Questioner: In some of your tapes we heard that moving the [index] finger in the tashahhud is not done by raising and lowering it, i.e., [but should be done by moving it] from the right to the left, so we implement this, walhamdulillaah, but the people ask us what the proof for that is?
Al-Albaani: How do you implement it?
Questioner: Ya’ni, I move my finger from the right to the left.
Al-Albaani: Who told you that?
Questioner: One of your tapes, O Shaikh.
Al-Abaani: No, you’re mistaken.
Questioner: What is the correct way?
Al-Albaani: The correct way is that you move it in its place, not to the right and left, in other words, you raise it and lower it but in a manner that can hardly be seen, understand?
Questioner: Understood, O Shaikh, understood.
Al-Albaani: As for moving it the right and left then this has crept in among you from your old madhhab, or from the madhhab of some of you in Algeria and Morocco and those countries on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, i.e., the Maaliki madhhab, they are the ones who do what you mentioned …
Questioner: In [your book] Sifatus-Salaatin-Nabee, you mentioned that when Imaam Ahmad was asked whether he pointed with his finger in the prayer he said, ‘Yes, intensely.’ Intensely, what does intensely mean here? The speed or what?
Al-Albaani: I say that many of the callers to prayer turn their chests away from the Qiblah, they turn away from the Qiblah with their chests when they give the call to prayer and announce the Iqaamah—and this is in opposition to the Sunnah.
Turning away during the adhaan and iqaamah is only done with the mouth, the face naturally, and not with the chest and shoulders, just as it should be when one leaves the prayer, i.e., when he gives salaam.
Yet despite this we see many of the people who pray fall into this mistake, when they pray they say, “As-Salaamu alaikum …” [here the Shaikh is physically demonstrating to those in front of him the incorrect way people give salaam at the end of the prayer by turning their chests and shoulders away from the Qiblah], this is incorrect.
The salaam is completed as he was, facing the Qiblah, the Prophet ﷺ used to only turn towards the right with his head such that the whiteness of his cheek could be seen by those behind him, and likewise to the left—so when giving salaam these two shoulders don’t move, the same goes for the adhaan.
So when he turns then it is like this and this, as occurs in Sahih al-Bukhari from the hadith of Abu Juhaifah as-Sawaa’i [may Allaah be pleased with him], that he saw Bilaal [may Allaah be pleased with him] giving the call to prayer and he saw him turning to the right and left with his mouth [i.e., his face]—thus we don’t move at all … [in the call to prayer you say], ‘Allaahu Akbar, Allaahu Akbar …’ we get to, ‘Come to prayer! Come to prayer!’—stay exactly as you are, don’t turn away from the Qiblah with your chest, because facing the Qiblah during the adhaan is part of the perfection of the Sunnah of the adhaan.
And this is a reminder, and reminders benefit the believers.
Al-Albaani: I want to remind my brothers who are here that I noticed when some of them are praying and they move their finger in tashahhud, they move it too much in a way that is not legislated.
There is no doubt that moving the finger in tashahhud is the Sunnah, but many times our brothers from Ahlus-Sunnah mix this movement [of the finger] up with another thing which is not from the Sunnah, and that is lowering and raising it.
I noticed in this mosque that the brother, the Imaam, may Allaah reward with him good, is active in spreading the Sunnah, for I saw some of the people in the mosque moving their fingers in tashahhud, and this is proof that the Imaam, walhamdulillaah, is carrying out the duty of calling to the Sunnah.
So I saw some of these people and [also] some of our brothers with us on this trip, [I noticed] that they add something to this movement which can be described as lowering and raising, i.e., this is lowering and raising—this has no basis in the Sunnah, all that has been mentioned in the Sunnah is that it is moved, i.e., there is a Sunnah that should be observed when moving [the finger], i.e., that the finger should be pointing towards the Qiblah, so when you point it towards the Qiblah and move it, don’t lower it, because if you do then you have made it point towards the ground, and the ground is not your Qiblah, the Qiblah is in front of you.
So here is your knee, and your palm is on your knee, so as soon as you sit you curl your fingers up and make a circle with your thumb and your middle finger, then you raise your index finger and move it—don’t raise and lower it—this has no basis in the Sunnah, rather you move it in its place.
This is what I wanted to remind you of and reminders benefit the believers.
Al-Hudaa wan-Noor, 494.
Also refer to this post for further clarification.
Questioner: What is the most correct opinion regarding the prostrations of forgetfulness? [Should they be done] before or after [the salaam]?
Al-Albaani: Both are allowed.
Questioner: And the hadith in which the Prophet ﷺ said, “For each forgetfulness there are two prostrations after giving the salutation?” [Saheeh Abu Dawud, no. 954, Hasan]
Al-Albaani: There are other hadiths which permit the prostration before the salaam, and that is why I said both are allowed.
Questioner: If someone finishes the tashhahud and then remembers that he only prostrated once, what should he do?
Al-Albaani: He carries out the second prostration and then reads the tashahhud again and after that does the prostrations of forgetfulness [sujood as-sahw].
Questioner: In prayer,do we say the Basmalah [i.e., Bismillaahir-Rahmaanir-Raheem] and the isti’aadhah [i.e., A’uthu billaahi minash-Shaitaanir-Rajeem] between al-Faatihah and the Surah after it?
Al-Albaani: When someone who is praying finishes reciting al-Faatihah and starts a surah from its beginning then he reads the basmalah before it, because it is a surah, except for Surah Baraa’ah, as is known. As for when he starts his recitation from the middle of the surah or its end, then there is no basmalah.
Al-isti’aadhah is [said] at the beginning of the recitation only.
Al-Albaani: So, my brother, if some brothers from the people of hadith or those who follow the Salaf oppose someone like me, or, for example, Ibn Baaz—then this is not the criterion/gauge [by which we measure], the criterion is knowledge, whoever knowledge has reached has had the proof established against him.
Questioner: Some [people’s] bodies, ya’nee, like mine, when I, especially when the Imaam straightens our rows in the mosque on the line, we put, ya’nee, our toes on the line, and a big person like me when he sits for tashahhud he is distinct in front of those praying [i.e., he sticks out].
Should I move back until I’m [sitting] in line with them, or stay as I am, protruding …
Al-Albaani: No, [since if you did that then] so as not to stand out in front you will stand out from behind [if you moved back].
Questioner: Yes, this is it.
Al-Albaani: Stay as you are—your Lord created you.
Questioner: When giving salaam at the end of theprayer, is it allowed for me to give salaam behind the Imaam to the right and then to the left or do I have to wait until he’s finished giving salaam on both sides [before I start]?
Al-Albaani: This is a good question. You shouldn’t wait for his second salaam, because one exits the prayer through the first, i.e., the first salaam [to the right] is the one that is the rukn out of the two, the second one [to the left] is a Sunnah, if he does it, you do it, and if he doesn’t you don’t and along with him you are content with that first salaam.
What the people do nowadays in terms of waiting for the Imaam until they hear him finish the second salaam and then they follow him by doing the first and second tasleem, this goes against the most correct opinion in this issue.
Questioner: [How far is a person who has some units of prayer to make up permitted to walk to get to his Sutrah?]
Al-Albaani: He can take some steps such that if he is seen no one will say, ‘He’s not praying,’ [i.e., no one will assume that by the looks of it he is not praying], because actions that are many nullify the prayer.
Host: The questioner says, ‘The Imaam of a mosque forgets to recite al-Faatihah in a rak’ah, he only remembers whilst he is [actually] in rukoo’, what should he do?
Al-Albaani: He cancels the rukoo’ and stands up and reads al-Faatihah and then carries on with the prayer, he cancels the rukoo’, cuts it off and stands up straight away and recites al-Faatihah … and if it is the first or second rak’ah he reads a Surah or part of one [after Faatihah] and then bows and continues the prayer.
Someone Else: [What about] the people praying behind him, O Shaikh of ours?
Al-Albaani: They do as he does.
Questioner: They follow him?
Al-Albaani: “The Imaam is [appointed] to be followed …” [Bukhaari and others]
Commenting on the hadith, “When the Arabs are humiliated, Islaam will be humiliated,” the Imaam said:
“Fabricated, reported by Abu Nu’aim in, ‘Akhbaar Asbahaan,’ , vol. 2, p. 340.
Islaam’s honour is not correlated with the Arabs alone, in fact Allaah may honour it through other believers as occurred during the time of the Ottoman empire, especially during its early days, for Allaah honoured Islaam through them until it reached the middle of Europe—then when they started to turn away from the Legislation to European laws, ‘… exchanging what was better for what was less …,’ their empire started to shrink from those countries and others until it almost disappeared from their [very] own lands! No outward manifestation indicative of their Islaam remained in those countries except for very little! And because of that all of the Muslims were humiliated after they had been in a state of honour and the non-Muslims entered their countries and, except for a few, subjugated them—and even if these few were safe from being outwardly subjugated, they were colonised in a covert way, under the cover of many schemes, such as through economic pressures and so on!
So it is established that Islaam is honoured and humiliated through the honour and humiliation of its followers, whether they are Arabs or non-Arabs, ‘And no Arab has superiority over a non-Arab except through piety.’
So, O Allaah! Give honour to the Muslims and inspire them to turn back to Your Book and the Sunnah of Your Prophet so that, through them, You will give honour to Islaam.”
Al-Albaani: Just now I said to one of my brothers who asked me, and how often I am asked, to this day the people are still asking me about meat from Bulgaria, and in reality I’m amazed at them—we’ve been sorely tried by [this issue] of Bulgarian meat for many long years, [after] all of these years hasn’t the time come for the Muslims to understand what the ruling concerning this Bulgarian meat is? Such a strange thing!
So I say that if you are in doubt and are uncertain about whether these animals have been slaughtered Islamically or not—what you are not in doubt about is [the fact] that they are slaughtering our Muslim brothers there, the Turks who have been resident there for a long time, they are slaughtering them just like sheep are slaughtered, so [even] if the Bulgarians really are slaughtering the meat which we import from them according to the Sharee’ahI [still] say that it is not allowed for us to import it from them, on the contrary, it is obligatory upon us to boycott them so that they cease spilling the blood of our Muslim brothers there.
So subhaanallaah!The feeling of brotherhood has died which the Prophet ﷺ described as being that of one body, “The believers in their mutual kindness, compassion and sympathy are just like one body. When one of the limbs suffers, the whole body responds to it with wakefulness and fever.” [Bukhaari and Muslim]
The Muslims don’t feel the [many] pains of their brothers any more, the Islamic bonds between them have been cut off, and for this reason their concern [instead] is to ask, “Is it allowed to eat Bulgarian meat or not?!”
Yaa akhi, you know that the Bulgarians are slaughtering the Muslims there, there is no difference between an Arab Muslim, a Turkish one, an Afghaani Muslim and so on, and the situation is as he ﷺ said, “The Muslims are brothers …,”so if we are brothers, then it is obligatory on us to jealously protect each other and to feel grief for each other—and not merely be concerned with what one eats and drinks.
So if we assumed that a person is still not convinced that Bulgarian meat is [just] carrion … that its ruling is that it is meat of an animal that is not slaughtered according to the legislated requirements because it is killed not slaughtered—we can’t convince the people of every opinion, because they will continue to differ except those upon whom your Lord has mercy, as is mentioned in the Noble Quraan—so if we can’t convince the people that this meat which comes to us from Bulgaria has the ruling of being meat that has not been slaughtered Islamically—but don’t they [at the very least] know that these Bulgarians are slaughtering our Muslim brothers there? Isn’t this tyranny and this excruciating aggression against our Muslim brothers there enough to turn us away from Bulgarian meat, even if it is halaal?
This is sufficient.
And this is a reminder, and a reminder benefits the believers.
The Shaikh was asked about George Bush visiting Jeddah and said that he shouldn’t be allowed to and then describing Bush, he said, “… especially if it’s the most disbelieving of the disbelievers, under whose authority and orders all the non-Muslims are …”
Shaikh Muhammad ’Ataa-Ullaah Haneef gave Shaikh al-Albaani some gifts in the form of books that he had checked, and on them he had written:
“A gift in appreciation of, and sincerely for, the Shaikh, the Ustaadh, the verifier of this age, the peerless scholar of his time, the Shaikh, Muhammad Naasirud-Deen al-Albaani, may Allaah protect and guard him.
From someone who is weak, is your servant [khaadim] [i.e., is at your service] and who loves you for the sake of Allaah, Abut-Tayyib Muhammad ’Ataa-Ullaah Haneef al-Ghujiyaani, al-Athari, resident of Lahore.’
And he gave him a book called, ‘Minhaajus-Sunnah fi Naqd Kalaam ash-Shee’ah wal-Qadariyyah,’ and on it he wrote:
“A gift to His Eminence, the ’Allaamah, the major Muhaddith, the Shaikh, Muhammad Naasirud-Deen al-Albaani, may Allaah the Most High protect him.
From his brother for the sake of Allaah, Muhammad ’Ataa-Ullaah Haneef.
Head of Al-Maktabah as-Salafiyyah,
Shish Mahal Road,
Lahore,
Pakistan.
12/12/1996.”
And he used to describe Shaikh al-Albaani as, “Our blessed teacher.”
Al-Imaam al-Albaani, Shaikhul-Islaam wa Imaamu Ahlis-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah fi ’Uyoon A’laam al-’Ulamaa wa Fuhool al-Udabaa, pp. 89-90.
Shaikh ’Abdul-Kareem al-Khudair, may Allaah protect him, said, “And for that reason Al-Dhahabi came, Ibn Hajar came, Al-Haafidh al-’Iraaqi came, Abu Zur’ah ibn al-Haafidh al-’Iraaqi came, major scholars who graded hadith to be authentic and weak, good was placed at their hands [continuing] up to this era of ours—until the [line of] Huffaadh and Imaams was completed with al-Albaani, may Allaah have mercy on him.”
Al-Imaam al-Albaani, Shaikhul-Islaam wa Imaamu Ahlis-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah fi ’Uyoon A’laam al-’Ulamaa wa Fuhool al-Udabaa, p. 234.
Shaikh ’Abdul-Kareem al-Khudair, may Allaah protect him, was asked, “What is your opinion about the checkings of the muhaddith Al-Albaani?”
So he answered, “The Shaikh, may Allaah have mercy on him, is above what is said about him, and if we were to mention his virtues, even if it took a long time, even if it took hours, we would not have covered anything in terms of what he did in aiding the Sunnah—for he is the Imaam and Reviver of the Sunnah—and the Sunnah was not known in this manner except through him, may Allaah the Most High have mercy on him.”
Al-Imaam al-Albaani, Shaikhul-Islaam wa Imaamu Ahlis-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah fi ’Uyoon A’laam al-’Ulamaa wa Fuhool al-Udabaa, p. 233.
Shaikh Saalih as-Suhaimi, may Allaah protect him, said, “So it is not allowed to be bigoted for personalities nor to consecrate them—men are known by the truth, it is not the truth which is known by men.
And there is a situation that occurred which I will relate about our Shaikh, Shaikh Muhammad Naasirud-Deen al-Albaani, may Allaah have mercy on him, when I visited him just before his death by about a month and a half.
After I gave him salaam some of the brothers introduced me to him, so he said, ‘You’re introducing him to me, the disputant concerning fasting on Saturday and praying more than one Jamaa’ah [in a mosque]?’
So I said to him, ‘O Shaikh of ours! I still hold that opinion, I hold it to be permissible to repeat the congregational prayer more than one time and I still hold the legitimacy of fasting on Saturday as long as a person doesn’t single it out alone as the day to be fasted on, in opposition to you—and you are the one who taught us this, O Shaikh of ours.
So he tightened his grip on my hand, may Allaah have mercy on him, and I have never forgotten the pull of his hand at that moment, and said, ‘This is how we want the students of knowledge to be—not being bigoted towards me nor others—so may Allaah reward you with good.’
And I attended a debate between him and our Shaikh, Shaikh ’Abdul-Muhsin al-’Abbaad al-Badr where each one of them revered the other, [the debate being] about cutting off more than a fistful of the beard which was the opinion Shaikh al-Albaani held based upon the narration of ’Abdullah ibn ’Umar, so we enjoyed this debate for about two hours, with each of them, both our Shaikh, Shaikh ’Abdul-Muhsin al-’Abbaad al-Badr and our Shaikh, Shaikh Muhammad Naasirud-Deen al-Albaani, respecting each other [throughout].
And when Shaikh Muhammad Naasirud-Deen al-Albaani met our Shaikh, Shaikh Humood at-Tuwaijiri, may Allaaah have mercy on him, [prior to which] there had been strong rebuttals [between them] concerning the issue of the hijaab, when they met they honoured one another and when a question was put forth each one of them would refer it to the other.
‘These are my forefathers so bring me their likes
When, O Jarir, the places of assembly bring us together.’
These are the peerless scholars who left, and a huge breach was created because of their departure.”
Note:Readers are positively encouraged to help spread the works of Al-Albaani and other great Shaikhs by taking any and all articles in their entirety from both TheAlbaaniSite.com and GiftsofKnowledge.net and to copy and paste them wherever they can so as to reach as wide an audience as possible, just kindly include a link back to the original article.
Host: The questioner asks, ‘A man whose finger is injured does ghusl due to having been in a state of sexual impurity [Janaabah], [and so when he had a bath] he did not put water on the injured finger or water didn’t reach it. After a few days he was ok and his finger was better, does he have to repeat the ghusl or not?’
Questioner: The menstruating woman, the Prophet ﷺ permitted her to enter the mosque except that she is not allowed to perform Tawaaf?
Al-Albaani: Yes.
Questioner: [If she enters the mosque does she] or does she not pray the two rak’ahs performed upon entering the mosque [Tahayyatul-Masjid]? Does she pray or [just] sit down in the mosque?
Al-Albaani: She sits down without praying, it’s not allowed for her to pray, she sits in the mosque without praying.
Questioner: … [she sits] without praying, but what is the proof for that, O Shaikh?
Al-Albaani: The proof is the hadith I mentioned to you which is in Sahih Bukhaari, “Do what the pilgrims do, except that you should not perform tawaaf and nor pray.” So what does the pilgrim do? He enters the mosque, prays, performs tawaaf, sits, and reads the Quraan—the Prophet ﷺ allowed her to do all of that but excluded the prayer and the tawaaf from it.
Questioner: This noble Prophetic hadith [states] that it is not allowed for her to pray …
Al-Albaani: Yes, and there are other hadiths about the fact that the woman does not pray or fast but that she makes up the fast but not the prayer.
Questioner: A man is praying having performed dry-ablution [tayammum], and then during the prayer water becomes available, what should he do?
Al-Albaani: He cuts off his prayer, and uses the water [to perform wudoo].
Questioner: Okay, what if he has given the tasleem and then water becomes available? After he had given the tasleem? [i.e., after he has completed his prayer?]
Al-Albaani: Khalaas …
Questioner: Sorry?
Al-Albaani: Thus is the case judged concerning which you both did inquire. His prayer is correct, but he must perform wudoo for the next one.
Al-Albaani: Have you seen if a man were to go against the natural disposition that Allaah created mankind on [al-Fitrah] in five things … he عليه السلام said, “Five things are from the fitrah: trimming the moustache, plucking the armpit hair, shaving the pubic hair, cutting the nails and circumcision.’ What do you say about a person for whom Allaah created a beard but he does away with it, He created a moustache for him but he does away with that [too]? He made nails for him and ordered him to trim them but he doesn’t, going the opposite way to the fitrah, He created a pubic region for him but he leaves it as it is—and it [thus becomes] a replacement for the beard which he eradicated up top [on his face], instead it grows underneath, what do you say about a person who opposes Allaah’s fitrah [which He created man on] in these issues? Is this a person or a wild beast? His nails are like a predatory animal’s, and his armpits have two other beards, he doesn’t pluck them, and there is another beard between his thighs, this is in opposition to the natural inborn inclination of man [fitrah] … this is a wild animal …”
“The Prophet ﷺ said, ‘Friday is divided into twelve hours. Amongst them there is an hour in which a Muslim does not ask Allaah for anything but He gives it to him. So seek it in the last hour after the afternoon [’Asr] prayer.’ Saheeh Abu Dawud, no. 1048.
Shaikh al-Albaani, may Allaah have mercy on him said, ‘And the agreement of the Companions that it is the last hour on Friday has been authentically reported, so it is not allowed to oppose them.’ Saheeh at-Taghreeb, 1/444.”
As-Saheeh al-Mustakhraj fi Ahadith al-’Ad’iyah wal-Adhkaar wa Fadaailil-Quraan, pp. 191-192.
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