Yet—like most biographies written while their subjects are still alive—it now calls for revision and augmentation, for it was composed long ago and printed in 1407 AH, thirteen years before the Shaykh passed away. In the meantime many new events have taken place in the life of the biographee that deserve to be incorporated into the book⦗1⦘. Would that its author would turn his attention to this and give the work the importance it merits, for it remains the most comprehensive and best treatment of the subject. Moreover, many of the Shaykh’s writings that he there described as “manuscript” have since been published.

(3) Next is the book ʿUlamāʾ wa-Mufakkirūn ʿaraftuhum by Muḥammad al-Majdhūb—may Allah have mercy on him—(1/287–325). Its value lies in the fact that the biography is constructed from the Shaykh’s own answers to questions al-Majdhūb put to him. I have nevertheless placed it third, because what it contains does not cover every facet of the Shaykh’s life and because the biography is itself quite old.

(4) I have also come across a pleasant little treatise written some time ago by one of the Shaykh’s students, Dr. ʿĀṣim ibn ʿAbd-Allāh al-Qaryūtī.

(5) He later published a substantial work entitled Kawkabah min Aʾimmat al-Hudā wa-Maṣābīḥ al-Dujā (A Constellation of Imams of Guidance and Lamps Amid the Darkness), which includes the biographies of six contemporary scholars, among them Imām al-Albānī. The importance of this biography stems from the fact that it was penned by one of his senior pupils who knew him well.

(6) The esteemed Shaykh Muḥammad ʿĪd al-ʿAbbāsī—may Allah preserve him—and ʿAlī Khishān have each produced A Concise Biography of Shaykh al-Albānī.

(7) Biographical sketches of the Shaykh may also be found in various other sources, including the newspaper feature “Ṣawt al-ʿArab Asks and the Muhaddith of Damascus Answers.”