Shaikh Al-AlbaniCelebrating the noble birthday of the Prophet, is it good or evil?
Questioner[It is] good.
Shaikh Al-AlbaniOkay. This good – were the Prophet, sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam, and his Companions ignorant of it?
QuestionerNo.
Shaikh Al-AlbaniI am not satisfied now with you saying no. Rather it is obligatory upon you to proceed and say: It is impossible for this good – if it is good – or other than it to be hidden from the Prophet, sallalaahu alaihi wa sallam, and his Companions specifically since we do not know Islaam except by way of Muhammad, sallalaahu alaihi wa sallam – so how do we know some good which he did not?! This is impossible.
QuestionerEstablishing the celebration of the Prophetic birthday is a revival of his remembrance, sallalaahu alaihi wa sallam, and in that is honour for him.
Shaikh Al-AlbaniThis philosophising is something we are acquainted with. We hear it from many people and have read it in their books. But when the Prophet, sallalaahu alaihi wa sallam, called people did he call them to all of Islaam or to Tawhid?
QuestionerTawhid.
Shaikh Al-AlbaniThe first thing he called them to was Tawhid. After that the prayers were made compulsory. After that fasting was made compulsory. After that Hajj was made compulsory and so on. Therefore, you [too] should proceed, step by step, according to this prescribed Sunnah. We have now agreed that it is impossible that there can be some good with us which the Prophet, sallalaahu alaihi wa sallam, did not know. [Since] we have come to know all good by way of the Prophet, sallalaahu alaihi wa sallam. No two people will differ about this and no two ram’s will strike horns over this. And I believe that whoever doubts this then he is not a Muslim. From the sayings of the Prophet, sallalaahu alaihi wa sallam, that support this are his, sallalaahu alaihi wa sallam, saying, “I have not left anything which will bring you closer to Allaah except that I have ordered you with it.” [Reported by at-Tabaraani, authentic, refer to Asl Sifatis-Salaatin-Nabee, vol. 3, p. 942]
So if celebrating his birthday was good and was something which would bring us closer to Allaah then it is befitting that the Prophet, sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam, should have directed us to it.
Correct or not? I do not want you to agree with me without being totally convinced about every letter I say. And you have total freedom to say, ‘Please, I am not convinced with this point.’ So is there anything that you are not convinced with so far or are you with me?
QuestionerWith you totally.
Shaikh Al-AlbaniMay Allaah reward you with good. So [the Prophet, sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam, said], “I have not left anything which will bring you closer to Allaah except that I have ordered you with it.”
We say to all those who claim that it is permissible to hold this celebration – this celebration is good – according to you, therefore either the Prophet, sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam, has directed us to it or he has not directed us to it. So if they say: he has directed us to it. We say: Bring your proof if you are truthful. And they will never ever find a way to be able to do that. And we have read the writings of Alawi and other than Alawi regarding this and they do not use as proof anything except the saying that this is a good innovation!! [bid’ah hasanah] This is a good innovation!!
All people, whether it is those who celebrate the birthday or those who denounce this celebration – all of them agree that this celebration was not present in the time of the Prophet, sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam, nor the time of the Noble Companions and nor the time of the eminent scholars. But those who allow this celebration say: And what is there that occurs in this celebration? It is remembrance of the Prophet, sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam, and the sending of salutations upon him and so on! So we say: If it was good they would have preceded us in it. You know the saying of the Prophet, sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam, “The best of people is my generation then the ones who follow them then the ones who follow them.” [Reported by Bukhaari, Muslim, Tirmidhee and Ibn Maajah].
And this hadith is reported in the two Sahih’s [Bukhari and Muslim]. And his generation, sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam, is the one he and his Companions lived in. Then the ones who followed them are the Taabi’een. Then the ones who followed them are the Atbaa’ut-Taabi’een (the followers of the Taabi’een). There is also no dispute in this. So can you imagine that there is any good which we could have preceded them in, in both knowledge and action? Is that possible?
QuestionerAs for knowledge, if the Prophet, sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam, had said to anyone in his time that the Earth spins …
Shaikh Al-AlbaniI’m sorry. I would prefer you do not sidetrack. Since I asked you about two things: knowledge and action. And in reality, what you just said has benefited me – since naturally when referring to knowledge I am referring to religious [shar’ee] knowledge not medicine, for example. I can say that a doctor here is more knowledgeable than Ibn Sina in his time, because he came generations later, and he has had much much more experience and practice - but this does not prove his virtue before Allaah and nor does it put him before the generations that were given witness to [in the above mentionedhadith]. But it does prove his virtue in the knowledge [field] which he knows. And we are speaking about ordained [shar’ee] knowledge, may Allaah bless you. So it is obligatory that we pay attention to this. When I say to you: do you believe that it is possible that we can be more knowledgeable, I am referring to religious [shar’ee] knowledge not knowledge gained through experience like geography, astronomy, chemistry or physics. Suppose, for example, in this time there is a disbeliever in Allaah and His Messenger, sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam,but he is the most knowledgeable of all people in these sciences, will that bring him closer to Allaah?
QuestionerNo
Shaikh Al-AlbaniThus we are not talking now about knowledge in those fields, rather we are talking about that knowledge by which we want to get closer to Allaah, the Blessed and Most High. And a short while ago we were talking about the celebration of the birthday of the Prophet, sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam. So the question now returns, and I hope that I will obtain a clear answer without any sidetracking again. So I say: do you believe, with what you have been given of intellect and understanding, that it is possible for us – and we are at the end of time – that we can be more knowledgeable than the Companions and the students of the Companions [Taabi’een] and the Mujtahid Imaams in religious [shar’ee] knowledge, and that we can be faster in doing good actions and getting closer to Allaah than these righteous predecessors?
QuestionerBy religious knowledge do you mean exegis [tafsir] of the Quraan?
Shaikh Al-AlbaniThey are more knowledgeable than us regarding tafsir of the Quran; they are more knowledgeable than us regarding explanations of the sayings of the Prophet, sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam – at the end of the day they are more knowledgeable than us regarding the entire Shari’ah of Islaam.
Transcribed with abridgement from one of the tapes of Shaikh Al-Albani, may Allaah have mercy on him. Silsilatul-Hudaa wal-Noor, tape no. 1/94.
Words between square brackets [] are those of the translator.
Words between square brackets [] are those of the translator.
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