The Shaykh Al-Albani’s remarks regarding his disagreement with Zuheir al-Shawish.
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : And after I migrated from Damascus to here, meaning his intentions, which he had been concealing, became apparent, whereas I had not been aware of them. The relationship between us had been normal, but, glory be to Allah, it was like a thief who is exposed the first time; then it becomes a continuous chain of his following.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : The point is that the man, meaning, betrayed the knowledge and betrayed the material and moral trust at the same time. It is a very long story that begins with my being surprised that he took advantage of my residence in this country and my not maintaining contact with him. When I was in Damascus, I used to visit him, meaning, every two or three months, for the purpose of supervising the printing, correcting, and testing, and so on. Since I came here, the connection naturally ceased. So he began to act with my books as the owner does, whether in the moral aspect or the material aspect.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : And what blew up the situation was that, first of all, I thought that all my money was being delayed year after year, and people were constantly attacking Al-Albani’s books by stealing them and dealing with them in an un-Islamic manner. So I decided to relinquish these books to people who would then take charge of their printing and pursue the thieves. I thought that this Zuheir al-Shawish—well, all the roads are open, but be careful, be careful from here on—
The questioner : Yes, yes.
The Shaykh : So I said that this is our old friend, who has the merit of publishing these books of mine, a fact that cannot be denied, so we must present the opinion to him so that he can choose some of these books, and we can agree with him on one method or another. So I sent him a letter, and he sent me a letter in response to mine: "When did you enslave people, when you were born free?" Because he said in the letter: "I do not allow you to print any book with anyone other than me." So I sent him a detailed written response and answered that word, glory be to Allah. I said to myself, this man, first of all, considers himself my student; second, he is younger than me in age; and third, and finally, it is my books that established his bookstore.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : How is it that now he is arrogant toward me and imposes his personality on me and says: I do not allow you? From here he began to reveal what was in his heart.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : The point is that the man, meaning, betrayed the knowledge and betrayed the material and moral trust at the same time. It is a very long story that begins with my being surprised that he took advantage of my residence in this country and my not maintaining contact with him. When I was in Damascus, I used to visit him, meaning, every two or three months, for the purpose of supervising the printing, correcting, and testing, and so on. Since I came here, the connection naturally ceased. So he began to act with my books as the owner does, whether in the moral aspect or the material aspect.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : And what blew up the situation was that, first of all, I thought that all my money was being delayed year after year, and people were constantly attacking Al-Albani’s books by stealing them and dealing with them in an un-Islamic manner. So I decided to relinquish these books to people who would then take charge of their printing and pursue the thieves. I thought that this Zuheir al-Shawish—well, all the roads are open, but be careful, be careful from here on—
The questioner : Yes, yes.
The Shaykh : So I said that this is our old friend, who has the merit of publishing these books of mine, a fact that cannot be denied, so we must present the opinion to him so that he can choose some of these books, and we can agree with him on one method or another. So I sent him a letter, and he sent me a letter in response to mine: "When did you enslave people, when you were born free?" Because he said in the letter: "I do not allow you to print any book with anyone other than me." So I sent him a detailed written response and answered that word, glory be to Allah. I said to myself, this man, first of all, considers himself my student; second, he is younger than me in age; and third, and finally, it is my books that established his bookstore.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : How is it that now he is arrogant toward me and imposes his personality on me and says: I do not allow you? From here he began to reveal what was in his heart.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.