Shaykh al-Albaanee (may Allaah have mercy on him)
was a great Muhaddith and jurist. His books,
tapes and halaqahs bear witness to that. The imams of fatwas and ijtihaad
praise his knowledge and refer to him, and quote his words as evidence. However, the following points stated
by Shaykh Munajjid[1] should be noted about him:
1. Shaykh al-Albaanee (may Allaah have mercy on
him) was a human being, who got things right and made mistakes. No one should
believe that his words are infallible. We have not found anyone who claims this
explicitly, but we find many who believe it implicitly.
2. It is not permissible for any follower of
Shaykh al-Albaanee to continue to follow the shaykh’s view if it becomes clear
to him that the opinion of another scholar of virtue is stronger; rather he
must follow the truth wherever it is and whoever it is with
3. Shaykh al-Albaanee (may Allaah have mercy on
him) did not introduce anything new into Islamic rulings and he often stated
that he did not say anything that had not been said before. So the one who
criticizes the Shaykh by saying that he came up with odd views and fatwas
should fear Allaah and those who are fanatically devoted to the Shaykh should
also fear Allaah.
4. It is not in accordance with the methodology of
Shaykh al-Albaanee (may Allaah have mercy on him) – or of any of the imams –to
look at the verse and hadeeth and then derive from it whatever rulings one
wants! Rather the Shaykh (may Allaah have mercy on him) often complained about
those who did that. He said: We were suffering from blind following (taqleed)
and now we are suffering from a free-for-all! And he stated that blind
following of the earlier scholars is far better than this free-for-all; rather
for the ordinary Muslim, following a scholar is obligatory and this
free-for-all is haraam.
5. The one who follows the Shaykh (may Allaah have
mercy on him) has to realize that the Shaykh himself criticized blind following
and enjoined seeking knowledge; he called on people to learn and said that the
Muslim should follow the evidence from the Qur’aan and Sunnah. If the Shaykh
(may Allaah have mercy on him) told people not to follow Abu Haneefah, Maalik,
al-Shaafi’ee and Ahmad blindly, he was more emphatic in telling them not to
follow him blindly.
6. The ordinary Muslim who agrees to follow Shaykh
al-Albaanee (may Allaah have mercy on him), or any other scholar of the past or
present, should not issue fatwas or argue with others. If those who follow a
Shaykh or scholar adhere to this, the Ummah would be spared many of the bad
things that we hear of here and there.
7. The one in whom Allaah instils love of
knowledge and the ability to weigh up the evidence and to know which is more
likely to be correct is not permitted to be a blind follower of Shaykh al-Albaanee
or anyone else.
No comments:
Post a Comment