Remarks of Shaykh-ul-Ḥadīth Mawlānā Yūsuf Motala raḥimahullāh regarding Albānī & Ibn Taymiyyah

 

[Shaykh-ul-Ḥadīth Mawlānā Yūsuf Motala raḥimahullāh was the Khalīfah of Quṭb-ul-Aqṭāb Shaykh-ul-Ḥadīth Mawlānā Muḥammad Zakariyya raḥimahullāh]

Ḥaḍrat Mawlānā raḥimahullāh said,

“As I had mentioned, there is goodness in this. If a person wavers slightly, then is gone. Īmān can slip from his grasp. For this reason, as I had mentioned that day, day before yesterday, that ‘Allāmah Dhahabī and ibn Taymiyyah were contemporaries. ‘Allāmah Dhahabī saw the ups and downs of ibn Taymiyyah, but he had his gaze on the solitary opinions of ibn Taymiyyah (tafarrudāt). He attested to the high knowledge of ibn Taymiyyah, and he even wrote in praise of him. However, they were contemporaries, companions, they were in one time. They had a link or relationship with each other. He (Dhahabī) knew and understood that he (ibn Taymiyyah) slipped in a certain ruling, he denied a certain matter, he criticised a certain matter, so he did not allow it to pass, he wrote a letter to him.

Ibn Shuhbah transmitted this letter. Mawlānā ‘Allāmah Manāẓir Aḥsan Gīlānī raḥimahullāh has transmitted the letter in full. One day, I shall bring the copy, so that I can read the entire letter to you. In this letter, ‘Allāmah Dhahabī, a very great Imām – taken as an Imām by the Salafīs too - reprimanded him (ibn Taymiyyah), that ‘you have gone behind ‘ilm kalam. For this reason, you needed philosophy. Hence, you studied so much philosophy, so much of it, that because of it, it has overcome your heart and mind. You have tried to gauge every person, everything, and all that which has been narrated, with that particular gaze. This continued to the degree where you began to hastily pass decisions related to the aḥādīth; that this ḥadīth is ḍa’īf, this is not ṣaḥīḥ, this is not worthy of practice, this is not proven.’ He says, ‘until when will this way of yours continue?’ This letter was very harsh, this is the matter.

Ibn Taymiyyah was a very devout and staunch person. He gave great sacrifice for the cause of Dīn, he spent time in jail, and underwent severe treatment, but he had this in him. So, how much of harm was caused to the Ummah through this? In the recent past, the person who had passed away in Damascus (referring to Albānī: [from the transcriber: Usman Iqbal]). He crookedly scrutinised the books of ḥadīth. Until now, the name used to refer to these works was ‘Ṣiḥāḥ Sittah’; these are Ṣaḥīḥ works. Now, he decreased the reports in it, stating: this is ḍa’īf, this is mauḍū’, this is that, this is that. He declared all the books unworthy of practice, aside from Abū Dāwūd and Bukhārī Sharīf. There were so many reports in them, for centuries, more than a millennium had passed, and the Ummah was in agreement, he did all this…and his followers were born.

How could he do this? Because he studied in history that ibn Taymiyyah did this, he also did the same thing. So, these things can spring up later on too. A seed is planted. If a good seed is planted, then guidance will spread. If an evil seed is planted, then deviation will spread. How many books have been classified as doubtful by this person!

May Allāh Ta’ālā keep us on the way of our pious elders, may he keep us on this path, and grant us death on this path. Āmīn