As for my outstanding dues from him, accumulated over several years, and other matters of which he is aware, I never called him to account for them because of my former trust in him. I ask Allah Most High to compensate me for them from his good deeds, “the Day when neither wealth nor children will avail”—a Day when there will be no dirhams or dinars, but only good deeds and evil deeds. The Prophet, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, said: “If he has righteous deeds, some will be taken from them in proportion to the wrong he committed; and if he has no good deeds, some of the evil deeds of the one he wronged will be taken and laid upon him.”
Al-Bukhari narrated it. That is the truly bankrupt person, as stated in the hadith that follows in this book, no. (847). We ask Allah for safety. And pardon me, readers, for I am deeply distressed!
***
It may be appropriate to mention, in this introduction, and draw the readers’ attention to, the following matters:
- Readers will find beneath the following hadith:
503—“Glad tidings for the Levant: the angels of the Most Merciful spread their wings over it.”
A composed and substantial response, extending over nine pages, to the remarks of one of the distinguished Meccan shaykhs (1)—who passed away, may Allah have mercy on him, several years ago. In a letter he had sent to me, he had judged the aforementioned hadith to be weak. I was prompted to respond to him because of his merit and because he followed the path of impartial criticism, which gave no indication that he was responding out of a desire for renown—unlike many novices and deluded youths, whose sole concern is to rush to refute al-Albani, rather than to clarify the truth. For in the depths of their hearts, they know that they are not qualified for this—not because al-Albani does not err; Allah forbid! No one is infallible after the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him. By Allah’s grace, I return to the truth whenever it becomes clear to me through another person, whatever his standing. My books, and my retractions from what has become clear to me as my errors, are the greatest proof of what—