A statement by Ali Hasan regarding Abu Ghuddah and Shaykh Al-Albani’s commentary on it.

Al-Halabi : In the continuation of the same topic, meaning, I will limit the rules for the answer, but I say, as an example given by our brother, may Allah bless him, regarding Abu Ghuddah, for instance. Those who praise Abu Ghuddah do so for one of two reasons, and there is no third: either from a partisan perspective, without regard to the methodology and the issue of scientific research mentioned by our professor, in which case discussion with them is closed because it is of no benefit.

The Shaykh : Nonsense.
Al-Halabi : Because we say, as our Shaykh said long ago in his dialogue and in his exposure of Abu Ghuddah and his refutation of him: "I am a Salafi and a Kuthri, is that so, our Shaykh?"

The Shaykh : Indeed, by Allah
Al-Halabi : "I am a Salafi and a Kuthri." They do not base their judgment, or their praise, or their commendation on methodological scientific principles grounded in the Book and the Sunnah with the understanding of the Salaf of the Ummah. Rather, they base it on whether this person is with us or not. This is the first point. The second point is the issue of the reality of our Shaykh, which you speak of repeatedly and again and again, and it is the issue of the difference between theory and practice among those engaged in hadith in this era.

The Shaykh : Authentic
Al-Halabi : For example, regarding Abu Ghuddah, I say frankly that if he writes on theoretical matters, he may do well. What misleads many of those our Shaykh mentioned, who do not have the principle of sharing in knowledge, is that he looked at this: he transmitted in his verification of such-and-such a book from three hundred sources. If so, may Allah will it, he is the most knowledgeable person on earth, or so on. This is also a very great error, because when we want to judge a person, we do not judge him only on theoretical matters, but we must also look at practical matters, which are the practical application of those theoretical rules. If you bring him a hadith and he is unable to look at its chain, let alone judge it, let alone trace its routes, then what benefit have we gained from his theoretical research, which consists of formal matters? In my opinion, one who looks at these two matters can make a judgment that is close to correctness and perfection, and Allah the Exalted knows best.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you. Abu Ghuddah when he was in Aleppo was different from who he is now in Riyadh. Abu Ghuddah in Aleppo used to say that whoever declares a disbeliever the one who seeks aid from other than Allah is the disbeliever.
The questioner: This was in Aleppo.

The Shaykh : But now, his state says: "Be of their religion as long as you are in their land, and of their land as long as you are in their land, and of their neighborhood as long as you are in their neighborhood." Abu Ghuddah, I attended a session with him without any connection, and our brother Abd al-Rahman al-Bani was with us at that time, and he was a friend of Abu Ghuddah and also shared in that partisanship. Abu Ghuddah addressed the answer to a question: Is it permissible to treat with intoxicants? He answered with the madhhab ruling that if there is no medicine except intoxicants, it is permissible. I said to him: How is this, when the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was asked this exact question and answered by saying: He said: The hadith needs to be reviewed. I said to him: The hadith is in Sahih Muslim, so it should not need review. He repeated it. Abd al-Rahman al-Bani, although I believe he is a sincere man, is very soft, and part of his softness is that he often sees it in the interest not to confront the one who disagrees, but here it appears that Abu Ghuddah’s rigid position did not allow him to do anything but say: "Professor, I do not know if you were a Shaykh at that time or a student, I do not know what he said." I mean, Al-Albani says that the hadith is in Sahih Muslim, so what is your opinion? This is an authentic hadith. Do you say it is not permissible as the hadith says, or do you continue to say that the madhhab permits it? He gave no answer. So he is, first, a Hanafi who is fanatical about his madhhab, and I wish that were all, but he is a Kuthri; he believes in Zayd al-Kuthri more than he believes in his Hanafi imam, Abu Hanifah. Therefore, he may be a scholar in some respects, but as you heard, what is the knowledge that bears the fruit of righteous work, piety, and sincerity, and so on? And I am very sorry that we were forced at the end of the evening to speak about some individuals; we are in no need of delving into them....