Chapter Four: Works Devoted to the Shaykh’s Scholarship and Methodology
[Books that focused on the Shaykh’s learning and set out his method]
I have come across a number of titles concerned with the Shaykh’s scholarship. Some warrant criticism, whether for their substance or their style; nonetheless I have chosen to record them here because they meet my criteria and may still be of benefit. They are:
(1) “Guiding the Near and the Far to Albani’s Fiqh,” compiled and prepared by Nazir Ramadan Haji.
It is an index of the “scholarly questions” discussed by Shaykh Albani, arranged by topic.
(2) “Explanation and Notification of the Foundational Principles of the Scholar Albani in Matters of Faith, with a Refutation of the Murjiʾah,” by ʿAli b. Hasan.
(3) “Useful Alerts to the Hadiths that the Hadith-Scholar Albani Later Retracted (2), Whether Weak or Authentic,” collected and arranged by ʿAbd al-Basit b. Yusuf al-Gharib.
(4) “Al-Hawi: A Compendium of Shaykh Albani’s Fatwas,” by Abu Hummam al-Masri.
[Note]
The journal al-Asalah reported that Shaykh Albani repudiated this book in the strongest terms. The same applies to the work “Shaykh Albani’s Fatwas and Their Comparison with the Fatwas of the Scholars” (to be mentioned later), and Allah knows best.
(5) “The Life of Albani, His Works, and the Scholars’ Praise of Him,” by Shaykh Muhammad b. Ibrahim al-Shaybani. It is the finest of the group, were it not that it was written long ago.
(6) “Shaykh Albani’s Selections and Critical Editions,” by the eminent scholar Bakr b. ʿAbd Allah Abu Zayd—may Allah preserve him—who said about it: