Sh al-Al Bani’s praise of Imam Hasan al-Banna [r]

In one of the most reliable biography on the late Muhaddith of our time, Imam al Al-Bani written by one of his students Muhammad bin Ibrahim ash-Shaybani, also approved by the late Shaykh himself, we read the ocean of a scholar Imam al-Albani was in Hadith and its various sciences. Like all the great scholars of the past his love for knowledge, da’wah and calling people to the true minhaj of the Qur’an can be clearly observed in his writings, speeches and discussions between his contemporaries and students.

Unfortunately, many of the times we hear and read harsh things about the Shaykh. This may be due to the fact that sometimes even those people who had the pleasure of sitting and learning from the Shaykh have not really conveyed a clear image of his character and love for knowledge which was unadulterated by blind following and partisanship [‘asabiyyah].

Even though he disagreed in some matters with the Ikhwanul Muslimun and its leader, Imam Shahid Hasan al-Banna, he cooperated with them with love and respect for scholarship and activism Imam Hasan al-Banna promulgated among the masses of his time, especially the youth.

The biographer of Shaykh al-Al-Bani writes, ‘’the Shaykh ad-Dai’at [caller to Islam] Hasan al Banna sent a letter to Shaykh al-Al-Bani encouraging him to continue in his [al-Bani] path of sound knowledge. This was after the Shaykh published some of his notes [ta’liqat] in the ‘Ikhwanul Muslimun’ magazine on some of the articles by Shaykh Sayyid Sabiq on the ‘Fiqh us Sunnah’ which were published in the aforementioned magazine and later became a book at the advice of Shaykh Hasan al Banna. The Shaykh [al-Bani] said: ‘Unfortunately this letter has been lost’ [the letter from Imam Hasan al Banna]’’ [Biography of al-Al Bani, his influence and praise of the Scholars. P 68, vol 1]

The following is a rough translation of a speech by Shaykh al-Al-Bani talking about this, commending and praising Imam Hasan al-Banna:

The Shaykh says, ‘’I had some correspondence with Ustadh Shaykh Hasan al-Banna, may Allah have mercy upon him. Some of you present may remember that when the magazine ‘Ikhwanul Muslim’ was published in Cairo [a magazine owned by the Jama’ah Ikhwanul Muslimun], Ustadh Sayyid Sabiq used to publish some of his articles on the ‘Fiqh us Sunnah’……..I began to read them and made some observations. I wrote to the magazine with these observations and requested them to publish them in it. They agreed and published them. Not only this but a letter of encouragement was sent to me from Shaykh Hasan al-Banna. And how regretful I am that this letter has been lost and I do not know where it has gone!’’

He continues to praise Imam Hasan al-Banna and says, ‘’I say in front of my brothers of the Salafiyyah and in front of all the Muslims that if it weren’t of the excellence of Shaykh Hasan al-Banna over the youth except that he took them out from the circle of profanity in the cinemas, coffee houses and similar places and gathered them upon one da’wah, the da’wah of Islam, if he did not possess no other virtue except this it would be sufficient for him in merit and nobility. This is what we say, believing [in it], without showing off or being flatulent’’

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