The Shaykh's advice to the people of hadith in Pakistan regarding their division.

Al-Halali: In the name of Allah. All praise is due to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our own selves and from the evil of our deeds. Whoever Allah guides is not to be led astray, and whoever He leaves astray is not to be guided. And I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger. As for what follows, these are questions we are directing to our Shaykh, Abu 'Abd al-Rahman Muhammad al-Nasir al-Din al-Albani (may Allah preserve him), hoping that our brothers in the various regions of the earth will benefit from them. For these questions are truly what I have carried in my bag during my tour of many countries, including Pakistan, America, and Britain. Many of our brothers there directed them to us, hoping that they would find their way to the handThe Shaykh : of one who would speak at length about them, for they are among the sensitive topics that have occupied the minds of the youth in these days, indeed, they have taken possession of their minds, and they are their primary preoccupation now in all regions. Our brothers in Pakistan, the people of hadith in particular, wished to be directedThe Shaykh : (may Allah preserve him) a word about what they are going through, for the people of hadith in Pakistan are numerous, but unfortunately, they are many groups: the people of hadith, the Tablighi, the mujahideen of the people of hadith, and so on, of the groups, sects, and parties. So our brothers among the scholars there wished to be directedThe Shaykh : (may Allah preserve him) a word, perhaps it will find its way to implementation and to their listening. So we ask that you remind us and them with a word about this division that is creeping into the bodies of some of those who claim affiliation to the Salafi da'wah and to the Salafi methodology. May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : In my opinion, the most difficult thing is to investigate matters that are self-evident and apparent. If these people, as you mentioned, are from the people of hadith, and they differ with one another with that severe difference, what do we say regarding the other groups and sects? All of these and those read with us the verses of Allah the Exalted in the Noble Book, and they all agree and revolve around one point, such as the saying of Allah the Exalted: And He also mentioned in the other verse which says: If they are sincere in their affiliation to the science of hadith, and I say if they are sincere, because unfortunately I see in many groups—and we do not need to name them—that there are sincere ones among them and there are those with ill intent. If they are all sincere in their affiliation to the science of hadith and the people of hadith, then I think the cause of this difference and this dispute returns to two things, similar to some of the questions raised by some of our brothers present who criticize some of those working in the authentication and weakening of hadiths. My answer was that the cause is the difference in study and mastery thereof, and so on. So I believe that one of the causes of the disagreement is that there are people who authenticate some hadiths and people among them who weaken other hadiths. At that point, I believe that my previous statement that the area of disagreement is a very natural matter is correct. Therefore, I am pleased with a word attributed to some contemporary preachers, which says: "We cooperate on what we agree upon, and we excuse one another in what we differ in." But not in this absolute sense. I believe that the first part of the statement is one hundred percent straight: we cooperate on what we agree upon. As for the second part, "and we excuse one another in what we differ in," it must be qualified by the texts of the Shari'ah, such as his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): and so on, and what is similar to it, that they pledged allegiance to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to give sincere advice. So these differing people must have what is called today in the language of the modern age the scientific spirit. But not in this way, as an absolute license, so that one declares another a disbeliever freely according to his opinion. No, he misguides. No, rather, I mean that he sees the hadith as authentic and that one sees it as good, and they all have this knowledge. Their case is the case, as we also mentioned in previous speech, of the scholars who differed: al-Bukhari differed with Muslim, al-Bukhari differed with his student al-Tirmidhi in more than one hadith, and so on. This necessitated a dispute between them. The reason is that they had this principle qualified by mutual advice. So these divided people there, or here, must have this scientific spirit, keeping in mind that minds and efforts differ, and the goal is that they are all sincere in serving the Sunnah and the Prophetic hadith. Then it is not a problem for them if they differ; this is the situation of one who placed his forehead here and that one did not place it where he wanted. This is absolutely not the case. But the important thing is that they give one another sincere advice in the religion. Sincere advice in the religion. And I believe that this Quranic remedy mentioned in more than one verse in the Noble Quran, and the hadiths that order the Ummah to give one another sincere advice, is sufficient for these people and for all Muslims to retract from quarreling and from turning away from one another, and to be brothers as Allah Blessed and Exalted is He commanded them.