Muhammad b. al-Hajj Nuh b. Nijati b. Adam al-Ishqudri al-Albani al-Arnauti (), better known simply as Al-Albani (August 16, 1914 – October 2, 1999), was an Albanian-born Islamic scholar and watchmaker, who in particular was a famous Salafi hadith scholar. 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 quietism and obedience to established governments. A watchmaker by trade, Al-Albani was active as a writer, publishing chiefly on ahadith and its sciences. He also lectured widely in the Middle East, Spain and the United Kingdom on the Salafist movement.
Biography
Early life
Albani was born in 1914, into a poor Muslim Albanian family in the city of Shkodër, whom spoke Albanian in the Gheg dialect. His father studied Fiqh in Istanbul, and was a leading scholar of the Hanafi School of Thought in Albania. During the reign of the secularist Albanian leader Ahmet Zogu, and because Shkodër was completely devastated by earlier Montenegrin sieges, al-Albani's family migrated to Damascus, Syria. In Damascus, al-Albani completed his primary education in Al Isaaf Charity School with distinction, and due to his father's opinions from religious viewpoint, he created a curriculum for him focusing on religious education. He was initially taught by his father in the Quran, Tajwid, and Al Nahwah. He memorized the Quran, and studied numerous books such as 'Mukhtasar Al Quduri'. Hanafi Fiqh and further branches of the Islamic faith, also helped by native Syrian scholars. In the meantime, he earned a modest living as a carpenter before joining his father as a watchmaker.
Study
Despite his father's systematic guidance to him imitating Hanafi School of Thought and his strong warning against studying the Hadith, he 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 'Atar,'Izz al din al tanoukhi,Shaykh Saeed 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.
His teachers
The most important teacher of 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.
Later life and death
Starting in 1954, Albani began delivering informal weekly lessons. By 1960, his popularity began to worry the government, and he was placed under surveillance. He was imprisoned twice in 1969. He was placed under house arrest more than once in the 1970s by the Ba'ath regime of Hafez al-Assad. The Syrian government accused Albani of "promoting the Wahhabi da'wa, which distorted Islam and confused Muslims."