The Albaani Site

The Shaikh of Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah and al-Albaani
in the same prison

“It was decreed that I was imprisoned in 1389 Hijri, which corresponds to 1969, along with a number of scholars for no other crime than calling to Islaam and teaching it to the people.  So I was taken to the fort prison[1] and others in Damascus, and then I was freed after a while, only to be taken back a second time and then exiled to the Island to spend a number of months in the prison there, something which I regard to be in the Way of Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic.

Allaah so decreed it that there was nothing with me [when I was put in prison] except my treasured book, Sahih Muslim, a pencil and an eraser.  It was there that I engrossed myself in fulfilling my dream of summarising and abridging it [i.e., Sahih Muslim], something which I completed in three months, toiling day and night, without feeling any weariness or boredom.  And so as a result that which the enemies of the Ummah had intended to be a punishment for me was turned on its head and became a blessing for us, with students of knowledge from the Muslims benefitting from it all round the world.

So all praise is for Allaah through whose blessings righteous actions are completed.

House Arrest

Allaah, the Most High, facilitated the completion of many knowledge based works for me.  I would not have had the opportunity to have given them the required time if my life had continued on the path it was on.  [And this was] because some of the successive governments had prevented me from going out to the cities of Syria for my monthly lectures where I would call to the Quraan and the Sunnah, and this is what is more commonly known as ‘house arrest.’

Likewise during these successive periods I had also been prevented from giving any of the many knowledge based lectures that I used to deliver, the preparation for which used to consume a large portion of my time.  This took away a lot of the work that I was doing and came between myself and meeting lots of people who used to take a great amount of my time.”[2]

Hayaatul-Allaamah al-Albaani, rahimahullaah, bi qalamihi, pp. 14-15.

[1] [Transl. note] And this is the same prison that the Shaikh of Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah was imprisoned in many hundreds of years earlier!  See the Arabic article here: http://www.alalbany.net/albany_serah.php

[2]  i.e., all of this gave the Shaikh extra time to get busy with his research and writings, may Allaah have mercy upon him.