How do you respond to one of our shaykhs who, when you presented your authentication of the hadith of the Prayer of Tasbih, said:

The questioner : The second question: The hadith of the Prayer of Tasbih. I read its weakening in the magazine *al-Tawhid*. Then, a year after it was weakened, I read in the same magazine its authentication, and they stated in that issue that al-Albani authenticated it. I presented this matter to one of our shaykhs, and he said it is weak, and al-Albani’s authentication of it is merely that he authenticated it, while all the narrations are weak. Then, even if it were established as authentic, even if it were established as authentic, it is not to be acted upon because it is specific to al-Abbas. And if it is established...

The Shaykh : Specific to what?

The questioner : It is specific to al-Abbas. And if it is established...

The Shaykh : To al-Abbas.
The student : To al-Abbas.

The questioner : And if it is established as authentic, it is weak because it is specific to al-Abbas, and worship is not to be restricted to one individual to the exclusion of the community. For legislation is for Muslims in general. It is as if he is refuting you, our Shaykh.

The Shaykh : No problem. As for his statement that, hypothetically, if it were authentic, it is specific, this is truly a statement that a jurist would not make. Because it is established in the principles of jurisprudence that an address directed to one individual of the community is an address to the entire community. Do you understand this? The command directed by the Messenger to one individual of the community is directed to the entire community, to every individual of it. Just as an address directed to men also includes women by virtue of what? By virtue of the shared obligation, except for what is excluded. There are many, and very many, hadiths in which the address is directed to a specific person, such as the hadith, for example: . Who says that this is an address specific to 'Ali if the hadith is authentic? And the hadith is also authentic. And there are many like it.
The student : The Prayer of Tasbih.

The Shaykh : The Messenger addressed 'Ali; because he forbade him from wearing armor, silk, and gold, and the like. What do you say? Is this a command or prohibition specific to 'Ali (may Allah be pleased with him)? This is exactly similar to any action the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) performed, where someone claims it is specific to him. The scholars say that specificity requires evidence. Similarly, when we move from claiming specificity for the Messenger in an action to claiming that the Messenger specified Zayd with a certain command, we say: . As for the fact that he does not accept the authenticity of the hadith, but rather weakens it, there is nothing strange in that. Because Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) weakens it, and even rules it to be fabricated. So the matter is not like the first matter where he claimed that if it were authentic, it would be specific to al-Abbas, because no scholar in the world would ever say that. As for his weakening of the hadith, he has predecessors in that. And we know, and we have written that more than once, that the hadith does not have a valid chain, nor does it have a good chain. Rather, we took its strength from the totality of the narrations that came around it, and we noted in that the condition that hadith scholars require for strengthening a hadith by the totality of its paths. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him), who went to the weakening of this hadith, is based on a principle from which we depart in opposing his weakening and moving to authentication. Because he establishes the principle of strengthening a hadith by the totality of its paths with very excellent words, which I may have mentioned in some of what I wrote. So by saying that we took the strength of the hadith from the totality of its paths, and just as that weakener has predecessors in weakening, as I mentioned earlier, I also have predecessors in strengthening it. And what strengthened the authentication is that it is established that 'Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak, who is one of the great scholars who belong to the Salaf, and one of the true mujahideen and those who fight in the path of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and who is approximately in the position of Imam Ahmad, or in the class of Imam Ahmad and slightly above him, says this prayer. And I strongly, strongly doubt that any of the Salaf would affirm the legitimacy of a prayer like this prayer if they were not aware of its establishment from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in one way or another. Because we, from the Salaf, received that his statement (peace and blessings be upon him): is in its generality and comprehensiveness. So how can we imagine that Imam 'Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak would approve of a prayer like this, which differs from all other prayers in quantity and manner? And this difference is what led some scholars, as we mentioned earlier, Ibn Taymiyyah and before him Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, to... Yes.
Famous: Ibn Qudamah before him.

The Shaykh : Ibn Qudamah, Ibn Qudamah before Ibn al-Jawzi, I don't think so.
Famous: Ibn Qudamah says...

The Shaykh : No problem.
Famous: Before Ibn al-Jawzi.

The Shaykh : I mean, if you had corrected me, may Allah bless you, when I did not mention Ibn Taymiyyah, your correction would have been in its place. But your correction came late, where you mentioned Ibn al-Jawzi after Ibn Taymiyyah, in what context did you mention Ibn al-Jawzi? So you came and mentioned Ibn Qudamah... between them.
Famous: Our Shaykh, is it correct that Imam Ahmad was asked, so he shook his hands...?

The Shaykh : I do not know, by Allah.
Famous: The Shaykh of the Hanbalis transmit, they rely on what is transmitted from Imam Ahmad in the fabrication, they transmit it, Ibn Qudamah in *al-Mughni*... says Ibn Qudamah, but Ibn Hajar transmitted in his answers to *al-Mishbah* that Imam Ahmad returned to the improvement.

The Shaykh : Returned to.
Famous: To improving the statement regarding the Prayer of Tasbih.

The Shaykh : The point is, this is another testimony. I mean, I am not recalling it. I strongly doubt that someone like 'Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak, and then someone like Imam Ahmad, would affirm the legitimacy of a prayer like this, which differs from the manner of all prayers, whether they were obligatory or voluntary. Truly, a jurist cannot do anything but deny such a prayer. But when the report comes, the reasoning is nullified. "And when the river of Allah comes, the river of Ma'qil is nullified." Therefore, when someone like 'Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak, and Imam Ahmad, and others, affirm the legitimacy, it means that they knew something that those who said the prayer was not authentic may have missed. And in summary, we want the one who criticizes to criticize based on study and breadth of knowledge, because truly, how much did the first leave for the second? This is a fact that is not denied. But the criticism should not be out of love for criticism and love for showing off, and the like. Why are you rushing us for the answer, Abu Anas? The Imam and the Mu'adhdhin, and we see them still sitting with us.
The student : What is the adhan...

The Shaykh : ... .
The student : We must pray here, O...