The Imaam of Ahlus-Sunnah, Ibn Baaz, asked About Al-Albaani: He is not Infallible and Makes Mistakes Like all Other Scholars

by The Albaani Site

 

Questioner: What is your Eminence’s opinion about relying on what al-Albaani has authenticated?

The Imaam of Ahlus-Sunnah, Ibn Baaz: Shaikh Muhammad Naasirud-Deen al-Albaani, Naasirud-Deen al-Albaani, is from the elite, from the scholars well-known for their integrity, sound ’aqidah, and diligence in authenticating hadiths and clarifying their status. He is a chief support/pillar in this regard, but he is not infallible, he may fall into a mistake in declaring some hadiths authentic or weak, just like any other scholar, every scholar is like that, having some mistakes, from the earliest scholars to those who came later.

The student of knowledge must look at what he has authenticated, or declared hasan or weak, if he is from the people of knowledge, from the people of this field, someone who knows hadiths and can take a look at their paths of narration and their narrators, such that if he finds that what the Shaikh has said is correct, then alhamdulillaah, and if not then he relies on the proofs that are clear to him which the people of knowledge in this field have followed. Because the people of knowledge established principles to authenticate hadiths and declare them weak, as for [… unclear …] the people of knowledge, he [i.e., al-Albaani] is a chief support/pillar in authenticating and declaring hadiths to be weak, because he is from the people of knowledge, he is from those who are [experts] in this field, he has studied for a long time and many years, we ask Allaah to give us and him success and a good ending.

Questioner: Ameen, O Allaah, and may Allaah reward you with good.

See here for a collection of statements that scholars made about Shaikh al-Albaani, may Allaah have mercy on him.