So I purchased it—gladly—but my joy soon turned to sorrow when I read what he wrote ⦗172⦘:

“Here ends everything I have been able to find of the scattered ‘Articles of the eminent scholar al-Albani, may Allah have mercy on him,’ in the Damascene journals in particular (1). I do, however, have in my possession articles, interviews, legal opinions, and dialogues that appeared in many other newspapers and magazines such as al-Asalah, al-Bayan, al-Mujtamaʿ, al-Jamiʿah al-Salafiyyah, al-Mujahid, al-Tawhid, and others. I hope that I will be able to complete them and publish them in a different section of this series of books entitled ‘Selections from the Treasures of the Journals.’” End quote.

I was astonished by this statement, and by what he put on the book’s cover: “A collection published here for the first time,” which led readers to imagine that the volume contained all of the Shaykh’s articles.

Why did he not—may Allah pardon us and him—write beneath the title of the book: “Part One: Articles from the Damascene Journals”?

A second point: from his own words we gather that the compiler possesses many articles from the various magazines he listed, all gathered in his hands (as he himself said). Why, then, did he not include them in this book, having written on it “A collection published here for the first time”? How can he say, “I hope that I will be able to complete them and publish them in another section, different from this one”? Is not this very book the obvious place for those articles?

Indeed, the compiler—may Allah forgive us and him—has been unduly negligent in withholding these articles, though they are already in his possession, and consigning them to another book. Allah’s help is sought.

[The Shaykh’s “Articles”]

My present work will be confined solely to the articles that Nūr al-Dīn Ṭālib collected in Maqālāt al-Albānī, with occasional commentary (2).