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].
Al-Hudaa wan-Noor, 96.
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-Hudaa wan-Noor, 814.
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.
Al-Hudaa wan-Noor, 799.
Al-Albaani: “Purify your intentions, so that you perform acts of worship as your Lord ordered you to.”
Al-Hudaa wan-Noor, 716.
Al-Albaani: “Allaah’s Forgiveness, my brothers, out of all of the goals of a Muslim’s life, is the ultimate.”
Al-Hudaa wan-Noor, 696.
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.
Al-Hudaa wan-Noor, 339.
Questioner: When giving salaam at the end of the prayer, 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.
Al-Hudaa wan-Noor, 328.
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.
Al-Hudaa wan-Noor, 290.
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]
Al-Hudaa wan-Noor, 190.
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.”
Ad-Da’eefah, vol. 1, pp. 301-303.
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’ah I [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.
Now bring what other questions you have …
Host: May Allaah reward you with good.
Someone else: May Allaah reward you with good.
Someone else: May Allaah reward you with good.
Al-Hudaa wan-Noor, 190.
Also read The Future of Palestine.
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 …”
Al-Hudaa wan-Noor, 457.
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?’
Al-Albaani: No.
Al-Hudaa wan-Noor, 529.
Shaikh Muhammad Musa Nasr said, “And near the end of his life, I heard the Shaikh saying, ‘When al-Albaani dies, the people will come to know him.’ Now, after his death, the people know al-Albaani. His house in his area … his neighbours didn’t know him, someone would come and ask about him and they would say, ‘Shaikh al-Albaani, we don’t know him,’ after he died the people came to know him. A person went to the Bahamas … and found two hundred and fifty Muslim families on that island, all of them Salafis—how did al-Albaani get to them? His tapes did, they never saw him with their eyes but they lived according to his tapes, all of them were on the Book and the Sunnah, not a single one of them was from the hizbi Jamaa’ahs or the Sufis. This shows that al-Albaani’s truthfulness and his sincerity spread his da’wah around the world …”
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.
Al-Hudaa wan-Noor, 160.
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-Hudaa wan-Noor, 438.
Questioner: Is it allowed to perform dry-ablution [tayammum] with a rock?
Al-Albaani: Even if rain fell on it.
Al-Hudaa wan-Noor, 13.
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 …”
Al-Hudaa wan-Noor, 447.
Questioner: Regarding the amount [of the beard] that is to be cut, it is limited to what is more than a fistful?
Al-Albaani: Yes, when he takes a handful of his beard, then he may cut the hair which is in excess of that.
Questioner: From both sides? [i.e., the left and right?]
Al-Albaani: Yes, he may do so from both sides if it is more than a fistful …
Al-Hudaa wan-Noor, 267.
Questioner: O Shaikh! [Is it allowed to cut] what is over a fistful [of the beard] in all directions?
Al-Albaani: Yes, yes.
Al-Hudaa wan-Noor, 495.
“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.
Questioner: This person says, ‘O Shaikh of ours, may Allaah protect you, there are some who attack Shaikh al-Albaani, may Allaah have mercy on him, and accuse him of having a corrupt ’aqidah, in fact, they describe him as someone whose ’aqidah is no different than that of the polytheists, what is your Eminence’s opinion about these statements?
Al-’Abbaad: The Prophet ﷺ said, “Whosoever gives me a guarantee to safeguard what is between his jaws and what is between his legs, I shall guarantee him Paradise,” that which is between his jaws is the tongue. Likewise when the Prophet ﷺ mentioned the forms of good in his advice to Mu’aadh ibn Jabal, he said, “Shall I not tell you of the foundation of all of that?” I said, “Yes, O Messenger of Allaah.” So he took hold of his tongue and said, “Restrain this.” I said, “O Prophet of Allaah, will we be taken to account for what we say with it?” He ﷺ said, “May your mother be bereaved of you, O Mu’aadh! Is there anything that throws people into the Hellfire upon their faces—or: on their noses—except the harvests of their tongues?”
And it is known that backbiting is forbidden, but backbiting the scholars through whom Allaah has benefitted the people and through whom much good has come about in terms of spreading knowledge and clarifying it, this is even more severe and greater than backbiting other people.
And there is no doubt that the person who says such things has wronged himself, and the harm goes back on himself, the Prophet ﷺ explained who the bankrupt person in the Hereafter is when, in an authentic hadith, he said to his Companions, “Do you know who the bankrupt person is?” They replied, “The bankrupt among us is one who has neither money with him nor any property,” they thought he was asking about the bankrupt people of the world so they said, “The bankrupt among us is one who has neither money with him nor any property,” but he ﷺ was asking about the bankrupt person of the Hereafter, and such a person is the one who is truly bankrupt, i.e., a bankrupt person in the world is [indeed] bankrupt but the one who is even more bankrupt than him is the one of the Hereafter.
So who is the bankrupt person of the Hereafter? He ﷺ said, “The real bankrupt of my Ummah would be he who will come on the Day of Resurrection with prayer, fasting and charity, (but he will find himself bankrupt on that day as he will have exhausted the good deeds) because he reviled others, brought calumny against others, unlawfully devoured the wealth of others, shed the blood of others and beat others. So his good deeds would be credited to the account of those (who suffered at his hand). If his good deeds fall short to clear the account, their sins would be entered in his account and he would be thrown in the Fire.”
So this person who made such evil, ugly statements about this lofty scholar has only wronged and harmed himself—and none of that hurts Shaikh al-Albaani, may Allaah have mercy on him, its harm goes back to the one who made the statements, it will not reach al-Albaani, al-Albaani will receive good and righteous deeds because of this crime against him from that person who has set loose his tongue against him by making statements such as these which do not befit or emanate from a person who has any intellect.
Questioner: A questioner asks: someone who catches the tashahhud of the Jumu’ah prayer, having missed both rak’ahs, should he pray four?
Al-Albaani: Yes, he prays four, and the explanation of that is in my well-known book, ‘Al-Ajwibah an-Naafi’ah ’an Asilati Masjidil-Jaami’ah.’
Su’aalaat, vol. 2, p. 365.
Questioner: The questioner says: taking a compass on journeys in order to ascertain the direction of the Qiblah for those who don’t know the cardinal points?
Al-Albaani: It’s waajib.
As-Su’aalaat, vol. 2, p. 332.
“Ehsan Elahi Zaheer’s Shaikhs: The Shaikh, the ’Allaamah, Abu ’Abdullah Muhammad Ibrahim ibn Fadl al-Deen al-Jundalwi … [and] the Shaikh Abul-Barakaat Ahmad ibn Isma’il, [and] the Shaikh Muhammad Shareefullaah, [and] the Haafidh, the Muhaddith, ’Abdul-Wahhaab al-Barhimalwi, [and] His Eminence, the Shaikh, ’Abdul-’Aziz ibn ’Abdullah ibn Baaz, [and] the Shaikh, the ’Allaamah, ’Abdul-Muhsin ibn Hamad al-’Abbaad al-Badr, [and] the Shaikh, the ’Allaamah, the Imaam Muhammad al-Ameen ibn Muhammad al-Mukhtaar ash-Shanqiti, [and] the Shaikh ’Atiyyah ibn Muhammad Saalim, [and] the Shaikh, the ’Allaamah, ’the Muhaddith Hammaad al-Ansaari, [and] the Shaikh, the ’Allaamah, the Muhaddith Muhammad Naasirud-Deen al-Albaani … Ehsan studied under him at the Islamic University of Madeenah, and Shaikh Ehsan used to love Shaikh al-Albaani and cherish him due to his excellence and because he was his teacher, and he had a debate with al-Albaani with manners and respect in some issues in which there was a difference of opinion and Shaikh al-Albaani used to praise Ehsan and his intelligence and al-Albaani said to ’Aabid, Shaikh Ehsan’s brother, ‘He was one of the intellectuals, and I will not forget the manners and politeness he afforded me …’ and he mentioned to him [i.e., to ’Aabid] that Ehsan travelled with him to London and he would massage Shaikh al-Albaani’s feet out of respect and esteem for him.”
Ash-Shaikh Ehsan Elahi Zaheer wa Juhuduhu fi Taqreer al-’Aqidah war-Radd ’alaa al-Firaq al-Mukhaalafah, vol. 1, pp. 73-74.
Questioner: What is your advice about people who slander Shaikh al-Albaani, may Allaah have mercy on him, and warn against him? And what should our stance towards such an individual be?
Al-’Abbaad: That is the strangest thing, the fact that Shaikh al-Albaani is warned against, that a man who served the Sunnah is warned against, someone who spent his [entire] life examining and researching the hadiths of Allaah’s Messenger ﷺ, clarifying the authentic from what is not. What a person should do is supplicate for him, praise him, and benefit from his knowledge.
And the reality is that there are two people who someone working in the [field of] hadith cannot but refer back to, i.e., al-Haafidh Ibn Hajr and Shaikh al-Albaani. The benefit from al-Haafidh Ibn Hajr in those things connected to hadith is colossal, and the benefit from Shaikh al-Albaani in those things connected to hadith is colossal [too].
For this reason it means that the one who warns against Al-Albaani is warning against becoming acquainted with the truth and accessing the Sunnah, because what Al-Albaani did in connection to hadith was a preeminent service and complete diligence in [serving] the Sunnah, facilitating access to it and bringing it closer to comprehension for the students of knowledge.
So he is worthy of being complimented and supplicated for.
“My son, Shaikh Muhammad Zahraan ibn ’Abdullaah ’Aloosh told me that one of his friends, a youth, told him that Shaikh Muhammad Naasirud-Deen al-Albaani wanted to cause fitnah in the Al-Daqqaaq Jaami’ Mosque and that Shaikh ’Abdul-’Aziz al-Rifaa’i was able to stop him in his tracks, according to what this youth’s grandfather said. My son asked me about this incident, so I told him that:
‘I was there when it happened in 1956. We were in a lesson of our Shaikh and Muhaddith, al-Albaani, in Shaikh ’Abdur-Rahmaan al-Baani’s house [not al-Albaani, i.e., Shaikh Al-Albaani was giving a lecture in the house of another Shaikh called ’Abdur-Rahmaan al-Baani] in al-Midan. When he finished from his first dars, we left with the Shaikh to perform ’ishaa prayer in Jaami’ al-Daqqaaq, so the ’iqaamah for the prayer was given.
The Imaam was [a person called] Shaikh ’Abdul-’Aziz al-Rifaa’i, when he turned around to the worshippers to ask them to straighten their rows he caught a glimpse of our Shaikh al-Albaani standing in the first row to the right, about ten metres from him.
So Shaitaan overtook Shaikh al-Rifa’i and made him forget the remembrance of Allah, and he forgot the du’aa that was usually said before the prayer … and he shook as though the Devil had thrown a bucket of hot water on him, or like a thousand watt electrical current had struck him, so he started shouting angrily, ‘Get out! Get out! Get out!’ addressing these hard words at our Shaikh al-Albaani, expelling him from the mosque!
But our Shaikh replied to him with complete calm, saying, ‘I am in the House of Allaah, the Most High—I’m not in your house, and when I enter your house, throw me out [then]!’
So Shaikh al-Rifa’i’s rage and anger increased even more, and he shouted out [quoting the hadith], ‘My ummah will split into seventy-three sects, all of them in the Fire—’ and he pointed with his hand at al-Albaani!
Some of the worshippers tried to calm the Shaikh [i.e., the Imaam] and others said, ‘Yaa Jamaa’ah, pray now and delay your fighting for after the prayer!’ So the Imaam prayed and we prayed behind him and it was a prayer like that of the one who performed his prayer badly!
After he gave salaam, the Imaam immediately turned and began shouting and screaming again and saying things. So we calmly left the mosque and left Shaikh Rifa’i to quench his desire.
A number of young guys met us, or Shaikh Rifa’i sent them to us, who wanted to fight us. We were about twenty youth in number and had circled our Shaikh al-Albaani, but then some of the noble people from that area who had intellect got involved and prevented the youth from al-Rifa’i’s group with wisdom and calming words, and it was over.
So who created that fitnah and stoked the fire? It was Shaikh ’Abdul-’Aziz al-Rifaa’i, may Allaah forgive us and him.’”
The Albaani Site 