Did Shaykh Al-Albani Call Shaykh Rabee' Al-Madkhali Harsh?
- Muiz As-Siddeeqi
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
Did Shaykh Al-Albani Call Shaykh Rabee' Al-Madkhali Harsh?
Question:
How do we respond to someone who says that Shaykh al-Albānī said Shaykh Rabī‘ has some harshness in him?
Answer by Shaykh ‘Arafāt ibn Ḥasan:
You accepted Shaykh al-Albānī’s statement that Shaykh Rabī‘ has some harshness. Okay then — Shaykh al-Albānī also said: “The one carrying the banner of al-Jarḥ wat-Ta‘dīl (criticism & praise) is Shaykh Rabī‘.” Will you accept that as well? It’s the same Shaykh al-Albānī who said it.
He (al-Albānī) also said to him: “O Rabī‘, you have made it clear to us...” — and this is in Shaykh al-Albānī’s own handwriting, which I read myself in the Albānī Library that was brought to the Islamic University. He wrote it as a comment on Shaykh Rabī‘’s book “al-‘Awāṣim mimmā fī Kutub Sayyid Qutb min al-Qawāṣim” (The Protecting Shields Against the Disasters Found in the Books of Sayyid Qutb). At the end of the book, after reading it, Shaykh al-Albānī wrote in his own handwriting:
“May Allāh reward you with good, O Rabī‘. You have clarified for us that Sayyid Qutb is ignorant in the fundamentals and branches of the religion.”
He praised him greatly and said:
“No one speaks ill of Shaykh Rabī‘ except a person of desires — and I ask Allāh to break his back — or an ignorant man — and I ask Allāh to guide him.”
So, will you accept this praise and commendation just as you accepted the statement that he has some harshness?
Let’s suppose he said that he does have harshness — is this harshness praiseworthy or blameworthy? Yaḥyā ibn Ma‘īn — they mentioned that he was harsh, harsh in his speech about men (in the science of ḥadīth criticism). Shu‘bah, the first to speak about narrators, was also said to be harsh. So, there is nothing wrong with a scholar being described as having harshness. Harshness may in fact be wisdom.
The foundation of our da‘wah is wisdom and gentleness. Wisdom is: I may do something that has some harshness, but that harshness is in its proper place. And I may do something with gentleness, and that gentleness is also in its proper place. Even though the basis is gentleness.
That’s why, when the Prophet ﷺ said to the man who had said “Whatever Allāh wills and you will, O Messenger of Allāh”, the Prophet ﷺ replied: “Have you made me a partner with Allāh?! Say: Whatever Allāh alone wills.” — this was praiseworthy harshness. He said to him, “You made me equal to Allāh? You made me a rival to Allāh?” — this was in its proper place and was correct.
‘Ā’ishah — in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim — when she followed the Prophet ﷺ as he went out to seek forgiveness for the people of al-Baqī‘, he asked her:
“Was that your shadow following me?” She replied, “Yes.” She said: “So he nudged me” — meaning he struck her — and she was his wife, and he has qawāmah (protective authority & responsibility) over her, and he is the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ. She added that it caused her pain. And she is the same one who said:
“He never struck a woman or a servant with his hand.”
So then, harshness is sometimes wisdom, because it is used in its proper place.
Against whom was Shaykh Rabī‘ harsh? Against the people of innovation, the people of misguidance — against the Ikhwān, the Qutbiyyah, the Surūriyyah, Sayyid Qutb and their likes. They distorted the religion of Allāh, did not follow the methodology of the Salaf, discredited the scholars, undermined their status, and dismissed their fatwas regarding nawāzil.
How much corruption & calamities do they have! And they showed blind partisanship toward the likes of Sayyid Qutb, Ḥasan al-Bannā, etc.
Translation: Yāsīn ibn Jamāl
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