The Shaykh’s discussion with one of the students regarding the recitation of the Qur’an: is it by transmission or by learning?

The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. And as for what follows:The Shaykh : May Allah preserve you, O the distinguished scholar Nasir al-Din al-Albani, and may He prolong your life and bless you with abundant health and well-being, the reviver of the Sunnah and the suppressor of innovation. May Allah make you a sharpened sword against the people of innovation, shirk, and misguidance. First of all, I direct my thanks to your excellence for giving me the opportunity to discuss with you some issues related to the science of tajwid, starting from the saying of Allah the Exalted and His saying , and from the hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) . So I begin with the first question: What is the ruling on tajwid, with evidence? The first branch: What is its benefit? May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : I tell you, my brother, that it is not for this that we gathered, and therefore you must keep to the appointment. I am not a specialist in the science of tajwid, so I know my own standing. But I am looking into things within the limits of my knowledge. You have now deviated from the subject for which you came, and you are asking me as if I were an imam in the science of recitation and tajwid. I am not. So if you had been frank with me that you wanted to direct questions in the science of tajwid as a specialist in it, I would have excused myself, just as I excuse myself from many issues that my knowledge does not encompass. So will you stick to what we agreed upon?

The questioner : My Shaykh, I have asked you this same question before.

The Shaykh : May Allah bless you. You have not sat with me for long. I want a person to walk with me together on a straight path. When you left the mosque with me that night, you said you had problems and doubts in that gathering. I was lost until the end. The same words you said in the gathering, you said to me. So you asked me to hold a session, or for me to hold a session for you to hear from you. So I told you, welcome, and we made an appointment. We really did make an appointment. So now.

The questioner : So that I can get rid of them... for that reason.

The Shaykh : My dear, I am telling you I am not a specialist in this science. But this was not your request. If you had said to me, "I want to ask you questions related to the science of tajwid," I would have told you I am not a specialist in this science. And I said something similar to this, I think, in the same session. I read, for example, the Qur’an and completed it in the recitation of Hafs. But I have information, considering the Sunnah is mobile and roaming, related to the science of tafsir, the science of fiqh, history, the biography, recitation, and the like. But I am not a specialist, just as I am not a specialist in tafsir. If you dedicated a session for the science of tafsir, I would not comply with you in this. But I take exception to you for having misled me into something and started me with something. You made me understand that you wanted a special session for the subject that was raised there, because you said you were lost. Is this the subject that was raised there? If it was raised, by your will, to whom would it be directed? To someone who is a specialist, if you know him.

The questioner : The subject... in my estimation, perhaps I made a mistake.

The Shaykh : No, you definitely made a mistake. You came here for this session. I gave it to you for what?

The questioner : For the doubts in my mind regarding this subject.

The Shaykh : Which subject?

The questioner : The science of tajwid.

The Shaykh : The one in your mind, and no one else has knowledge of the subject that was raised before you. You did not know how to delve into it and roam around in it.

The questioner : The subject, my master.

The Shaykh : Answer, answer. Do not be like this. I am asking you. Do you have problems and doubts regarding the subject in general, or the subject that was raised there, and you admitted that you do not know, understand, take, and give?

The questioner : That is a partial subject, and I am settled in it.

The Shaykh : Do not answer, my brother. May Allah guide you. You are coming to argue and waste our time. Our time is precious. We gave you time for your sake. You have doubts and problems, and we will answer them for you in the entire religion. We do not give you an appointment for what do we call it? Dilution. You have problems regarding what happened in the session around the points that were discussed in the session. That was your speech. So why are you expanding the circle now?

The questioner : Hoping for your generosity, meaning, who else would I go to to ask? I have trust in you.

The Shaykh : My brother, may Allah bless you. This is not the time for this. I gave it to you in exchange for words that came from you, or not?

The questioner : Correct.

The Shaykh : What are the words that came from you?

The questioner : The doubts I spoke about regarding the subject we discussed there.

The Shaykh : So if you do not look into it?

The questioner : Well, we spoke regarding Malik and Maliki in that session, and the issue of including it in the prayer, a rak'ah of Malik or a rak'ah of Maliki, and mixing the recitations. This is what we spoke about. Now, the doubt I have is what came in "Tafsir al-Qurtubi." It says, "Al-A'mash narrated from Abu Wa'il, who said, 'I heard Abdullah ibn Mas'ud recite, "Hiyya lak." So I said, "A group of people recite it as "Hiyya lak." He said, "I only recite as I was taught."'" And what you cited in the authentic hadiths, volume four, page twenty-eight, regarding the difference between two men, and the indication says that it is Ali. At the end of the hadith, he says to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) . This doubt, for me, says that the Muslim person must not recite except by transmission through this understanding and through these evidences and reports. May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : Through transmission, or through learning?

The questioner : The hadith says .

The Shaykh : May Allah guide you. The question is: through transmission or through learning?

The questioner : Learning.

The Shaykh : Well, what is this question that has no taste, unfortunately, and equals the session that passed and ended? And we are permitting a person to recite without learning!

The questioner : Excellent. I have arrived now.

The Shaykh : How is it excellent?

The questioner : That my question revolved around knowledge.

The Shaykh : May Allah guide you. For you, my brother, this subject was raised and we killed it with research and clarified it, and we told you, "We read this narration in the books of hadith and we read it in the books of the scholars who said it is a mass-transmitted recitation." Was this research to permit one person to say this is halal, this is haram, this is permissible, and this is not permissible without knowledge?

The questioner : It is not permissible.

The Shaykh : Well, do you think in your mind that it is permissible for one person to recite "Hata" and "Hiyya lak" without knowledge?

The questioner : It is not permissible.

The Shaykh : Well, what is the meaning of this question? May Allah guide you? But you give in your mind what is happening to you. You are afflicted with the plague of taqlid (blind following), or do not blame me if I tell you the plague of rigidity. Your question mentioned transmission, and I know what is under this word. So I told you, transmission or learning. You had no choice but to deviate from taqlid in truth to saying learning. Glory be to my Lord. Was the research about whether it is with knowledge or with ignorance, so that you come and say, "My question is: is it permissible for one person to recite without learning?" Who told you it is permissible for one person to recite without learning!! But this is not your intention. Your intention is really transmission, and this is what was researched. And I told you, my brother, did you not receive the recitation of Malik? Did you remember or not?

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : But I read it in the books of hadith with a valid chain, and that it is a confirmed mass-transmitted recitation. Did I not tell you this? Were you lost and distracted from it? No, you were not distracted from it. So what is the meaning of now coming and directing this same question?

The questioner : Shaykh, for me, the word or transmission, for me, with the same understanding, I do not distinguish between them. The issue of "Recite as you were taught," for me, I take it with the same understanding as transmission.

The Shaykh : Well, since it is with the same understanding, if you give in your mind, do not blame me, you have not sat in this session in your whole life. You are a professor, a man who receives a lesson, receives a lecture, and so on. But that you enter the field of scientific discussion, even if not in your science, no problem. But a style of discussion that you do not have. Give in your mind. When I am frank with you in this speech, I want your good. So now you have been frank, and you are repeating, saying, "I understand that there is no difference between 'as you were taught' and transmission." It is not like that. You say, "Well, I tell you, you are deceiving yourself. What do you think?"

The questioner : I want to understand these doubts in my mind, Shaykh.

The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar, you are deceiving yourself. It is not that you are mistaken; you are deceiving yourself when you say there is no difference between "as you taught" and "receiving (instruction)." Because I told you that "as you taught" is receiving (instruction), and now you are saying there is no difference. So how are you deceiving yourself? Put receiving (instruction) aside. "As you taught"—now I am only asking you: when I recite in al-Fatihah and lead the people in , am I reading "as I was taught" or "as I was ignorant"?

The questioner : As I was taught.

The Shaykh : Good, but you did not receive (instruction).

The questioner : My Shaykh, this is a detail of knowledge. That is why I was organized, and perhaps I made a mistake in the order. I was actually hoping for ten questions, so I organized them. Because, for me, this topic—I teach tajwid well. Let us move away from your question, please do not burden me.

The Shaykh : That is enough, Professor. May Allah guide you.

The questioner : I teach people, I explain, and I speak frankly. I find myself in a state of caution now.

The Shaykh : What are you teaching people?

The questioner : Tajwid.

The Shaykh : It is not permissible for you to teach people tajwid. This is another burden you are placing on me, one by one. It is not permissible for you to teach people tajwid.

The questioner : Why?

The Shaykh : Because you do not have a scholar.

The questioner : But I received (instruction).

The Shaykh : Even if you received (instruction), you received it through taqlid (blind following). In your discussion now, it is clear that you do not have knowledge of what you received. You were told, "Say this," and you said, "Yes." As for this recitation, how did you receive it? How do you do it? And why? Your case is the same as that of all those who follow the madhahib (schools of jurisprudence) in fiqh. There is absolutely no difference between you and them. They follow in rulings, and you follow in the rulings of tajwid.