Al-Albani Unveiled
An Exposition of His Errors
and other important issues
Compiled
by
Sayf ad-Din Ahmed ibn Muhammad
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
PREFACE
All praise be to Allahu Ta'ala. Peace and blessings be on His final Messenger,
Sayyidina Muhammad. Auspicious salutations be on his pure Ahl al-Bayt (people
of the Prophet's House) and on all his just and devoted Companions (may
Allah be pleased with them all); and last but not least praise be upon
the glorious pious predecessors (Salaf as-Salihin) and their successors
who are the Ahl-as-Sunnah wa'l Jama'ah (People of the Sunnah and Community)
of the four existing schools of Sacred Law (Fiqh).
O you who believe! What you are about to read is of dire importance
to the believer who accepts the authority of the Noble Hadith, second only
to the Holy Qur'an al-Karim. I here present to the open minded believer
an exposition of the mistakes and contradictions of probably the
foremost Hadith Shaykh of the 'Salafiyya' sect, by the name of Shaykh
Muhammad Nasiruddeen al-Albani. I was asked by some brothers on the status
and rank of al-Albani, and fearing the declaration of Allah's Messenger
(Peace be upon him):
"He who is asked something he knows and conceals it will
have a bridle of fire put on him on the Day of Resurrection" (Sunan
Abu Dawood, 3/3650, English ed'n);
I decided to compile this short work. Let me stress at the outset, this
work was primarily compiled to correct some notions held by al-Albani and
secondarily the "Salafi" sect; hence the last part of this work has
been entitled: "and Other Important issues."
This short piece of work has been edited and abridged from the four
volume set which emphatically and clearly outlines al-Albani's mistakes,
contradictions, slanders and even lies in the honourable and sacred
Islamic Science of Hadith (Uloom al Hadith), by the well known scholar,
Al-Shaykh Hasan ibn Ali al-Saqqaf (may Allah reward him for his effort)
of Amman, Jordan; from his work entitled: "Tanaqadat al-Albani al-Wadihat"
(The Clear Contradictions of al-Albani).
Shaykh Saqqaf is a contemporary Shafi'i scholar of Hadith and Fiqh.
His Shaykh's include Hashim Majdhub of Damascus in Shafi'i Fiqh, Muti'
Hammami in estate division, Muhammad Hulayyil of Amman in Arabic
Grammar, and he has been given written authorization (Ijaza) in the field
of Hadith from one of the greatest Hadith scholars of our time - Shaykh
Abdullah Muhammad al-Ghimari (may the Mercy of Allah be upon him)
of Tangiers, Morocco [born 1910 C.E; died Feb. 1413/1993 C.E]; an ex-Professor
of Hadith at Al-Azhar University, author of nearly 150 works, his
late brother: Ahmad ibn Muhammad (Allah's mercy be upon him) was a great
Hafiz of Hadith, (see later for the definition of Hafiz of Hadith).
Shaykh Ghimari has declared in one of his published Fatwa's that al-Albani
is an innovator (mubtadi) in Islam, (al-Albani has criticised Shaykh Ghimari's
classifications of Hadith in some of his works; but then contradicted himself
in others - see the quotes from Shaykh Saqqaf later). Shaykh Saqqaf presently
teaches a circle of students in Amman and has published over forty five
books and treatises on Hadith, tenets of faith (Aqeeda), Fiqh and
heresiology.
So as to enlighten the reader who is unaware of al-Albani's status,
the following is a short biography as given in the inside back cover of
the English translation of al-Albani's booklet by the title 'Adaab
uz
Zufaaf' (The Etiquettes of Marriage and Wedding) as published by
his followers in England (viz.: "Jami'at Ihyaa Minhaj al Sunnah") :-
"Muhammad Naasir-ud-Deen Al-Albani was born in the city of Ashkodera, capital
of Albania in 1914 CE. While he was young his parents migrated with him
to Damascus, Syria. From an early age he became fascinated by the science
of Hadith and thereafter spent his time devoted to seeking knowledge. In
later life he was given Professorship of Hadith at the Islamic University
of Madinah. He is well known to students and scholars for his knowledge
and writings. He has many well known students and has visited places through
out the Middle East and Europe. He was forced to migrate from Syria to
Jordan. He has been of enormous service to the Prophetic Hadith, taking
great pains to check and sort out the authentic from the weak and
fabricated narrations. He has produced many pamphlets and books, some of
them running into many volumes - on topics of great importance to the Muslims
- and has fully checked many of the famous books of Hadith - the
Sunan of Tirmidhi, Abu Dawood, An-Nasai and Ibn Majah, along with Suyooti's
huge "Jami-us-Sagheer" and "Mishkat-ul Masabih". He is the foremost scholar
of Hadith and related sciences of this age."
It is this last statement which is highly far-fetched, and it is the predominantly
imaginary belief of his misguided followers in certain parts of the
world. Since only Allah knows who is the "foremost scholar of Hadith
and related sciences of this age." I say this because there are others
who may well be the 'foremost scholar'. One thing that may be noticed from
the above biography, is that al-Albani does not seem to have been
given any authorization (ijaza) in Hadith from any recognised scholar
of Hadith. I have read other biographies and asked some of his supporters
in England to give me the name of al-Albani's Hadith Shaykh; but to no
avail. It seems that al-Albani "taught" himself the science of Hadith by
spending many hours in the famous library of Damascus - al-Maktabatuz Zahiriyyah.
In the biography written in the preface of the English edition of his work
- "Sifah salah an-Nabee", it was also stated that he was: "influenced
by articles in 'al-Manaar' magazine." The last named magazine was edited
by the notorious freemason - Muhammad Rashid Ridah (d.1935 CE)!
Al-Albani has not made a handful of forgivable errors, but rather well
over 1200, which are only forgivable if he himself admits and corrects
his mistakes by repenting in front of the People of Knowledge, as
well as the sincere believers who may have been relying on his 'classifications
of Hadith'. The selected contradictions from "Tanaqadat al-Albani al-Wadihat"
have been derived for sake of brevity from volume's one and two only,
and whenever the symbol * is indicated, this corresponds to the original
reference to the Arabic edition. The reader should also remember
that whenever anything appears in brackets, then these are usually my words
and not that of Shaykh Saqqaf. It should also be said that Volume
1 of the original contains 250 ahadith, in which al-Albani has said Sahih
(an authentic Hadith) in one of his books and then contradicted himself
by saying Daeef (a weak Hadith) in another of his books, or similar
mistakes and contradictions. Volume 2 contains 652 Ahadith of the same
description as the above, or similar contradictions in individual
rijal (biography of a Hadith narrator) of the
Sanad (the chain of
transmission of a specific Hadith) of the Hadiths in question. In some
instances (e.g. Vol.2, pp. 63-64), Shaykh Saqqaf shows how a Hadith
narrator is 'trustworthy' when al-Albani wants to use a Hadith to
prove something, but becomes 'untrustworthy' when in a Hadith used by the
person al-Albani is arguing against; an extremely embarrassing mistake
for anyone of any scholarly integrity. These books by Shaykh Saqqaf have
already done much to pull the rug from under 'Salafiyyism' in Jordan and
even in 'Saudi' Arabia, where the first volume alone has seen no less than
SIX reprints in a single year alone! These books are extremely hot property
that any 'Salafi' (or anti-Salafi) who reads Arabic will want to buy. I
ask you, how many times does an inept student of Hadith like al-Albani
have to contradict himself before he ceases to be of authority? Can you
find even ten such contradictions in the works of the traditional memorizers
of Hadith (Huffaz), those who had memorized at least 100,000 Ahadith
with their sanad's? The great scholars like Abu Hanifah, Malik, Shafi'i,
Ibn Hanbal, Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawood, Tirmidhi, Ibn Maja, al-Nasai,
Daraqutni, Hakim, Asqalani and so on . . . . Allah's mercy be upon them.
The discerning believer should know that al-Albani has not in his
memory anywhere near a 100,000 Ahadith in his memory, in fact as far as
we know there is no one who is a Hafiz of Hadith today! If there is, we
say please come forward and prove it, and only Allah knows best!
During the course of examining various Hadiths, Shaykh Saqqaf compared
them to the written opinion of al-Albani. Eventually Shaykh Saqqaf
began a compilation of al-Albani's mistakes. He came across contradictions,
supposition, inadequate research and the blatant perversion of sayings
quoted from the great scholars of Islam. He was especially worried by the
fact that many students and members of the youth who do not have
enough or no knowledge are simply not bothering to investigate the Hadiths
classified by al-Albani, are being misled into blind ignorance; even though
these very people are the one's calling staunchly and vociferously for
the complete abandonment of taqleed (usually translated as "blind following"
by the opponents, but in reality it is the following of qualified
and verified scholarship of a Mujtahid Mutlaq [an absolutely independent
scholar of the highest calibre] like the Imam's Abu Hanifah, Malik, Shafi'i,
Ibn Hanbal (Allah's mercy be upon them) and the like, as well as
the scholars who adhered to and promulgated a particular school of fiqh
[Madhhab] for the greater part of Islam's history; taqleed in simple
language is the following of one of the four existing schools of fiqh).
These people seem to contradict themselves, as well as displaying hypocrisy
when they go around making it a priority to attack the followers
of the Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i or Hanbali schools of Sacred Law; even though
they themselves are practising taqleed of an individual(s)!
Bearing in mind the Hadith reported by Abu Sa'eed al-Khudri (may
Allah be pleased with him) from the Holy Prophet (Sall Allahu alaihi wa Aalihi wa Sallim):
"Whoever sees an evil, he must prevent it with his hand, and if he has
no power for this action, then he should prevent it with his tongue,
and if he cannot do this, then he should at least consider it a vice
in his heart, and this is a very low level of one's Iman (faith)." [see
Sahih Muslim, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah,
Nasai - as recorded in Targheeb Wa'l-Tarheeb
by Al-Hafiz Mundhiri, d. 1258 C.E; Rahimahumullah],
and even more explicitly from Imam al-Darimi (Rahimahullah) who reported
Ziyad Ibn Hudair (Rahimahullah) saying:
"Umar (Allah be pleased with him) said to me: Do you know what can destroy
Islam?" I said: "No." He said: "It is destroyed by the mistakes of scholars,
the argument of the hypocrites about the book (of Allah), and the opinions
of the misguided leaders." (see Mishkatul Masabih, 1/269, Trans. A.H. Siddiqui).
We took the liberty to forewarn and guide the many sincere believers who
are turning to their faith from blundering into miscomprehension
and wrong by translating selectively from Shaykh Saqqaf's books.
In order to safe keep today's youth from falling into heresy, Shaykh
Saqqaf has embarked upon a quest to expose such a person who considers
himself to be among the great scholars of Hadith like, Imam's al-Bukhari
and Muslim (Rahimahumullah), to the extent that one of his deluded followers
considered him to be in the rank of the Amir al-Mu'minin fil Hadith, Shaykh
al-Islam al-Hafiz Ahmad Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (the Shafi'i Imam who authored
the most famous commentary of Sahih al-Bukhari and many other books, d.
852/1449 C.E; Rahimahullah).
As for Shaykh Saqqaf, the respected reader may get the impression that
he has an uncompromising demeanour in some of his comments made straight
after he exposes an error of al-Albani. I make no apology for his style
of exposition, since many Allah fearing scholars have been uncompromising
in the past when it comes to enjoining the Good and Forbidding the Evil
as has been prescribed in the Qur'an and Sunnah (e.g. in the refutations
against the heretical sects like the Khawarij, Mu'tazila, Shi'ah . . .
. ), so long as it forewarns the general masses from accepting the falsities
of the heretics and other like minded "scholars". May be Shaykh Saqqaf
considers al-Albani to be an innovator, just as his late teacher - Shaykh
Ghimari (Rahimahullah) considered him to be. There are many Hadith which
command us to detest the Heretics. For example, Ibrahim ibn Maisara reported
Allah's Messenger (Peace be upon him) as saying:
"He who showed respect to an innovator he in fact aided in the demolishing
of Islam." (Bayhaqi - see Mishkatul Masabih, 1/189, English ed'n).
I hope the esteemed reader will read this short piece of work with vigilance
and an open mind, especially those who have been loyal readers and supporters
of al-Albani's books and decrees. I sincerely hope that this work will
be of great benefit to all who read it and pray that Allah accept
it as a good deed done purely for His pleasure. I would also like to thank
all those brothers who assisted me in the compilation of this work,
especially to the brother who supplied me with Shaykh Saqqaf's books.
May Allah forgive us for any shortcomings and errors. Amin.
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