What Happens to the Children of the Polytheists?
From Abū Mālik, who said, “The Prophet ﷺ was asked about the children of the polytheists, so he said, ‘They are the servants of the People of Paradise.’”
Aṣ-Ṣaḥīḥah, no. 1468.
The Albaani Site
Translation from the Works of the Reviver of this Century
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April 4, 2026
Al-Albaani, Ibn Baaz and Loyalty
Shaikh al-Munajjid said, “One time I had a private conversation between me and our Shaikh Abdul-Aziz ibn Baaz regarding the Shaikh, al-Allaamah, Muhammad Naasirudeen al-Albaani. Shaikh al-Albaani had taught for a period at the Islamic University of Madinah, then returned to Syria.
Many years later, I had this meeting with Shaikh Ibn Baaz. Look, a true brother, a loyal friend, is one who benefits his brother and his friend even after a long time has passed, he still strives to help him.
Ibn Baaz told me, and he said this to me privately, by Allaah, privately, in his home, just between the two of us, “We kept Shaikh Muhammad Naasiruddeen al-Albaani’s salary from the University running for him even after he left. Shaikh Umar Fallaatah, would collect it on his behalf.”
Look at this, Shaikh Ibn Baaz knew the conditions in Syria, he knew the hardship there, and knew his brother Shaikh Muhammad Naasiruddeen al-Albaani, his virtue, his knowledge, and his contributions. He didn’t just let him leave and walk away. Rather, he worked to keep his salary going and to maintain it for him.
Look, Al-Albaani died, Ibn Baaz died, but loyalty didn’t.”
June 11, 2025
Major Ḥadīth on Dhikr
From ʿAmr ibn Shuʿaib, from his father, from his grandfather, that Allaah’s Messenger ﷺ said:
“Whoever says, ‘Subḥānallāh,’ one hundred times before sunrise and sunset, it will be better than sacrificing one hundred camels/cattle.
And whoever says, ‘Alḥamdulillāh’ one hundred times before sunrise and sunset, it will be better than one hundred horses ridden in the path of Allaah.
And whoever says, ‘Allāhu Akbar,’ one hundred times before sunrise and sunset, it will be better than freeing one hundred slaves.
And whoever says, ‘Lā ilāha illallāh waḥdahū lā sharīka lahū, lahul-Mulku, wa lahul-Ḥamdu, wa huwa ʿalā kulli shaiʿin qadīr,’ one hundred times before sunrise and sunset, no one will come with an action better than his on the Day of Resurrection, except for someone who said the same as him or more.”
Ṣaḥīḥ at-Targhīb, 658, Shaikh al-Albaani said, “Ḥasan.”
June 9, 2025
Shaikh ʿAbdul-Muḥsin al-Badr Defending al-Albaani and Showing How Important He was in Defending the Sunnah
Shaikh ʿAbdul-Muḥsin al-Badr said, “This is something truly astonishing the fact that Shaikh Al-Albaani is being warned against. They warn against a man who served the Sunnah and dedicated his entire life to studying the ḥadīths of the Messenger of Allaah ﷺ, researching them, and clarifying what is authentic and what is not. What a person should do is pray for him, compliment him, and benefit from his knowledge. And the truth is that in this time there are two individuals that a student of ḥadīth cannot do without referring back to: Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar and Shaikh Al-Albaani. The benefit gained from Al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar in matters related to ḥadīth is immense, and the benefit gained from Shaikh Al-Albaani in matters related to ḥadīth is immense. Thus, whoever warns against Al-Albaani is in fact warning against knowing the truth and getting to the Sunnah. Because what Al-Albaani did in relation to ḥadīth was an outstanding service and total dedication to the Sunnah—in facilitating access to it and making it accessible to students of knowledge. So he truly deserves to be praised and prayed for.”
May 3, 2025
Al-Albaani, Tea and an Innovator
A brother, an American who had reverted to Islam, invited Shaikh al-Albaani to his home. The person bringing the tea came in intending to serve the Shaikh first, however, the person on the right was as-Saqqāf. So Shaikh Al-Albaani said, “Go back and start with the one on your right, even though he is an innovator.”
Liqā Maftūḥ maʿa Abu Layla al-Atharī.
April 29, 2025
On Fanatical Blind-Followers
The Imaam said, “The problem is between us and the bigoted blind-followers. It is not between us and the Imams of the Madhhabs … the Imams of the Madhhabs were on the Salafi methodology: [that of] the Book and the Sunnah … none of them would prioritize an opinion over the Book and the Sunnah if in their view a text from the Book and the Sunnah had been established, unlike these people—just now you heard what I am talking about, he was saying, “If there is an āyah or a ḥadīth that contradicts the Madhhab then it is taken as having been abrogated.” This is elevating/exalting the madhhab over and above the Qurʾān and the Sunnah!
The Imams did not say this at all.
Thus the disagreement is between the Salafi daʿwah and those who [fanatically] adhere to the madhhab, and not between the Salafi daʿwah or the callers to the Salafi daʿwah and the Imams of the Madhhabs. No, we are proud that they were upon guidance from their Lord.”
Tasjīlāt Mutafarriqah, no. 85.
April 28, 2025
Having a Sense of Religious Duty
Shaikh al-Albaani said, “What saddens me is that nowadays the feeling of religious [dīnī] responsibility has become lost and is missing, even among religious people! So what can we say to others?”
Majmūʿ Ashritah al-Imām al-Albaani, no. 564.
April 27, 2025
Wishy Washy Dāʿīs—What to Call to First
The Imām said, “The best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad ﷺ.
The Messenger of Allaah ﷺ did not call his people to Islam by appeasing them with some of the traditions that they had become accustomed to. Rather, he called them directly to tawḥīd. It is a very grave error for a dāʿī to begin with trivial matters, or even recommended matters—or even with obligatory ones—while knowing that these people he is giving daʿwah to are as far as they can be from understanding the āyah, “So know that there is no god worthy of worship but Allaah.” [Muhammad:19].
We believe or claim that the Prophet ﷺ is our example and our model in everything. Therefore, one should emulate him ﷺ [both] in what he called to and his method in daʿwah. We should not come up with a method of our own to please the people around us. For example, in the beginning of his call the Messenger ﷺ did not call upon the wealthy to give from their wealth to help the poor and needy, even though they were tyrannical and wasteful with their wealth.
So there were poor and needy around but the Prophet ﷺ did not concern himself with bringing the hearts of the people together: the poor and the needy, who are usually the majority, [he didn’t set out to] attract people’s hearts to him—rather, he called all of them, both poor and rich—to worship Allaah and to avoid the Tāghūt (false deities).
This [other] method that I have pointed out and such is not the method of the Prophets and Messengers. We all know that the first statement that came from all the Messengers to their people was, “Indeed, you and what you worship other than Allaah are the fuel of Hell. You are all bound to enter it.” [Al-Anbiya:98] “Worship Allah and avoid Tāghūt” [An-Nahl:36], and so on.
The Muslim youth today abandon the method of the Prophets and Messengers in daʿwah and [instead] invent a method of their own, and this is not befitting for a dāʿī at all.”
Al-Hudā wan-Nūr, 93.
June 16, 2024
On Saying “كل عام وأنتم بخير” [“May You Be Well Every Year”] on Eid
Someone came in and gave salām to the Shaikh and said, “كل عام وأنتم بخير” [“May you be well every year,” etc., this is said in Arabic speaking countries on Eid] so he said, “This addition has no basis, it is enough for you to say, ‘May Allaah the Most High accept [our deeds] …,’ ‘كل عام وأنتم بخير’ [‘May you be well/blessed every year,’]—this is a greeting of the disbelievers which came to us Muslims due to our heedlessness, ‘And remind, for reminders benefit the believers.’” [51:55]
Al-Hudā wan-Nūr, 323.
June 12, 2024
Is it Better to Fast Mondays and Thursdays or The Fast of Dāwūd ﵇?
Questioner: Is fasting Mondays and Thursdays better or the Fast of Dāwūd ﵇ [which was one day on and one day off]?
Al-Albaani: What do you mean by better?
Questioner: Better, superior, which is better?
Al-Albaani: Of which two?
Questioner: Fasting Mondays and Thursdays or the Fast of Dāwūd?
Al-Albaani: The Fast of Dāwūd ﵇. Do you have some proof that fasting Mondays and Thursdays is better?
Questioner: No.
Al-Albaani: So it’s an invalid question since you don’t have a textual proof that fasting on Mondays and Thursdays is the best type of fasting, on the contrary there is proof of the opposite.
We came to the conclusion in our research that maybe we, the followers of Muhammad ﷺ, that our fast, when we do fast a day on and a day off, [that] while it is the Fast of Dāwūd ﵇, at the same time it may be better than [fasting] the Fast of Dāwūd ﵇, why?
Because it is possible that in Dāwūd’s sharīʿah ﵇ there was no prohibition against fasting the four days of ʿEed, in fact maybe he ﵇ never had anʿEed Aḍḥā and ʿEed Fiṭr, and may be there was no prohibition against fasting Jumuʿahs—we do [however] have such prohibitions.
So whoever does what he has been ordered with and refrains from what he has been forbidden from is better than someone who just does what he has been ordered to do.
Thus when we add to the mode of fasting a day on and a day off, which is the Fast of Dāwūd ﵇, [when we add] the days we are not permitted to fast, like Jumuʿah and Saturday, our fast will be better than if we were to fast a day on and a day off.
And if the on day happened to be a Friday and it was not preceded with a fast on the Thursday then this would not be better, i.e., [carrying out] the Fast on the madhhab of Dāwūd ﵇ [would not be better]—rather what is better is that we carry out the fast on the madhhab of Muḥammad ﷺ, which has an order [as to when to fast] and a prohibition [as to when not to].
So whatever we are ordered with we follow, and whatever we are forbidden from, we refrain from.
Al-Hudā wan-Nūr, 144.
June 11, 2024
Fasting the Day of ʿArafah When it Falls on a Saturday
Questioner: Shaikh, may Allaah reward you with all goodness, fasting on Saturday if it is the Day of ʿArafah?
Al-Albaani: We still haven’t finished talking about fasting on Saturday?
Lā ḥawla wa lā quwwata illā billāh.
Brothers, before answering the question I say directly: I advise my brothers who might have gained some knowledge not to have the audacity to make and issue rulings that are bigger than themselves, and that they should be from the people the Prophet ﷺ alluded to when he said, “Allaah gives understanding of the religion to whoever He wants goodness for.”
The ḥadīth which has been reported about fasting on Saturday with the wording, “Do not fast on Saturdays except for what has been made obligatory on you. If any one of you cannot find anything other than grape stalks or the twigs of a tree, let him chew it [to make sure that he is not fasting].” There are two aspects to this ḥadīth, one related to the science of ḥadīth and one to fiqh.
The science of ḥadīth aspect is whether it is authentic or not?
The fiqh aspect discusses what the ḥadīth indicates.
Many people might, especially students of knowledge, and specifically those who are amazed at themselves and who think they have reached a level where they can give fatwās of things being permissible or not, these people might have a partial excuse but not a total one for [discussing this issue and then] saying no, this ḥadīth doesn’t show that when the Day of ʿArafah or the Day of ʿĀshurā coincides with Saturday that it is not allowed to fast it. They have a partial excuse but [in reality] they have no excuse.
But they have no excuse whatsoever to talk about whether the ḥadīth is authentic or weak, because they have no way of knowing what an authentic or weak ḥadīth is.
Our discussion now is with our brothers, leaving aside others, who do believe in the authenticity of this ḥadīth. And if there is someone who has some acquaintance with the study of ḥadīth who says that no, this ḥadīth is inauthentic, it is then that we could open a new page and study it in the light of the principles of the science of ḥadīth, so as to ascertain whether my stance that the ḥadīth is authentic and theirs that it is weak, is correct.
As for when the discussion is centred around the fact that this ḥadīth is authentic—and it is, there being no doubt or uncertainty about that—then explaining their mistake and everyone else’s whether they are blind-followers or are people who follow [the Book and the Sunnah] like our Salafī brothers or others becomes easier. It is easy for us to make them understand that this ḥadīth is an unequivocal text that does not accept interpretation about the fact that when the Day of ʿĀshurā or the Day of ʿArafah coincide with Saturday it is not allowed to fast it.
And here is the answer in detail.
You just heard the ḥadīth now that after the Prophet ﷺ forbade fasting on Saturday he exempted [a certain type of fast from it], saying, “… except for what has been made obligatory on you,” and so [based on this] we have the prohibition of fasting on Saturday.
Yaʿnī, the summary of the entire ḥadīth is that the Prophet ﷺ forbade fasting on Saturday except for obligatory fasts.
So if, as we hear, someone were to say, no, except for ʿĀshurā, and another one says, except for ʿArafah … except for the White Days, Allāhu Akbar—I can’t imagine a Muslim who knows and is aware of what is coming out of his mouth would have the audacity to say such a thing.
Allaah’s Messenger ﷺ says, “Do not fast on Saturdays except for what has been made obligatory on you,” and he says, “Except for this and that, and such and such and this and that,” isn’t he correcting what Allaah’s Messenger ﷺ said? Doesn’t that mean, God forbid, that the person making this ‘correction’ and that other one and the third and fourth—that what they are saying is that the Prophet ﷺ doesn’t know how to talk?
Questioner: That he isn’t clear [faṣīḥ: clear/eloquent/well-spoken in Arabic].
Al-Albaani: That he isn’t clear, that he doesn’t know how to talk, because he ﷺ made a general prohibition and exempted one thing from it, and he should have come with a statement that would include all of these other types and exemptions that these people talk about.
Imagine an intellectual student of knowledge who is free from desires, him just picturing this [in his head] is enough for him to say: I repent to Allaah and turn back to Him and leave what I used to say and the Prophet ﷺ spoke the truth when he said, “Do not fast on Saturdays except for what has been made obligatory on you.”
After making this clarification we come across this in another form … you will see these ardent enthusiasts of these three exceptions [ʿArafah, ʿĀshūrā and the White Days [the White Days are the three days, the 13th, 14th and 15th we are encouraged to fast every hijri month]] … I’ll rephrase that and say: these people who correct Allaah’s Messenger ﷺ, they will [also be forced to] retract another issue, we say to them: when ʿEed coincides with Saturday, do you fast it? The day of sacrifice and the three days after it … it has to have coincided with Monday, for example, over the years.
Questioner: Monday.
Al-Albaani: Monday.
Questioner: Or Thursday.
Al-Albaani: Or Thursday, they would’ve coincided, no doubt.
Do we fast Mondays when it coincides with the day of ʿEed? The unanimous answer will be no.
So we ask them why?
They will tell you because it’s forbidden. So what is the difference between fasting on Saturday [then] which is prohibited and fasting one of the days of ʿEed when it coincides with Monday—and it is recommended to fast on Mondays and Thursdays—but when that day coincided with something that prevents fasting it … when that [recommendation] coincided with a day that has been forbidden to fast, what then was the stance of the scholars? They made the forbiddance overpower the permissibility, saying, we do not fast on [either] Monday or Thursday because it has coincided with the day of ʿEed and it is forbidden to fast on ʿEed.
There is no difference whatsoever between the Prophet’s ﷺ forbiddance of fasting on Saturdays and that of fasting on the four days of ʿEed.
So what is the principle that these people who correct the Prophet ﷺ have turned to, saying that it is permissible to fast on Saturday if it coincides with a day of excellence, like ʿArafah for example? What do they say about fasting Mondays or Thursdays [if they coincide with ʿEed] when they are days that it is has been encouraged to fast on?
If these people are fuqahā, they will answer with what the scholars of uṣūl said, they will say: when a prohibition contradicts something permissible the prohibition is given precedence: the days of ʿEed are forbidden to fast, Mondays and Thursdays are permissible and [further] encouraged to fast, [but] when something permissible goes against something that has been forbidden, the prohibition is given precedence over the permitted—[and this is] the same principle which we applied here to fasting on Saturdays.
Questioner: Even if he were fasting a day on and off [i.e., the fast of Dāwūd], he breaks his fast and eats?
Al-Albaani: Same thing, akhī.
Questioner: Same thing.
Al-Albaani: Same thing, yaʿnī, like Ibn Ḥazm, Allaah have mercy on him, said that this is an extra ruling the Legislator sent, we have to submit to it, the principle is the same: [the ruling that] it is forbidden to fast on Saturdays and on the days of ʿEed is given precedence over the permissibility.
And in conclusion I want to say something.
Many people mistakenly think that when ʿĀshurā or one of the virtuous days of ʿEed happens to fall on a Saturday and they don’t fast it because it’s Saturday that they will then have missed out on a huge amount of goodness: fasting ʿĀshurā expiates the sins of the past year and fasting ʿArafah those of the past and coming year—how can we miss out on this virtue?
The answer, if only they knew, is in the Prophet’s ﷺ statement, “Whoever leaves something for Allaah, Allaah will replace it with something better.” Why didn’t we fast on Saturday? [Was it] because we didn’t want to fast on ʿArafah or ʿĀshurā or any of the virtuous days of fasting like the three days of the month? No it wasn’t. It was out of obedience to Allaah and His Messenger ﷺ.
Thus, the ḥadīth, “Whoever leaves something for Allaah …,” applies to us, the “something” mentioned here is like the “something/anything [in Arabic it’s the same word: شيء]” mentioned in the āyah, “Should you disagree on anything, then refer it to Allaah and His Messenger,” [4:59] whoever leaves something, whatever that [something] may be, [it applies to] any thing that you can leave.
We left fasting on Saturday even though it was the Day of ʿArafah—why? Because He forbade us from doing it on His Prophet’s tongue.
So we are better than those people who fast on the day of ʿĀshurā [when it coincides with Saturday]—inshā Allaah they are entitled to Allaah forgiving them the previous and coming years sins—according to the text of this ḥadīth we, inshā Allaah, are entitled to that, [since] we acted on two ḥadīths: one which mentions a virtuous act and another a prohibition. They acted on the ḥadīth mentioning the excellence of the virtuous act and turned away from the ḥadīth which mentions the prohibition.
This is a reminder, and reminders benefit the believers.
Al-Hudā wan-Nūr, 204.
May 15, 2024
Al-Albaani on Vain, Conceited, Proud and Arrogant ‘Callers.’ Self-Appointed Grand-Muftis. Fatwā Issuers Based Upon Hollow Understanding they Conjure up Themselves. Harsh and Cruel in Their Methods, Driving People Away from Allaah’s Dīn, Misguided and Misguiding—and How a Caller is Supposed to Be
Questioner: We want the Shaikh, may Allaah reward him with good and bless his life, to advise us maybe Allaah ﷻ will …
Al-Albaani: Wallāhī, I don’t know what to advise you with, I need someone to advise me. But if I have no choice but to give you some advice then I advise [both] you and myself to fear Allaah, and then also to bear in mind things that branch off from the fear of Allaah ﷻ.
Like, firstly, that you seek knowledge sincerely for Allaah Alone, not wanting any reward or thanks or any job or position because of it, nor so that you can take the lead in gatherings [with people]—but only so that one can reach the rank that Allaah ﷻ singled out the scholars with when He said, ‘Allaah will elevate those of you who are faithful, and ˹raise˺ those gifted with knowledge in rank.’ [58:11]
And secondly that you avoid the pitfalls that some students of knowledge fall into, like how fast vanity and conceit/pride overpowers them such that they will go ahead and put themselves forward to give fatwās for themselves, nay, indeed to give fatwās for other people based upon what they think and without seeking the help of the people of knowledge, especially the Salaf aṣ-Ṣāliḥ who have passed on and who left this luminous inheritance for us to use to put an end to the darkness that has piled up throughout the ages, a pitch-black darkness I lived through.
So getting help from the statements and opinions of the Salaf helps us remove this darkness by going back to the understanding of the Book and the Sunnah, and the authentic Sunnah [at that].
I have lived during a time where I saw two contradictory things.
The first was where all the Muslims, the Shaikhs and the students, the layman and the elite were living in the cesspool of blind-following and not just blind-following their madhhabs but their fathers and forefathers. I lived through that time while calling [on people] to go back to the Book of Allaah and the ḥadīths of the Prophet ﷺ.
Here and there [scattered] in different Muslims countries, you will always find individuals who are the Strangers that the Prophet ﷺ described in some well-known ḥadīths, like, ‘Islaam started as something strange and will go back to being strange—so glad-tidings for the Strangers.’ In some narrations it is reported that he ﷺ was asked, ‘Who are the Strangers?’ He ﷺ said, ‘A few righteous people living among a people where the ones who disobey them outnumber those who listen to them.’ And in another narration, ‘They are the ones who fix what the people corrupted in my Sunnah after me.’
I lived during this time and then started to see the good effect of the daʿwah of these Strangers on the rank and file of the believing youth, such that we saw them take to the straight path in earnestness in many Muslim countries and [we saw them] eager to cling to the Book and the Sunnah whenever they did come across authentic ḥadīths.
But our happiness at this revival that we saw during these past years never lasted because we were suddenly confronted with an about-turn that happened to some of these young men in some countries which almost wiped out the effects of this good revival, and what was the reason for that?—And herein lies the lesson and the advice [I am giving you]—the reason for that was nothing but the fact that they were struck with vanity and arrogance because of the fact that they saw that they had gained some correct knowledge not only among the crowd of lost, Muslim youth but even among many of the Shaikhs of knowledge such that they felt as though through this revival they had outdone people of the ranks of Shaikhs and the people of knowledge spread out in the Islamic world.
So they never thanked Allaah ﷻ for granting them guidance to this authentic knowledge, nay, they were misled and became harsh and thought that they had knowledge to stand on so they started issuing immature fatwās that weren’t based on understanding the Book and the Sunnah. In fact, they were just unripe opinions which appeared to them to be knowledge that was taken from the Book and the Sunnah [but it wasn’t]—so they went astray and led many others astray.
And you won’t be unaware of the result that had in bringing about groups in some Islamic countries where they started philosophising and making takfīr of all other Muslim groups, now is not the time to delve into that [in detail], I’m just making a statement here to give advice and a reminder.
That is why I advise my brothers from Ahlus-Sunah and the Ahlul-Ḥadīth in all Muslim lands to have patience in seeking knowledge and not to be fooled by knowledge they might have picked up, rather they should follow the path and not rely just on their understanding or what they call their ‘ijtihād.’
I have heard from a lot of our brothers—brother what is this—one of them will have no qualms or concern in saying to you, ‘Brother, I did ijtihād [strove to come to an Islamic ruling/fatwā]!’ Okay! When you did this ‘ijtihād’ [of yours], what were the ḥadīths that you referred back to? What is the understanding that you came to? Who are the scholars that you relied on to come to this understanding that you’re [now] openly proclaiming?
[It’s all based on] nothing except that he [happened] to understand it in this [particular] way and thus became the Grand Muftī [al-Muftī al-Aʿdham].
And in my opinion the reason for all this is conceit and pride.
This is why in some books in the Islamic world today I find a very strange phenomenon—whereby you will see someone who used to be an enemy of ḥadīth now write a book on the science of ḥadīth, why? So that it will be said that he has written works on the science of ḥadīth. But if you were to [actually] go to this book which he wrote about the science of ḥadīth you will find that it is merely a collection of statements which he has gathered and collected from here and there and then made a book out of them.
What leads them to do this? It is the love of fame, and how true is that saying, ‘The love of fame will break ones back.’
For these reasons I advise my brothers to firstly, as I said, fear Allaah ﷻ and secondly to seek knowledge gradually. And thirdly to keep away from all moral values that are not Islamic, like not becoming fooled by the knowledge that they have been granted and not becoming vain. And that lastly they advise people with [and in a manner] that is best and that they distance themselves from cold/harsh and severe methods.
Because we all believe that when Allaah said, ‘Invite ˹all˺ to the Way of your Lord with wisdom and kind advice, and only debate with them in the best manner.’ [Naḥl:125], it is because the truth in and of itself is heavy on the people, heavy on mankind, that is why they become too haughty to accept it, except those whom Allaah wills.
So when you add another element or another load to the [already present] weightiness of the truth on the human soul, and [by that I mean] harshness in giving daʿwah, then that will repel people from the daʿwah instead of calling them to it.
And you all know the Prophet’s ﷺ statement [where he said], ‘Verily some of you drive others away [from Allaah’s Dīn]. Verily some of you drive others away [from Allaah’s Dīn]. Verily some of you drive others away [from Allaah’s Dīn],’ [see here for narrations mentioning this phrase].
In conclusion, I ask Allaah ﷻ not to make us people who drive others away [from His Dīn] but that He instead make us wise [callers] who act upon the Book and the Sunnah.
And we all ask for Allaah’s Forgiveness.
Was-Salāmu ʿalaikum wa raḥmatullāhi wa barakātuh.
Al-Hudā wan-Nūr, 100.
May 14, 2024
The Shaikh’s Modesty
Questioner: We want the Shaikh, may Allaah reward him with good and bless his life, to advise us maybe Allaah ﷻ will …
Al-Albaani: Wallāhī, I don’t know what to advise you with, I need someone to advise me …
Al-Hudā wan-Nūr, 100.
May 10, 2024
Should You Reply to the Salaam of Someone who Doesn’t Pray?
Questioner: A person who doesn’t pray passes by you and gives salām, should you give salām back?
Al-Albaani: Yes, you return the salām but when you are with him you admonish him [to pray], like we said earlier.
Al-Hudā wan-Nūr, no. 97.
November 3, 2023
Establishing an Islamic State when the Rulers Have You by Your Throats · On People’s Intellect in Times of Trials and Tribulations and the Need for Purification and Cultivation
Questioner: Some brothers who ascribe to the Book and the Sunnah think that after the most recent events [i.e., the Gulf war] there is an opportunity to establish an Islamic country, not as a way of helping the ruler of Kuwait, but rather to establish an Islamic state in Kuwait, and these are brothers who have a good reputation [lit.: ‘are thought well of’] who are saying this.
So is it allowed then to fight the Iraqis to expel them from Kuwait to establish an Islamic country on the methodology of the Salaf aṣ-Ṣāliḥ? Is this allowed? Is such a thing allowed for them to do?
Al-Albaani: We’re still living in a dream world. Are they prepared?
Questioner: I don’t know.
Al-Albaani: You don’t know? Allaahul-Mustaʾān.
Yā akhī, have they thought of this just now or before, that’s one question. Secondly, did they have the ability to do this before but didn’t and now they are able to and want to?
Questioner: They are even less able now, Allaah knows best.
Al-Albaani: So how are these people thinking like this? Allāhul-Mustaʿān yā akhī!
Yā akhī, such strange times. I mentioned to some of our brothers that in some ḥadīths it says that during the times of trials and tribulations [fitan] there will be people with no intellect or whose intellect is like dust who think or most of whom think that they have something to stand on but they don’t.
And who am I referring to by this? I’m referring to people like us, practicing people, as for non-practicing ones then what can you say, like that Syrian proverb says, “The rod repels them and gathers them together too.” [i.e., it’s easy
to get them to come together or to divide them.]
[I’m saying that it refers to] people like us practicing according to the Sharīʿah, firstly, because we are not able to deal with issues in light of the Book and the Sunnah due to our ignorance of them and, secondly, due to how unaware we are of current affairs, [due to all this] emotions overtake us and make us lean towards these lot one time and those lot another time.
So these people you pointed out, yā akhī, where were they before? They were living in a country which has them by their throats, they can’t go left or right, what’s changed now for them to think that they can set up an Islamic country?
The Amīr of Kuwait is paying billions as we read on the news and in the papers in order to get his throne or kingdom back, what do you think will happen when he hears that there is a group of emerging youth keen on Islaam who want to establish an Islamic country in place of the country of these princes—they will be the first to fight against them, not just the Americans and the Brits and the Iraqis, all the Arab nations will be against them.
Wallaahi, I find it strange how people think! This band of people, this small clique, when they openly announce it, all of the Muslim and non-Muslim countries will be against them. How do they think they will establish an Islamic state?
This is all because they don’t know the guidance of the Prophet in establishing a state, guidance which we can summarise in two words: purification and cultivation, purification and cultivation [at-Taṣfiyah wat-Tarbiyah, a topic the Shaikh has covered extensively in his works].
And lastly, “O believers! You are accountable only for yourselves. It will not harm you if someone chooses to deviate—as long as you are ˹rightly˺ guided.” [Māʾidah:105]
So we ask Allaah the Majestic and Most High to protect us from evil trials, both open and hidden.
Al-Hudā was-Nūr, 452.
June 12, 2023
Magic, Jinn and Ruqyah Series: Advice on Someone Affected with Jinn
A PDF of an English translation of the duʿa book but without Shaikh al-Albaani’s checking of the hadīth here.
A PDF of the Arabic version checked by Shaikh al-Albaani here.
Al-Albaani: Yes.
Questioner: As-Salāmu ʿalaikum.
Al-Albaani: Wa ʿalaikum salaam.
Questioner: How are you, my Shaikh?
Al-Albaani: Alḥamdulillah, well.
Questioner: May Allaah bless you and give you a long life dedicated to His obedience.
Al-Albaani: May Allaah protect you and give you the same.
Questioner: O Shaikh, I’m undergoing a great test from Allaah the Mighty and Majestic. I’ve been sick for the past two and a half years, and Allaah knows best but my sickness is due to the Jinn’s touch [مَس].
Al-Albaani: May Allaah remove any harm from mankind and the jinn from you.
Questioner: Āmīn, O Lord of all Worlds. O Shaikh, I’ve been tormented a great deal. All praise is due to Allaah, all praise is due to Allaah, Lord of all worlds. I haven’t left a place where there are Salafī Shaikhs except that I’ve been there, may Allaah bless them, so I have had lots of ruqyah done. But it didn’t help.
I’ve been tormented severely to such an extent that I can’t attend any Islamic lessons. I haven’t been able to pray in the mosque for a number of months. I can’t sleep. I can’t have physical relations with my family. I can’t drive my car. And many, many such disasters. I had to leave my job.
And this has tormented me severely, yaʿnī, to such an extent that … I’m patient, and all praise is for Allaah, but, yaʿnī, I ask the people and most of them say, ‘Brother, go and get yourself cured through any means necessary.’
I’m someone who, yaʿnī, alḥamdulillah—I don’t mean to praise myself—I’m practising, upon obedience to Allaah with His Permission, the Mighty and Majestic.
To be frank I’m being severely tormented to such an extent that when I read the Qurʾān blood comes out of my stomach. I can’t read the Qurʾān. I can’t perform my ṣalāh with khushūʿ. I am really sick. Even now when I am sat speaking to you I feel the fatigue/pain.
So I need a fatwā, O Shaikh. Yaʿnī, do I [try to] stay patient and hope for the reward from Allaah the Mighty and Majestic or do I meet Allaah the Mighty and Majestic with Him angry at me … [for trying to find a cure through something that goes against the Sunnah] or should I seek a cure …, yaʿnī, I’ve done lots and lots of checkups with doctors, laparoscopies and x-rays but they found nothing.
But in my intestines, in my stomach there is something that bloats and really hurts me …
Al-Albaani: How old are you?
Questioner: I’m twenty-seven, Shaikh.
Al-Albaani: Okay, so you said that you are practising?
Questioner: Inshā Allaah.
Al-Albaani: Okay, the first thing I advise you is not to go to Shaikhs who summon the Jinn.
Secondly, that you face all of your issues with the Prophetic adhkār, and they can be found in a small book by me printed under the name, ‘Ṣaḥīḥ al-Kalim aṭ-Ṭayib.’
So regard this small book as your [personal] medical prophetic prescription. Follow every supplication in it. Implement every dhikr that is in this book to the letter.
How? When you stand to pray you have to read al-Fātiḥah and when you bow or prostrate etc., [there are certain things you have to say] in the same way [learn and] use the words of remembrance that are mentioned in this book. For example, when you enter your house say: Bismillah [‘In the Name of Allaah’], when you leave it you say:
بِسْمِ اللهِ ، تَوَكَّلْـتُ عَلى الله
Bismillāh, tawakkaltu ʿalallāh.
In the name of Allaah. I place my trust in Allaah.
اللّهُـمَّ إِنِّـي أَعـوذُ بِكَ أَنْ أَضِـلَّ أَوْ أُضَـلّ، أَوْ أَزِلَّ أَوْ أُزَلّ،أَوْ أَظْلِـمَ أَوْ أَُظْلَـم، أَوْ أَجْهَلَ أَوْ يُـجْهَلَ عَلَـيّ
“Allāhumma ʾinnī ʾaʿūthu bika ʾan ʾaḍilla ʾaw ʾuḍall, ʾaw ʾazilla ʾaw ʾuzall, aw ʾaẓlima ʾaw ʾuẓlama, ʾaw ʾajhala ʾaw yujhal ʿalayya.
O Allaah! I take refuge with You lest I should stray or be led astray, or slip or be tripped, or oppress or be oppressed, or behave foolishly or be treated foolishly. [slip: i.e. to commit a sin unintentionally.]”
So when you enter the house it’s with Bismillah, when you enter the toilet you seek refuge with Allaah with the relevant dhikr mentioned in the book and so on. This is what I advise you with firstly and I hope that by using these Prophetic words of remembrance your cure will follow.
Secondly, I say to you that you need to be patient—and this is something you have to do—until the cure comes to you.
And I will remind you of a ḥadīth of the Prophet ﷺ. There was a woman who used to have fits/seizures. Do you know what that means?
Questioner: Yes, O Shaikh.
Al-Albaani: What does it mean?
Questioner: That she would lose consciousness.
Al-Albaani: Well done. And when she would fall unconscious she would become uncovered, you know what that [word tankashif] means?
Questioner: Yes, O Shaikh, [parts of her would] become bare …
Al-Albaani: May Allaah bless you. So she came to the Prophet ﷺ asking him to make duʿā for her. And this is the Messenger of Allaah ﷺ whose supplications are guaranteed answered. So he said if you wish I will supplicate for you and if you wish you can be patient and Paradise is yours. Do you understand?
Questioner: Understood, O Shaikh, may Allaah bless you.
Al-Albaani: And you too. [Her being] a religious, smart lady, she says if that is the case O Messenger of Allaah I will be patient. But supplicate that I do not become uncovered. So Allaah’s Messenger ﷺ made duʿā for her and thereafter she used to have seizures—why was she satisfied with having them? Because the Prophet ﷺ gave her the good news that if she was patient then Paradise is hers.
So [again] because she was intelligent and because of her dīn she wanted to guard her dignity so she said then supplicate to Allaah for me O Messenger of Allaah ﷺ that I do not become uncovered. So he ﷺ supplicated for her and thereafter whenever she would have a seizure none of her would become exposed.
So I advise you to be patient and not to become discontented and you must keep Allaah’s Saying in mind:
“We will certainly test you with a touch of fear and famine and loss of property, life, and crops. Give good news to those who patiently endure—who, when faced with a disaster, say, ‘Surely to Allaah we belong and to Him we will ˹all˺ return.’ They are the ones who will receive Allaah’s Blessings and Mercy. And it is they who are ˹rightly˺ guided.” [2:155-157.]
This is the answer I have for you. So in summary, I will repeat and say to you again, seek your treatment and cure with the Prophetic medicine. Then be patient. Clear?
Questioner: May Allaah reward you with good, O Shaikh.
Al-Albaani: And you too, inshā Allaah.
Questioner: All praise is due to Allaah, Lord of all Worlds.
Al-Albaani: Alḥamdulillāh always. And I hope that you are cured quickly.
Was-salāmu ʿalaikum.
October 21, 2022
Shaikh al-Albaani and Shaikh ʿUzair and Manuscripts
Shaikh ʿUzair would undertake the huge task of indexing manuscripts. He did so at the library of the Islamic University in Medinah over three years, and he said, “During work on the indexing there I met Shaikh al-Albaani, raḥimahullāh. He would come to the library to copy from the manuscripts and people would crowd around him wanting to speak to him while he was busy copying, so they would give him salām and he would reply and then go back to copying. I was amazed at his dedication to copying out from the manuscripts.”
October 15, 2022
On Tawbah for Those Afflicted with the Act of the People of Lūṭ
Al-Albaani: If someone commits such a shameful sin as this [i.e., homosexuality] then he should keep it hidden and not expose himself. Then he needs to add repentance to Allaah to that by feeling remorse at what he has done and resolving never to do it again, and he also needs to perform lots of righteous deeds …
Fatwās from the Car and on the Phone, no. 222.
October 12, 2022
On Hunger Strikes and Holding a Vigil and Having an Independent Islamic Personality and the Fact that Muslims are Ignorant of the Dīn’s Rulings and Someone who Doesn’t have Something Can’t Give It
Questioner: May Allaah bless you! Is it allowed for people or some people to go on a hunger strike in front of the rulers’ palaces so that they will respond to some of their requests?
Al-Albaani: Refrain from eating?
Questioner: Fast and condemn them, yaʿnī, stand in front of the palaces and in front of … so that they can ask for …
Al-Albaani: No this is a foreign, kāfir practice which the Muslims are not allowed to employ as a means to express their dissatisfaction with something that the state stipulates.
We must call to mind the Prophet’s ﷺ well-known ḥadīth related to this, “And whoever imitates a people is from them,” numerous, untold ḥadīths have been reported as more detailed clarification of this general, “and whoever imitates a people is from them,” one. One of those ḥadīths which can be regarded as a more detailed clarification of it is his saying ﷺ, “Pray in your sandals and your shoes and act differently from the Jews.”
Even more surprising is that once the Prophet ﷺ was coming back from a battle and they passed by a sidr tree which the polytheists used to hang their weapons on. So some of the Companions said, “O Messenger of Allaah! Make a Dhāt Anwāṭ [the name of that tree which the polytheists used to hang their weapons on and seek blessings from] for us just like they have a Dhāt Anwāṭ,” a statement they made, “Make a Dhāt Anwāṭ for us just like they have a Dhāt Anwāṭ.”
So the Prophet ﷺ disapprovingly said, “Allāhu Akbar! These are the ways [of those who came before you]! You have said the same thing that Mūsā’s people said to him, “Make a god for us like their gods.” [7:138]
Look at the difference between the two statements! They said, “Make another god for us instead of Allaah that we can worship,” as for the Prophet’s Companions [they said], “Make a tree for us, a Dhāt Anwāṭ, just like they have a Dhāt Anwāṭ,”—how different they both are, that one being connected to ʿaqīdah, indeed to worship, to tawḥīd and to major shirk which negates tawḥīd, “Make a god for us like their gods,”—and the statement of some of the Companions, “Make a tree for us, a Dhāt Anwāṭ just like they have a Dhāt Anwāṭ,” which was not [apparently] connected to ʿaqīdah or fiqh but which we could possibly say was related to some social norms. But the Prophet ﷺ was not happy with this imitation—the two situations are completely separate, and so he ﷺ disapproved that they said, “… just like they have a Dhāt Anwāṭ.”
This ḥadīth confirms that the Muslims must have a personality totally independent of the disbelievers, not only inwardly but outwardly too, [they must have] their own specific personalities that are distinct from the disbelieving nations and peoples.
So a Muslim going on hunger strike is totally like [that] shaving of the head [that I will now refer to] … in some Sūfī paths when a Muslim affiliates himself to a Shaikh who has his own [Sūfī] path he has to show his total submission to him as is represented in their, i.e., the Sūfīs saying, “The murīd [the Sūfī Shaikh’s follower] should be like a corpse before an undertaker.” So as part of this blind surrender which opposes the Most High’s Saying, “Say, ˹O Prophet, “This is my way. I invite to Allah with insight—I and those who follow me,” [12:108] they make a proclamation of this principle which goes against [true] insight by ordering those who affiliate themselves to this [Sūfī] path to shave their heads.
We know that shaving one’s head is a form of worship and obedience to Allaah ﷿ in certain places and is something permitted at other times too as he ﷺ said, “Shave it all or leave it all,” and in Ḥajj, “… ˹some with˺ heads shaved and ˹others with˺ hair shortened,” [48:27]. And in the two Ṣaḥīḥs the Prophet ﷺ said, “O Allaah! Forgive those who get their heads shaved.” The people asked, “Also those who get their hair cut short?” The Prophet ﷺ said, “O Allaah! Forgive those who have their heads shaved.” The people said, “Also those who get their hair cut short?” The Prophet ﷺ (invoked Allaah for those who have their heads shaved and) at the third time said, “… also (forgive) those who get their hair cut short.” So since shaving one’s head is a form of worship and one of the rites of Ḥajj it is not then allowed according to the Sharīʿah to transfer it to another occasion as the Sūfīs or some of the Sūfī Shaikhs have done, taking it as a path and manhaj for themselves as I have explained just now.
The same goes with fasting, fasting is an act of obedience to Allaah ﷿ which has its [own] regulations, conditions and pillars. If a Muslim wanted to fast al-Wiṣāl (i.e, fasting continuously without breaking one’s fast in the evening or eating before the following dawn) he would have disobeyed Allaah, because the Prophet ﷺ said, “Do not practice al-Wiṣāl. And if you must, then continue from suḥūr to suḥūr.”
So fasting perpetually—and [remember fasting] is an act of obedience to Allaah—is not allowed, then how can it be permitted in Allaah’s sharīʿah for one to withhold eating day and night in accordance with the way of the disbelievers?
There are two violations in doing so: the first is what we were speaking about earlier which is the imitation of the disbelievers. The second is that we would have made perpetual fasting a sunnah for ourselves whereas it is not allowed [as a normal act of worship] in Islaam let alone not being allowed in acts that are not worship.
Questioner: Shaikh, this question reminds me of something I read yesterday or the day before in a newspaper where some Islamic jamāʿahs were asking people living in some city in this country to fast on a certain day and for them to carry torches and climb up on to the rooftops with the intention of this inspiring them to victory or something of the sort, yes …
Al-Albaani: Strange!
Questioner: Yes, carrying torches to the …
Al-Albaani: I have heard of this so called fasting [that we just spoke about] but torches what?
Questioner: A newspaper yesterday, Shaikh, said take some torches and stand on the rooftops and ask Allaah for help, that kind of thing …
Interjection: Sorry was it an Islamic group asking them to do that?
Questioner: Yes an Islamic group.
Interjection: That’s an imitation of the Christians.
Al-Albaani: Yes it is.
Questioner: Holding torches …
Al-Albaani: Wallāhī strange. I had heard about the fasting and had seen it [being done] in some mosques but [now] in this form too, Allāhu Akbar!
My brothers, this is a proof of what I said and what I always say: that the Muslims today do things based on ignorance not on the religion’s rulings, because they are ignorant of the rulings of the religion—and someone who doesn’t have something can’t give it.
That is why I say there has to be purification and nurturing on this correct knowledge otherwise the Muslims will have nothing to stand on.
Al-Hudā wan-Nūr, 465.
October 7, 2022
Shaikh al-Abaani Advises a Young Guy from America who Wanted Advice on Being Gay
Questioner: Another problem, one of the brothers, O Shaikh, I got a message of his yesterday, wallaahi, makes you cry.
Al-Albaani: Allaahul-Mustaʿaan.
Questioner: Can I read it to you? It’s short, yaʿnī …
Al-Albaani: Tafaḍḍal.
Questioner: “I have a problem and I don’t know if there is a solution to it, especially since I’ve tried and failed. Before I mention it I want to let you know that I don’t want to identify myself I’ll just go by the name ‘ʿAbdullah.’
I have a big problem which is ruining my life. I’m in the prime of my youth and unfortunately I suffer from the sickness of homosexuality. I have no sexual desire for the opposite sex, my sexual inclination is for those of my own sex, other guys. It started in puberty and, truth be told, I ignored it because I thought that it would pass with time and I didn’t appreciate how dangerous this issue was until after I was twenty years old when I started to try and find out if there was a medical cure for it but they said that this sickness will stay with you for as long as you live.”
Al-Albaani: Auʾūthubillah.
Questioner: “And things have gotten worse especially since now I’m at the age to get married and my family are insisting on getting me married and I just try to divert the topic every time they bring it up because I don’t want to oppress [any future spouse]. I can’t tell my family about it, I haven’t told a soul about this. I have opened my heart up to you hoping that you can help me, with Allaah’s Permission.”
So by Allaah, yaʿnī, mushkilah, O Shaikh, I started to write a letter to him and I haven’t finished it yet, I wanted to say in it that the person who told you that it is a life long disease is a devil.
Al-Albaani: Of course, you are correct in saying that.
Questioner: Naturally I wanted to remind him of some aayahs, like, “Say, ˹O Prophet, that Allah says,˺ “O My servants who have exceeded the limits against their souls! Do not lose hope in Allah’s mercy, for Allah certainly forgives all sins. He is indeed the All-Forgiving, Most Merciful,” [39:53] and, “Indeed, when Satan whispers to those mindful ˹of Allah˺, they remember ˹their Lord˺ then they start to see ˹things˺ clearly.” [7:201] Then I will mention the ḥadīth about that Companion who said that, “A bad thought will come to me where it is easier on me to fall out of the sky and have birds snatch me away …”
Al-Abaani: Okay.
Questioner: I’m [summarising all this here but] will mention it in full, insha Allaah.
Al-Albaani: Good, good.
Questioner: It’s from the devil, unless you have another suggestion, O Shaikh.
Al-Albaani: You must remind him of the ḥadīths which curse the person who does that, if he is a believer.
Questioner: Yes I have included that.
Al-Albaani: Ok good. If he doesn’t care and doesn’t establish his prayers, then in such a case there really is no cure.
Questioner: It doesn’t seem to me that he is wanton because his question alone doesn’t show that he is, O Shaikh.
Al-Albaani: That is how it seems and as such you should give him the narrations which strike fear [into the soul] and which warn [against such actions].
Questioner: Yes.
Al-Albaani: Because in addition to what you mentioned earlier these narrations will, inshaa Allaah, be a cure for him. And tell him to also make sure to say the adhkār and the supplications that have been reported for all occasions, like when leaving the house, when coming into it—all of these are legislated means and are regarded as spiritual cures for all diseases of the soul. And if you could give him a copy of Ṣaḥīḥ al-Kalim aṭ-Ṭayyib if you have one.
Questioner: Yes I have a copy, inshaa Allaah.
Al-Albaani: He needs to take care in memorising these adhkār and that he makes sure to say them in every situation and in that way, inshaa Allaah, the cure will happen.
Questioner: How authentic is the ḥadīth that the Throne of ar-Raḥmān shakes at …
Al-Albaani: It’s not authentic.
Questioner: It’s not authentic?
Al-Albaani: No.
Questioner: [Any other] ḥadīth which strike fear into one?
Al-Albaani: Maybe you can refer to my book [about marriage], Ādāb az-Zafāf [available in English under the title ‘The Etiquettes of Marriage and Weddings’].
Questioner: The one who does it and the one it is done to …
Al-Albaani: Yes my book Ādāb az-Zafāf has a good amount of ḥadīths about that.
Questioner: [Never heard the Shaikh properly:] Where can I find them?
Al-Albaani: I said Ādāb az-Zafāf.
Questioner: Ādāb az-Zafāf.
Al-Albaani: My book Ādāb az-Zafāf you must have a copy?
Questioner: Yes I do, yes.
Al-Albaani: Do you have the al-Maktabah al-Islāmiyyah one, not the al-Maktab al-Islāmī one?
Questioner: I got a copy from Kuwait two years ago and you said that we shouldn’t rely on the other copy.
Al-Albaani: Yes.
Questioner: I have the al-Maktabah al-Islāmiyyah print.
Al-Albaani: That’s the one.
Questioner: This is the latest one?
Al-Albaani: Yes it is. Inshaa Allaah go back to that and take some of the ḥadīth from there on this topic …
Fatwās from the Car and on the Phone, no. 268.