The Albaani Site

Translated by Ahmed Abu Turaab

Question: It was mentioned in As-Sunnah of al-Barbahari …

Al-Albani: As-Sunnah of who?

Questioner: Al-Barbahari, this manuscript, it’s a book.

Al-Albani: For that reason it seemed foreign to me, I wasn’t aware of this book. Tayyib.

Questioner: He was speaking about the Pool of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and said that every Prophet has a Pool except for Saalih, for his Pool was his camel’s udder.^[1]

Al-Albani: This is something strange! Did he attribute it as such without a mention of the chain of narration?

Questioner: His book will be printed soon.

Al-Albani: It will be printed soon?

Questioner: Printed soon, yes.

Al-Albani: Okay. This is the manuscript?

Questioner: It’s been checked, this is the book.

Al-Albani: Okay. Did he mention it with a chain of narration?

Questioner: Shall we read it?

Al-Albani: Al-Barbahari, he has been spoken about in relation to the Attributes [of Allaah], he is a Hanbali …

Questioner: Abu Muhammad al-Hasan.

Al-Albani: He is a Hanbali.

Questioner: Was he from the fourth century?

Another questioner: From the fourth century, possibly …

Al-Albani: As far as I recall he has been spoken about concerning his excessiveness concerning the Attributes [of Allaah]. Is it as such? Al-Barbahari.

Questioner: When the [manuscript’s] verifier spoke about him he mentioned the sayings of the scholars [about him] … he was regarded as the Imam of Ahlus-Sunnah in his time.

Al-Albani: He is praised for the fact that he used to wage war against the innovators and it is [indeed] correct that he would hold firm to the Sunnah and the Salafi Creed. But in many such cases there is excessiveness.

Like Ibn Battah al-Hanbali for example, author of Al-Ibaanah, he is of this type … but in his Ibaanah itself he narrates all types of hadiths [i.e., including those which may not be authentic] even those relating to the Attributes [of Allaah].

So this is a very important point. Not everyone who writes about the Attributes is a verifier concerning the narrations that he mentions.

Whatever the case, this is the first time that I have heard this exception that was mentioned [in the hadith in question]. And I do not think it is authentic in relation to the mutawaatir hadiths about the Pool. And in Ibn Abi Aasim’s book, As-Sunnah, there is a large group of narrations about the Pool, and there is no mention of this exception. So at the very least that which can be said about it is that it is gharib. And it is befitting that we refrain from being certain about it until it comes from a path through which the proof is established.

Questioner: Okay. In his book, Al-Ibaanah as-Sughraa, should we take from Ibn Battah regarding the Names and Attributes for example. You mentioned Al-Ibaanah, did you mean Al-Ibaanah as-Sughraa or Al-Kubraa?

Al-Albani: I don’t recall right now. With us in the Dhaairiyah Library in Damascus is a handwritten manuscript of Al-Ibaanah whose order is mixed up. Some water had damaged it such that a lot of what was written was effaced. I benefitted by it in many things, and it [also] became apparent to me that he was from the Hanbalis who have some excessiveness in affirming the Attributes. They may affirm an Attribute which has been reported through narrations whose chains of narration are not authentic, and [some narrations which] even if they are authentic then it is [still] not correct to attribute them to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم because they are either mowquf or maqtoo’, yes.

And similar to this is Ad-Daarimi in his refutation of al-Mareesi … this can be found in him too.

The reality is that this is an extremely important topic and it is befitting that the weak narrations are filtered out and expelled from the correct Islamic creed. This is what I tried to do when I summarised [the book] Al-Uluww lil-Aliyyil-Ghaffaar or lil-Aliyyil-Adheem of Imaam adh-Dhahabi. So although Imaam adh-Dhahabi, as you know, was an Imaam in this regard he [still] was lenient in mentioning certain narrations.

From them, for example, is the narration of Mujaahid that Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic, will make the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم sit with Him on His Throne. And many of the scholars in whose aqeedah we trust, accepted this narration as though it was a marfoo hadith raised back to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.

Whereas had Mujaahid said concerning a fiqh issue, ‘The Prophet of Allaah صلى الله عليه وسلم said …’ such a hadith would have been regarded as mursal and no fiqh ruling would be established through it–so what is the case when, firstly, he did not raise it back to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم [i.e., it is not marfoo]? And, secondly, it is regarding creed [aqidah] and not fiqh and along with that they accepted it as though it was a sound narration.

So the reality is that we have to be cautious in matters such as these.

^[1] The compiler said, “Fabricated. Mentioned by al-Uqaili in Ad-Du’afaa (3/64-65) and Ibn al-Jawzi from him in Al-Mowdu’aat (3/244) and he said, “It is a fabricated narration which has no basis.””

Mawsoo’atul-Allaamah, al-Imaam, Mujaddidil-Asr, Muhammad Naasirid-Deen al-Albaani, of Shaikh Shady Noaman, vol. 9, pp. 354-356.