A talk about Hassan 'Abd al-Mannan

The student : And secondly: I had told you about Hassan and his regret, and so on.

The Shaykh : By Allah, I would have liked to ask you what the outcome was.
The student : Yes, so today he promised to send the paper in which he writes his apology in his own way.

The Shaykh: Yes.
The student : And yet, he did not stop there, as reported by Nizam and Hamdi, his companion.

The Shaykh : Yes.
The student : Rather, he said, "I will give it to you, and you do with it what you want, and add what you want, and I will sign for you from underneath."

The Shaykh : That is a nice thing, heh heh, but may Allah make him sincere; I am afraid.
The student : Our Shaykh, in truth, as they say, when the cause is known, the wonder ceases.

The Shaykh: Yes.
The student : The first point you mentioned: we ask Allah that he may be sincere and repent to the right path.

The Shaykh : Yes, exactly.
The student : The second point, and this is the wonder: yesterday at night, at eleven o'clock, his letter reached me, which is a discussion of Al-Albani's views on prayer, specifically the issue of praying between the pillars.

The Shaykh : Yes.
The student : And I read it.

The Shaykh : Yes.
The student : In one sitting, meaning at twelve o'clock, praise be to Allah, I was sincere.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you.
The student : By Allah, my Shaykh, after I read it, I said, "If this man is truthful, then he is successful in that he regretted and retracted before the book was published or before we wrote a response to it."

The Shaykh : Very good.
The student : Truly, my Shaykh.

The Shaykh : I mean, scandals.
The student : Scandals in every sense of the word.

The Shaykh: Allahu Akbar.
The student : My Shaykh, lies, not to mention pretension and arrogance, not to mention other things, glory be to Allah the Great.

The Shaykh: Allahu Akbar.
The student : The criticism, meaning the criticism, pretension, and lying are the three most prominent features in the book, and it is all fifty-four pages.

The Shaykh: There is no power nor strength except with Allah.
The student : So I said, glory be to Allah the Great, it is a very strange thing.

The Shaykh : By Allah, my brother, I am afraid that there is something behind this that is not visible.
The student: Allahu Akbar.

The Shaykh : And I sense some of it.
The student: Oh, wonderful.

The Shaykh : Yes, and Allah knows best, I understood from Shaykh Sa'd.
The student : Yes, my Shaykh.

The Shaykh : That you know... Nizam, may Allah guide him.
The student : Yes, my Shaykh.

The Shaykh : He is the intermediary between him and Hassan.
The student: Correct.

The Shaykh : Ah, so I understood from the nuances of Shaykh Sa'd's words.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : That he might publish a book for him.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : And perhaps you have news about this book.
The student : Yes, my Shaykh.

The Shaykh : And that he wanted to combine *Tahdhib al-Tahdhib* with the book *al-Taqrib*, perhaps with *al-Mizan*; I no longer remember the details.
The student : Yes, my Shaykh.

The Shaykh : Do you have news about any of this project?
The student : By Allah, my Shaykh, no one told me about this except my brother Nizam.

The Shaykh : Yes, that is it.
The student : And I have a question after you have finished your remarks.

The Shaykh : Yes, yes, the point is that Nizam was the link between them, and it appears that Shaykh Sa'd is either one of two things.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : Either sincere for the sake of knowledge.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : Or for the sake of concealment.
The student : Yes.

The Shaykh : And the requirement of having a good opinion of him leads us to focus on the first matter.
The student: Oh, wonderful.

The Shaykh : Yes, so he said to Hassan, "I can publish for you, but after I take the opinion of the Shaykh."
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : And on that basis, Nizam told me months ago about his project and that he would take my opinion.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : So he presented me with two pages.
The student : Very good.

The Shaykh : Typed on a typewriter, I think, so the point is, I drew Nizam's attention to the fact that first, your companion is not able to carry out this project.
The student : Yes.

The Shaykh : And secondly, the purpose was to make *al-Tahdhib* accessible to researchers and students of knowledge in a condensed way that does not cost them exorbitant prices.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : And if the image of the two pages he gave me is the text on top and lines below, all of it being footnotes, and he quoted from here and there and here and there, I told him, "Nizam, this is a man who wants to show off his muscles."
The student : Yes.

The Shaykh : Not to make *al-Tahdhib* and *al-Taqrib* accessible to students of knowledge.
The student: Allahu Akbar.

The Shaykh : So it appears that this had its effect on Sa'd's mind.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : In the last trip that Sa'd was here, or the one before, I have forgotten now.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : So he opened up a discussion with Sa'd with some comments related to some of my books.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : Ah, so my position, as you know, was that I advised Shaykh Sa'd not to cooperate with the man, because first, it is not clear whether he is a Salafi or a Khalafi, and secondly, he is not that strong in this knowledge.
The student: Oh, wonderful.

The Shaykh : SoThe Shaykh : Sa'd, and I think he is truthful, he told me that he no longer cooperates with him, meaning he no longer assigns him tasks.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : Because it became apparent to him that, at the very least, it is not apparent that he is a Salafi.
The student : Yes.

The Shaykh : Yes, and on this basis, in my opinion, here is the point, or the crux of the matter, as they say.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh : It appears that Shaykh Sa'd was affected by the words he heard in a good way, and perhaps he contacted Hassan afterwards, so Hassan now wants to clear his record with these actions so that he may be acceptable to Shaykh Sa'd to cooperate with him.
The student : Yes.

The Shaykh : This is what I think, and Allah knows best.
The student: Allahu Akbar.

The Shaykh : And this flip-flopping, from one day to the next, and what he did before, and my current preambles are all in the response to him.
The student: Allahu Akbar.

The Shaykh : And Nizam must be aware of them.
The student : Yes, of course.

The Shaykh : Yes, and it was conveyed to him, so all of this was among the factors that led him to display repentance.
The student: Allahu Akbar.

The Shaykh : So I doubt that it is anything other than a repentance like that of a cat.
The student: Hehehe.

The Shaykh : As long as there is a pursuer behind him, he displays repentance, and otherwise, in his moment of inattention, he attacks the prey.
The student: Allahu Akbar.

The Shaykh : This is what I have, and Allah knows best.