Introduction by Shaykh Al-Albani thanking [the speaker] for the tape in which he responded to al-Saqaf.

The Shaykh : Two things came to my mind. The first is to offer thanks to Samir Nasser and to make a suggestion. As for the thanks, it is for that lecture you delivered, of which we received a tape, concerning the response to this book by al-Saqaf. So, praise be to Allah.
Nasser al-'Umar: This is part of the obligatory duty.

The Shaykh : No, you did not defend me, but you defended me. You defended the Sunnah.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : That is it.

Another questioner : By the way, my brother Samir al-Zuhayri sends you his greetings.

The Shaykh : And peace be upon him.

Another questioner : And he says, praise be to Allah that we found in Makkah, or somewhere, someone to defendThe Shaykh : Al-Albani with this passionate defense.

The Shaykh : What Allah willed.

Another questioner : Who said this?

Another questioner : Samir al-Zuhayri.

The Shaykh : Do you know him personally? He is Egyptian. He was in Riyadh. I do not say he was in Riyadh; the point is, we thank you for this lecture in which you defended us with a good defense, and as it came to us, a passionate one. Even though within that, you defended one who tries to uphold the Sunnah. This is the first matter: offering thanks.

The questioner : No thanks are due for a duty.

The Shaykh : May Allah bless you. But today, we must thank for a duty because of the scarcity of those who perform the duty. And the suggestion: I thought your speech, your lecture, would be stronger in what you were aiming for if you had mentioned two matters. I believe these are among the information you possess. But any person who improvises speech on a topic may miss more than he mentions or delivers. One of these two matters, and I am not saying this in defense of myself, but this is the reality I feel first in myself and have experienced in the imams before me, with whom Al-Albani should not be compared. The imams have statements on the same issue. So, if it were said in the lecture that there is no strangeness in Al-Albani authenticating a hadith and weakening another, it is because the imams themselves, as I told you just now, Al-Albani is not compared with them, as it is said: "And the calf, if it were in the company of the camels, could not withstand the charge of the she-camels." Then, the matter of the difference in Al-Albani's statements regarding authentication and weakening becomes easy and light for our Salafi brothers, who may be tried by the statements of this wicked al-Saqaf. You have understood this. This is the first point.

The questioner : All right, should I answer you first or not?

The Shaykh : As you wish. I do not [care], as you wish.

The questioner : I mentioned this and said that Imam Ahmad has four narrations in some issues, and Imam al-Shafi'i has the old and the new. I mentioned this clearly.

The Shaykh : By Allah, I do not have it in my memory.

The questioner : You said Jeddah and Makkah, and you have two tapes. The second tape, and the other says, "Also," and you said, word for word, "This issue, and although I do not want to enter into the details of it, let it not be strange, for the imams have followed this methodology. Imam Ahmad's narrations reach four narrations."

The Shaykh : Fine.

The questioner : And Imam al-Shafi'i has the old and the new, and this is a known matter.

The Shaykh : Very good. The tape I heard is one of two things: either I forgot what you are saying.

The questioner : Or this is the Makkah tape.

The Shaykh : I do not know. Either I forgot, or this tape does not contain what you are saying. And that is what matters to me.

The questioner : This is what I wanted, and the one that spread here in Saudi Arabia is the Jeddah tape, because it is the second one, and it is the one in which I said this. Is that sufficient for these phrases?

The Shaykh : It is sufficient.

The questioner : I said with this text: I said, "There is no strangeness ifThe Shaykh : he authenticated a hadith and then its weakness became apparent to him, or the reverse. There is no strangeness in that, for this is known in the methodology of the Salaf. Imam Ahmad's narrations reached four narrations. Do we say Imam Ahmad is contradictory? No one says that.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good.
Abu Malik: Samir called me and mentioned to me this statement that Nasser is making. He said he mentioned it, but I am forgetting the phrase he mentioned. But my brother Samir confirmed to me that he said this.

The Shaykh : So we say that is what we want, but what I heard does not contain this.

The questioner : It is one of two possibilities: either it was omitted from the Makkah tape, or as for Jeddah, it is explicit like this.

The Shaykh : Professor, may Allah bless you. This is what we want.

The questioner : Praise be to Allah.

The Shaykh : The second thing.

The questioner : We have finished the first suggestion.

The Shaykh : Yes, the second thing is that the science of hadith is very precise. So I know, as everyone engaged in this science knows, that in the definition of a sahih hadith, at the end, it says "and it is not shadh and it is not 'illat." How does one know the shudhdh and the 'illah of a hadith? It is by comprehending the routes. And I say, without boasting, although I lived among the Zahiriyah manuscripts, and they contain rare manuscripts, I would find some of them copied but never opened. The proof is that I would open one and find the page stuck to the other because the ink they used was made with gum. I would open the page and it would almost tear from the sticking. So I would open it easily and slowly so it would not tear. This is proof that this book was important and had never been studied at all. This is regarding the books. And regarding the scholars, I did not see anyone wearing a turban frequenting the Zahiriyah Library throughout my life. This is very regrettable. The point is, with what Allah has made easy for me, I feel now that what I missed is more than what I obtained. So I authenticate in the text.

Another questioner : ... because they say, "My heart inspired me, my Lord informed me."

The Shaykh : "My heart narrated to me about my Lord." The point, may Allah bless you, is that manuscripts in the world reach students of knowledge through photography. So I, who used to boast, without boasting, that I was the most knowledgeable about manuscripts, have now become very weak because of the many photographs that have come to the market. And this was a factor in correcting the position of many researchers regarding some hadiths, and I am among them. So there is no strangeness now if I authenticate a hadith with a chain that is actually defective, because this defect did not appear until later. And the reverse is exactly the reverse: I weakened a hadith. Why? Because the route I weakened is weak in itself, but later I found for it other routes, so I was forced to change my previous opinion with these new comprehensions that force the researcher not to stop at his previous opinion. And therefore, perhaps you have noticed, as I said, that all my books, at least most of my books, develop and change constantly, with renewal and updating, etc. This leads me to say that I am amazed at some authors who, since twenty or thirty years ago, their book is the same. This makes me feel that they wrote and the matter is finished.

Another questioner : And they did not contradict themselves.

The Shaykh : They did not contradict. Well done, well done. This is what I wanted to draw your attention to, because these students who are troubled by the whispers that this man and others like him cast, and unfortunately there are many of them.

The questioner : I thank you for this suggestion. May Allah bless you.

The Shaykh : May Allah bless you.

The questioner : ... As for the second, I did not mention it.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good.

The questioner : I have now found a truly useful benefit.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good.

The questioner : That five people would sit to research one hadith. Now, with the computer, may Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : And may Allah protect you.

The questioner : If Allah wills, it will be mentioned elsewhere.

The Shaykh : I mean, do as I do: correct yourself, and correct yourself. May Allah preserve you. Yes, please go ahead.

The questioner : In the year 1402, I asked you for an article in a magazine in the name of the Dean of the College, and you sent me an article about "The Wish of War and the Wish of Loyalty."
Abu Malik: Yes, you are correct.

The questioner : I mean, I did not receive the issue.
Abu Malik: But the letter was from you.

The questioner : ... But allow me, I told you the magazines are from the Dean.
Abu Malik: And I am still at Imam University now.

The questioner : Yes, in the College of Principles, and the article was the first in the magazine.
Abu Malik: Yes, yes, you are correct.

The questioner : And I referred to it in one of my letters. I will give you a copy of it, because until now I repeat this title frequently.
Abu Malik: May Allah reward you with good.

The questioner : Sometimes I say, in jest, that the title, because of its strength, makes my tongue repeat it repeatedly: "The Wish of War and the Wish of Loyalty," because it woke me from sleep.
Abu Malik: May Allah bless you.

The questioner : And therefore, I could not help but place it in the introduction of the magazine, even if there was a text before it, I would have placed it.
Abu Malik: May Allah reward you with good. First of all, it pleases me to hear this from you. And second, if I have retained this out of good opinion, that is correct for someone like me. I ask Allah that there be a bond of cooperation between us, and I am ready, if Allah wills, to do whatever you ask; I will spare no effort in giving what I have, if Allah wills, always.

The questioner : I say this was the first means of getting acquainted, and what a good means it was.
Abu Malik: My master, by Allah, this is a blessing, praise be to Allah.

The questioner : Indeed, if you count the articles we published in the college, I always count this article among them, as I mentioned, because it was referred to in a place, for the title alone is sufficient.
Al-Halabi : We told the Shaykh from long ago that these articles must be published in a book, becauseThe Shaykh : he has articles that, if collected, would make up two or three volumes, or more, our Shaykh.

The Shaykh : Perhaps more.
Al-Halabi : We told him, perhaps more. All these matters are categorized: articles, follow-ups, discussions, scholarly fiqh articles, tawhid articles, and what is connected to them. Truly, it would be a very good and distinctive thing. By the grace of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), when he writes, there is no repetition; if he repeats a specific idea, he sees it as important, but the wording, eloquence, and presentation differ from one place to another. Literarily, in documenting understandings, these would have other parts. In fact, they are articles, follow-ups, and things like that. Then this would have a series and other parts, but we are falling short withThe Shaykh .

The questioner : or the practical model from this side last year: *Amniyat al-Harb wa Amniyat al-Wala'* (The Security of War and the Security of Loyalty) is a practical model.
Abu Malik: By Allah, I am also, because if Allah wills, He will facilitate the publication of this book, which is about Salafism as a proportion, a call, and a methodology.
Al-Halabi : It is in four hundred pages.
Abu Malik: Thank you. Yes, this is a new book, and I addressed ten topics in it.

The Shaykh : Peace be upon you.
Al-Halabi : And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. Look, the reality of the Victorious Sect and its methodology, and knowing what it is commanded to do, is in about eighty pages, but its topics are also important.

The questioner : In an article he wroteThe Shaykh : and published in the journal of the College of Usul al-Din, where I was responsible for the journal. We wrote to him asking for his contribution, so he sent us an article. I say it is one of the best articles published. Six issues of the journal were issued, then it became a unified journal titled *Amniyat al-Harb wa Amniyat al-Wala'* (The Security of War and the Security of Loyalty). The title indicates what is beneath it. The article had a status, influence, and creativity in presenting the idea and making a transition. I consider it a very large transition in changing this concept. The illiterate is not the one who cannot read or write, but the one who does not understand the limits of loyalty and disavowal. I remember, some days ago, at an occasion, a student stood up and spoke. To his right was a common man who could not read or write. Then a young man stood up and spoke about the conditions of Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Afghanistan, and in Algeria, in the conditions you see and hear about. Then he said, "We must stand with our brothers." Generally, good words. When I sat down, this man said to me, "His speech is good, but he forgot an important issue." I said, "What is it? May Allah bless you." He said, "He did not mention that the cause of what befell them is their distance from the creed and the correct methodology, and he cannot read or write." I said, "Correct." I stood up and commented, saying, "I am speaking on behalf of so-and-so, who is sitting in front of you, and he drew my attention to this observation. I agree with him, but if we look at it, are these people who are labeled as Muslims? Some of them are named as such, and some of them do not represent the correct methodology Here, I also remembered *Amniyat al-Harb wa Amniyat al-Wala'* (The Security of War and the Security of Loyalty).

The Shaykh : What Allah willed.

The questioner : So the suggestion came to the Shaykh to print and separate these articles so that students can benefit from them, because the journal, however limited its distribution, is limited.
Abu Malik: ... the collection of articles he mentionedThe Shaykh : Ali and the brothers, the topic shows the collection, may Allah bless you ... we have not actually seen the new edition

The questioner : Actually, it has a critical edition, but the most important thing is the critical edition of the text and the extraction of the hadiths in the references.
Al-Halabi : And much of the referencing is from *Al-Irwaa*, what Allah wills, it is an encyclopedia.