Al-Albani speaks about his disagreement with Zuheir al-Shawish
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : And after I migrated from Damascus to here, meaning his intentions that he had been concealing became apparent, and I was not aware of them. The relationship between us was normal, but, glory be to Allah, it was like a thief who is exposed the first time; then his thefts start to follow one after another.
The questioner: Yes.
The Shaykh : The important thing is that the man, meaning, betrayed knowledge and betrayed both material and moral trust at the same time. It is a very long story that begins with my surprise that he took advantage of my residence in this country and my lack of contact with him. When I was in Damascus, I used to visit him, meaning, every two or three months, for the supervision of printing and proofreading, and experiments, and so on. Since I came here, the connection was naturally cut off. So he started to act with my books as the owner of them, 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 virtue 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 agree with him on one method or another. So I sent him a letter, and he sent me a letter that was a 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 word for word. Glory be to Allah, I said to myself, this man, first, considers himself my student; second, he is younger than me in age; and third, and finally, my books are what established his library.
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 important thing is that the man, meaning, betrayed knowledge and betrayed both material and moral trust at the same time. It is a very long story that begins with my surprise that he took advantage of my residence in this country and my lack of contact with him. When I was in Damascus, I used to visit him, meaning, every two or three months, for the supervision of printing and proofreading, and experiments, and so on. Since I came here, the connection was naturally cut off. So he started to act with my books as the owner of them, 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 virtue 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 agree with him on one method or another. So I sent him a letter, and he sent me a letter that was a 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 word for word. Glory be to Allah, I said to myself, this man, first, considers himself my student; second, he is younger than me in age; and third, and finally, my books are what established his library.
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.