The PDF: The Saplings.
Questioner: Virtuous, kind father, we would like you to explain to us what the correct methodology in the Salafi da’wah is, especially in this time in which tribulations have increased and knowledge has decreased, and what is the difference between organising …? We would like a clarification, may Allaah reward you with good.
Al-Albaani: Concerning da’wah, then none except the people of knowledge who maintain justice are to carry it out. As for what has become widespread in this time where lots of people who have been given an amount of knowledge that can hardly [even] be mentioned call themselves, ‘Callers to Allaah,’ then—and maybe you will find this surprising but I take the responsibility for what I [am about to] say—in my opinion this is one of the innovations of the present age.
It is from the innovations of this day and age that thousands of callers have spread out amongst the people who do not have knowledge of the Book nor the Sunnah or the narrations of the Salaf, in fact, [they do] not [even have knowledge concerning] the existent madhhabs that are blindly-followed today.
All they know are a few simple rulings and maybe some aayahs and some hadiths—which even someone from the people who has the least amount of knowledge can say—and then they prop themselves up as callers.
When they are then asked about a topic they are at a loss and are not able to answer, and they may go and answer based upon manifest ignorance, this is from the blights of the present day and age.
And it doesn’t stop at these sprouting youth, rather we may find old men who have not been given an abundant share of knowledge who have become famous as callers to what? To Islaam, but they [in fact] fight Islaam by fighting the Sunnah of Allaah’s Messenger ﷺ without which a Muslim cannot understand Allaah’s Book, so how can someone who is ignorant of the knowledge of the Sunnah and who fights some of it, [who] at the very least [fights it] in ’aqeedah, [how can someone like that] be a caller to Islaam?
… likewise today there are callers who have not been given an abundant amount or a lot of knowledge of the Sunnah according to which the Noble Quraan can be explained correctly.
So what is one to say about people like these?
In fact, what are we to say about the present day saplings who have barely finished secondary school let alone obtained a more advanced certificate from … even a professor’s certificate … even in Sharee’ah … what are we to say about these people who have propped themselves up to call to Islaam?
And he ﷺ said as is reported in Saheeh al-Bukhaari and Muslim, from the hadith of ’Abdullaah ibn ’Amr ibn al-’Aas, “Verily, Allah does not take away knowledge by snatching it from the people but He takes away knowledge by taking away the scholars, so that when no scholar remains, the people turn to the ignorant as their leaders. Then they are asked to deliver religious verdicts and they deliver them without knowledge—so they go astray [themselves], and lead others astray.”
… before everything, calling to Allaah must be done based upon knowledge:
وَمَنۡ أَحۡسَنُ قَوۡلٗا مِّمَّن دَعَآ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ وَعَمِلَ صَٰلِحٗا وَقَالَ إِنَّنِي مِنَ ٱلۡمُسۡلِمِينَ
“And who is better in speech than he who invites to Allaah and does righteous deeds and says, ‘I am one of the Muslims.’” [Fussilat 41:33]
If he is not a scholar who acts upon his knowledge then he will not be a righteous scholar, and someone who does not have something, as was said in the past, cannot give it.
So it is obligatory that the caller be a scholar, and this [too] is not enough, he must be a scholar of the Book and the Sunnah and not of some of the fiqh opinions of those who came later …
… this is the first thing, that he be a scholar, and secondly that he be a scholar of the Book and the Sunnah on the methodology of the Salaf as-Saalih. And lastly that he acts upon his knowledge, because even if calling to Allaah were done correctly one hundred per cent but is not coupled with that caller’s actions then it will not have the desired effect on the masses because people pay heed to following the actions of the people of knowledge and excellence more than they do their statements.
Rihlatun-Noor, 37.
The Imaam said, “There is no blessing in ignorance.”
Al-Hudaa wan-Noor, 715.
Continuing from the previous post.
“Doctor, this spirit which you summoned, is it of someone alive or dead?”
He said, “No, dead.”
I said, “Dead. How did you summon his soul when it is in one of two states, there being no third: it is either a happy soul [i.e., one going to Paradise] or a wretched one [i.e., going to Hell]. If it is a happy one, then by Allaah, there is no way it will ever come back into this world again because it is occupied with the pleasure it has in its grave,” and I mentioned some hadiths which showed that the grave is either one of the gardens of Paradise or a pit from Hell, “and if it is a wretched soul, then it is all the more so and a fortiori that it will not be able to leave the prison it is surrounded by [in the grave]—so how are you able to summon this soul? This is something impossible according to the Legislation.”
Secondly and lastly and here is the point, “Imagine that it is possible for you to summon this soul, how do you know that it [actually] is, for example, the soul of the doctor Ibn Sina, a Muslim with all his open and hidden faults, the scholars who know him say that he was a philosopher and had deviated in many tenets of Islamic creed or [how do you know that it might even be] al-Razi the doctor of old, for example? How do you know that it is not a disbeliever, someone who associates partners with Allaah? Just because it says to you, ‘I am the soul of so and so,’ you say aameen?
These days interactions with people, between countries … when a country wants to send its ambassador to another it sends him with certified, registered, sanctioned, stamped and signed documents, and other such things of the sort, so that the country to which that ambassador has been sent is satisfied that this really is the ambassador of an Islamic country and not a dajjaal playing games with it—and this is [the situation] with people dealing with each other—[and what you are talking about] is the world of the Unseen, how can you know that this really is Doctor So and So?”
He had no choice, after having been confuted and having had the evidence established against him, except to say, “The reality, O Ustaadh, is that this was a medical gathering. We also have a gathering of knowledge, if you want to debate with us in it then you are more than welcome.”
I didn’t believe that there was a gathering of knowledge, [but] I said to him, “When?”
He said, “Sunday.”
I said, “Inshaa Allaah, our meeting is on Sunday.”
Allaah so willed that [when] Sunday did come I was obliged to assist one of our brothers who worked at the Ministry of Education where there was an effort being made to correct some books about Islamic Upbringing, books about Islamic Education which had weak and fabricated hadiths in them and Hanafi concepts which went against the Sunnah, so one of them called me to cooperate with him in that, he was an employee of the Ministry but I was not, walhamdulillaah, but I have a little knowledge as you know, so I held that it was more deserving for me to meet up with this person rather than keep my promise [of meeting the medium]. But my companion who had [initially] taken me to him came to me on the appointed day, Sunday, at the Dhaahariyyah Library upon the basis that we were going to meet up and go, so I told him that the situation was such and such and that I couldn’t make it with him, [so I said to him], “You go to him, may Allaah reward you with good, and apologise to him and inshaa Allaah set up another meeting.”
So he went and was taken aback when he found that there was no-one whatsoever at the house on the agreed upon day, [the house was] dark, unlit, nothing inside.
The next day he came to me and told me what had happened, so I said to him, “This is a victory granted to us by Allaah. Go to him [again] next Sunday.”
[He did] and naturally he met him on that following Sunday [because the medium thought that they wouldn’t actually turn up the following Sunday too], [but before he went] I said to him, “Don’t tell him that the Shaikh [i.e., al-Albaani] didn’t come [the previous Sunday], leave that hidden,” [say to him], “I came according to the appointment and didn’t find you? Inshaa Allaah everything is ok, Dr. Haqqi Baik?”
He really said that to him and here is the point, my brothers, here take heed, O you with eyes [to see].
The medium said to him, “Go away! You brought a big, dangerous Wahhaabi to us—he doesn’t love the Prophet! May Allaah kill him!”
He said to him, “And how do you know that? That man is our friend and we attend his lessons which are always about, ‘Allaah said … Allaah’s Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم said …’” and so on.
He [i.e., the medium] said, “After he [i.e., al-Albaani] left …” he summoned the soul of I don’t know who, I forget who he said it was, and he [i.e., the medium] asked the summoned soul about me and he [i.e., the summoned soul] gave him all these testimonials, “That this man is a Wahhaabi who doesn’t love the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم …”
So I say that this is a proof that these people seek the help of the devils. There is no such thing as summoning the souls of the dead, that is impossible.
But the devils really do attend and inspire them with things, as the Lord of the Worlds said, “Devils among mankind and jinns, inspiring one another with adorned speech as a delusion (or by way of deception).” [An’aam 6:112]
Therefore I say that if one of our brothers has been tested, and I [purposefully] say, ‘has been tested,’ [by having to recite over people who have been possessed], because truthfully, as news has reached me [about these things], it is a situation that is a trial and a test, for a woman who is possessed may come to him and he may see that it is beneficial for him to touch her or examine her arm or neck or or and so on [by touching her]—so the Devil can come in through such easy and supple ways to start off with, and then the issue starts to get bigger and bigger until the big fitnah happens, so if one of our brothers has been tested by, and I say [has been tested by] only reciting verses from Allaah’s Book or forms of seeking refuge established from Allaah’s Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم to take out the Jinn which has possessed that person, then this is, as he عليه السلام said, ‘Whoever amongst you is able to help his brother, then let him do so.’
As for asking [the Jinn], ‘What is your name? What is your religion? What is your job? Where do you live? Where is so and so? What helps against such and such an illness?’ and so on, then this comes under His Saying, the Most High, which I mentioned earlier, “And verily, there were men among mankind who took shelter with the masculine among the Jinns, but they (i.e., the Jinns) increased them (mankind) in sin and disbelief.” [Jinn 72:6]
I ask Allaah for well-being and safety.
Al-Hudaa wan-Noor, 455. [1/3/1046].
End.
Esaam Moosaa Haadi said, “I heard him say [about Muhammad Ameen ash-Shanqeeti], ‘When I would see him it would be as if I had seen the Shaikh of Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah, a man before whom were all the fields of knowledge, taking from them whatever he wished.’”
Muhaddithul-’Asr, p. 103.
The Imaam said, “I fear that our brothers will be raised to slander and find fault with everyone who differs with us in fiqh issues even though they are with us on the path of the Book and the Sunnah, and thus either go to extremes or fall short.”
Muḥaddithul-’Asr al-Imām Muḥammad Nāṣirud-Dīn al-Albaani Kamā ʿaraftuh, p. 87.
The PDF of the complete article:Al-Albaani and The Damascene Medium.
Questioner: Is it allowed for a person who recites over someone who has been possessed by a Jinn … after the Jinn becomes present in the sick person, is it [then] allowed for the person reciting to order the Jinn with some things, like asking for his help in finding the location of a treasure for example, or to dig out a treasure, or to find out whether another person is possessed or not, what is the ruling of the religion concerning this, may Allaah reward you with good?
Al-Albaani: It is not allowed, except for what was mentioned in the first part of the question, i.e., reciting the Quraan over someone possessed by a Jinn. As for seeking their help for those things mentioned or other things, then firstly this goes against the practical Sunnah which the Prophet عليه السلام and those who were guided by his guidance carried out, and secondly it goes against His Statement, the Most High:
“And there were men from mankind who sought refuge in men from the Jinn, so they [only] increased them in burden [i.e., sin].” [Jinn 72:6]
So seeking refuge or aid have the same meaning, it is not allowed for someone who has been put to test in this present time and has set himself up to remove Jinns from those who have been afflicted by possession … … to recite some aayahs, and some of the legislated forms of seeking refuge mentioned in the authentic Sunnah, this is allowed and everything else is misguidance.
And the Devil is more devilish than the Americans, the British and others … because they [i.e., the Muslims who try to seek help from the Jinn] seek aid from the devils of the Jinn, [i.e., one cannot even trust devilish humans to help so how much more dangerous is it with the devils from the Jinn], I mean that when the devils from mankind want to achieve some of their illegal goals, they offer some bait, i.e., a trap by which they catch their prey by offering them something they want and which their hearts incline to, this is what the devils from mankind do, so what do you think the case will be with the devils from Jinn-kind, about whom we know nothing except that they may present some remedies, which are [in fact], as I just said, traps which act to gradually pull in the person who is seeking their help.
For this reason, I do not hold it to be permissible for a Muslim to seek the aid of Jinns who give a person the false impression that he is a Muslim, a believer in Allaah and His Prophet, and who shows that he is righteous and that he wants to help his human Muslim brothers, this is a matter of the Unseen which it is not possible for a human Muslim to feel comfortable with.
And I know through experience, one of us will live with a human like himself for many years, and then all of a sudden after that it becomes clear that he is an open enemy, and that person is a human like him, someone whom he inclines towards, feels comfortable with and relies upon, but after a long time it became clear that all of this pretense was in order to achieve a goal he had, the other person was unaware of this goal—and this is between two people, their nature being one, their thinking one etc.,—so what do you think the case will be with a human seeking the help of a Jinn?
And even though there is not a lot of time, I will give you an example that happened with me and someone who thought that he could summon the souls [of dead people], the soul of Ibn Seereen for example, the soul of the doctor Ibn Seena, Ibn ’Arabi, and so on … a long story of which I will give you the summary.
[So] I was present at the sitting, the lights were put out with only a dim one remaining, and with difficulty you could just about see the person sitting next to you, and then the sitting started. After [a short while] it became clear to me that this medium [actually] regarded the sitting as a medical one, and indeed when I had come in I had found all four walls of the room full of customers … an old man, an aged lady, a woman holding a small child and so on—all of these people had come to be cured and treated by the spirit of the doctor which would be summoned by this medium [whose name was] Haqi Baik, this person is a medium there in Damascus. So the lights were turned off as I said, and the sitting of Haqi Baik Afandi started.
We heard a statement which we found strange, he said, “Wa alaikum salaam wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu …” the sitting was so quiet that if, as they say, you dropped a pin you’d hear it, so who was he saying this to?
You will come to know later on …
Click here for the second post.
Host: Alhamdulillaahi-rabbil-’aalameen, wa sallallaahu ’alaa Muhammad wa ’alaa Aalihi wa sallam, as for what follows. These are questions from some of those who are our brothers for Allaah’s Sake, we present them to [him who] is our brother for Allaah’s Sake, Muqbil ibn Haadee al-Waadi’i may Allaah protect him, we hope for answers to the questions from him with proofs from the Book and the Sunnah.
The questioner says that I have heard that your Eminence has studied some of the hadiths which our Shaikh, the virtuous one, Muhammad Naasirud-Deen al-Albaani made mistakes in, in [his books] As-Saheehah and Ad-Da’eefah, so what are they and could you explain the mistakes?
Muqbil: A good brother, may Allaah the Most High protect him, had requested a written answer and I did not have time to do that, a verbal answer was easier for me, so the hadiths which we hold that the Shaikh Naasirud-Deen al-Albaani, may Allaah the Most High protect him—and he is regarded as the Imaam of his time in the science of hadith—was lenient in … and in my books and writings I resolve [and go with] what I hold to be the truth and I do not expose myself to clash with the Shaikh, may Allaah the Most High protect him—for verily, I am in awe of him—and let the one who is present [and has heard me say that I am in awe of him] inform the one who is absent [from this gathering and did not hear me say what I just did.]
But some letters came to me, a letter from [someone who is] a brother for Allaah’s Sake from Taif, where he objected against the Shaikh regarding some hadiths, and he requested that I write an introduction so I did, and a letter from al-Ahsaa from someone who is a brother for Allaah’s Sake requesting that I take a look at it and write an introduction so I did, and a letter from Egypt was sent to me, I had a look at those hadiths and I advised the good brother who wanted to scrutinise the hadiths which he held that Shaikh Naasirud-Deen al-Albaani, may Allaah the Most High protect him, had made a mistake in, so I advised him not to be concerned about that and that if he must do so then he should have a special notebook for this topic and every time he [happens to] came across a hadith he records it therein, as for him intentionally researching [these mistakes] then it will take him his whole lifetime—because Shaikh Naasirud-Deen al-Albaani, may Allaah the Most High protect him, is regarded as the most knowledgeable of his time in the science of hadith and he has exhausted more than fifty years of his life [in this field], so someone who is studying the hadiths he made mistakes in will have to exhaust a similar amount of time to that, or less or more.
And Shaikh Ismaa’eel al-Ansaari, may Allaah the Most High protect him, has some observations as regards the discussion concerning the forbiddance of gold for women, circular gold, and I hold that the truth [in this issue] is with Shaikh Ismaa’eel al-Ansaari, may Allaah the Most High protect him. As for knowledge of hadith—no-one can compare to Shaikh Naasirud-Deen al-Albaani [in it]—nevertheless it has reached me that the Shaikh himself has taken up this issue and has written a book in which he has collected the hadiths which he had authenticated but which he then later discovered were weak or weak hadiths which he later discovered were authentic, some of my brothers for Allaah’s Sake told me about that, and I don’t know whether this book is ready for publishing, and the Muslims are in dire need of it …
… and when the Shaikh passes away, may Allaah the Most High protect him and I ask Allaah the Most Great to bless his life, you will see more criticisms, but [now] the people stand in awe of the Shaikh, and what did he do with Abu Ghuddah? And what did he do with al-Kataani? And what did he do with the Minister of Religious Endowments in Abu Dhabi who objected to him? What is correct is that he dissected him [with his answers] until the Minister of Religious Endowments [must’ve] wished he was dead if he had any life in his heart and [wished] that he had not objected to Shaikh Naasirud-Deen al-Albaani, may Allaah the Most High protect him.
Ijaabatus-Saa‘il ’alaa Ahammil-Masaa‘il, pp. 549-551.
The Albaani Site 