What is your opinion of Nasser al-'Umar and his response to al-Saqaf, followed by his discussion of al-Saqaf, with interjections from the audience.

The questioner : I learned thatThe Shaykh : Nasser al-'Umar visited you recently.

The Shaykh : Yes, a while ago.

The questioner : How was the visitThe Shaykh : and what is your impression ofThe Shaykh : Nasser.

The Shaykh : Of whom?

The questioner : The Shaykh : Nasser al-'Umar.

The Shaykh : What Allah willed, yes, a good man, a strong student of knowledge, and as far as we can see, and we do not praise anyone beyond what is due to Allah, he is free from personal desire.

The questioner : Praise be to Allah.

The Shaykh : And he has great good in him.

The questioner : Praise be to Allah.

The Shaykh : And we ask Allah that all students of knowledge may have this high Islamic character.

The questioner : Shaykh, what is your opinion of Nasser al-'Umar's tape in which he responded to al-Samad and al-Saqaf?

The Shaykh : He performed a good duty. And we are now trying to distribute this tape in this country, because this al-Saqaf is a major criminal, and in my opinion, there are people behind him; he is not alone in the field. He is a Jahmi, a stubborn, harsh man who manipulates the Sunnah, authenticating what he wishes and weakening what he wishes, even if it is authentic according to the scholars. Our proof for this is the hadith of the slave girl He says, "I assert that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not say this hadith," and he knows it, and he attributes it to Sahih Muslim, and yet he asserts that this hadith is a lie upon the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), even though many scholars who he relies upon regarding the interpretation of the attributes, or the interpretation of some attributes, such as Imam al-Bayhaqi, for example, have authenticated it. Imam al-Bayhaqi, and praise be to Allah, is one of the great scholars of hadith, and even though he has Ash'ari tendencies, he is among those who authenticated this hadith. He does not care about them at all, let alone al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar, who also authenticated the hadith; he does not care about him. He says that this hadith asserts that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not say it, and he brings hadiths, some of which are authentic, that do not contain the phrase He strikes this phrase with those narrations that do not contain such a phrase, even though there is no contradiction, and most of the narrations he relies upon are not free from a hadith defect. Yet he does not care. He proceeds in his response to the people of the Sunnah from the extreme of the Zionist Jewish principle that says: "The end justifies the means," like that.
I don't know if the book reached you, *Daf' Shubhat al-Tashbih* by Ibn al-Jawzi, with the commentary of this man, this Dajjal? Did it reach you?

The questioner : I have not seen it.

The Shaykh : This is a catastrophe of catastrophes. Take this at the bottom; he placed a long introduction in it, all of which is a response to the people of the Sunnah, and he calls those who affirm the attributes, and I am among them, "materialists" (mujassim) simply because we affirm the attributes. And I think you have come across my book *Mukhtasar al-'Ulu* by al-Dhahabi; have you come across it?

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : And the introduction reaches, perhaps, about fifty pages approximately.

Another questioner : Seventy.

The Shaykh : Seventy, so the entire introduction combines affirmation with transcendence. Yet everything he mentioned between quotation marks is "materialist, materialist, materialist." And he says in his interpretation of the saying of Allah the Exalted: that believing that Allah is in the sky is the belief of the polytheists of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance. And from here he proceeds to strike the hadith of the slave girl, claiming it is fabricated because it carries the belief of the polytheists. The slave girl says, "Allah is in the sky," and this is the saying of the polytheists, is it not?

The questioner : I have finished, O Shaykh.

Another questioner : Al-Saqaf visited, meaning a while ago,The Shaykh : Nasaib al-Rifai, and after we prayed Jumu'ah in our mosque, I andThe Shaykh : Ahmad al-Salik went down becauseThe Shaykh : he was sick, and lo and behold, al-Saqaf came, meaning we had preceded him.

The Shaykh : He came to?

Another questioner: ToThe Shaykh : Nasaib.

The Shaykh : To his house?

Another questioner : Yes, to his house.

The Shaykh : Does he usually come to him?

Another questioner : No, this time.

The Shaykh : First time?

Another questioner : Second time he came.

The Shaykh : Second time.

Another questioner : Second time he came, and he said toThe Shaykh : Nasaib, "You interpret the attributes and deny them, and so on. What is your evidence for this interpretation?" He said, "My evidence is that al-Bukhari interpreted." Then he said toThe Shaykh : Ahmad al-Salik, "O Hasan, do you affirm a self (dhat) for Allah?" He said, "Yes." He said, "And the attributes are a branch of the self, just as He has a self that is not like the selves, and His hand is not like the hands." He said, "I am not here for discussion."

The Shaykh : This is his habit.

Another questioner : He said, "I am not here for discussion," and then he said to Shaykh Nasaib, "The Shaykh : Nasser says you are a polytheist." Then he said toThe Shaykh : Nasaib, "And yet, I am with you against him." Then he sat for a little while and then left.

The Shaykh : And he is a liar.

Another questioner : And he did not return after that, yes.

The Shaykh : A liar, without a doubt. I seek refuge in Allah.

Another questioner : Our Shaykh, I followed all of al-Saqaf's treatises, except this one. I did not discuss his statements only; I returned to the sources he quotes from and his statements, and so on, in all his printed treatises, and I found the astonishing.

The Shaykh : Well done.

Another questioner : And they are collected, and I gave them to Shaykh Ali so he could look into them.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good.

Another questioner : So I found, of course, the language as well, and there is no harm in mentioning it.

The Shaykh : There is no harm, yes.

Another questioner : I was even surprised in some of his treatises where he quotes the consensus of the people of hadith that it is not permissible to authenticate or weaken except by the Hafiz, and he says, "And among them are al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar and al-Suyuti."

The Shaykh : Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest.

Another questioner : And this claim has not been made by anyone before him, Glory be to Allah.

The Shaykh : No, he is a Dajjal, meaning, Allah is greater over him. Allah is greater over him.

Another questioner : In some of his treatises, I saw him claim, what does he say? He said that *Sirat A'lam al-Nubala* was printed except for the last volume which contains the biography of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah. He said, "And Allah knows best why they hid this book," meaning he said that even though the biography of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah was quoted by Ibn al-Wazir in *Al-Awasim*, and I have a copy of the excerpt when Shu'ayb al-Arna'ut authenticated it, containing the praise.

The Shaykh : Excuse me, quoted from the *Sira*.

Another questioner : Ibn al-Wazir, yes, he says, "And I have greatly increased the quoting from Shaykh al-Isnad Ibn Taymiyyah in this part. Here is his biography from *Sirat A'lam al-Nubala*," and he quoted it, and I have a copy of the manuscript, and it is long.

The Shaykh : And if Allah wills, I intend to publish these facts about this man.

Another questioner : Abu Malik, did he not advise us?

The Shaykh : Did he not advise you?

Another questioner : In the sense that, meaning, he said that the lack of fame of this man means that not responding to them is better, and not following them, and so on. But if Allah wills, my heart leans toward the fact that it is necessary, meaning.

Another questioner : He is coming, he is coming to us, as my brother Bukhait said.

The questioner : The difference between al-Saqaf's book and other books that attackThe Shaykh : Muhammad Nasser al-Din al-Albani is that he is influenced by him, even the layperson who reads the book, the intellectual, even the engineer, even the chemist, unlike the other responses, such as the responses of Mada'ud Sa'id Mahmud or others, who cannot, meaning, know them or interact with them, even many of the students of knowledge. So this is where the danger lies, and this book, and at the same time, the importance of responding to this book with a concise response and a small treatise capable of spreading, of the small treatises that fit in the palm of the hand, to give examples of his distortions and his absurdities, and to add what he has of anomalies, such as his declaring al-Albani a disbeliever, and his declaring Shaykh al-Islam a disbeliever, and others.

The Shaykh : Yes, I believe that this project you mentioned is very important.

Another questioner : I, Shaykh, did not just discuss him.

The Shaykh : That is it.
Another questioner asked: ... and the pages were required if I discussed him, a ignorant person, meaning.

The Shaykh : No, discussing him, my brother, requires volumes. What do you want to discuss to discuss him? Allah is greater over him. The strange thing is that he quoted from the *Tafsir al-Bahr al-Muhit* of Abu Hayyan in the interpretation of the previous verse a very strange interpretation. He said that our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, says to the polytheists: "Are you safe from the one you claim is in the sky?"

The questioner : Rejection.

The Shaykh : I seek refuge in Allah. Allah is greater. It is a terrible thing, a terrible thing. It is a reversal of the facts, without parallel in the reversal of the facts. You will find here in the book of Ibn al-Jawzi, do you know Ibn al-Jawzi? Unfortunately, he deviated from the Salafi methodology in the attributes. He quotes from some of the Hanbalis, who actually have some exaggeration in affirmation. So this al-Saqaf, when he mentions Ibn al-Jawzi, he puts between quotation marks "materialist" for one of these Hanbalis, "materialist" for so-and-so. How did he permit himself to insert into another person's book? And if only he had mentioned in the introduction that he coined this term, leaving it ambiguous to mislead people.

Another questioner : Shaykh, I read the book *Al-Shahab al-Hariq* (The Burning Meteor) in refutation of Al-Albani, the apostate. In the introduction of the book, which he calls the "Saffron Introduction," he poses some questions to you. His language is strong, so it occurred to me that a man like this, when he finishes his introduction, says, "And we are confident," and he even added the tanwin (vowel ending) to it. So it occurred to me to review the books of *Maqamat* (Assemblies). I reviewed *Maqamat al-Hariri*, and lo and behold, it is the same *maqama* written by al-Hariri. He mentions that he went to the Haram (Sacred Precinct) and there was a Shaykh presiding over fatwas. A man came to him who had Abu Yazid al-Sarraj, and a young man with a sharp tongue stood up and asked him questions—fiqh questions containing riddles. Al-Saqaf quoted them in your right, and he...The questioner : The young man with the sharp tongue, and others like him.

The Shaykh : Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest.

Another questioner : So much so that people think it is from his *maqamat*.

The Shaykh : We seek help from Allah.

Another questioner : I want to say, Shaykh, when I sat with him at...The Shaykh : ...a relative's place, what did I say to him? I said to him, "You say in your book, which is *Rafaa'ah* or *Shaddad ibn Rafaa'ah al-Qutbani*, and you said that the correct spelling is *al-Futbani*. This is evidence of Al-Albani's ignorance, because he said what? *Al-Qutbani*. So I said to him, first of all...The Shaykh : ...Nasser quoted from *Sunan Ibn Majah*. In *Sunan Ibn Majah*, *al-Qutbani* is present. Two, al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar says in *al-Taqrib*: "Shaddad ibn Rafaa'ah, or Shaddad ibn Rafaa'ah al-Qutbani, with a kasrah on the qaf." So is...The Shaykh : ...Nasser obligated to follow all the books and such to ensure that it is *al-Futbani* or *al-Qutbani*, especially since there are two attributions among the people of hadith: there is indeed *al-Qutbani* among the narrators, and there is *al-Futbani*. So he is not obligated after al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar said so. I said to him, "I know that al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar said this." I said to him, "Well, how do you practice *tadlis* (concealment) and say...?" He said, "So that I inform people that Al-Albani is not infallible." I said, "Why didn't you... his infallibility?"

The Shaykh : Ma sha' Allah, ma sha' Allah.

Another questioner : What is the relationship...

The Shaykh : My lord, he is a poor wretch who tracks down stumbles.

Another questioner : Then...The Shaykh : ...Ahmad al-Salik came and said, "These are my writings, look at them." So...The Shaykh : ...Ahmad al-Salik took the book and started saying, "Do you want to publish this to the people?" He said, "Yes." He said, "Well, this is a spelling mistake, this is a grammar mistake, this is a mistake." So his face turned red and he was ashamed. Spelling, spelling.
Abu Layla : He is ashamed. May Allah guide you.

Another questioner : Spelling. One who wrote a treatise and does not know how to write.

The Shaykh : There is no power nor strength except by Allah.

Another questioner : This is an introduction. We write an introduction, Shaykh, about the mistakes, and it is in colored ink, but he only publishes the introduction and puts marks on the mistakes, but leaves them.