REFUTATION OF FALSE ACCUSATION AGAINST

Reply to those who claim that he had Tasahhul (carelessness) in authenticating Ahadith

This is the answer to a question asked to our Ustaz Abul’Ataa Ahmed Banajah, on 07 Dhul
Qa’dah 1441.

The questioner says:

،‫ حفظك هللا ورعاك‬،‫السالم عليكم ورحمة هللا وبركاته‬

I heard from some Tullaab (students of knowledge) that Shaikh Albaani ‫ رحمه هللا‬had Tasahul
(carelessness) in Tasheeh (authenticating) of Ahadith. Is this true ?

‫جزاك هللا خيرا‬

He answered by saying:

‫وعليكم السالم ورحمة اهلل وبركاته‬

A general statement like this is TOTALLY WRONG.

The scholars have rejected these kind of statements regarding Sheikh Al-Albani \.

Among them is Ash-Sheikh Muqbil \ , His statements:

‫ على أنه ال يستغني طالب علم في هذا الزمن عن االستفادة‬.… ‫الذي يقبل تصحيحه وتضعيفه ال حرج عليه ألن الشيخ عدل ثقة‬
‫ ما‬-ُ‫رحمهُ هللا‬- ‫ فقد جمع فيها الشيخ‬،‫ وإني أنصح كل طالب علم باقتنائها واالستفادة منها‬،-ُ‫رحمهُ هللا‬- ‫من كتب الشيخ األلباني‬
.‫ وتيسر له االطالع على كتب لم يطلع عليها كثير من طلبة العلم‬،‫ال يستطيع الوقوف على كله‬

‫ ليس له نظير في علم السنة فما منزلته في فهم النصوص؟ الذي أعرفه عنه أن فهمه للنصوص‬-ُ‫رحمهُ هللا‬- ‫إذا عرفت أن الشيخ‬
‫َكفَ ْه ِم كبار علمائنا المعاصرين‬

There is no blame on the one who accepts his authentication, because the sheikh is
trustworthy. Therefore, all students of knowledge at this time should be benefited from the
books of Sheikh Al-Albani \ - may God have mercy on him…

Page 1 of 5
In fact, no one is equivalent to the sheikh (may God have mercy on him) in the knowledge of
Sunnah.

If you ask what is his level of understanding the hadeeths? What I know about him is that
his understanding of the hadeeths is the same as that of our great contemporary scholars. (End
Quote)

How can Sheikh Al-Albani \ be a Mutasaahil (one who is careless in authenticating Ahadith)
while our ulama' of the hadeeth made such statements about him ?!

The truth is he has his own methods and conditions in authenticating Ahadith. There are lots
of Salaf that uphold his methodology as well.

And for the claim of the conflicting authenticity of hadeeths within Sahihul-Jami' and his other
books, the story is… Sheikh Al-Albani \ passed away while he was authenticating the Hadiths
in Sahihul-Jami' of Al-‘Allaamah As-Suyooti \ and before he could revise and recheck it
completely. That’s why you would see some of the Hadiths that he has labelled it sahih in
Sahihul-Jami’, but it'd been mentioned in Silsilatuh-Da’eefah as Da’eef, though this a rare case.
So, we advise all the brothers to look into Silsilatuh-Saheehah and Da’eefah, because it's more
accurate.

See into Silsilatuh-Saheehah or Da’eefah and others, where is the Tasaahul? How much effort
has been put into each and every Hadith?

Have you inquired a great understanding about the principle of Sheikh Al-Albani \ in
authenticating Ahadith before any judgement or accusation been made on him? For example,
the famous Qawaa'id that been mentioned in his famous book Tamaamul-Minnah. For
example, He said (32-31/‫)ص‬:

:‫"القاعدة العاشرة‬

.‫تقوية الحديث بكثرة الطرق ليس على إطالقه‬

‫ وإن كان كل طريق منها على‬،‫ ويصير حجة‬،‫من المشهور عند أهل العلم أن الحديث إذا جاء من طرق متعددة فإنه يتقوى بها‬
‫ بل هو مقيد عند المحققين منهم بما إذا كان ضعف رواته في مختلف طرقه‬،‫ ولكن هذا ليس على إطالقه‬،ً‫انفراده ضعيفا‬
‫ وهذا ما نقله المحقق‬،‫ وإال فإنه ال يتقوى مهما كثرت طرقه‬،‫ ال من تهمة في صدقهم أو دينهم‬،‫ناشئا ً من سوء حفظهم‬
‫المناوي في "فيض القدير" عن العلماء‬

It is well-known among scholars that if a hadith comes from multiple paths even though each
of them is weak, they strengthen it by each other, and it became an evident, though this
principle couldn't be applied generally. Rather, the authenticator among them should
pay notice on whether the different way of narrations by the specific narrators arose from
their poor memorization, but not out of their dishonesty or their religion, otherwise the
narrations will not be strengthened doesn't matter it came through how many ways, and
this is what Al-Muhaqqiq Al-Manawi reported in “Fayd” Al-Qadeer "on scholars. (End quote)

If you practice this kind of Qaa’idah (rule) on every single scholar, I don’t think we are left
with any scholar to take from . If we apply this Qaa’idah as it is, all the Scholars will become
Mutasaahil. So, who is the Mutawassit?

Page 2 of 5
Some people uttered these kind of general statements regarding scholars and they don’t know
the consequences of it.

As it come in the narration Abu Hurairah <:

ِ َّ ِ‫س َخط‬
" َ‫َّللا ال‬ َّ ‫ َي ْر َف ُع‬،ً‫َّللا الَ يُ ْلقِي لَهَا َباال‬
َ ‫ َو ِإنَّ ا ْل َع ْب َد لَ َيت َ َكلَّ ُم ِبا ْل َك ِل َم ِة مِ ْن‬،‫َّللاُ ِبهَا د ََرجَات‬ ِ ‫ِإنَّ ا ْل َع ْب َد لَ َيت َ َكلَّ ُم ِبا ْل َك ِل َم ِة مِ ْن ِرض َْو‬
ِ َّ ‫ان‬
‫"يُ ْلقِي لَهَا بَاالً يَ ْه ِوي بِهَا فِي َج َهنَّ َم‬

"A slave (of Allah) may utter a word which pleases Allah without giving it much
importance, and because of that Allah will raise him to degrees (of reward): a slave (of
Allah) may utter a word (carelessly) which displeases Allah without thinking of its
gravity and because of that he will be thrown into the Hell-Fire." [Sahih al-Bukhari
6478]

One day, Sheikh Muqbil \ was asked that his authentication of some Ahadith were in conflict
with that of Sheikh Al-Albani \, and whom they were to follow? Sheikh Muqbil \ said to
follow Sheikh Al-Albani \. Look at the humility of scholars. He didn’t say Al-Imam Al-
Albani \ is a Mutasaahil.

These kind of ignorant people who uttered general statements and falsehood like this, they
think they are on Haqq and they are supporting other ‘Ulamaa. But in reality, they are ‘stabbing’
the ‘Ulamaa.

Imam Al-Albani \ spent most of his lifetime for the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad ‫؛‬.
So, he deserves our respect by guarding our speech in mentioning him \.

I am not asking anyone to blind follow or wholly accept his authentication especially for those
that are capable in researching about the narrations. But I ask you to respect his judgements.

With this kind of unfair judgements, you are ‘stabbing’ on his work, on his job and on the
Ummah that benefited and still benefit from his effort. He was a Mujaddid for the Ummah in
his place as Sheikh Bin Baz \, Sheikh Ibn 'Uthaymeen \ and Sheikh Muqbil \ said. May
Allah grant him Mercy.

I advise my brothers and sisters to be careful with your speech. Especially if it involves the
Scholars. Who you are to speak ill of the Scholars? SubhaanAllah! Sheikh Bin Baz \ was
asked about Sheikh Al-Albani \ and he replied: “I don’t know anyone under the sky
today, more knowledgeable in the Hadith of the Prophet ‫ ؛‬than Al-Albani \”.

You reminded me of an incident occurred with Sheikh Al-Albani \, two or three years prior
to his demise. He was explaining about some of the students of knowledge at that time, some
of them might even be still alive today. He said, he received a post from so and so from Egypt.
And in it there was a letter for him. So, he opened the letter and read it. The letter praised

Page 3 of 5
Sheikh Al-Albani \ and his books and he dreams to become one of the students of Sheikh
Al-Albani \, and he cannot wait to meet him etc. This man was 23 years old then. And in the
end of the letter, he wrote, please read these Ahadith I mentioned to you. It's 4 or 5 Ahadith not
authentic in your books, please correct it. Then Sheikh Al-Albani \ read the Ahadith and saw
his research and his conclusion. Sheikh Al-Albani \ after reading all of it, came to know that
the sender is a beginner in seeking knowledge. And all the judgements in that letter were wrong
and came out of his narrow thinking. Then Sheikh Al-Albani \ said to his students, which
kind of understanding is this? What has happened to students of knowledge today? In the
beginning of the letter, he praised me and cannot wait to be one of my students. But with this
kind of mentality in this age, he cannot wait to comment on my research and point out my
mistakes in authenticating Ahadith. How many years it took from your life to understand and
research the Ahadith? And he is eager to study under me, but he has the nerve to tell me that
“you are absolutely wrong in authenticating these Ahadith, and correct it?” And the Sheikh
said: If now he comes to learn from me, do you think I would accept him? Which kind of
manners is this? (above mentioned is the overall incident that happened).

So, we have this kind of people until today, who doesn’t know their level and lack of manners.
They are very narrow-minded because they learn solely from books. They don’t have enough
Tarbiyyah. Sheikh Al-Albani \ spent all his lifetime talking about Tarbiyyah (upbringing)
and Tasfiyyah (purification).

And I remember always he used to say:

‫حب الظهور قسم الظهور‬

“Love of showing off, will break your back”

Why did he say this? Because he met a lot of people with these attitudes. And those people still
exist even after he passed away.

My dear brothers and sisters, be careful with this attitude - "putting general accusation".

By Allah with this attitude you will never attain knowledge, you can’t give Da’wah, people
won’t be benefited by you. By this attitude, you are still very far from the methodology of the
Salaf. You are very far from the Adab (manners). You will never get Barakah.

In the end, I would like to advise not to learn with this kind of people and sit with them. Those
people need to be advised and corrected. Don’t waste your time with a person who needs to
educate himself upon Aadaab of Ahluh-Sunnah, rather than teaching others. Even if he claims
that he has some knowledge, it’s of no use without proper manners. They have lost the
foundation of knowledge which is manners. This is why it comes in a statement:

"‫ فتتهم فيما تحسن‬،‫"ال تتكلم فيما ال تحسن‬

It means: Don’t speak about things you don’t understand properly, because with that,
people are going to judge you on even things that you know.

Page 4 of 5
People like this need to start from square one in order to be raised upon Sunnah.

‫نسأل هللا السالمة والعافية‬

Never waste your time by seeking knowledge with people that need Tarbiyyah. They don’t
know how to deal with the scholars, what about their brothers? If they don’t know the level of
the scholars , how they are going to treat their own brothers, who oppose them by taking some
of the opinions from other 'Ulama of Ahlus-Sunnah than the ‘Ulamaa that they're following in
the specific issue.

Why can't they say in that specific issue, we take the opinion of such ‘Ulamaa who disagreed
with the authentication of Imam Al-Albani \ in it WITHOUT ANY KIND OF
ACCUSATIONS?!

Stay with those students of knowledge who can benefit your heart first, with manners before
the knowledge. They will raise you upon the Sunnah . This is the main purpose of knowledge.
For example, don’t sit with anyone who teaches the Khilaaf (difference of opinions) among the
scholars of Ahlus-Sunnah but don’t teach you the manners regarding how to deal with that
Khilaaf, and the other opinions . This is very damageable, and it will affect the brotherhood
sooner or later. That’s why, lots of people do more damage than they benefit.

‫نسأل اهلل السالمة والعافية‬

*******

Answered by: Ustaaz Ahmad Banaajah (Abul ’Ataa)

If you want to ask a question regarding Islam, join this channel:

https://t.me/qnawithahmadbanajah

Page 5 of 5