Questioner: A questioner asks: someone who catches the tashahhud of the Jumu’ah prayer, having missed both rak’ahs, should he pray four?
Al-Albaani: Yes, he prays four, and the explanation of that is in my well-known book, ‘Al-Ajwibah an-Naafi’ah ’an Asilati Masjidil-Jaami’ah.’
Su’aalaat, vol. 2, p. 365.
Questioner: The questioner says: taking a compass on journeys in order to ascertain the direction of the Qiblah for those who don’t know the cardinal points?
Al-Albaani: It’s waajib.
As-Su’aalaat, vol. 2, p. 332.
Questioner: What is your advice about people who slander Shaikh al-Albaani, may Allaah have mercy on him, and warn against him? And what should our stance towards such an individual be?
Al-’Abbaad: That is the strangest thing, the fact that Shaikh al-Albaani is warned against, that a man who served the Sunnah is warned against, someone who spent his [entire] life examining and researching the hadiths of Allaah’s Messenger ﷺ, clarifying the authentic from what is not. What a person should do is supplicate for him, praise him, and benefit from his knowledge.
And the reality is that there are two people who someone working in the [field of] hadith cannot but refer back to, i.e., al-Haafidh Ibn Hajr and Shaikh al-Albaani. The benefit from al-Haafidh Ibn Hajr in those things connected to hadith is colossal, and the benefit from Shaikh al-Albaani in those things connected to hadith is colossal [too].
For this reason it means that the one who warns against Al-Albaani is warning against becoming acquainted with the truth and accessing the Sunnah, because what Al-Albaani did in connection to hadith was a preeminent service and complete diligence in [serving] the Sunnah, facilitating access to it and bringing it closer to comprehension for the students of knowledge.
So he is worthy of being complimented and supplicated for.
“My son, Shaikh Muhammad Zahraan ibn ’Abdullaah ’Aloosh told me that one of his friends, a youth, told him that Shaikh Muhammad Naasirud-Deen al-Albaani wanted to cause fitnah in the Al-Daqqaaq Jaami’ Mosque and that Shaikh ’Abdul-’Aziz al-Rifaa’i was able to stop him in his tracks, according to what this youth’s grandfather said. My son asked me about this incident, so I told him that:
‘I was there when it happened in 1956. We were in a lesson of our Shaikh and Muhaddith, al-Albaani, in Shaikh ’Abdur-Rahmaan al-Baani’s house [not al-Albaani, i.e., Shaikh Al-Albaani was giving a lecture in the house of another Shaikh called ’Abdur-Rahmaan al-Baani] in al-Midan. When he finished from his first dars, we left with the Shaikh to perform ’ishaa prayer in Jaami’ al-Daqqaaq, so the ’iqaamah for the prayer was given.
The Imaam was [a person called] Shaikh ’Abdul-’Aziz al-Rifaa’i, when he turned around to the worshippers to ask them to straighten their rows he caught a glimpse of our Shaikh al-Albaani standing in the first row to the right, about ten metres from him.
So Shaitaan overtook Shaikh al-Rifa’i and made him forget the remembrance of Allah, and he forgot the du’aa that was usually said before the prayer … and he shook as though the Devil had thrown a bucket of hot water on him, or like a thousand watt electrical current had struck him, so he started shouting angrily, ‘Get out! Get out! Get out!’ addressing these hard words at our Shaikh al-Albaani, expelling him from the mosque!
But our Shaikh replied to him with complete calm, saying, ‘I am in the House of Allaah, the Most High—I’m not in your house, and when I enter your house, throw me out [then]!’
So Shaikh al-Rifa’i’s rage and anger increased even more, and he shouted out [quoting the hadith], ‘My ummah will split into seventy-three sects, all of them in the Fire—’ and he pointed with his hand at al-Albaani!
Some of the worshippers tried to calm the Shaikh [i.e., the Imaam] and others said, ‘Yaa Jamaa’ah, pray now and delay your fighting for after the prayer!’ So the Imaam prayed and we prayed behind him and it was a prayer like that of the one who performed his prayer badly!
After he gave salaam, the Imaam immediately turned and began shouting and screaming again and saying things. So we calmly left the mosque and left Shaikh Rifa’i to quench his desire.
A number of young guys met us, or Shaikh Rifa’i sent them to us, who wanted to fight us. We were about twenty youth in number and had circled our Shaikh al-Albaani, but then some of the noble people from that area who had intellect got involved and prevented the youth from al-Rifa’i’s group with wisdom and calming words, and it was over.
So who created that fitnah and stoked the fire? It was Shaikh ’Abdul-’Aziz al-Rifaa’i, may Allaah forgive us and him.’”
Questioner: What is your Eminence’s opinion about relying on what al-Albaani has authenticated?
The Imaam of Ahlus-Sunnah, Ibn Baaz: Shaikh Muhammad Naasirud-Deen al-Albaani, Naasirud-Deen al-Albaani, is from the elite, from the scholars well-known for their integrity, sound ’aqidah, and diligence in authenticating hadiths and clarifying their status. He is a chief support/pillar in this regard, but he is not infallible, he may fall into a mistake in declaring some hadiths authentic or weak, just like any other scholar, every scholar is like that, having some mistakes, from the earliest scholars to those who came later.
The student of knowledge must look at what he has authenticated, or declared hasan or weak, if he is from the people of knowledge, from the people of this field, someone who knows hadiths and can take a look at their paths of narration and their narrators, such that if he finds that what the Shaikh has said is correct, then alhamdulillaah, and if not then he relies on the proofs that are clear to him which the people of knowledge in this field have followed. Because the people of knowledge established principles to authenticate hadiths and declare them weak, as for [… unclear …] the people of knowledge, he [i.e., al-Albaani] is a chief support/pillar in authenticating and declaring hadiths to be weak, because he is from the people of knowledge, he is from those who are [experts] in this field, he has studied for a long time and many years, we ask Allaah to give us and him success and a good ending.
Questioner: Ameen, O Allaah, and may Allaah reward you with good.
See here for a collection of statements that scholars made about Shaikh al-Albaani, may Allaah have mercy on him.
The Imaam said, “So a Muslim individual’s following a scholar, not going to anyone else except him, as though he is the Lord of the Worlds who has the right to legislate—no one from mankind has this right whatsoever, even the Prophet ﷺ would relate what was revealed to him from his Lord.”
Al-Hudaa wan-Noor, 101.
The Imaam said, “It is not allowed for us to take a specific person to be an Imaam and not benefit from the knowledge of others because the truth which Allaah تبارك وتعالى revealed to His Prophet ﷺ is not restricted to being found in one man after him ﷺ.
We do not believe about the Companions who succeeded him ﷺ what the Shee’ah believe about ’Ali ibn Abi Taalib, [i.e.,] that all of the knowledge which the Prophet ﷺ had in his chest was transferred to ’Ali, we do not believe this, for this reason they believed him to be infallible and held him to be like the Prophet ﷺ in terms of infallibility.
We say: the knowledge which was in the Prophet’s chest ﷺ was transferred to the Companions—not just one Companion—for this reason, whoever wants to gain knowledge or gain an abundant portion of it cannot do so from only one person, rather he must benefit from all of them, for if not, he will have forfeited a great deal of it.”
Al-Hudaa wan-Noor, 101.
The Albaani Site 