Is the report of Ahmad regarding leaving the congregational prayer in the mosque considered contradictory to what is established in the Prophetic Sunnah?
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The questioner : The first question: You taught us not to be Taymiyyan, nor Hanbali, nor Shafi'i, nor so on, nor Al-Albani, and praise be to Allah! So I say, regarding the issue of prayer here, we did not pray in the mosque, and you derived a ruling from this report of Imam Ahmad?
The Shaykh : Excuse me, I did not derive a ruling; I took comfort!
The questioner : You took comfort. Is taking comfort contrary to the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)?
The Shaykh : It is contrary to its generality, not to its specificity. Yes, and the generality, my brother, does not have the same evidentiary weight as the specificity. Therefore, from the jurisprudential perspective, a jurist may exclude certain particulars from general evidences based on jurisprudence and understanding that appears to the jurist. And on this occasion, I want to say that the current Salafi youth have an undesirable tendency. They think they have taken a sufficient share of knowledge, so they criticize the mujtahid imams for what appears to them to be contrary to the text. And the discussion that took place an hour or more ago regarding is sufficient as evidence. Now the issue is being repeated, in a different way, meeting in the premise but differing in the conclusion. The argumentation by the general text returns. We want to understand this general text: did its generality apply to all of its generality?
The questioner: No.
The Shaykh : So, does this particular case fall under "yes" or under "no"? Here, the difference of opinion arises. If you are convinced by the opinion of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal and his companions, whom I did not mention some of in vain, but so that you understand that this is not the opinion of one Imam! It is the opinion of an Imam, and an Imam, and other Imams whose names do not come to my mind, who, when the scholars of hadith mention some of the famous Imams like Dawud al-Zahiri and his son Muhammad al-Zahiri, it is said that four hundred men wearing cloaks attended his gathering. What does this mean? It means four hundred scholars in the gathering of one scholar. It means not just a student of knowledge with a seeker of knowledge, but great scholars. If this is the case for Dawud al-Zahiri and his son Muhammad al-Zahiri, what can be said about the gathering of Imam Ahmad, Ali ibn al-Madini, and Yahya ibn Ma'in... great scholars? If they saw that this situation justified their excuse from going to the mosque, especially since they would establish the prayer in that place as if it were a mosque, as I said earlier.
The summary: whoever has such jurisprudence, he has understood jurisprudence, and he did not follow Ahmad ibn Hanbal, nor Yahya ibn Ma'in, nor Ali ibn al-Madini, let alone Al-Albani. And whoever is not convinced by this jurisprudence is the one who will be held accountable for his opinion, and it is he who, if he delivers a lesson and hears the adhan, must rush to the mosque, as Al-Albani did long ago, and as is not far from what is known of him. Correct.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Something else.
The Shaykh : Excuse me, I did not derive a ruling; I took comfort!
The questioner : You took comfort. Is taking comfort contrary to the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)?
The Shaykh : It is contrary to its generality, not to its specificity. Yes, and the generality, my brother, does not have the same evidentiary weight as the specificity. Therefore, from the jurisprudential perspective, a jurist may exclude certain particulars from general evidences based on jurisprudence and understanding that appears to the jurist. And on this occasion, I want to say that the current Salafi youth have an undesirable tendency. They think they have taken a sufficient share of knowledge, so they criticize the mujtahid imams for what appears to them to be contrary to the text. And the discussion that took place an hour or more ago regarding
Let the beards grow.
أعفوا اللحىThe questioner: No.
The Shaykh : So, does this particular case fall under "yes" or under "no"? Here, the difference of opinion arises. If you are convinced by the opinion of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal and his companions, whom I did not mention some of in vain, but so that you understand that this is not the opinion of one Imam! It is the opinion of an Imam, and an Imam, and other Imams whose names do not come to my mind, who, when the scholars of hadith mention some of the famous Imams like Dawud al-Zahiri and his son Muhammad al-Zahiri, it is said that four hundred men wearing cloaks attended his gathering. What does this mean? It means four hundred scholars in the gathering of one scholar. It means not just a student of knowledge with a seeker of knowledge, but great scholars. If this is the case for Dawud al-Zahiri and his son Muhammad al-Zahiri, what can be said about the gathering of Imam Ahmad, Ali ibn al-Madini, and Yahya ibn Ma'in... great scholars? If they saw that this situation justified their excuse from going to the mosque, especially since they would establish the prayer in that place as if it were a mosque, as I said earlier.
The summary: whoever has such jurisprudence, he has understood jurisprudence, and he did not follow Ahmad ibn Hanbal, nor Yahya ibn Ma'in, nor Ali ibn al-Madini, let alone Al-Albani. And whoever is not convinced by this jurisprudence is the one who will be held accountable for his opinion, and it is he who, if he delivers a lesson and hears the adhan, must rush to the mosque, as Al-Albani did long ago, and as is not far from what is known of him. Correct.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : Something else.
Source
www.al-albany.com
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