Would you not respond to Hasan al-Saqaf in his books, and what do you advise the brothers who say, "How can that boy (Hasan al-Saqaf) be left to howl without a response being given to him?"

The questioner : You spoke about that *ruwaybidah* (foolish person). Of course, you said that he is one of the signs of the Hour. So I want to ask you: he has wreaked havoc on the honor of Allah’s servants, especially the scholars, and among the scholars is your eminence. And, by Allah, he has not reached a tenth of your level, and this is a matter we know. Would you not respond to him in the books he has written?

The Shaykh : I seek refuge in Allah.

The questioner : Well, what do you advise the brothers who feel in themselves thatThe Shaykh : Al-Albani (may Allah preserve him) leaves that boy to howl without responding to him, and they feel in themselves [a need to respond], so what do you say to them? And may Allah reward us with all good for your sake.

The Shaykh : By Allah, if they have the scholarly capability and the writing energy to respond to him, then this falls under the category of "And cooperate in righteousness and piety." But if they are not so, then I do not advise that every one of our brothers, enthusiastic for the call to the truth, should respond to one who fights the call to the truth but without knowledge. We do not advise this. And if it is absolutely necessary, let one of our brothers, who believes—or rather, supposes—that he is able to respond to him, let him present his writing to some of his brothers whom he knows are more advanced in knowledge and writing. Then this would be part of the completion of . And the truth is that the man, as we say on such an occasion, the Syrian proverb is that this dead man does not deserve this condolence. The man has nothing else to do but devote himself to fighting the true call. And perhaps he is a blabbermouth, speaking a lot, and he does not care whether this speech is something for which he will be rewarded with good or evil. And therefore, it is not befitting for someone like me to waste his time responding to someone like him, especially since I believe in two things:
First, that behind the man are brothers who support him in his wrongdoing. And second, that one of their goals is to divert this old manThe Shaykh : from what he has dedicated himself to, which is serving the Sunnah and bringing it close to the people. So if I were to turn to responding to him and his like, the methodology to which I dedicated myself, as I said earlier, would be neglected. And I hope that this is in the path of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and in reviving the Sunnah of His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
And now I seize this opportunity to remind our brothers, especially some of those present among us whom we heard praised earlier. We want to remind everyone present here that the man’s new book, which he titled *Sahih of the Description of the Prayer of the Prophet* (peace and blessings be upon him), this title alone, without the reader looking into its content, is sufficient to show that the man is hateful and envious. And as they say on such an occasion, the book is clear from its title. He wrote this book to oppose my book, which has been more than thirty years old, namely *The Description of the Prayer of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) from the Takbir to the Taslim as if you are seeing it*. So he came and added "Sahih" (authentic). I wish, by Allah, I testify that I hope there are dozens and dozens and hundreds of those who are skilled in verification and who correct Al-Albani. And in the Syrian expression: "They put him in their pocket entirely." He has only one year left until he reaches eighty. I hope that there are dozens of scholars stronger and more capable than me who put me in their pocket. I have nothing to mention, but unfortunately, we do not find the existence of these scholars in the Islamic world except very, very rarely. This man who has no knowledge of hadith, or fiqh, or anything worth mentioning except blabbering, except talking, this man is one of two things, and there is no escape from one of them:
Either he is misguided, and this is inevitable, and he intends guidance, or he is a misguided misleader who intends to mislead the Muslims. Because if his speech were to be held as a creed, he would be a disbeliever and an apostate from the religion. Why? Because he denies the existence of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), the Creator who was and nothing was before Him. He denies His existence, but in the way of the atheists who declare their atheism and may even boast of their atheism, but only through circumlocution and evasion. And now he declares and says: "Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is not inside the world nor outside of it." He declares this with complete frankness. Well, does this person believe in the existence of Allah? Not inside the world nor outside of it. What remains? Nothing remains. So that means that for him, Allah is nothing, and only in the opinion of the atheists is there nothing but matter.
No, that is not what he intends. Let us assume he is a Muslim and seeks guidance. Well, what does he intend? The mass-transmitted verses and hadiths are explicit that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) possesses the attribute of elevation. He denies this attribute and misleads those around him who have not been given any share of jurisprudence or knowledge, particularly regarding creed. He says: "Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is not in a place." We say, before him in time, that these Muslims who are sitting in a certain place, one of them says: "Allah exists in all existence, Allah exists in every place." Allah is the Greatest, O people! We humans enter places we wish we would not enter, but on the principle that "one forced by his brother is not a hero," how can you say that Allah is in every place? He denies it and says: "Allah is not in a place." But behind this denial is absolute negation (ta'til). He does not want to purify Allah from being in these places that Allah created and brought into existence from nothing; rather, he wants behind that to deny the existence of Allah. This is if we assume the worst of him. If we assume the best of him, he is following in the footsteps of the Mu'tazilah and the Asha'irah, who say: "Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is not above, not below, not to the right, not to the left, not in front, not behind, not inside the world, and not outside it." If one were to ask the most eloquent of the Arabs in expression, tongue, and speech: "Describe for us the non-existent thing that has no existence," he would not be able to describe this non-existent thing with more than what these people describe their object of worship with. This is absolute negation (ta'til). And he reads the words of Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him), who fought the contradictory Mu'tazilah and the anthropomorphists (mushabbihah), saying: "The one who ascribes a body to Allah worships an idol, and the one who negates attributes worships nothing." This man is not an anthropomorphist because he claims to declare the anthropomorphists disbelievers. And there is no anthropomorphist who says that Allah is like humans, far be it from Allah. But he accuses the Muslims of the righteous Salaf who affirm for Allah (Mighty and Majestic) the attributes that are established in the Book and the Sunnah with purification, as He said: . So he is not an anthropomorphist, but I say: I wish he were an anthropomorphist. Why? Because of the saying of Ibn Taymiyyah that the anthropomorphist worships something, but he worships a likeness, meaning he worships Allah but goes astray and wretchedly when he likens Him to a created body. I wish it were so, but he is a negator (mu'til). He says of his Lord: "Not inside the world and not outside it." And true is the one who said: "They are a people who have lost their Lord." The point is, he authored this book, *Sahih Sifat Salat al-Nabi* (The Authentic Description of the Prophet's Prayer, peace and blessings be upon him). And to show his opposition and stubbornness, he did not say as Al-Albani said before, "as if you see it," but he said: "as if you look at it." Glory be to Allah. Well, in any case, I wished that he actually intended to take the description of prayer, whether from my book or from all the books of the Sunnah. And he will never be able to reach it, absolutely not. I wished that he had taken the authentic and left the weak, which he considers weak due to his ignorance. But the truth, and I say the truth: this book can rightly be called *Sahih Sifat Salat al-Shafi'iyyah* (The Authentic Description of the Shafi'i Prayer), because the whole book is on the Shafi'i school. But I correct myself and say: even this is not correct. That is, if he said *Sahih Sifat Salat al-Shafi'iyyah*, even this is not correct. Why? Because he contradicted the Shafi'is in many issues. Indeed, he contradicted Imam al-Nawawi, of whom I can say that most of the material in this book is from the words of al-Nawawi. So Imam al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him), following many of the early Shafi'is, says that verbalizing the intention is nothing (not required). But he says it is a recommended practice (sunnah). So when he placed this title: *Sahih Sifat Salat al-Nabi*, and mentioned in the book that verbalizing the intention is a recommended practice, this means that he lied about the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Then he contradicted the Imams of the Shafi'i school who say that it is nothing. The discussion on this is long, and I do not want to waste your time. But one thing reminds me of another, and I apologize to those who may consider me exaggerating when I say that this is one of the signs of the Hour. Because the reality of this matter is abundant in the authentic Sunnah. And I conclude my speech by reminding you of the hadith whose authenticity is agreed upon by the scholars, namely his saying (peace and blessings be upon him):The Shaykh I, if I am amazed by anything, I am most amazed by the goodness of the heart of some young Muslims when they are deceived by the shouting of every shouter, or the bellowing of every bellowing. When was this man known for knowledge! And when did he become famous for authenticating and weakening hadiths, and for jurisprudence and independent legal reasoning (ijtihad), until some people are deceived by him and follow him in what he calls for, starting from deviation in creed to worship? And let us leave aside behavior, for that is another matter. Now I want to hear your important questions. Let him raise his hand. Please, go ahead.