Questioner: Did the Messengers fall into minor sins?
Al-Albaani: Before answering this question right away, [I’d like to say that] I believe it is a non-issue as they say today, because it is not connected to methodology or to the rectification of our aqidah or actions. It is only something connected to those Messengers or Prophets who preceded the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, so I do not hold that questions like this should be given much notice, but [having said that] we have to answer it to disclose the knowledge we have regarding this issue.
We believe that the unequivocal infallibility of the Prophets and Messenger is, firstly, regarding conveying the da’wah, and, secondly, from knowingly falling into major sins.
As for falling into minor sins which do not result in anything except [to show] an absence of absolute perfection then there is no harm in some of that occurring by the Prophets and Messengers–and this is so that it remains established in the hearts of the believers that absolute perfection is for Allaah, the Lord of the Worlds, Alone, Who has no partner.
And there are many parts and proofs in the Quraan establishing this reality concerning more than one Prophet or Messenger. [For example] the story of Aadam عليه السلام when the Lord of the Worlds prohibited him from eating from the tree, and His Saying, “And Adam disobeyed his Lord and erred.”[Taa Haa 20:121], and the Noble Quraan saying concerning our Prophet عليه السلام, “He frowned and turned away,” [Abasa 80:1]“May Allaah pardon you, [O Muhammad]. Why did you give them permission [to remain behind]?”[Tawbah 9:43]. All of this proves that it is possible that a Prophet may be susceptible to minor sins which do not befit the rank of Prophethood–but are they blemished by that? The answer is no, because these are human traits.
[For example]: is a Prophet or Messenger criticised for being susceptible to that which people in general are susceptible to, like making an unintentional mistake or forgetting? We say no, there is nothing preventing the fact that a Messenger or Prophet may be susceptible to such things, because such things do not affect the station of da’wah which the Messengers were sent to all mankind with.
So his saying عليه السلام reported by the two Shaikhs from Abdullaah ibn Mas’ood, may Allaah be pleased with them both, [in which he stated that] the Prophet prayed five rak’ahs for the midday prayer, so when he gave salaam they said, ‘You prayed five,’ so he performed two prostrations of forgetfulness and then said عليه السلام, ‘I am only a man like you, I forget as you do, so when I forget, remind me.’ [Bukhari and Muslim]
So it does not harm the status of Prophethood or that of being a Messenger that something should transpire from them which had it not would have been more perfect–but absolute perfection is for Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic.
It would be more perfect if the Messenger عليه السلام did not forget, but Allaah’s Wisdom necessitated that he did, but this forgetting does not affect the da’wah because he does not forget that which is connected to conveying the message [da’wah], and our Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, points to this reality by His Saying, the Most High, “We will make you recite and you will not forget, except what Allaah should will,”[A’laa 87:6-7] like [for example] an aayah which he had conveyed to the people which he might forget, i.e., he has conveyed the Message and fulfilled the trust [that was upon him] … it is possible that after performing this obligatory conveyance [of the Message] the Messenger عليه السلام may forget something which he had [previously] conveyed to them, as occurs in Sahih Bukhari where he entered the mosque one day and heard a person reciting the Quraan and so said, ‘May Allaah have mercy on so and so, he reminded me of an aayah I had been made to forget.’
So the Prophet’s forgetting عليه السلام an aayah like this does not harm that which is connected to conveying it–because he already has–and that is why that person was able to recite it, and when he did, the Messenger عليه السلام remembered it.
So such forgetfulness does not harm him.
Likewise, some of the Prophets and Messengers falling into some minor sins does not harm them, because it does not turn those who are being called away from their call in opposition to falling into major sins, and for this reason, they are too exalted from falling into major sins to the exclusion of minor sins.
Al-Albaani: In the form Allaah created them in, no. In forms which they may imitate, then of course.
And Ai’ishah, may Allaah be pleased with her, and others saw Jibreel in the form of Dihyah al-Kalbi. As for seeing Jibreel in his original form, then that was not granted to anyone except the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.
Questioner: Our Shaikh, are there people from the Companions who will be called to account and then punished and who will then enter Paradise? Are any of them of such levels?
Al-Albaani: Why are you concerned about that? [Lit: what concerns you about that question?]
Questioner: Wallaahi, it’s a question that came to mind.
Al-Albaani: I don’t think it crossed your mind … [starts laughing]
Questioner: [laughs]
Al-Albaani: From some angles these are whisperings [of the Devil, waswasah] … why are you concerned about that … why are you concerned about that … does it have a connection to your aqidah? [Is it] something which you will correct [your aqidah] with?
Ask about what is relevant to you, Yaa akhi, because this is a door Shaitaan enters through.
“There used to be a fig tree in his house in Amman [Jordan], from which he would take figs while seated on his balcony. He would do so by using a long stick that he had devised where he had split and overlapped it so that he controlled how long or short he wanted it. At its end he placed a sharp, pointed cup, so that when he touched them with the tip of the stick, the figs would fall into the cup.”
Al-Imaam al-Albaani, Duroos, wa Mawaaqif, wa Ibar, of Abdul-Aziz ibn Muhammad Abdullaah as-Sadhaan, p. 111.
Questioner: If I have turned to [wanting to practise] the religion and have no knowledge and an Islamic group asks me to go out with them for da’wah and some brothers at the mosque warn me stating that this jamaa’ah is called the Tableeghi Jamaa’ah and it is not right for me to go out with them because they have corrupt beliefs, what should I do?
Al-Albaani: Seek knowledge, what’s the problem, seek knowledge.
Questioner: Ya’ni, is it permissible for me to go out with them now?
Al-Albaani: Their going out is not from the Sunnah. Their sitting in the mosques and seeking knowledge and studying the Book of Allaah as occurs in the authentic hadith, that is what is legislated. As for their going out like this in groups, and most of them only know very little about Islaam, this is something which they have opposed the Muslims from the time of the Prophet to this day in.
Before this time, thirty or forty years ago, there was no Jamaa’ah that would go out like this with tens or hundreds of people without even a single scholar found amongst them.
The people of knowledge are widespread in Jordan and Syria and we advise these people to sit in the gatherings of knowledge and to learn, and this is what we advise you with too. We say to you: attend the gatherings of knowledge, the sittings of knowledge and learn.
As for this going out [khuruj]–it has no basis in the Sunnah.
He said, “I bought a bicycle to ride and it was the first time the Damascenes saw such a spectacle: a turbaned Shaikh riding a bicycle!
They were astonished at such a sight.
There used to be a magazine called Al-Mudhik al-Mubki1 which a Christian man would publish, he mentioned this incident among the witty jokes [therein, but] I wouldn’t care about these petty issues—all that concerned me was time.”
1A comedic magazine published in Damascus by a journalist called Habeeb Kahaalah. In each edition he would print a picture which would be the talk of the town for the whole week.
Al-Imaam al-Albaani, Duroos, wa Mawaaqif, wa Ibar, of Abdul-Aziz ibn Muhammad Abdullaah as-Sadhaan, p. 111.
Questioner: A questioner says, ‘When some scholars give a religious verdict [fatwaa] in a certain issue and another group of scholars give a verdict which is the opposite of the first, which one should the common Muslim follow?’
Al-Albaani: The common Muslims must have a general education … the common masses must have a general, Islamic education; by ‘general education’ I mean the one which it is obligatory on every Muslim to know even if he is from the common masses, that he know the truth is not pluralistic.
So when, as occurs in the question, there are two contradictory statements, this common Muslim must call to mind that one of them is correct and the other is a mistake, due to His Saying, the Mighty and Majestic, “So after the truth, what else can there be, save error?” [Yunus 10:32]
So when he brings this principle to mind it will motivate him to ask the people of knowledge, ‘You say it’s permissible … and you say it’s not … what’s your proof? And what’s your proof?’ This will open up a path to understanding and awareness and then he can choose what he feels at ease with and what his heart opens up to, and he will be rewarded.
As for him going against this legislated principle and saying as many of the people today do that, ‘Whoever blindly follows a scholar will meet Allaah safe and sound,’ [then] where has this sentence come from? It is not in the Book of Allaah and nor in a hadith from Allaah’s Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم, it’s only a sentence [prevalent] on the tongues of the common folk, ‘Whoever blindly follows a scholar will meet Allaah safe and sound …’ no.
Rather whoever follows Allaah’s Guidance is the one who is rightly guided, and whoever goes astray then it goes against himself, I just said to you now that Allaah said, “So ask the people of the message if you do not know,” [Nahl 16:43] He said, “… the people of the message [dhikr] …” hereby the word ‘message’ [dhikr] what is not intended is the dhikr which some of the ignorant Sufis are familiar with, dancing while doing dhikr and going crazy in it, and they call it, as he عليه السلام said regarding something else [but which still applies here], “… they will name it with other than its [real] name …” they call dancing and ecstasy [tawaajud] the remembrance of Allaah the Mighty and Majestic, but on the contrary it is play and amusement, in addition to another sin, which is to call things by names other than their legislated ones.
So the dhikr mentioned in the verse is the Quraan, as He the Mighty and Majestic said, “And We revealed to you the message [i.e., the Quraan] that you may make clear to the people what was sent down to them …” [Nahl 16:44] so the dhikr here is the Quraan, “So ask the people of the message if you do not know.”
And there is another caveat for this questioner [to bear in mind] here: this person says [the thing being discussed is] permissible and that one says it’s not permissible, Yaa akhi, are these people really scholars? Are they scholars of the Book of Allaah and the hadith of His Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم? Or do they differ most greatly? This one giving a fatwa according to the Book of Allaah and the hadith of His Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم and that [other] one maybe walking on all fours, i.e., not walking according to the Book or the Sunnah but only according to the four madhhabs, taking whatever he fancies from them.
What a difference there is between these two.
For this reason, it is fitting that the common Muslim—and [when] I say, ‘The common Muslim,’ [it] doesn’t mean that he doesn’t understand … no, if he couldn’t understand it would mean he is mad, and if he was mad then he would not be accountable—but [on the contrary] he can understand, it’s only that he is not a scholar—thus, he must use his intellect, so when two statements come to him, one of them will have come from someone who is not a scholar, and so such a statement has no weight, and thus the first opinion stands.
And it may happen and we do not deny it: that both of them may be scholars of the Book and the Sunnah but the issue may be a disputed or controversial one, and this happens as it did in the past, and it can happen today, here the common Muslim must use his brain and strip away his desires and not follow them which would be something that would lead him away from Allaah’s Path, and he عليه السلام, “The mujaahid is the one who strives against his desires for the Sake of Allaah.”
But most regretfully, when the elite, the elite of the people today seek out the fatwa which suits them … he will say to you—Yaa akhi, and all of them say that they go back to the sayings of Allaah’s Messenger—[but then] he takes whatever suits him from these madhhabs, [if this is the case with the elite] what are we to say about the common folk then? And as was said:
If the man of the house is beating the daff, those living in it will dance along.
So if this is the case with the elite, except for those whom Allaah has had mercy on, and how few they are, then what will the state of the general folk be?
I remind the elite and the general masses that the religion is not desires but rather knowledge, and it is upon the general folk to learn how to ask questions.
And maybe in some of these blessed, inshaa Allaah, gatherings I have on more than one occasion mentioned that hadith narrated by Abu Dawud in his Sunan that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم sent a detachment to fight in the Way of Allaah, whereupon one of them received wounds to his body, when he awoke in the morning, he found that he needed to take a ghusl, and so he asked those around him whether they knew of an excuse for him not to have to bathe, they said no, that he must take a ghusl, so he did and died because when the water got on his wounds they festered … and so on and his temperature rose and he died.
When news about what happened to him reached the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم he became extremely angry عليه الصلاة والسلام and said, “They killed him, may Allaah kill them,” i.e., the ones who gave the fatwa that he had to take a ghusl were the reason for his death, “They killed him, may Allaah kill them,should they not have asked if they didn’t know?! Verily the cure for ignorance is to question! It would have been enough for him had he performed tayammum.”
So, those [Companions] gave him a fatwa without knowledge, so we take a lesson from this hadith, that it is not fitting for the common folk to ask [just] anyone who claims knowledge, or who it is claimed has knowledge, but rather, O Muslim, the person who you know does not give fatwas except based upon, ‘Allaah said … Allaah’s Messenger said,’ such a person is the one you should direct your question to, as for those people who say what they do not do, and who give fatwas that aren’t based upon the Book and the Sunnah, then such people are not scholars.
And these are the people the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم foretold [us] about when he said, as occurs in Sahih Bukhari and Muslim from the hadith of Abdullaah ibn Amr ibn al-Aas, may Allaah the Most High be pleased with them both, that, ‘Allaah’s Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم said, “Verily, Allaah does not take away knowledge by snatching it from the breasts of the scholars, but He takes it away by taking away the scholars such that when no scholar remains the people take the ignorant ones as leaders and so they are asked and give religious verdicts without knowledge and [thus] are misguided and lead others astray [too].”
This is the state of affairs of many of those in places of responsibility today who it is thought are from the people of knowledge [but who really aren’t], and so the commoner who asks [them] a question becomes confused: ‘This one says haraam and that one says halaal, or this one says obligatory and that one says sunnah,’ or other such things from the issues which are disputed.
A process of purification must be carried out in the minds of all the common folk: the scholar of the Book and the Sunnah must be filtered from the one who, as some of the witty people in our country Syria say, ‘The scholars are of two types. One is a scholar-doer, the other is the doer-scholar!’ The ‘scholar-doer’ i.e., is a scholar who acts upon his knowledge, and the ‘doer-scholar’ is the one who does things and whose status is that of a scholar but who has nothing whatsoever to do with knowledge.
And unfortunately this is present, and whoever doesn’t know, let him go and try [and he’ll see how true what I am saying is].
Ask whoever you want from those who you think are from the people of knowledge well-known amongst the people, and I will not name them even if only by title, ask whoever you want, even though it [i.e., a certain situation] may be a fiqh issue in which there is difference of opinion, he will answer you according to the madhhab he grew up on, was nurtured on, and became old on, he will give you a fatwa according to it, and then you will say, ‘What’s the proof?’ And he will say [rhetorically], ‘We are people of proof? How can we understand the proof?’ This is if he is forthright [admitting that he doesn’t know the proof], but if he is someone who hides things, he will say, ‘How are you going to perceive the proof?’ So he covers his own ignorance by declaring others to be ignorant.
This, unfortunately, is the reality of many people today, and the One whose Aid is sought is Allaah.
Questioner: What is the correct view regarding al-Hajjaaj ibn Yusuf ath-Thaqafi? Was he a kaafir?
Al-Albaani: Even though we attest to the fact that al-Hajjaaj was a profligate oppressor, we do not know that he denied anything known to necessarily be from the religion. So it is not allowed to declare him to be a disbeliever based only on the fact that he was wicked, oppressed and killed innocent Muslims.
Questioner: A man that Allaah has put to trial through his aged father who does not abstain from sinning, like listening to singing, looking at women dancers and disparaging some of the Companions, and when he advises him he doesn’t listen, so is he sinful if he angers him when he does that which contradicts the legislation?
Al-Albaani: It is not allowed for the son to anger his parents. Rather it is only for him to advise them both, acting in accordance with the obligation of advising from one angle and due to His Saying, “And your Lord has decreed that you not worship except Him, and to parents, good treatment,” [Israa 17:23] from another.
Al-Albaani: The reality is that the case with every beginner student of knowledge, and I was like that and probably still am, I used to read this hadith and it would be problematic, because in some narrations [there occurs], “There is nothing between a man and disbelief except abandoning the prayer. So whoever abandons the prayer has disbelieved,” and in some narrations, “… then he has committed shirk.”
Interjection: Subhaanallaahil-Adheem.
Al-Albaani: I used to ask how can he have committed shirk? Yaa akhi, this person who has left praying, especially the one who does so out of laziness, how has he committed shirk?
I used to think that maybe there was a mistake on behalf of the narrator [of the hadith], I was a student of knowledge, then later our Lord granted me success in understanding, even if it was when I was older alhamdulillaah, [he granted me success in understanding it] such that I recognized that legislatively, as opposed to linguistically, there is no difference between kufr and shirk.
So all kufr is shirk and all shirk is kufr there is no difference between them legislatively, linguistically there is, because in the language kufr means to cover. Shirk is to make something a partner of another, like the polytheists who make equals with Allaah.
But later I came to recognise that every unbeliever, even if he wasn’t a polytheist linguistically, he was in reality. No unbelieveris free from being anything but a polytheist [mushrik], our Lord said, “Have you seen he who has taken as his god his [own] desire?”[Jaathiyah 45:23] He took as his god his own desires, so, everyone who follows his desires has made it a partner with Allaah, thus, any kufr–[for example] if someone were to reject a letter from the Noble Quraan it would mean that he has put his intellect in charge and has taken it as a god and it is from this angle that the shirk has come.
So, the one who said that all disbelief is polytheism and all polytheism is disbelief spoke truthfully, not like the one who says that not all kufr is shirk like you heard from at-Tahawi.
In reality this is knowledge which is very rare and is something through which many, many problems are resolved, from them being the verse, “Indeed, Allaah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills.”[Nisaa 4:48]
I read [a mention of] a problem about this verse in the Al-Manaar magazine which Sayyid Rashid Rida used to publish. An objection came his way which stated that the meaning of the aayah is that these unbelieving Europeans who believe in ‘nature’, they call it nature, i.e., that this universe has a creator and who do not know any more than that, it is possible that Allaah will forgive them because they are not polytheists. And so Sayyid Rashid Rida at that time was not able to give an answer like this one which if he had known then would have been the conclusive judgement, [i.e., that] all kufr is shirk and all shirk is kufr.
“The point from this hadith is that it gives us a new benefit which was not mentioned in the previous one, and this is how it is obligatory on every researching faqeeh of the Sunnah to collect and gather all of the hadiths reported concerning an issue so that by doing so he has a complete case without any deficiency.
[So] here the Prophet عليه السلام tells us by saying, “For surely, he who lives from amongst you will see much differing,” … it’s as though someone asked [him a question] but the reality is that no-one did … because Allaah عز وجل inspires His Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم to answer before someone asks … it’s as though a questioner said, ‘O Messenger of Allaah! When we see this differing which you are informing us about by your saying that, “For surely, he who lives from amongst you will see much differing,” what should we do, O Messenger of Allaah, when we see this much differing, what should we do?’
So he عليه الصلاة والسلام answered them without being asked as we just said, [saying], “It is upon you to be upon my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs,” to the end of the hadith.
Thus, salvation from any division and from any difference which occurs between the Muslims is to turn back to the path of the first believers, since he عليه السلام said in a clear, Arabic tongue, that when you see the differing, “It is upon you to be upon my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs.”
So do the Muslims who fall into a disputed issue today go back and comply with this order of his عليه السلام and other [such orders] that have been mentioned in the Quraan and the Sunnah? [That] when you see some differing, “It is upon you to be upon my Sunnah and the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs,” [do the Muslims comply with this today?]
Unfortunately, the answer is that few are the ones who [actually] do that amongst the Muslims, and they are the ones who greatly aspire after two things which cannot be split or separated, and they are, firstly, knowing the Sunnah which the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was upon and then, secondly, to crave after implementing it themselves and then amongst those who[se company] they enjoy and then those who live around them and so on.
[So] now we are discussing one issue which is that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم censured innovation universally, all innovation in the religion–so have the Muslims stood by this universal censure of every innovation connected to worship in Islaam or have they differed concerning it?
The reality is that they have differed, because I believe that the students of knowledge amongst you, in fact, even those of you who listen to knowledge [being imparted even though you may not be dedicated students of knowledge and who do so] in compliance with the narration reported from Mu’aadh ibn Jabal, may Allaah the Most High be pleased with him, who said, ‘Be a scholar, or a student, or someone who listens to knowledge, but don’t be the fourth and end up being destroyed.’
So you are either students of knowledge or at the very least you are from those people who sit in the gatherings of knowledge so you must have someday heard that statement that is made on such occasions, ‘Whatever the Muslims hold to be good is good,’ and in addition to that some of them say, ‘No, my brother, in Islaam there are good innovations, so how can you say that, ‘Every innovation is misguidance?’
It is obligatory that the Muslim who really wants to comply with the verse we are in the middle of explaining [understands] this point, [the verse being], “So whoever would hope for the meeting with his Lord, let him do righteous work …”[Kahf 18:110]–so the innovations which are foreign/have been added to Islaam have nothing whatsoever to do with Islaam, and [thus] naturally, have nothing whatsoever to do with righteous work [as mentioned in the verse].
So a Muslim who tries to get closer to Allaah عز وجل with something Allaah has not legislated on the tongue of His Messenger [should know that] that action is not righteous and as a result it is an action which you cannot hope to be saved by on the Day of Resurrection.”
Questioner: We hear a lot about the Ash’aris but we don’t know about them or their actions except that they misinterpret the Attributes [of Allaah], so could you tell us more about them?
Al-Albaani: The Ash’arimadhhab is a madhhab in aqidah, likewise is the Maaturidimadhhab. They share with the People of Hadith the fact that they believe in some of the Attributes in opposition to the Mu’tazilah, so they are with the [Ahlus]-Sunnah in some things and with the Mu’tazilah in others.
And I advise the students of knowledge not to busy themselves with becoming acquainted with opinions that oppose the Sunnah, on the contrary, I advise them to learn the Sunnah and the correct aqidah. After that, if the opportunity arises and they are able to become acquainted with the madhhabs that oppose that of Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Hadith and are able to refute them and defend the madhhab of Ahlus-Sunnah, then they do so, and if not, then it is enough for them to know the madhhab of the truth and it is not upon them, after that, to become acquainted with what opposes this madhhab.
Questioner: There’s a very big issue relating to aqidah, namely the Ash’aris, we find that a lot of universities in Arab countries study the Ash’ariaqidah, and we ask Allaah for safety, we find that the aqidah is not in agreement with Ahlus-Sunnah, and this is something that is hidden from many, and many students of knowledge argue about this issue without knowledge even though the scholars, major scholars have differed so it is obligatory that the students of knowledge …
Al-Albaani: This, unfortunately, is the case today, but, “… whoever Allaah wants to guide–He expands his breast to [contain] Islaam,”[An’aam 6:125], and the poet said, ‘And whoever wants loftiness, spends his nights awake,’ i.e., a person who wants to know the truth concerning those things the people have differed in has to strive, and he has to study, if he is a person of knowledge he can study himself, and if he is not then it is as He, the Most High, said, “So ask the people of the message if you do not know.” [Nahl 16:43]
This is enough for now, my son. As-salaamu alaikum.
Questioner: May Allaah reward you with good. Regarding mentioning [Allaah’s] Names and Attributes, some people say that the callers to Allaah must not speak about this issue in front of the common masses and riffraff, because delving into such things leads to placing doubt in them, so how true is this statement?
Al-Albaani: We say to these people: then you [find and] speak about something in front of the common folk which is better than that, you speak about something which is better than that.
And if talking about that does not impress you then you have to speak about something which does other than that, and if you can’t [find something better than Allaah’s Names and Attributes to talk about]–and you won’t be able to–then you will hear what will not please you and this is the thing that doesn’t please you, [but] what is important is that it pleases your Lord. And this is what has reached us from the Salaf’s knowledge and what we hold as religion before Allaah.
And the common folk, as I said to you just now, are upon the natural inborn inclination [that Allaah created man on, al-fitrah], when it is said to them that, ‘[Allaah is] not above, and not below …’ [as the deviant sects say when explaining Allaah’s Names and Attributes] their hearts disapprove of that, but when it is said to them that, ‘Allaah is above all of His creation and there is no created thing above Him,’ [as is the aqidah of the Salaf], then this is what goes with the sound inborn inclination [that Allaah created them on], “… the fitrah of Allaah which He has created [all] people upon.” [Rum 30:30].
“I’m proud that Allaah the Mighty and Majestic made it easy for me to be acquainted with the Salaf as-Saalih … their knowledge … their fiqh … their manners … and that I strive to follow in their steps … I take pride in that.”
Questioner: Noble Shaikh! Is it enough to establish the proof against the people of shirk and all the people of innovation or do they have to understand it? And what is the condition [by which to judge] this understanding? And Allaah the Most High says, “And We have placed over their hearts coverings …” and that is about the disbelievers, “And We have placed over their hearts coverings, lest they understand it, and in their ears deafness.” [Al-Israa 17:46]
Al-Albaani: There is no doubt that when Allaah the Blessed and Most High’s proof is presented to some people who are foreign to the Arabic language and which is something they do not understand then the proof has not been established against them. Due to that Allaah the Most High said, “And We did not send any messenger except [speaking] in the language of his people to state clearly for them.”[Ibraahim 14:4].
So when a scholar establishes Allaah’s proof against His servants but they didn’t understand it due to some obscurity which occurred to them concerning their Arabic tongue or because they were non-Arabic speakers then at that time this scholar must explain Allaah the Blessed and Most High’s proof to them until it becomes clear. Once it has become clear to them and they then reject it after being certain of it, it is then judged that they are disbelievers and that they will abide in Hell forever.
As for just reciting the proof to the people without them understanding it then the people of knowledge are agreed that [in such a case] the proof has not been established, and Allaah the Blessed and Most High said, “And never would We punish until We sent a messenger,” [Israa 17:15] He means a messenger who speaks his people’s language so that they can understand what he is preaching to them about from the revelation which has been sent down to him from his Lord, the Blessed and Most High.
And for this reason, as an affirmation of this meaning, he عليه الصلاة والسلام said, as Imaam Muslim reported in his Saheeh from the hadith of Abu Hurairah may Allaah the Most High be pleased with him, that, ‘Allaah’s Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم said, ‘There is no man from this ummah from the Jews or the Christians who hears about me and then does not believe in me except that he will enter the Fire.’
So in this hadith hisصلى الله عليه وسلم statement regarding all of the disbelievers on the face of the earth whom news of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم reaches, [news showing how] he was in his call in its true form and then disbelieves in it, then such a person is in the Fire.
So his statement, ‘… who hears about me …’ means his true call, and naturally it does not mean that if an unbeliever from the Europeans for example, or the Americans or others, heard of our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم through the priests or monks or orientalists who tell lies about out Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and do not tell their people about the true reality of the manners and merits of Allaah’s Messenger’s صلى الله عليه وسلم person and who [also] do not speak about the reality of his call and that it is the call of monotheism and rectification in all aspects of life, but rather only speak to their people about things contrary to what he was upon صلى الله عليه وسلم relating to his person and his call–then there is no doubt that in such a circumstance these people would not have heard of him عليه الصلاة والسلام truly and for this reason that aforementioned warning at the end of the hadith does not apply to them.
I will repeat a mention of this hadith again due to its importance in relation to this topic, for many people assume that just by transmitting the Noble Quraan to unbelieving populations through Arabic radio that Allaah the Blessed and Most High’s proof has been established against them and as a result the Muslims don’t have to do anything in terms of conveying the message, it is not like that.
For the Quraan was sent down in an Arabic tongue and those people don’t understand any of it, how can they when many of the general Arabs themselves have become like foreigners who don’t understand what is recited to them from their Lord’s Book, so how can it be said that Allaah the Blessed and Most High’s proof has been established against those Europeans and their likes from those foreigners just because every day, morning and evening, they can hear the Quraan’s recitation on Arabic radio?
So there is no doubt a group of the Muslims, who are truly from the people of knowledge, must convey Islaam’s sharee’ah in the language of those peoples and they should be good at translating the Quraan, translating its meanings and not a literal translation.
“In the Name of Allaah. The earth of our land with the spittle of some of us, our sick will be cured, with the permission of our Lord.”
Some of the Sufis use this as a proof for the permissibility of wiping [one’s hands on the graves etc.]?
Al-Albaani: Along with the clear invalidity of this deduction [let me add the following].
As you can see the scope of the wiping referred to in this hadith is very limited, and the occasion it is concerning is when one is seeking a cure through spittle, supplication and a little earth, [the amount] that would stick to your thumb or finger–so where is this in relation to wiping/rubbing the graves of the dead and not reciting the dhikr which has been reported from the Messenger عليه السلام?
And I say and I have said recently that if there is a general hadith–this one [mentioned in the question] is specific–and it has its restrictions as myself and you hear … [let me clarify further] if there was a general hadith but it was implemented in a specific way and was not implemented in a general manner then it is not permissible for us to implement it in a general manner. Because the one who narrated the hadith and those who directly received the hadith from the Messenger عليه السلام did not implement it in a manner which would include it amongst the general texts. I gave you an example which I will mention now in order to clarify what is meant by this statement.
His saying عليه السلام, “A man’s prayer with another is better than his prayer alone and the prayer of three [together] is better than that of two,” to the end of the hadith. So if a group of people prayed the Sunnah before the midday prayer [dhuhr] in congregation using this hadith as a proof such an argument would be rejected, why?
Because the one who said this hadith and those who heard it from his mouth عليه السلام fresh and new did not implement it with this general meaning which includes praying the Sunnahs in congregation.
So how can a hadith which is specific be used for a general topic when we reject using a general hadith as a proof for a specific topic which was not the practice of those in the first era?
And this is from the fiqh which it befits a student of knowledge to bite onto with his molar teeth because it opens a door to knowledge for them which maybe some of the major scholars do not take note of especially those who are rigid and people of blind following.
It has been reported from the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم [that he said], “Whoever visits his parent’s graves every Friday and recites [surah] Yaa Seen by them or by one of them, he will be forgiven for each aayah or each letter.”
Fabricated.
Shaikh al-Albaani said, ‘And the hadith shows the recommendation to recite the Quraan at the graves, but there is nothing in the Sunnah which attests to that. Rather, the Sunnah proves that the legislated thing to do when visiting the graves is only to give salaam to them [i.e., the occupants] and for it to be a reminder of the Hereafter. And the practice of the Salafas-Saalih may Allaah be pleased with them continued upon this.
For reciting the Quraan at the graves is a hated innovation as a group of the past scholars openly stated, from them Abu Hanifah, Maalik, and Ahmad in a narration as occurs in Sharhul-Ihyaa of az-Zubaidi [2/285], he said, ‘Because no Sunnah has been reported concerning it.’
Muhammad ibn al-Hasan, and Ahmad in another narration, said, ‘It is not hated, because of what is reported from Ibn Umar: that he directed in his will that at the time of his burial the opening and closing aayahs of Surah Baqarah should be recited.’
I [i.e., al-Albaani] say: The chain of narration of this report is not authentic up to Ibn Umar, and even if it were, it would only prove the [validity of the] recitation of the Quraan at the time of burial and not unrestricted [recitation], as is clear.
So it is upon you, O Muslim, to follow the Sunnah, and beware of innovations, even if the people see it as something good, for indeed, ‘… every innovation is misguidance …’ as he said صلى الله عليه وسلم.
Shaikh al-Albaani said, “The Allaamah ash-Shaatibi [d. 790ah], may Allaah have mercy on him, said in his book Al-Iitisaam [vol. 3, p. 99] when explaining the signs of the people of desires and innovation:
“And a scholar (here Shaikh al-Albaani said, “Examine this closely, he didn’t say, ‘a student of knowledge!’”)—if the [other] scholars have not attested [to his knowledge], then the ruling regarding him is that he remains under the original state of the absence of knowledge—until another [scholar] attests otherwise and until he himself knows what was attested to in his regard. And if not, then he, for a surety, is upon an absence of knowledge or is upon doubt.
So choosing to proceed [by presenting himself as a scholar] in these two cases instead of refraining is not done except by following desires [i.e., the two cases being [1] a scholar attesting to his knowledge and [2] knowing what the [other] scholar has attested to in his regard]. For it was his duty to get a fatwa from someone else about himself but he didn’t. And it was his right not to be put forward [presented as a scholar] unless another [scholar] put him forward, and no-one did.””
Shaikh Al-Albaani commenting on this said, “This is Imaam ash-Shaatibi’s advice to ‘a scholar’ who is capable of going before the people with some share of knowledge—he is advising him not to do so until the scholars attest [to his knowledge], fearful that he may be a person of desires. So what, I wonder, do you think his advice would have been if he saw some of these who are attaching themselves to this knowledge in this time of ours?! There is no doubt that he would have said to such a person:
لَيْسَ هَذَا بِعُشِّكِ، فَادْرُجِي ‘This is not your nest, so move along.’
[Ed. Note: Al-Midaani said in Majma’ul-Amthaal, “‘This is not your nest, so move along,’ i.e., this affair is not something you have a right in, so leave it … it is given as an example for someone who raises himself above his rank.”]
So is there anyone who will take heed?! And indeed I, by Allaah, fear that these [people] will be included in his saying صلى الله عليه وسلم, “The intellects of the people of that time will be plucked away. And in its place only worthless people will remain. Most of them will think that they are upon something, but they are not upon anything.” [As-Saheehah, no. 1682]
Questioner: Yes, we said, ‘When is a man excluded from Ahlus-Sunnah? Is it when he believes in a creed other than theirs? And if he falls into some opposition to what Ahlus-Sunnah were upon even if it is only in one subsidiary issue, is he called an innovator?
Al-Albaani: This is an important question. It is possible to understand its answer in light of the answer to the previous question. So we say:
If he sought the truth and that which was correct but missed it then it is not permissible to say that, ‘He is not from Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah,’ just because he fell into a mistake even if we were to say that he fell into innovation, as occurs in your question.
Many, as the students of knowledge will know let alone the people of knowledge, many scholars fell into that which was haraam, but did they wilfully intend it? Far be it! So are they sinful in that? The answer is: no.
Thus, there is no difference between a scholar who falls into declaring halaal something which Allaah has made haraam and for which he is [still] rewarded [one time] and between another scholar who fell into an innovation unintentionally, he was aiming for the Sunnah but missed it, there is no difference between these two.
For this reason, we complain now about this new revolution which has erupted in Saudi between Ahlus-Sunnah themselves, whereby those whom it is thought have opposed Ahlus-Sunnah in some issues have appeared and so they [i.e., other people] declared them to be innovators and excluded them from Ahlus-Sunnah. It would have been enough for them to have said, ‘He is mistaken,’ firstly, then it was upon them to establish the proof from the Book and the Sunnah and what the Salaf as-Saalih were upon, secondly.
As for increasing the disunity with even more splitting and differences, then this is not from the practice of Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah, ever.
For this reason, it is not permissible to throw out someone who may have made a mistake in an issue, in accordance with the detail [I] previously mentioned: no matter whether that mistake was in the fundamentals [usool], or the subsidiary issues [furoo], or in aqidah or in fiqh–it is not permissible to declare him to be misguided, but rather he should be dealt with in a manner that is best.
What else?
Questioner: Andif the Ahlus-Sunnah are able to bring that person and establish the proof against him in that which he has opposed the manhaj of Ahlus-Sunnah in, and despite that he still refuses to return to what they are upon, is he [then] declared to be an innovator or not?
Al-Albaani: The answer to this is also understood. If he stubbornly resists and persists then he is declared to be an innovator.
But if he says, ‘I do not see the correct stance to be in what you are saying,’’ in fact, he flips it back on them and in turn says that they are mistaken, then the issue remains one of a difference between him and them and it is not fitting that we believe that we know that in his heart he [really] believes the opposite of what he disclosed on his tongue and that he is thus a hypocrite.
We are not, as the Prophet عليه السلام indicated in the authentic hadith, ‘Why didn’t you split his heart open?’ [in the story] where that polytheist had fallen under the sword of a Muslim and so said, ‘Laa ilaaha illallaah,’ so he didn’t pay any attention to it and killed him, and the story is well-known, so he عليه السلام said, ‘Where were you in relation to the statement, ‘Laa ilaaha illallaah?’
He said, ‘He only said it out of deception and the fear of being killed.’ So he عليه السلام said, ‘Why didn’t you split his heart open?’
And that person was a mushrik, and what is apparent makes one feel no doubt that he said it out of the fear of being killed, so [then] what is the matter with us regarding a Muslim who testifies that none has the right to be worshipped except Allaah and that Muhammad is His Messenger and he stands by the Book and the Sunnah and the manhaj of the Salaf as-Saalih but who made a mistake in an issue and the proof was [then] established against him–and we say this [i.e., we say that the proof was established against him] with some reservation, because not everyone who argues is upon knowledge, but we will assume [in this example] that the proof really was established against him by a noble scholar or scholars, but he [still] was not convinced—then Allaah is the one who will judge him, and it is not permissible for us to give precedence to a mistake or mistakes [made by that person] over a multitude of that which [he] is correct [in].
The issue in this knowledge-based matter is exactly like that which is connected to righteousness or wickedness: it is not possible for a Muslim not to fall into some opposition to the Sharee’ah, i.e., he will definitely commit a sin or make a mistake, and each one of us errs as we all know. So, when we see a person has made a certain mistake or committed a certain sin, do we say that, ‘He is a disobedient sinner [faasiq],’ do we say that, ‘He is a criminal [faajir]?’ Or do we go by what is predominate? [We go] by that which is predominate—likewise the knowledge-based issue [we are discussing] is the same [i.e., just as you can’t call someone who falls into a sin a faasiq or a faajir you similarly cannot call someone an innovator based upon one mistake].
Questioner: The Shaikh of Islaam [Ibn Taymiyyah], may Allaah the Most High have mercy on him, mentioned in [his book], Iqtidaa as-Siraatal-Mustaqeem fee Mukhaalafati Ahlil-Jaheem that a man might attend an occasion like the celebration of the Prophet’s birthday or another such innovation and be rewarded for it due to his good intention and his lack of knowledge about the fact that the occasion he attended is something in opposition to what has come from Allaah and His Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم, what do you say about that?
Al-Albaani: There is no doubt that this speech is that of a man who is a scholar, and it is enough for you that the one who said it is the Shaikh of Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah, he says, ‘… and he doesn’t know,’ so do we say, ‘He has to know everything?’ [i.e., do we expect a person to know absolutely everything such that he will never make a mistake?]
But I will say something else: it is permissible for a Muslim to attend a place like these [where such things are happening], and which he knows are newly-invented matters and are not legislated, not doing so to flatter [those who are performing that innovation] and nor to be seen [out of hypocrisy] but in order to inform [the people] about its lack of being something legislated.
Or if he is not able to … or the general situation does not enable him to renounce the origin/basis of this innovation, then he renounces that which may occur in that matter, which, if he does renounce, will not lead to a harm that is greater than the good which he is informing and reminding the people about.
And this, of course, is according to the well-known fiqh principle with the people of knowledge that bringing about the good takes precedence over repelling the harm and the opposite is true totally when the harm which is assumed will take place, is more than the benefit which he seeks … and we know that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم used to attend the meeting places of the polytheists, and there is no doubt that much, very much wrongdoing would occur there … and which one of us doesn’t know that when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم was praying in the Masjid al-Haraam he used to be harmed and amnion and dust and unclean things would be placed on his back صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم, whilst he was praying, but he would attend the[ir] gatherings in order to perform the obligatory duty of calling them to tawheed as is known from his biography عليه الصلاة والسلام.
But in addition to this when Allaah gave him the conquest of Makkah and he entered and prayed inside the Ka’bah and Aai’ishah, may Allaah the Most High be pleased with her wanted to follow the example of her Prophet and husband by praying inside the Ka’bah [too], he عليه السلام said to her, ‘Pray in the hijr [the area at the side of the Ka’bah within the semi-circular wall], for it is from the Ka’bah and when your people’s funds ran short they removed the hijr from the Ka’bah,’ he said عليه السلام and here is the point we are proving, ‘Were it not for the fact that your people just left shirk I would have demolished the Ka’bah and built it upon Ibrahim’s foundation عليه السلام and would have made two doors for it on the ground. A door for them to enter from and a door for them to exit from.’
So, he عليه السلام left the Ka’bah with the deficiency that the Arabs rebuilt it upon in the Days of Ignorance, why? He said, ‘Were it not for the fact that your people just left shirk I would have demolished the Ka’bah …’ he feared عليه الصلاة والسلام that when those who had just recently embraced Islaam would see the Prophet عليه الصلاة والسلام demolishing the Ka’bah [they would have said], ‘He never left anything of ours, he even demolished Allaah’s Forbidden Sanctuary!’ So the Prophet عليه السلام established as a Sunnah the wisdom behind enjoining the good and forbidding the evil with such good words.
So if a man attended an event or place where there were wrong acts and newly-invented affairs in order to rectify them then he is rewarded for that, but if he does not know that it is a wrongful act or a newly-invented matter then there is nothing against him, [the affair rests upon] him and his intention, as the Shaikh of Islaam Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allaah have mercy on him, said.
This sitting was concluded on the 22nd of Dhul-Qa’dah 1413 which corresponds to 12th May 1993.
Questioner: All praise is due to Allaah, Lord of the Worlds, and may prayers and peace be upon the Messenger of Allaah, his family, Companions and whoever followed him in good until the Day of Judgement.
Your eminence, Shaikh, may Allaah reward you with good. I have some issues which I and others from the people of Medinah have found to be problematic, if you could please and with thanks from us, may Allaah reward you with good, give us an answer, in the detail that we [have come to] expect from you.
From these issues is [the question]: when is a person emitted from Ahlus-Sunnah? Is it when he believes as creed something different to their creed? And when he does fall into things which oppose the Ahlus-Sunnah, is it allowed to declare him to be an innovator straight away or after establishing the proof against him? And if it is not easy to establish the proof against him, either due to the death of that person or because of it being such a long time ago, or because it is [just] not possible to meet him in order to establish the proof against him [what do we do?].
So advise us [of the answer], and we thank you [for that].
Al-Albaani: Your question, may Allaah bless you, contains many [different] questions. If you would split between one question and the next, or put the paper in front of me so I can give you the answers to these parts which make up that one question.
Questioner: Okay, O Shaikh, I will repeat it point by point.
Al-Albaani: Point by point.
Questioner: Okay.
Al-Albaani: The first question?
Questioner: The first question: when is a person emitted from Ahlus-Sunnah, is it when he believes a creed other than their creed or when he falls into a few things which oppose their creed?
Al-Albaani: Yes. I say, and I ask Allaah the Mighty and Majestic for success in being correct in what I say:
It has become common amongst the scholars of the past and those of today that when a Muslim makes a mistake in what the scholars call the subsidiary issues [furoo] he is excused, but that if he makes a mistake in the fundamentals [usool], in aqidah, he is not—we believe that, firstly, this differentiation does not have any proof in the Legislation, and that secondly, it is obligatory upon a Muslim to, always and forever, seek to know the truth in that which the people have differed, whether that is connected to the fundamentals or the subsidiary issues or in aqidah or in the ahkaam.
So if he expends all his effort to come to know the truth in that which the people have differed and is correct then he has two rewards and if he is mistaken then he has one, as is well-known from the hadith of the Prophet reported in the Sahih, “If a judge passes judgment and makes Ijtihad and he is right then he will have two rewards. And if he makes a mistake he will have one,” this is the basis/foundation.
Secondly, if a Muslim was eager in wanting to know the truth yet made a mistake, even if it is in aqidah or the fundamentals, then, firstly, he is not held to account for that—rather he is rewarded one time for his mistake, and secondly, due to what was previously mentioned [just above].
This is confirmed by the saying of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم which occurs in the Saheeh from the hadith of Hudhaifah ibn al-Yamaan and other noble Companions, [where they reported] that the Prophet صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم said, “Amongst the people preceding your age, there was a man who had never done any good. While he was on his death-bed, he called his sons and said, ‘What type of father have I been to you?’ They replied, ‘You have been a good father.’ He said, ‘I have sinned against my Lord and if Allaah has power over me, He will punish me severely. So when I die, burn me and scatter half of the resulting ashes in the sea and half in the wind.’ His sons did accordingly, but Allaah the Mighty and Majestic said, ‘Be so and so,’ and so he became a fully formed man. Then He said to him, ‘What made you do so?’ He replied, ‘Fear of you.’ So Allaah said, ‘I have forgiven you.’”
So Allaah the Mighty and Majestic forgave this person even though he had fallen into disbelief and shirk, [and he fell into this disbelief and shirk] through this will of his, which may not, amongst all of the wills that we have known or come across, have an equivalent in terms of its injustice and oppression. [But] Allaah did not take him to account, in fact He forgave him, because He knew that he didn’t leave that unjust will except out of [his] fear of Him.
Thus, the Muslim … [and] now comes the summary of the answer … when a Muslim seeks Allaah the Mighty and Majestic’s Face in all that he holds as religion before Him and takes as creed concerning Him, but then misses the truth, then there is no doubt that Allaah the Mighty and Majestic will forgive his mistake—in fact he will be rewarded for it one time.
This is what we hold as religion before Allaah and this is the fatwa we give–always and forever.
And the summary of that is: that it [i.e., believing otherwise] is in opposition to the foundation and principle that Allaah does not hold a person to be accountable for what he is mistaken in but only for that which he wilfully intended, and secondly, due to [the reasons given when explaining] this authentic hadith [mentioned above].
What’s next?
Questioner: Next is that the Shaikh of Islaam [Ibn Taymiyyah] may Allaah have mercy on him, mentioned in [his book], Al-Iqtidaa, he mentioned that a man may be rewarded for his presence at the celebration of the Prophet’s birthday or for an innovation depending on his purpose and intention, what do you say about that?
Al-Albaani: This is not a question … this wasn’t read out just now, you read a question which included many others.
Questioner: Yes …
Al-Albaani:So maybe you have taken a leap like that of a gazelle!
Questioner: Yes, I leapt.
Al-Albaani: Why did you jump?
Someone else: Go back to the first.
Questioner: Shall we go back to the first?
Al-Albaani: We said that your first question was composed of [many different] questions, so just now you repeated the first part of it and I gave you the answer, because you based many questions upon the first which was whether he leaves the Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah …
Questioner: Okay.
Al-Albaani: Yes?
Questioner: Now … would you like me to …
Al-Albaani: Ya’ni, there are things you jumped over …
Questioner: Yes, O Shaikh.
Al-Albaani: I don’t know, maybe if you are not in need of them then that is up to you, but I feel as though you are in need of the rest of the answers.
Questioner: What do you advise us with Shaikh, what do you advise concerning this issue, i.e., [that] some of the brothers abroad regard books like these … they do not examine them closely, books will come out and they’ll start looking at the title only, and [then] they’ll try to judge some of their brothers from the title alone, without close examination. So what is your advice in terms of [explaining the correct] da’wah and in terms of help and so on, may Allaah bless you.
Al-Albaani: I thinkthat along with the answer for the previous question, it is possible for us to get an answer for this one.
Questioner: Yes.
Al-Albaani: Now, without doubt, we are living through a very big problem. Where, in recent times, disunity between the groups that affiliate themselves to the Book and the Sunnah has surfaced. So, from one angle, we advise the students of knowledge and especially the general masses of Muslims not to raise their heads towards such differences as these and from the other that they not be with one group against another.
Because firstly, it is not easy, ever, to distinguish what is correct from an error or the truth from falsehood. And secondly, and this is very important, not every person can judge with justice and fairness and stand by His Saying, the Most High, “… and do not let the hatred of a people prevent you from being just. Be just–that is nearer to righteousness.”[Maa’idah 5:8]
Carrying out justice between two disputants, especially when a person’s desire is with one of the two, is very, very difficult. And from the authentic Sunnah we know that when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم sent Ali as a judge to Yemen he said, ‘O Messenger of Allaah! You’re sending me to a people and I do not know how to judge?’ So he عليه السلام struck his chest and said to him, ‘Do not judge between two people until you have heard from both of them.’
Actualising this text in such differences which you referred to [in your question] and a part of which I have [already] explained, achieving justice, in fact, actualising the truth before justice—none except the most elite of the elite from the people of knowledge are capable of it.
Because they are the ones who have the capability to familiarise themselves with what these [disputants] say and what those others say and then compare the statement of this [group of people] with that, and then extract the correct from the two statements.
And sometimes there may be no [actual] difference between the two parties or statements except for, as the scholars say concerning some matters of dispute, that it is a, ‘Difference in wording.’
No one can do this except for a few individuals from the elite.
And [yet] there are people from the elite who cannot judge with justice–he knows where the truth is concerning the two parties, [he knows] whether there is a difference between them or not, [but still even] if there is a difference between them, the truth may be with the side which he does not feel affection for—and so he swerves away from justice, and for this reason He, the Most High, said, “… and do not let the hatred of a people prevent you from being just. Be just–that is nearer to righteousness.”
For this reason, we advise the students of knowledge, let alone those less than them, not to delve into [such matters] in this way, and that they not take a stance except for the truth that they know before this problem occurs or before these differences appear.
Questioner: O Shaikh, may Allaah bless you! Regarding the youth that Allaah has blessed with the Salafi Da’wah, and those who have united on the fundamentals, but when they differ regarding some of the subsidiary issues you find that they have enmity in that? And likewise what is your advice regarding the youth whether it be those who associate themselves with the other Islamic calls or those who have associated [themselves] with the Salafi call and who stage protests and call out their slogans, is this from the methodology of the Salaf or not?
Al-Albaani: As for the students of knowledge who study the two fundamentals, i.e., Usoolul-Hadith and Usoolul-Fiqh, then these people have to implement the subsidiary affairs according to the usool [they have learnt], and they must not blindly-follow anyone from Allaah’s creation but should benefit from each scholar of the Salaf who were on the Book and the Sunnah and the methodology of the Companions and those who followed them in good, this is my advice to the students of knowledge.
From another angle it is obligatory that we distance ourselves from [this] disgusting bigotry and offensive harshness and that we do not become enemies … that we do not have enmity towards each other because of hizbiyyah and [because of] gathering [the people] or affiliation to one of the groups, and it is fitting that we advise each other and show each other love/affection.
And that when we see some people are far from the Book and the Sunnah in practice even if in affiliation, verbally, they have taken as methodology the Book and the Sunnah, if we see that in action they are far away from that then it is upon us to be gentle with them and to call them to be with us in implementing what we all verbally affiliate ourselves to, that we [practically] make it the methodology of our lives, calling them as He the Most High said, “Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good instruction, and argue with them in a way that is best.”[An-Nahl 16:125]
As for shouting out slogans, [a method] which some of the groups adopt, then in reality this, as has preceded in the previous repudiation of it, was something not present in all [previous] generations–I don’t just say [that it was not present] amongst the Salaf as-Saalih only who are our proof and our example, but that in fact such slogans were not present in the generations that came after them.
We have copied such shouting slogans from the Westerners and the disbelievers and the polytheists who do not have a methodology that was sent down by Allaah the Blessed and Most High, so every day they are upon innovation, rather misguidance.
So it is upon the Muslims to emulate what the Salaf as-Saalih alone were upon and not to increase upon that in any way.
These protests remind me of another custom of some people: when they enter a gathering and those in it are sitting and the person who enters is able to [go around, there being room, and] shake hands with each person, then [what they do is that] every time he gives salaam to one person he follows it up with another for the next person, and so on until he finishes shaking hands with all of them, this also is an innovation, an additional innovation [bid’ah idaafiyyah].
Because the Sunnah is that when a Muslim enters a gathering he gives salaam one time, [saying], ‘As-Salaamu alaikum … [or] As-Salaamu alaikum wa Rahmatullaah … [or] As-Salaamu alaikum wa Rahmatullaahi wa Barakaatuhu …’ and [then] if he is able to shake their hands then doing so is a sunnah due to the saying of some of the Companions, ‘We never met Allaah’s Messenger صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم except that we shook hands.’
And there is another hadith in Sunan at-Tirmidhee, I will mention it because of its total connection to this topic so that we can kill two birds with one stone, meaning it’s connected to what we are talking about, its chain of narration is weak, and it is, ‘From the completion of the greeting is to shake hands.’ So when a person enters, the Sunnah is that he gives salaam one time and then if it is possible for him to shake hands with those present then that is better, and better because of the authentic hadith which I just mentioned now concerning his action in that regard عليه السلام [i.e., the first hadith mentioned about the Companions above].
And for this reason, the weak hadith … regarding weak hadith like this one it is possible to say that it can be acted upon in relation to the excellence of performing certain actions [fadaa’ilul-a’maal], and this is a very fine and sensitive point which many of those who hold that weak hadith can be used regarding the excellence of performing certain actions are unmindful of.
Because in reality by the statement that, ‘It is permissible to act upon a weak hadith regarding the excellence of performing certain actions,’ they mean that it is permissible to establish the legitimacy and excellence of an action in the Sharee’ah through a weak hadith–and no scholar says this, for it is to make something part of the Sharee’ah through a weak hadith.
And the scholars are united, except some of the ones who came later who have taken an anomalous stance, like some of the Ghumaaris and their likes who said that it is permissible to establish a legislated ruling with weak hadiths, and they thought that the Imaams–and this is a lie and fabrication against them–established rulings with weak hadiths.
And these people were heedless of or wilfully ignored this … Allaah knows best as to what their intentions were … because some of the Imaams may establish a ruling without any hadith at all but instead based upon deductive analogy [qiyaas], and putting aside whether such qiyaas was correct or not, that being another issue, it is not allowed for us to say that they established legislative rulings with weak hadiths.
So if the ones who say that it is permissible to act upon a weak hadith regarding the excellence of performing certain actions [means] to legislate actions which have an excellence in the Sharee’ah with a weak hadith–then no scholar says this.
But if they mean that it is permissible to act upon a weak hadith regarding the excellence of performing certain actions which have already been established in the Sharee’ah with a proof which is qualified to be used as a proof in the Sharee’ah, and then they came with a weak hadith which established a [type of] excellence for this [action] already established by an authentic hadith, then there is no objection to that, and this example has [already] come to you [i.e., the one about shaking the hands].
‘We never met except that we shook hands,’ [which is an authentic narration, and then], ‘From the completion of the greeting is to shake hands,’ [which is weak].
So when he met them there is no doubt that he would give them salaam and then shake hands. So from the greeting’s perfection is to shake hands, so there is no harm in shaking hands as a completion of the greeting–but we do not establish this through a weak hadith, we do so through all of the hadiths regarding the obligation of giving salaam, and I mean what I say … ‘the obligation’ of giving salaam, and not just that it is a sunnah, because the Prophet said, ‘When you meet him then give him salaam,’ so when the Prophet met his Companions he for sure gave salaam to them and [this is also shown through] this hadith which we mentioned, that, ‘We never met except that we shook hands.’
Thus, it has been established from both of these hadiths at the very least that shaking hands is from the completion of the legislated greeting, and so if a hadith like this comes along and we mention it whilst making its weakness clear then there is no harm in that, and it is a good example of the permissibility of acting upon a weak hadith concerning the excellence of certain actions which have [already] been established not through a weak hadith but an authentic one.
This is what comes to me as an answer to the previous question.
Shaikh al-Albaani said about Shaikh Rabee’s book in which he explains the mistakes of Sayyid Qutb, “Everything that you have refuted Sayyid Qutb with is true and correct, and from that it will become clear to every Muslim reader who has some Islamic heritage that Sayyid Qutb was not acquainted with the fundamentals and subsidiary issues of Islaam. So may Allaah reward you with the best of rewards, O brother Rabee, for fulfilling the obligation of clarifying and uncovering his ignorance and his deviation from Islaam.”
This book of Shaikh Rabee’s can be downloaded here.
Questioner: Shaikh, that which is connected to this topic is that many of the youth slander the Shaikhs.
Al-Albaani: Correct.
Questioner: So what is your advice to these people?
Al-Albaani: Our brothers have already heard the answer to questions like this one, and it is that it is not permissible for these youth to defame/malign the people of knowledge who have a sure precedence of honour in knowledge due to, in the opinion of these youth, these scholars having made a mistake—bearing in mind that when these youth accuse those scholars of having made a mistake it is not based upon knowledge but rather emotions.
And so if the fatwa of such and such a scholar impresses them, on the other side you will find those who are zealous for the scholars who differ from that scholar, in fact, they [i.e., those youth on the other side] will also take the same stance in relation to the Shaikh whose fatwa and opinion they are impressed with [and so on].
For this reason we advise the youth not to meddle in such issues and not to slander, or speak evil of, or find fault with the scholars who they think have made a mistake.
It has reached us that some of them have reached the level where they passed the judgement of disbelief, and refuge is sought with Allaah, on some of the scholars who we respect, regard as being great and honour totally.
The reason for all of this is that the people, whether they are right or wrong, set off, as we just said, based upon emotions and not knowledge or reasoning, but rather upon ungovernable emotions—these people will be fanatical for such and such a fatwa and those others will be fanatical for a different fatwa which opposes the first and so on, and that is a cause to increase the burning amongst the people and the differing amongst the Muslims.
For this reason, we rebuke these youth even if, for example, they hold the same opinion as us [in a certain issue] from slandering the other scholars who have their own opinions and ijtihaad.
For this reason, before everything we advise these people who have differed and who were the cause of the youth around them splitting into two factions or more, we advise these people who are at odds with each other in some issues, and I praise Allaah that this difference, in my opinion, is not a difference in aqidah but in some issues which maybe we can call, in the terminology of those who came later, subsidiary issues not fundamentals or the core of the matter–so if the scholars differ then it is not fitting that those people around them split due to the division of the scholars, because the issue is as he عليه الصلاة والسلام said, “If a judge passes judgment and makes Ijtihad and he is right then he will have two rewards. And if he makes a mistake he will have one.”
So we advise these scholars or callers who have differed not to discriminate/be prejudiced against each other and to deal with each based upon his saying عليه الصلاة والسلام, ‘Beware of suspicion, for truly,suspicion is the most false of speech.’
So if some person, [let’s say he’s called] Zaid, makes a mistake then it is upon us to clarify his mistake to him in the best manner and not the worst, and all of those who differ [should] tread this path, because we all claim that we are Salafis, i.e., that we follow the guidance, manhaj and behaviour the Salaf as-Saalih were upon. And we know that they did differ in many issues but this difference [of opinion] was never a cause for them to split or for them to treat each other as enemies.
There are some statements which have been authentically reported from some of the Salaf as-Saalih which if today someone were to mistakenly adopt because it has no angle from which it is correct, a great furore would arise against him, but such a huge furore did not arise against that Companion who, in a certain opinion or ruling, parted with an anomalous stance from the ruling which the other [Companions] had adopted: Umar ibn al-Khattaab, may Allaah the Most High be pleased with him, used to prohibit performing the tamattu type of Hajj and after him Uthmaan ibn Affaan, may Allaah be pleased with him, followed him in this prohibition. When Uthmaan performed Hajj during his caliphate he also prohibited the pilgrims from performing the tamattu type of Hajj.
So Ali ibn Abi Taalib, may Allaah the Most High be pleased with him, stood in his face, an individual from the Ummah, and he would be the Khalifah after him, [he stood in his face and] said to him, ‘Why do you prohibit something which we did in the time of Allaah’s Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم! [And then he announced the talbiyyah for the tamattu type of Hajj] Here I am, O Allaah, performing Umrah with Hajj!’
That person [i.e., Uthmaan] was prohibiting performing the Umrah with Hajj [called Hajj tamattu] and this person [i.e., Ali ibn Abi Taalib] is declaring [his intention to do it] in his face, [saying] that the Sunnah is like this–despite that the people did not split around them, on the contrary they continued to respect each one’s opinion, and they [i.e., the people] may have leaned towards the Khalifah’s opinion [more than the other], because he was the Khalifah of the Muslims etc., [but] why [did the [people not split?]
Because when a dispute breaks out between the scholars it is fitting that it remains confined to them and that the dispute’s infection is not transmitted to the population, because the people do not have the composure, the impregnability and the mind to prevent them from going to extremes in the dispute.
Similarly, Uthmaan ibn Affaan used to hold the opinion that if a man has intercourse with his wife but does not emit any semen then it is enough for him to perform wudoo instead of ghusl, although this contradicts the authentic, clear hadith, ‘When the circumcised part meets the circumcised part ghusl becomes obligatory whether there is ejaculation or not,’ despite this, no fitnah and no discord occurred between him and, for example, Aaishah who is the one who narrated the hadith opposing Uthmaan’s statement, may Allaah be pleased with him.
There are many examples, and even stranger than all of this, and the intent [here] is just to give an example and to bring [what I am trying to convey] closer, is that Umar al-Khattaab used to forbid the traveller who could not find any water from performing tayammum, [saying that] he should carry on as he is without praying until he comes across some water, even though the aayah is clear in its apparent meaning, “… and find no water, then seek clean earth …” [Nisaa 4:43]
And it reached Umar ibn al-Khattab that Abu Musa al-Ash’ariused togive a verdict based upon the apparent meaning of the aayah: that when a traveller does not find water he performs tayammum, so Umar sent for him and said, ‘It has reached me that you say such and such?’ He said, ‘Yes, O Chief of the Believers! Don’t you remember that we were on a journey and we became junub [i.e., entered a state of ritual impurity], and so you and I rolled about in the dust and then when we came to the Prophet عليه السلام and told him the news he said, ‘It would have been enough for you to strike the earth with your palms one time and wipe over your face and hands.’
Okay, [so he said], ‘Don’t you remember that the Prophet عليه السلام said, ‘It would have been enough for you to strike the earth with your palms one time and wipe over your face and hands.’ He replied, ‘I don’t remember.’ So Abu Musa al-Ash’ari said, ‘Shall I cease giving the fatwa?’ Umar said, ‘No, we leave you to that which you have chosen …’ i.e., as they say today, ‘[It’s] under your responsibility, under your guarantee, [since] I don’t remember this story.’ [He i.e., Umar ibn al-Khattaab too was] a man, you are not the only one who forgets, here is the Chief of the Believers who forgot.
Questioner: … what was Umar’s proof … what was Umar’s proof that when [a person is on a journey and doesn’t find water he should wait and not pray until he does so] …
Al-Albaani: His proof was the basis/foundation [al-asl], the basis [in the ruling] is water …
Questioner: … the basis …
Al-Albaani: The basis is water … the important thing is that this dispute and many, many other such disputes were not the cause for the splitting of the Muslim nation, because knowledge takes its course and the ummah stays behind its scholars: whoever is content with this opinion then he is upon guidance and whoever is content with that opinion is upon guidance.
We make a statement regarding this which should be penned down and spread [and which is]: just as when, “… a judge passes judgment and makes Ijtihad and he is right then he will have two rewards. And if he makes a mistake he will have one,” then likewise the one who follows a mujtahid comes under the ruling which applies to the mujtahid, i.e., someone who follows a correct opinion, the Mujtahid Imaam was correct [in a ruling he made] and so he has two rewards–so this person who followed him in this correct [judgement] is also rewarded twice, of course [the extent of] the reward differs, but [still he gets] two rewards. The other person who follows another Imaam who was mistaken, then such an Imaam is rewarded once, and likewise is the one following him.
So when a dispute between the scholars occurs, it is not fitting, firstly, that it should be taken as a cause for splitting amongst them [i.e., amongst the scholars themselves] and secondly, it is not fitting that it should be a cause for a split amongst the people because they are all rewarded, whether he is right or wrong.
This is how our Salaf as-Saalih were–and we think that we are treading upon their manhaj and their way.
Rather I say with profound regret that many of us make this claim and do implement it to a large extent but have deviated in some of its implementation to a very dangerous extent–and here are its effects manifesting themselves now and in a people who we used to think would be an example for others in collecting and bringing them together upon adherence to [the way of] the Salaf as-Saalih, following the Book and the Sunnah upon the methodology of the Salaf as-Saalih.
With regret, some disunity has occurred and thus just as we advise the very people who have differed from amongst the callers or the scholars or the students of knowledge not to be enemies [one to another] but rather to love each other and to make excuses for each other whilst sticking to reminding and advising [each other] with that which is best, then in the same way we advise those of the Ummah–with all their [differing] levels–who are not scholars or students of knowledge but are from the general [mass of] Muslims, also not to be influenced by such differences which they see occurring between the callers.
Because in the Noble Quraan we read that separation in the religion is not from the makeup of the Muslims but rather is a characteristic of the polytheists, “… and be not of the polytheists, of those who split up their religion and became sects, each sect rejoicing in that which is with it.” [Rum 30:31-32]
Questioner: I want you to give some advice to some of the brothers, students of knowledge in Kuwait. The current situation will not be hidden from the Shaikh concerning the fitnah which is on-going one after the other with the youth of the awakening, from which is the fitnah of the brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia [concerning] the brother Safar and Salmaan and so on and those who support what they are on in some issues which they speak about, this issue has reached us in our area in Kuwait and then, ya’ni,“… each group [is] rejoicing in its belief …” [Mu’minoon 23:53]
Al-Albaani: Allaahu Akbar.
Questioner: … and each person claims the love of Lailaa [i.e., each person claims that he is right] …
Al-Albaani: Yes, by Allaah.
Questioner: … every one of them says, ‘I am on the Straight Path …’
Al-Albaani: Yes.
Questioner: ‘…I am the one bearing the Banner … the Banner of Salafiyyah and I am defending it.’
Now something has come between the brothers who are, inshaa Allaah tabaaraka wa ta’aala, on the Salafi way because of these issues, and there is nothing for us except this issue [i.e., it has become the only thing that concerns them]: we have left seeking knowledge …
Al-Albaani: Yes, by Allaah.
Questioner: … we have left memorizing the Book of Allaah the Blessed and Most High, we have left many things and [instead] speak about this issue, such that many of our brothers, the youth, have no concern except this issue, speaking about this person’s honour or that.
And they have made this the vehicle for what? The vehicle for the Salafida’wah and for defending the Sunnah speaking by dishonouring so and so, and so and so, and so and so, and so and so [fulaan and fulaan and fulaan and fulaan], then the issue resulted in defaming[tajreeh] the people themselves and not the mistakes they have.
So now the youth, our youth who are at their prime, when someone comes … and I’ll give you one example, what we know about the Muslim Brotherhood when a youth starts practising Allaah’s Religion, taking up this way, they warn him against what? Against the Salafis.
Al-Albaani: Yes.
Questioner: [So] now as soon as this youth comes to practice the first thing they warn him against is the tape of so and so, and the cassette of so and so, and so and so.
This is the most important thing now, and this is what many of the youth talk about now until they have become identified with and known for [saying things like], ‘This person is an innovator … this person is misguided … this person has such and such an issue …’
Al-Albaani: Laa hawla wa laa quwwata illaa billaah..
Questioner: ‘… this one has this and that … and this one praises the people of innovation … and this one says such and such …’ and if you were to say to this person that this person [who you’re talking about] …
I was asked one time, a person came to me and said, ‘What do you say about Shaikh [Sayyid] Qutb?’ I said, ‘Yaa akhi, I love him for the Sake of Allaah, he’s a Muslim, and I hate the mistakes that he has. I love him as a Muslim, the general love [a Muslim has for another], and I hate the mistakes that he has …’
Al-Albaani:Tamaam [i.e., perfect/right/fine].
Questioner: … so they started saying, ‘This person is praising the people of innovation! And he’s saying that they have this and that! … These people should be warned against! … Here the proof is available …’
Shaikh, your advice for these youth, may Allaah bless you.
Al-Albaani: By Allaah, Yaa akhi, my opinion is not to apply oneself to/turn to these people who are being praised or criticised today.
And in reality, on many nights questions come to me from Kuwait, the Emirates and elsewhere, [saying], ‘What is your opinion about so and so?’ from which it is obvious that he [i.e., the questioner] is either for that person [he is asking about] or against him.
So I repel him from such a question and say to him, ‘Ask, Yaa akhi, about that which will benefit you concerning those things connected to rectifying your aqidah, your worship, improving your manners. Don’t ask about Zaid, Bakr and Amr [i.e., Tom, Dick and Harry], because this question adds fire to fire.
The person asking might be with these people and against those, or with those and against these, so if you [i.e., I] praise this one you will have slandered that one, or if you praise that one you will have slandered this one, [and] so this, as we said, just increases the fire’s intensity.
For this reason, I advise [the youth] with a concise statement which [in fact] reminds me of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq’s statement when the Prophet عليه السلام passed away. He [i.e., the Prophet عليه السلام] is the one personality whose love all of the Muslims are united upon, whoever turns away from this love will have disbelieved, in contrast to their difference in their love for many of the Companions and their slander of some of them, in most cases this will be [regarded as] fisq and not disbelief.
[So] what I want to say is that even though the Prophet عليه السلام is the Chief of Mankind, and every Muslim’s beloved, when Umar stood up fervently against the one who reported the news that the Prophet had passed away, you know the story, Abu Bakr as-Siddiq proceeded to say, ‘Whoever used to worship Muhammad, then Muhammad has died, and whoever used to worship Allaah, then Allaah is Living, Eternal, and does not die.’
So I do not hold that each one of these factions should be partisan to so and so against so and so or vice versa. Rather I advocate the statement of the Lord of the Worlds, ‘And be with the truthful,’ [Tawbah 9:119], so these youth you pointed out [in the question] are most deserving of [listening to] this statement, it is upon these people who get all worked up to correct their aqidah, their worship, their behaviour, and not to become bigoted for one of these individuals or against him.
Because such fanaticism, firstly, is just like worshipping people/personalities, the type of worship which Abu Bakr as-Siddiq warned against in his previous statement, ‘Whoever used to worship Muhammad, then Muhammad has died, and whoever used to worship Allaah, then Allaah is Living and does not die.’
So becoming enthused towards these people is to become enthused over those who are not infallible, and the issue is as Imaam Maalik, the Imaam of the place of migration, said, ‘There is none from us except that he rejects and is rejected, except for the companion of this grave,’ and he pointed to the Prophet’s صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم grave.
So any person who becomes fanatical for another, [whether that person be] a scholar or a caller, then he will find mistakes in him, and [any person who] becomes fanatical against another will soon find that he [i.e., the person he is against] will have something correct and will soon find some good in him …
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