way to meet and no benefit from it.
How old isThe Shaykh : Hasan? Half my age, barely, or not even reached. I mean: yesterday he published some of his letters, and so on. I have been praying my whole life and meeting with different people, and I do not shy away from meeting with any person at all. Then, as you see, it is not possible for a scholar from our scholars that you know to sit with students of knowledge. This is the best that can be said for the hour of twelve. So I have no desire against meeting; I have a desire for meeting, but I have conditions. You have heard these conditions more than once. Go back and say: "The meeting." My brother, the meeting, the meeting, the meeting is good. We understood this lesson... This meeting has conditions. When we see the man is sincere in what he writes, pure, even if he is mistaken, that is fine. He may be sincere. Why does he come and say: "The letter our brother Ali wrote responded to him, saying: 'This is Al-Albani's letter?' And then he deviates from responding to his letter to responding to Al-Albani. What is between you and Al-Albani! Is he a Jew, is he a Christian, is he a Zoroastrian?" and so on. He is wrong. Al-Albani is wrong, contradictory. Let him write on hadith, six thousand authentic hadiths and six thousand weak hadiths, besides the narrators and so on, and then see what the contradictions will show you. You will be satisfied with the alleged contradictions of Al-Albani. But as the scholars say: The tree, my brothers, when its fruit ripens, what happens to it? The archers increase for it. This is a reality applied in all matters, whether material or spiritual. The greatest example we have is the noblest of humans, whom the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) sent. Is it possible that he was safe from the slandering of the people of his city, in his time, after his time, to this day? It is not possible. So what are we? We are individuals from his Ummah (peace be upon him), and therefore we will not be safe. What do I say, the verse of poetry? Do you remember the two verses?
Al-Halabi:
And who is he who is safe from the people *** And the people said with conjectures, and it was said

The Shaykh : In summary, so we, the meeting, do not drone on. We drone with you around it, we drone, but drone with us around the conditions. My brother, is he in the process of writing, not in the process of authoring and writing?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Let him write knowledge without slandering individuals.

The questioner : We consider that he did not agree to author a book, if the man told you.

The Shaykh : It should not be imaginary, it should be realistic.

The questioner : He is authoring.

The Shaykh : Okay, why are you saying: "Let us assume such and such"?

The questioner : Because it is possible he will stop.

The Shaykh : My brother, it is possible he will not stop, may Allah guide you, speak about reality.

The questioner : If the man told you and declared to you, told you: "I am facing you, and if Allah wills, with pure intention," and said: "I bear witness to Allah that my intention is pure in truth," can you sit with him?

The Shaykh : No, before I see this purity, he claims it on the white pages, what do you think? You do not say it except after it is mentioned, and even in the way of boxing.

The questioner : Now, I mean, you have obtained that you sided with the evil, youThe Shaykh : Hasan, I mean: not from the scientific responses, but from the overreach, for example.

The Shaykh : Yes, yes, with tolerance for you in calling his writings scientific responses.

The questioner : Regardless, not on the materials, for example.

The Shaykh : I answered you.

The questioner : I mean: we need to understand, we need to speak to the Shaykh so that there is a meeting between you.

The Shaykh : My brother, what you are asking about, the answer preceded it. I told you: Let him write what he wants, but he should stay away.

The questioner : But more polite, for example.

The Shaykh : No, not more polite, he should be polite.