The Albaani Site

In the Name of Allaah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful

From Abdul-Aziz ibn Abdullaah ibn Baaz to the honourable, revered brother, the eminent Shaikh, Naasirud-Deen al-Albaani, may Allaah grant him success.

Salaamun alaikum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu.

As for what follows:

Your amicable letter reached me through Shaikh Muhammad ibn Naasir al-Aboodi, may Allaah bestow His Guidance upon you and it pleased me greatly due to its informing me of your good health and the fact that you are continuing to write and teach and call to Allaah, all praise is due to Allaah for that, and I ask Him, the Most High, to give you even more success and that He grants you continued vigour to do everything that benefits the Muslims, indeed He is Most Gracious, Most Generous.

Just as I was also pleased at your completion of the summarisation of the Saheeh of Imaam Muslim ibn al-Hajjaaj and your resolve to summarise the Saheeh of Imaam al-Bukhaari whilst paying attention to the [core] meanings and without their being any detriment to it, I ask Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic, to give you the good that you hope for, and that He helps you in everything in which there is good for the Muslims and in which lies their deliverance in this world and the next.

There is no doubt that the people of knowledge are in need of a summary of the Saheeh of Imaam al-Bukhaari whilst paying attention to [preserving] the [core] meanings, but that requires a huge effort and a long time, so if that [task] does not disrupt you from doing what is more important like directing [the people], teaching, da’wah and writing against innovations and superstitions/myths, and making authentic hadiths clear from the weak–then there is no harm in that.

In any case, my advice to your eminence is to fear Allaah in all matters and to seek His Guidance [istikhaarah], subhaanah, concerning this lofty project and to seek the counsel of those whose knowledge and advice you trust, and then if you are pleased with that then seek Allaah’s Aid and act–and [we] ask Allaah to grant you what is correct, and [to grant you] support and facilitation, and that He makes us and you and all of our brothers callers to guidance, helpers of the truth, indeed He is All-Hearing, the One who is Near, and we will spare no effort, inshaa Allaah, in seeking the help of some of those who love good to undertake the printing of your summary of Saheeh Muslim, and I will inform you of what comes of that, inshaa Allaah.

As for volumes nine, ten and eleven of Fathul-Baari, then we have taken them from Shaikh Muhammad Abdul-Muhsin al-Kutbi, and they will reach you, inshaa Allaah, via some of the students.

And the one who loves you [i.e., Shaikh Ibn Baaz is referring to himself as someone who loves Shaikh al-Albaani] is ready to provide every necessity and [fulfil every] need that he is able to, may Allaah make me and you from those who love each other for His Sake until the time we meet Him, subhaanah, and I hope that my greeting of salaam be conveyed to [my] sons [i.e., the youth] , and the notable Shaikhs and brothers especially Shaikh Zuhair, just as all the sons, Shaikhs and brothers amongst us are fine and in good health.

Was-salaamu alaikum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu.

PS. We have made a copy of Kitaabus-Sunnah of Ibn Abi Aasim with costs covered by the esteemed sir, Hasan ash-Sharbatli, and we indicated to him that a [fair] amount be printed, and he agreed to that.

We attained a manuscript of the aforementioned book and Shaikh Hammaad al-Ansaari, the one whom all love, informed me that it is written in a good [clear] script, so we borrowed it from its owner, and saw fit that two copies be sent to your eminence to correct, check and annotate after you tell us how much [monetary] compensation you deem to be appropriate for this project so that we can inform ash-Sharbatli about that and get his approval.

We have handed over the two books to Shaikh Ameen Lutfi to pass on to your eminence, and we are waiting for a speedy response from you concerning this issue.

Shaikh Zuhair mentioned to me that he has decided to print the aforementioned book and so I would hope that contact be made with him and that he be informed, so that I can [then] be notified of both of your opinions regarding that, for I fear that he may have a specific opinion concerning the topic since he has resolved to print the book.

And I ask Allaah to grant everyone the success to do what pleases Him.

Wa sallallaahu alaa Nabiyyinaa Muhammad wa Aalihi wa Sahbihi wa sallam.

29/3/1390ah [4/6/1970ce]

Ar-Rasaa’il al-Mutabaadilah Bainash-Shaikh Ibn Baaz wal-Ulemaa,pp. 53-54.

In the Name of Allaah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful

From Muhammad Naasirud-Deen al-Albaani, to His Eminence, Shaikh Abdul-Aziz ibn Baaz

Wa alaikum as-salaam wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu.

So I praise Allaah, besides whom none has the right to be worshipped, [mentioning this praise] to you and I ask Him to continue to give us and you His Blessings, both hidden and apparent.

As for what follows:

I received your [most] gracious letter dated 20^th Shawwaal 1378ah [29/4/1959ce] some time ago and through it came to understand your resolve to print a new edition of Fathul-Baari. I thank you for the good opinion you have of your brother in that you nominated me to carry out the checking of the copy being prepared for publishing, and to compare it to other printed copies and manuscripts.

But I feel you should excuse me from that [duty] and charge it to someone else, for no other reason than the fact that I think it is more appropriate if I were to [instead] spend the time that that crucial work would demand by doing what is in dire need of my specialty [like] aiding the Sunnah by distinguishing between its authentic and weak hadiths and deriving rulings and understanding them.

For this reason I propose you look at the following suggestions:

That you ask someone to send the final draft [[fascicle] to me] after it has been corrected and prepared for print so that I can take a quick look at it, perchance I may come across some mistakes and thus correct them, and so that I can make notes in some places which it appears to me are in need of being annotated, something which can be limited according to the following:

1) Pointing out an authentic hadith which the author declared to be weak, or which he kept silent about.

2) [Likewise] pointing out a weak hadith which the author declared to be strong, or which he kept silent about.

3) Declaring the truth which is in accordance with the Book and the Sunnah about those issues which the commentator mentioned in detail but concerning which he did not then go on to choose a particular statement as being the one closest to the truth.

4) Clarifying some areas that need elucidation, especially those that are connected to the Salafi creed and doing that not by way of examination and scrutiny, for that would require free time and a huge effort, but rather according to what is easy for me to do.

In short, I hold that publishing the explanation with these verifications is more beneficial for the people, especially when it has reached me from a reliable source that one of the Moroccan hadith scholars from the Sufis has also made preparations to print this book. And there is no doubt that he will annotate it with comments which will direct the readers to his misguidance and innovations, from which is his taking the hadith, ‘O Allaah, bless us in our Shaam …’ They said, ‘And our Najd, O Messenger of Allaah,’ He replied, ‘Earthquakes and trials/tribulations are there …’ the hadith, which he uses against our monotheistic brothers from Najd and he calls them, rather he labels them [derogatively] as, ‘Qarniyyin.’

And this hadith is in Bukhaari as you know, do you not see the need to comment on it and others like it whose reality the innovators turn away from, and which they exploit to refute the monotheists, and which they use as a support in causing the misguided Muslims to fall into polytheism [shirk]?

Thereafter, I will seize this opportunity to present some suggestions to you which are connected to the printing of the book so that it can be published in an elegant and pleasing fashion:

1) Mentioning the chapter in the middle of the line.

2) Numbering the chapters and sections in an ordinal fashion to narrow down the number of sections in each chapter, for that helps in benefitting from the index of Bukhaari as is done in the book Miftaah Kunooz as-Sunnah.

3) Numbering each hadith sequentially to the end of the book, and with that, the number of hadith of Bukhaari will become clear, placing the numbering at the start of the line.

4) Writing the title of the chapter in the middle of the exegesis.

5) Mentioning the chapter in a header on each page.

6) Clarifying the confusing parts of the explanation through the use of diacritical marks.

7) Publishing each volume in a number of [smaller] volumes as they finally did with Lisaanul-Arab and Tabaqaatul-Kubraa, making it easier for those who want to buy it to do so [i.e., instead of having to buy the whole collection in one go].

8) Covering each volume with an engraved, colour binding in the manner done with Lisaan and Tabaqaat.

This is what I saw fit to mention as suggestions.

And I ask Allaah, the Most High, to grant you the success to print the book in the most correct and perfect manner, and your reward is upon Allaah, the Blessed and Most High.

Was-Salaamu alaikum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu and [may this greeting also go] to all of the Shaikhs, teachers and brothers with you.

Your brother,

Muhammad Naasirud-Deen al-Albaani
Damascus
28/11/1378ah [5/6/1959ce]

Ar-Rasaa’il al-Mutabaadilah Bainash-Shaikh Ibn Baaz wal-Ulemaa,pp. 51-53.