Albani
Albani
Albani
Concise Guide to
the Chief Innovator of Our Time*
by GF Haddad
Nasir al-Albani is the arch-innovator of the Wahhabis and "Salafis" in
our time. A watch repairman by trade, al-Albani is a self-taught
claimant to hadith scholarship who has no known teacher in any of the
Islamic sciences and has admitted not to have memorized the Book of
Allah nor any book of hadith, fiqh, `aqîda, usûl, or grammar. He
achieved fame by attacking the great scholars of Ahl al-Sunna and
reviling the science of fiqh with especial malice towards the school of
his father who was a Hanafi jurist. A rabid reviler of the Friends of Allah
and the Sufis, he was expelled from Syria then Saudi Arabia and lived
in Amman, Jordan under house arrest until his death in 1999. He
remains the qibla of the people of Innovation, self-styled re-formers of
Islam, and other "Salafi" and Wahhabi sympathizers, and the preferred
author of book merchants and many uneducated Muslims.Most of the
contemporary Sunni scholars warned of his heresy and many of them
wrote articles or full-length works against him such as:
- The Moroccan hadith scholar `Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn al-
Siddiq al-Ghumari who wrote Irgham al-Mubtadi` al-Ghabi bi
Jawaz al-Tawassul bi al-Nabi fi al-Radd `ala al-Albani al-Wabi
("The Coercion of the Unintelligent Innovator with the Licitness of
Using the Prophet as an Intermediary in Refutation of al-Albani the
Baneful"), al-Qawl al-Muqni` fi al-Radd `ala al-Albani al-Mubtadi`
("The Persuasive Discourse in Refutation of al-Albani the Innovator"),
and Itqan al-Sun`a fi Tahqiq Ma`na al-Bid`a ("Precise Handiwork in
Ascertaining the Meaning of Innovation").
- The Moroccan hadith scholar `Abd al-`Aziz ibn Muhammad ibn al-
Siddiq al-Ghumari who wrote Bayan Nakth al-Nakith al-Mu`tadi
("The Exposition of the Treachery of the Rebel").
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- The Syrian hadith scholar `Abd al-Fattah Abu Ghudda who wrote
Radd `ala Abatil wa Iftira'at Nasir al-Albani wa Sahibihi
Sabiqan Zuhayr al-Shawish wa Mu'azirihima ("Refutation of the
Falsehoods and Fabrications of Nasir al-Albani and his Former Friend
Zuhayr al-Shawish and their Supporters").
- The Syrian scholar Badr al-Din Hasan Diab who wrote Anwar al-
Masabih `ala Zulumat al-Albani fi Salat al-Tarawih ("Illuminating
the Darkness of al-Albani over the Tarawih Prayer").
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Prayers That Must Precede Salat al-Jumu`a").
- The Jordanian scholar Hasan `Ali al-Saqqaf who wrote the two-
volume Tanaqudat al-Albani al-Wadiha fi ma Waqa`a fi Tashih al-
Ahadith wa Tad`ifiha min Akhta' wa Ghaltat ("Albani's Patent Self-
Contradictions in the Mistakes and Blunders He Committed While
Declaring Hadiths to be Sound or Weak"), Ihtijaj al-Kha'ib bi `Ibarat
man Idda`a al-Ijma` fa Huwa Kadhib ("The Loser's Recourse to the
Phrase: `Whoever Claims Consensus Is a Liar!'"), al-Qawl al-Thabtu fi
Siyami Yawm al-Sabt ("The Firm Discourse Concerning Fasting on
Saturdays"), al-Lajif al-Dhu`af li al-Mutala`ib bi Ahkam al-I`tikaf
("The Lethal Strike Against Him Who Toys with the Rulings of I`tikaf),
Sahih Sifat Salat al-Nabi Sallallahu `alayhi wa Sallam ("The
Correct Description of the Prophet's Prayer "), I`lam al-Kha'id bi
Tahrim al-Qur'an `ala al-Junub wa al-Ha'id ("The Appraisal of the
Meddler in the Interdiction of the Qur'an to those in a State of Major
Defilement and Menstruating Women"), Talqih al-Fuhum al-`Aliya
("The Inculcation of Lofty Discernment"), and Sahih Sharh al-`Aqida
al-Tahawiyya ("The Correct Explanation of al-Tahawi's Statement of
Islamic Doctrine").
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7- He calls people to imitate him rather than the Imams of the Salaf
such as the founders of the Four Schools, and his followers invalidate
the hadiths that contradict his views.
10- He claims over and over that among the innovations in religion
existent in Madina is the persistence of the Prophet's grave in the
mosque.
13- He invented a location to Allah Most High above the Throne which
he named al-makân al-`adamî - "the non-existent place."
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Except whatever was for the sake of His countenance." Albani blurts
out: "No true believer would say such a thing" and "We should consider
al-Bukhari innocent of that statement."3
20- He denies that the name of the Angel of death is `Azrâ'îl and
claims such a name has no basis other than Israelite reports, although
`Iyad reports the Consensus on the Umma on it in al-Shifa'.
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22- In at least five of his books5 he calls for the demolition of the
Green Dome of the Prophet's Mosque in al-Madina al-Munawwara and
for taking the Prophet's grave outside the Mosque.
23- He states: "I have found no evidence for the Prophet's hearing of
the salaam of those who greet him at his grave" and "I do not know
from where Ibn Taymiyya took his claim6 that he hears the salaam
from someone near." This and the previous item are among his greater
enormities and bear the unmistakable signature of innovation and
deviation.7
25- He gave the fatwa that Muslims should exit Palestine en masse and
leave it to the Jews as it is part the Abode of War (dâr al-harb).9
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Bid`a that the Companions and Salaf prayed hundreds if not thousands
of rak`as in every twenty-four hours!
31- He gives free rein to his propensity to insult and vilify the Ulema of
the past as well as his contemporaries. As a result it is difficult to wade
through his writings without being affected by the nefarious spirit that
permeates them. For example, he considers previous editors and
commentators of al-Bukhari's al-Adab al-Mufrad ("Book of Manners"!)
"sinful," "unbearably ignorant," and even "liars" and "thieves." Of one
he says: "There are so many weak hadiths [in his choice]... that it is an
unislamic practice"; of another: "It is ignorance which must not be
tolerated"; of another: "Forgery and open lie... His edition is stolen
[from a previous one]."16 Such examples actually fill a book compiled
by Shaykh Hasan `Ali al-Saqqaf and titled Qamus Shata'im al-Albani wa
Alfazihi al-Munkara al-Lati Yatluquha `ala `Ulama' al-Umma ("Dictionary
of al-Albani's Insults and the Heinous Words He Uses Against the
Scholars of the Muslim Community").
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Hasan al-Shafi`i in his massive biography entitled al-Amidi wa Ara'uhu
al-Kalamiyya showed that the story that al-Amidi did not pray was a
forgery put into circulation during the campaign waged by Imam Ibn al-
Salah against him for teaching logic and philosophy in Damascus.
35- He perpetuates the false claim first made by Munir Agha the
founder of the Egyptian Salafiyya Press, that Imam Abu Muhammad al-
Juwayni - the father of Imam al-Haramayn - "repented" from Ash`ari
doctrine and supposedly authored a tract titled Risala fi Ithbat al-Istiwâ'
wa al-Fawqiyya ("Epistle on the Assertion of Establishment and
Aboveness").21 This spurious attribution continues to be promoted
without verification - for obvious reasons - by modern-day "Salafis" who
adduce it to forward the claim that al-Juwayni embraced
anthropomorphist concepts. The Risala in question is not mentioned in
any of the bibliographical and biographical sources nor does al-
Dhahabi cite it in his encyclopedia of anthropomorphist views entitled
al-`Uluw. More conclusively, it is written in modern argumentative style
and reflects typically contemporary anthropomorphist obsessions.
NOTES
4 Narrated from `Iyad by Ibn Abi Shayba and al-Hakim who said it is
sahîh by Muslim's criterion, and by al-Tabarani with a sound chain as
stated by al-Haythami.
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6 In Majmu`a al-Fatawa (27:384).
7 In his notes on Nu`man al-Alusi's al-Ayat al-Bayyinat (p. 80) and his
Silsila Da`ifa (#203).
12 Part of a longer hadith narrated from Abu Malik al-Ash`ari (Ka`b ibn
`Asim) by Muslim, al-Tirmidhi (hasan sahîh), al-Nasa'i, Ibn Majah,
Ahmad, and al-Darimi.
14 With a fair chain from `Ali and Ibn `Abbas as stated by al-`Iraqi in
Tarh al-Tathrib (3:42), Ibn Hajar in Talkhis al-Habir (2:74), and al-
Tahanawi in I`la' al-Sunan (7:9).
19 Cf. al-Suyuti, Husn al-Muhadara (Cairo 1293 ed. 1:260) and al-
Sakhawi, in A.J. Arberry, Sakhawiana: A Study Based on the Chester
Beatty Ms. Arab. 773 (London: Emery Walker Ltd., 1951, p. 5-9).
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24 Al-Qurtubi, Tafsir (7:191).
Wal-'Aqibatu lil-Muttaqin.
GF Haddad ©
Typical response by H.A.M., a 'Salafiy',
not caring much about the evidence put forward, as above:
Salaam,
What is all this nonsense on your website about refuting so and so???
Since when did the Prophet or his companions sit back behind the veil
and slander their muslims brothers and sisters??? Where did you get
this nonsense?
Fear Allah brother. A muslim does not attack his muslim brother/sister.
Didn't the Prophet say the one who testifies there is no god except
Allah his life is sacred? So if his life is sacred, what makes you think
you can sit up and slander him? In the grave, will not Allah punish
those who slandered/backbited? So what makes you slander the
righteous scholars of the ummah?
Wa salaamu alaykum,
We are convinced that it is not slandering to say where one scholar has
failed and is wrong and that it is our duty to warn the Muslims about it
for the safeguarding of our doctrin and our dîn.
From the strictest viewpoint of the Law, the Prophet upon him blessings
and peace, did mention someone's bad characteristics to warn others
of the danger they represented. Another time he was reported to say:
"Until when will you refrain from mentioning the wrongdoer [for the
wrong they do]? Mention them so people can protect themselves from
them!" or something to that effect.
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no effort whatsoever to hide their transgressions nor are they
repentent.
Allah does not like the announcing of evil in public speech except by
one who has been wronged; and Allah is Hearing, Knowing. (4:148)
Hajj Gibril
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