The reader's introduction of Shaykh Al-Albani, his praise of him, and an overview of the lecture topic, and Shaykh Al-Albani's response to the presenter who praised him to his face

The reader: As for what follows: O dear brothers! First, we are honored by the presence of our Shaykh in our mosque and his response to our invitation, may Allah reward him with good. We are also honored by your presence in our mosque and your response to our invitation. I say: O brothers, I remind those who know, and I introduce to those who do not know, our noble Shaykh: namely the scholar, the distinguished scholar, the suppressor of innovation, the reviver of the Sunnah, the great hadith scholar who took the title of the Hadith Scholar of Sham, indeed he took the title of the Hadith Scholar of the entire world. And as you know, years have passed during which one of us did not know the authentic Sunnah from the weak one, and during these years, innovations had risen and appeared, and the Sunnahs had diminished and declined. But Allah (Mighty and Majestic) sends, at the head of every hundred years, a man who renews for this Ummah the affairs of its religion. And we firmly believe that our Shaykh is the renewer for this Ummah in this era of the affairs of its religion, for he did not come except that the Sunnah came with him, bright, with a radiance like the radiance of the sun, striking the ears of the people of innovation, and saying to them: Wake up from the innovations and superstitions you are in, for the day of blind following has passed and died. The day of blind following has passed and died among the people of truth who are fair, who follow what Allah (Mighty and Majestic) said and what His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said. And it is sufficient for us that we took from our Shaykh: that we do not call to Allah (Mighty and Majestic) except with insight, the insight that Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) commanded in His noble Book: . This verse, all people were reciting it, but they did not know its reality until our Shaykh came, may Allah reward him with good, and he clarified this reality which falls under His saying (Exalted is He): . And the virtues of our Shaykh are very many, for some have written about them, and others, who are his students and the fair among people, are still speaking of the virtues of our Shaykh wherever they go and wherever they travel. And if I were to speak about the virtues of the Shaykh, the discourse would be very, very long, but I leave you with the Shaykh, and we hope from him that he will clarify to us, even a small part, of the meaning of calling to insight, which Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) commanded in His Book. And let the Shaykh please proceed, with thanks.

The Shaykh : I thank the noble brother for his good praise, and that is from his good opinion of me in my capacity as a Muslim among the Muslims. It is not for me to respond to this praise except with the authentic report established from the first Caliph, Abu Bakr al-Siddiq (may Allah be pleased with him), who, when he was praised to his face, would say: "O Allah, do not hold me accountable for what they say, and make me better than what they think, and forgive me what they do not know." This report is from our role model after the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), because it came from the first Caliph, whose rank is the first and best of all the Companions, indeed and the best of the Rightly Guided Caliphates absolutely. After this, I must correct a verse that came during the speech of the noble brother, and I think, and surely you have some memorizers among you, I mean by that verse: His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He): .