Al-Albani

Muhammad Nasir al-Din was born in 1914 in Shkodër, Albania.

His father, Nuh ibn Najati, was a scholar of the Hanafi (school of thought) of Sunni Islam who learned Islamic studies in Istanbul.

Fearing the rise of secularism during the rule of Ahmed Muhtar Zogu, Nuh detached his son from school in Albania.

At the age of nine in 1923, al-Albani and his family moved to Damascus, then under French occupied-Syria.

In Damascus, he was taught the Qur'an, the Hanafi, and other topics by his father and several local shaykhs.

He learned the Arabic language from al-Is'af, a non-profit civil school where he was known as the.

He became known by the ("the Albanian") only after he dropped out of school and began to write.

Afterward, he studied the renowned Hanafi book of al-Shurunbulali with his teacher, Sa'id al-Burhani.

He studied numerous books such as, also helped by native Syrian scholars.

In the meantime, he earned a modest living as a carpenter before joining his father as a watchmaker.

Despite his father's discouragement against hadith studies, al-Albani became interested in the Hadith, therefore he learned the Hadith at about twenty years of age, influenced by the al-Manar magazine founded by Muhammad Rashid Rida.

Though he was taught by Muhammad Bahjat al-Baytar, 'Izz al din al tanoukhi,Shaykh Sa'id al-Burhani,Ibn al Baghi etc.

he transcribed and commented on Abd al-Rahim ibn al-Husain al-'Iraqi's Al-Mughnee 'an-hamlil-Asfar fil-Asfar fee takhrej maa fil-lhyaa min al-Akhbar.

He followed this writing a series of lectures and books, as well as publishing articles in the al-Manar magazine.

That work was the beginning of al-Albani's scholarly career, and for this book he became known in the scholarly circles of Damascus, and library allocated him a special room to carry out his research, and gave him a duplicate key of the library.

After a while, he began teaching two lessons per week about doctrine, Fiqh and Hadith.

His lessons were attended by students and university professors.

He also began organizing advocacy trips to various cities of Syria and Jordan.

Then, he obtained a leave from Muhammad Rabegh Al Tabakh, to profess Hadith in Islamic University of Madinah from 1381 until 1383 AH, and then he returned to Damascus to complete his studies, and to his work in the library, where he left his place for one of his brothers.

The most important teacher of al-Albani was his father.

Moreover, he studied under Muhammad Saeed Al Burhani; where he studied a book named 'Maraqi Al Falah' on Hanafi Jurisprudence, and 'Shadoor Al Dhahab', a book on Arabic Grammar, and some other contemporary books on rhetoric.

He also used to attend the lessons of Muhammad Bahjat Al Atar, scholar of levant.

His other teachers were 'Izz al Din al Tanoukhi and Ibn al Baghi.

Starting in 1954, al-Albani began delivering informal weekly lessons.

By 1960, his popularity began to worry the government, and he was placed under surveillance.

At the foundation of the Islamic University of Madinah in 1961, al-Albani received an invitation to teach hadith either by Ibn Baz, the university's vice president, or by Muhammad ibn Ibrahim, the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia.

Shortly upon his arrival, al-Albani angered the Hanbali Scholars in Saudi Arabia, who did not like his anti-traditionalist stances in Muslim jurisprudence.

They were alarmed by al-Albani's intellectual challenges to the ruling Hanbali school of law but were unable to challenge him openly due to his popularity.

Al-Albani wrote a book supporting his view that the niqab, or full face-veil, was not a binding obligation upon Muslim women.

In 1963, al-Albani left Saudi Arabia and returned to his studies and work in the Az-Zahiriyah library in Syria.

He left his watch shop in the hands of one of his brothers.

Al-Albani visited various countries for preaching and lectures – amongst them Qatar, Egypt, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

He was imprisoned twice in 1969.

He was placed under house arrest more than once in the 1970s by the Ba'ath regime of Hafiz al-Asad.

The Syrian government prisoned al-Albani of "promoting the Wahhabi da'wa, which distorted Islam and confused Muslims."

Muhammad Nasir al-Din (1914 – 2 October 1999), known by his al-Albani, was an Albanian Islamic scholar known for being a famous muhaddith.

A major figure of the Salafi methodology of Islam, he established his reputation in Syria, where his family had moved and where he was educated as a child.

Al-Albani did not advocate violence, preferring obedience to established governments.

A watchmaker by trade, Al-Albani was active as a writer, publishing chiefly on hadith and its sciences.

He also lectured widely in the Middle East, Spain and the United Kingdom on the Salafist movement.