Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani

Early life

Albani was born into a poor Muslim family in the city of Shkodër in northern Albania in 1914. During the reign of the secularist Albanian leader Ahmet Zogu, al-Albani's family migrated to Damascus, Syria. In Damascus, Albani completed his early education - initially taught by his father - in the Quran, Tajwid, Arabic linguistic sciences, Hanafi Fiqh and further branches of the Islamic faith, also helped by native Syrian scholars. In the meantime, he earned a modest living as a carpenter before joining his father as a watchmaker.

Albani began to specialize in hadith studies in the 1930s. Though he was largely self-taught, he transcribed and commented on Abd al-Rahim ibn al-Husain al-'Iraqi's Al-Mughnee 'an-hamlil-Asfar fil-Asfar fee takhrej maa fil-lhyaa min al-Akhbar. He followed this writing a series of lectures and books, as well as publishing articles in Al-Manar magazine.

Scholastic career

Starting in 1954, Albani began delivering informal weekly lessons. By 1960, his popularity began to worry the government of Syria, and he was placed under surveillance by the Hafiz al-Asad government. He was imprisoned twice in 1969. In the late 1970s, the government placed him under house arrest more than once.

After a number of his works were published, Albani was invited to teach Hadith at the Islamic University of Madinah in Saudi Arabia by the University's then-vice president, Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz. Shortly upon his arrival, Albani angered the Wahhabi elite in Saudi Arabia, who did not like his anti-traditionalist stances in Muslim jurisprudence. They were alarmed by Albani's intellectual challenges to the ruling Hanbali school of law but were unable to challenge him openly due to his popularity. When Albani wrote a book supporting his view that the Niqab, or full face-veil, was not a binding obligation upon Muslim women, he caused a minor uproar in the country. His opponents ensured that his contract with the university was allowed to lapse without renewal.

In 1963, Albani left Saudi Arabia and returned to his studies and work in the Az-Zahiriyah library in Syria. He left his watch shop in the hands of one of his brothers. He was later invited back to Saudi Arabia in the 1970s, but did not remain long because of opposition from clerics.

Imprisonment in Syria

Albani was arrested twice in Syria in the 1960s. He was jailed in May 1967 and released a month later, in June 1967. During his imprisonment, al-Albani edited Al-Hafiz al-Munziri’s Mukhtasar Sahih Muslim.

He was placed under house arrest more than once in the 1970s by the Ba'ath regime of Hafez al-Assad. The Syrian government accused Albani of "promoting the Wahhabi da’wa, which distorted Islam and confused Muslims."

Later life

Albani visited various countries for preaching and lectures – amongst them Qatar, Egypt, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Spain, and the United Kingdom. He moved a number of times between Syria and a couple of cities in Jordan. He also lived in the UAE.

After Bin Baz's intervention with Saudi educational management, Albani was invited to Saudi Arabia a second time in order to serve as the head of higher education in Islamic law in Mecca. This did not last due to controversy among the Saudi establishment regarding Albani's views.

Albani returned to Syria, where he was briefly jailed again in 1979. He moved to Jordan, living there for the remainder of his time. He died in 1999 at the age of 85.

Albani was a proponent of Salafism. He is considered one of the movement's primary figureheads in the 20th century. He was critical of what he viewed as the stagnation of Muslim civilization, blaming it on a blind fanaticism to old traditions that resulted in a stifling of free thought and inquiry. Albani criticised the four mainstream schools of Islamic law, in addition to the spread of Sufism and the Tariqa system. Although Salafism has frequently been associated with Wahhabism, Albani distinguished between the two movements, and he criticised the latter while supporting the former. He had a complex relationship to each movement.

Albani was amongst some leading Salafi scholars who were preaching for decades against what they considered the warped literalism of extremists. Politically they were quietists who rejected vigilantism and rebellion against the state. They believed that Muslims should focus on purifying their beliefs and practice and that, in time, "God would bring victory over the forces of falsehood and unbelief."

Albani's own views on jurisprudence and dogma have been a matter of debate and discussion. During a 1989 visit to Saudi Arabia, Albani was asked if he adhered to the lesser-known Zahiri school of Islamic law; he responded affirmatively. Albani's opponents among the mainstream have affirmed this as a point of criticism. A number of Albani's students have denied his association with any formal school of jurisprudence.

Albani held a number of controversial views that ran counter to the wider Islamic consensus, and more specifically to Hanbali jurisprudence. These include:

• his view that mihrabs — the niche found in a mosques indicating the direction of Mecca — were bid'ah (an innovation).
• his view that it was permissible to pray in a mosque with one’s shoes
• his call for Palestinians to leave the occupied territories since, according to him, they were unable to practice their faith there as they shouldThis view was also controversial within the Salafi movement.
• his view that it is prohibited for women to wear gold bracelets.
• his view that it was not necessary for women to cover their faces.
• his view that the Muslim ruler must be from the tribe of al-Quraysh.

Additionally, Albani wrote a book in which he redefined the proper gestures and formulae that constitute the Muslim prayer ritual “according to the Prophet’s sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallams practice.” These were contrary to the prescriptions of all established schools of jurisprudence. As he argued that several details of the concrete prayer that have been taught from generation to generation were based on dubious hadith, his book caused considerable unease. Albani's descriptions for the performance of the Tahajjud and Taraweeh prayer deviated considerably from established practice.

Albani openly criticized Syed Qutb after the leader was executed. He claimed that Qutb had deviated in creed and held the belief of Oneness of Being. Further, Albani accused Hassan al-Banna, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, of not being a religious scholar and holding "positions contrary to the Sunna".

Albani was criticized by a number of contemporary Sunni scholars. Safar Al-Hawali criticized Albani for his "categorical condemnation of Taqlid" and his "radical hadith based revisionism".

In the early 1970s Syrian Hadith scholar Abd al-Fattah Abu Ghudda published a tract against al-Albani's reevaluation of Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. In 1987 the Egyptian hadith scholar Mahmud Sa'id Mamduh published a work entitled Alerting the Muslim to al-Albani's Transgression upon Sahih Muslim.

He stated that:

Indeed, I have concluded that his methods disagree with those of the jurists and hadith scholars, and that his methods are creating great disarray and evident disruption in the proofs of jurisprudence both generally and specifically. He lacks trust in the Imams of law and hadith, as well as in the rich hadith and law tradition handed down to us, in which the umma has taken great pride.

Syrian hadith scholar Nur al-Din 'Itr rebutted some of al-Albani's views. His contemporary, the Syrian scholar Said Ramadan al-Bouti, took issue with Albani's well-known call for all Palestinians to leave Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. He wrote two rebuttals of al-Albani entitled Anti-Madhabism: the dangers of an innovation that threaten the Sharia and Salafiyya: a blessed historical period, not a school of fiqh.

Lebanese scholar Gibril Fouad Haddad dubbed al-Albani "the chief innovator of our time" and accused him of bid'ah. The "reformed" jihadist Sayyed Imam Al-Sharif considered Albani to be "wrapped in evil" and "not suitable to be a sheikh" for his alleged claim that Jihad is defined as forgiveness, education and prayer.

Albani was awarded the King Faisal International Prize in 1999 before his death for his contributions to Islamic studies. The award committee described him as "considered by many academics as probably the greatest Islamic scholar of the 20th Century."

Over a period of sixty years, Albani's lectures and published books were highly influential in the field of Islamic studies, and many of his works became widely referred to by other Islamic scholars. Muhibb-ud-Deen Al-Khatib, a contemporary scholar, said of him: "And from the callers to the Sunnah who devoted their lives to reviving it was our brother Muhammad Nasiruddin Nooh Najati Al-Albani."

In 2015, the Huffington Post remarked that Albani's movement of "'Quietist Salafism' with its strong opposition to tafkirism (doctrine of excommunication and declaring other Muslims of being heretics) and violence may provide the rhetoric that could prevent youth from being drawn to the apocalyptic rubbish of ISIS."

Albani's works, mainly in the field of Hadith and its sciences, number over 100. They include:

1. At-Targhib wa't-Tarhib (Volumes 1–4)
2. At-Tasfiyah wa't-Tarbiya
3. At-Tawassulu: Anwa'uhu wa Ahkamuhu (Tawassul: Its Types & Its Rulings) (link to english translation)
4. Irwa al-Ghalil (Volumes 1–9)
5. Talkhis Ahkam al-Jana'iz
6. Sahih wa Da'if Sunan Abu Dawood (Volumes 1–4)
7. Sahih wa Da'if Sunan at-Tirmidhi (Volumes 1–4)
8. Sahih wa Da'if Sunan ibn Majah (Volumes 1–4)
9. Al-Aqidah at-Tahawiyyah Sharh wa Ta'liq
10. Sifatu Salati An-Nabiyy (link to English translation)
11. Silsalat al-Hadith ad-Da'ifa (Volumes 1–14)
12. Silsalat al-Hadith as-Sahiha (Volumes 1–11)
13. Salat ut-Tarawih (later an abridgement of this book was published by al-Albani – Qiyamu Ramadhan)
14. Salat an-Nabawi (the prayer of the prophet in the light of authentic hadiths) (link to english translation)