The continuation of the story of Shaykh Nasib al-Rifai with Shaykh al-Albani, and how the Shaykh traveled to Aleppo to reconcile him with his colleague Muhammad Nasir.

The Shaykh : I had planned to recite these verses to al-Ghazali, one of the great jurists of the Shafi'i school, who brought them, but this has no basis. I thought he would say the same, but he ruined it for me with his successive ignorances. In the end, we settled the matter. We told him, "O Shaykh, this hadith has no basis." I have a report from Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi in a transcription... that it has no basis. Nevertheless, I pressed him a bit on it, and despite that, So I ask you, if you return to your library in your home, and Najm al-Din Bey is with you, to look up which volume and which page of al-Targhib or Musnad Ahmad the hadith is in, and send it to us with Najm al-Din Bey or with someone else.

The questioner : I preserved a drop of his dignity.

The Shaykh : Yes, and as they say about us in Syria, this is the face of the guest.

The questioner : Is he still looking for you?

The questioner : Is that the question? Did you reconcile just now?

The Shaykh : Just now...

The Shaykh : I do not know.

The questioner : It never occurred to me that anyone would actually ask this question.

The questioner : This is one of the wonders of fatwas.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : I encountered him while he was studying, but I did not attend his lessons.

The questioner : I am concerned, did you see him?

The Shaykh : Did you see him? Yes.

The questioner : The subject is Nasib al-Rifai.

The Shaykh : He is so, we hope.The Shaykh : Badr al-Din had, I mean, a good trait on the road. When he met him, he was an old man.

The questioner : What was his age?

The Shaykh : His age. Whenever a person wanted to kiss his hand, he would struggle and not allow it. This is very rare for us in Damascus. We know another Shaykh whose name isThe Shaykh : Ibrahim, what is Ibrahim, what is from Qunaytra, and Allah gathered me with one of his sons in prison, in the Citadel prison in Damascus. This poor man was a Shaykh of the Naqshbandi order. When he met someone on the road, he would say, "Our Master, pray for me," and he would stop in the middle of the road.

The questioner : And he would pray for him.

The Shaykh : And he would pray for him. People are of different natures, and that trait pleased me completely. Let us return to the main subject. I did not want to surprise our brother Nasib, as I explained to you earlier. I asked him a question like that question... I told him, "O Shaykh Nasib, the saying of Allah the Exalted: Is the will here cosmic or legislative? That is what I want you to preserve for me."

The questioner: Yes.

The questioner : Of course, he will tell you.

The Shaykh : Cosmic or legislative? I wish he would say it. If he had said it, the case would have been over.

The questioner : Correct.

The Shaykh : But he dodged and turned.

The questioner : Yes, perhaps he understood the answer.

The Shaykh : He is clever in that regard.

The questioner : Ah.

The Shaykh : And he knows what is behind the question.

The questioner : Of course.

The Shaykh : Because these are lessons we have always taught people. Cosmic and legislative will is a very important doctrinal aspect that resolves many problems and doubts. He did not answer. I waited for him, I waited for him, and then I went back and said to him, "O Shaykh, you did not give me an answer. Tell me, what did you say? Is the will legislative or cosmic?" Three times, and he did not answer. The Maghrib adhan was called. We went to the mosque, excuse me, not to the mosque; we were praying in the house where the lesson was held, the house of Muhammad Nasir al-Kirmani. We prayed Maghrib and delivered the lesson that Allah had written for us. Then the people dispersed. Nasib al-Rifai and some of our brothers' heads remained. Nasib went back to discussing Nasir al-Kirmani on the same issue.

The questioner : The Shaykh : What is there about this?

The Shaykh : Yes, the issue.The Shaykh : It has no value. The important thing is that during the discussion, in front of me, and this is what made me speak to him for the first time, I told him, "If you die with this belief, you will die a disbeliever."

The questioner: Allahu Akbar.

The Shaykh : At that point, I stood up to him and said, "O Shaykh Nasib, fear Allah. First, this is a man who does not say or believe anything except based on his personal conviction, regardless of whether he is right or wrong. How can you judge that he will die a disbeliever? That is one thing. The second thing is that you must know that this is the correct view, and you are mistaken in what you say. I do not remember now the details of what happened or how the matter was settled. When he knew for the first time that I agreed with him, I wanted to show him that, but he dodged and turned and left the answer to the verse. Now, as if I am trying to remember, as if I completed the topic. He fled from there. I told him, "O Shaykh Nasib, if this will here were a cosmic will, then the Shi'ites' claim about their Imams, that they are all infallible, would be correct. And you do not say this, nor does any Muslim from the people of the Sunnah say this. But the will here is a legislative will, meaning Allah wants and loves for His servants to be purified, but He does not impose it on them as a cosmic will. The important thing is that that session of discussion ended, and I returned to my country. After a period of one or two months, less or more, Allah knows, a man named Mustafa al-Hammami came to me and said, "Catch up with the group, and this one died in Palestine. May Allah have mercy on him."

The questioner : Is he a doctor?

The Shaykh : No, by Allah, he is not a doctor. He was a lawyer practicing law in Aleppo under one of the men.