“He can’t even recite an aayah from the Quran properly—even if the Noble Mushaf were [open] in front of him—let alone the fact that he will make many mistakes when [simply] reading a Hadeeth of the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam). It is the love of fame. It is self-centredness, ‘I am here, I have knowledge. Maa shaa Allah about me.’”
Questioner: What is your Excellency’s opinion about … the Salafi da’wah in general, and specifically in Kuwait, Egypt and Saudi?
Al-Albaani: I say that unfortunately the Salafi Da’wah is now in disarray, and I attribute the cause of that to the hastiness of many of the Muslim youth to claim knowledge: so he will have the audacity to pass fatwas, and to declare things to be haram and halaal before he knows.
Some of them, as I have heard on numerous occasions, can’t even recite an aayah from the Quran properly—even if the Noble Mushaf were [open] in front of them—let alone the fact that he will make many mistakes when [simply] reading a hadeeth of the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam). And so that proverb that is well-known in some countries is applicable to him:
إنه تزبب قبل أن يتØصرم
“He became a raisin before [even becoming] a sour grape.”
“He became a raisin before [even becoming] a sour grape.”
You know what الØصرم is, is this word used amongst you? When a grape starts out it becomes a green berry, this is what الØصرم is referring to, and it is very sour, so before he even reaches this stage of being a sour grape, he makes himself out to be a raisin.
Thus for many of these people to prop up their heads and be hasty in [both] claiming knowledge and writing when they have not even traversed half the way on the path to knowledge is what now unfortunately makes those who attribute themselves to the Salafi da’wah split into groups and factions.
And so there is no cure for this except for these Muslims to fear their Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, and for them to know that it is not for everyone who starts off seeking knowledge to take the lead in declaring fatwas about things being halaal and haram, or declaring hadeeths to be authentic or weak except after a long lifetime, a lifetime in which he practices learning how fatwas are delivered and how [verdicts] are derived from the Book and the Sunnah.
And in this respect these callers or Salafis must comply with that third check which I mentioned before when speaking about beneficial knowledge and righteous actions, saying that beneficial knowledge must be according to the methodology of the Salaf as-Saalih.
So nowadays when many of the Islamic callers depart from this check, the third check which Imam Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy on him, indicated in his poetry when he said:
“Knowledge is, ‘Allah said … His Messenger said …
The Companions said …’ and it is not hidden.”
The Companions said …’ and it is not hidden.”
Not paying heed to what our Salaf as-Saalih were upon makes the people go back, after having been united, to disunity which separates them as it had done with many Muslims before, turning them into groups and factions, each faction pleased with what it has. This is my opinion of the situation.
So if, as we hope, they are sincere they must cling to the correct knowledge-based principles, and that the person who has not reached the level of having correct knowledge does not have the audacity to … that he keeps himself out of sight from [delving into] that and he entrusts knowledge to the one who knows it [i.e., the scholars].
… in this regard [there] is a narration which has been reported in the books of hadeeth, I think it was ’Abdur-Rahmaan ibn Abi Layla, may Allah have mercy on him, who was one of the major scholars of the Salaf as-Saalih, he said, “In this mosque …” and maybe he was referring to the Prophet’s Mosque, “… I met …” and then he mentioned a [specific] number of Companions, I forget the number now, “… so when one of them would be asked …”
Interjection: Seventy.
Al-Albaani: Maybe it was. “I met seventy Companions in this mosque, when one of them would be asked a question or asked for a fatwa, he would wish that another one of the scholars from those Companions who were present would shoulder the responsibility for it,” and the reason for that was because they feared that they would make a mistake and thus [as a result] would cause other people to fall into making a mistake. So they would wish to not have to take this responsibility and that someone else would.
As for now, then the situation, most unfortunately, is the polar opposite.
And that is because of one reason, which is something I always mention: that this blooming which we now see for the Book and the Sunnah and the Salafi Da’wah is something new, this blossoming which they call an awakening has not been going on for a long time such that these people can reap the fruits of this awakening or blossoming in themselves, namely, by being nurtured on the foundations of the Book and the Sunnah and for them to then inundate, with this correct nurturing based upon the Book and the Sunnah, others who are around them, [calling] those closest [to them firstly] and then those after them.
So the cause is that the effects of this da’wah have not become apparent because it is new to this time in which we live, for this reason we find the situation to be the opposite of what ’Abdur-Rahmaan ibn Abi Layla reported about those Companions who would be cautious of being asked questions and who would wish that someone else would be asked, and the only reason that would make them answer a question would be because they knew that it was not allowed for them to hide knowledge—but in the depths of their hearts they used to wish that someone else would bear that responsibility.
As for now, in many Salafi gatherings let alone non-Salafi ones, a person who it is assumed has more knowledge than other people present is asked a question, and all of a sudden you will see that so and so has started to speak even though he was not asked, and so and so has started to speak even though he was not asked—what makes these people do that?
It is the love of fame. It is self-centredness, “I am here,” i.e., “I have knowledge. Maa shaa Allah about me.”
This shows that we have not had a Salafi tarbiyyah. We have grown up with Salafi knowledge, each according to his efforts and striving towards that knowledge, but as for tarbiyyah, then we have not yet acquired it as an Islamic, Salafi community …
… so we are now in an awakening in terms of knowledge but we are not in an awakening of correct upbringing [tarbiyyah]. That is why many times we find individuals, some callers, that can be benefitted from in terms of knowledge but not in manners—because he brought himself up on knowledge but was not in a righteous environment in which he was raised from childhood, and for this reason he lives carrying the manners which he inherited from that society in which he exists and in which he is found, and it is a society which without doubt is not an Islamic one, but he was able to, by himself or with the direction of some of the people of knowledge, follow the path of [obtaining] correct knowledge, but the effects of this knowledge are not seen in his manners, in his behaviour, in his actions.
The cause of this manifestation which we are talking about now is that we have not matured/fully developed in knowledge except a few individuals.
And secondly, individuals, even more so, have not been brought up according to a correct Islamic upbringing and that is why you will find that many of the beginners in seeking knowledge will prop themselves up as a head … the head of a Jamaa’ah or faction, and it is here that an old piece of wisdom which expresses this manifestation applies, it says, “The love of fame will break one’s back,” so the cause of [all of] this goes back to a lack of a correct upbringing on that correct knowledge.
Al-Hudaa wan-Noor, 188.
