Shaykh al-Albaani (may Allaah have mercy on him) was a great muhaddith and a mujtahid faqeeh

Firstly: 

Allaah has created people
of different levels in terms of understanding, and He has raised some above
others with regard to knowledge and faith. Real life bears witness to that.
Hence people are of varying degrees with regard to ijtihaad and taqleed.  

Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan
(may Allaah preserve him) said: 

People fall into four
categories: 

The first category is those
who are able to made ijtihad in absolute terms, by referring directly to the
Qur’aan and Sunnah and deriving rulings from them, and they do not follow
any other scholars (taqleed). 

This is the highest status,
but this only applies to the one who fulfils the known conditions of
ijtihaad, by having knowledge of the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of the
Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), and by
having knowledge of Arabic in which the Qur’aan was revealed, and by having
knowledge of al-muhkam and al-mutashaabih (clear, unambiguous texts and
ambiguous texts), al-naasikh wa’l-mansookh (texts which abrogate others and
texts which are abrogated), al-mutlaq wa’l-muqayyad (texts with absolute
meanings and texts with limited meanings), al-khaas wa’l-‘aam (texts with
specific meanings and texts with general meanings). He should also have
knowledge of how to derive rulings, meaning that he should be qualified.
Such a person may engage in ijtihaad. This category includes people like the
four imams – Abu Haneefah, Maalik, al-Shaafa’i and Ahmad – as well as
Sufyaan al-Thawri and al-Awzaa’i. To these people Allaah gave the ability to
engage in ijtihaad.

The second category is
those who cannot engage in ijtihaad in absolute terms, but they are able to
weigh up the opinions of scholars and determine which is more correct,
because of their knowledge of which opinions are based on evidence and which
are not. 

Such a person must follow
that for which there is evidence, and shun that which goes against the
evidence. This action is called tarjeeh (weighing up what is more correct)
and is also known as al-ijtihaad al-madhhabi (ijtihaad based on the study of
different views). 

The third category is those
who cannot engage in tarjeeh. Such a person is regarded as one of the
muqallideen (those who follow other scholars), but if he knows that some
opinion has no supporting evidence then he does not follow it. But so long
as he does not know and it is not clear to him that it is contrary to the
evidence, there is nothing wrong with him imitating and following the
opinions of the trustworthy scholars. 

The fourth category is the
one who is unable to do any of the above; neither ijtihaad in an absolute
sense nor weighing what is more correct nor following a specific madhhab,
such as the ordinary Muslim, for example. 

Such a person has to ask
the people of knowledge, as Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“So ask of those who know the Scripture, if you know not” [al-Nahl 16:43].
So he should ask the one who be believes is most trustworthy and the scholar
in whom he has the greatest confidence, of those whose knowledge and actions
he trusts, and follow his fatwa. 

These are the categories of
people with regard to this issue. 

What a person should do is
know what level he is at, and he should not put himself in a higher position
than he deserves. Indeed, the matter is more serious than that. He should
fear Allaah, because it is the matter of halaal and haraam, of Paradise and
Hell, so he should not indulge in matters that he does not have the
knowledge and skill to deal with. End quote.  

I’aanah al-Mustafeed bi
Sharh Kitaab al-Tawheed. 

Secondly: 

We do not know anything of
Shaykh al-Albaani (may Allaah have mercy on him) except that he was one of
the prominent scholars the field of ijtihaad and fatwas. He is one of the
imams of our era in this regard. His books, tapes and halaqahs bear witness
to that. The imams of fatwas and ijtihaad praise his knowledge and refer to
him, and quote his words as evidence. The one who says that he was a
muhaddith but not a faqeeh is mistaken. Rather he was an experienced faqeeh
who adhered to the rules and guidelines of knowledge. It is not known that
he had his own principles on which he based his understanding of Islam,
rather he followed the same path as the imams of knowledge among the
righteous salaf, and his knowledge of hadeeth qualified him to base his
determination of which view is more correct on the ahaadeeth which he
believed to be saheeh (sound). 

The scholars of the
Standing Committee for Issuing Fatwas said of Shaykh al-Albaani: 

This man is well known to
us for his knowledge and virtue, his veneration of and service to the Sunnah
and his support of Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jamaa’ah in warning against fanaticism
and blind following. His books are very useful, but like any other scholar,
he is not infallible; he makes mistakes and gets things right, but we hope
that in matters where he got it right he will have two rewards, and in
matters where he got it wrong he will have the reward of ijtihaad, as it is
proven that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
said: “When the judge issues a ruling, if he strives to work it out
(ajtahada) and gets it right, he will have two rewards, and if he issues a
ruling and strives to work it out but gets it wrong, he will have one
reward.” Agreed upon. End quote. 

Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn
Baaz, Shaykh ‘Abd al-Razzaaq ‘Afeefi, Shaykh ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Ghadyaan,
Shaykh ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Qa’ood. 

Fataawa al-Lajnah
al-Daa’imah (12/324, 325) 

They testified that he (may
Allaah have mercy on him) was one of the scholars, and that he was one of
the mujtahideen. Everyone who is fair minded knows that Shaykh al-Albaani
(may Allaah have mercy on him) was well versed in fiqh and ijtihaad, and we
can see evidence for that in three things: 

1.

The testimony of the
scholars to that effect. This has been compiled in the book Hayaat
al-Albaani by Shaykh Muhammad ibn Ibraaheem al-Shaybaani (may Allaah
guide him). 

2.

His well-written books of
fiqh, some of which are unprecedented and without equal. It is sufficient
for us to mention as an example his book Ahkaam al-Janaa’iz (the
rulings on funerals), which is very well-written and is indicative of his
profound understanding of the Sunnah, and is supported by his understanding
of the fiqhi principles that were followed by the salaf or early generations
of the ummah. We may also add to that Aadaab al-Zafaaf (wedding
etiquette) and Tamaam al-Minnah fi’l-Ta’leeq ‘ala Kitaab Fiqh al-Sunnah
(a commentary on Fiqh al-Sunnah). 

3.

His tapes which are widely
available worldwide, of which one thousand are in circulation; those which
have not yet been produced contain 5000 hours of audio material. All of
these tapes are recordings of just some of his halaqahs, so how about if all
of his halaqahs had been recorded!? 

Thirdly: 

Finally we should point out
some important matters: 

1.

Shaykh al-Albaani (may
Allaah have mercy on him) was a human being, who got things right and made
mistakes. No one should believe that his words are infallible. We have not
found anyone who claims this explicitly, but we find many who believe it
implicitly. 

2.

It is not permissible for
any follower of Shaykh al-Albaani to continue to follow the shaykh’s view if
it becomes clear to him that the opinion of another scholar of virtue is
stronger; rather he must follow the truth wherever it is and whoever it is
with. Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on
him) was asked: 

What is your advice to a
beginner seeker of knowledge? Should he follow one of the imams of the
madhhabs, or should he not? 

He replied: 

Allaah says (interpretation
of the meaning): “So ask the people of the Reminder if you do not know”
[al-Anbiya’ 21:7]. If this is a new student who does not know how to
weigh up the evidence, then he has no choice but to follow a scholar,
whether he follows a former imam who is now deceased or a contemporary imam
– one of the scholars who is still alive – and asks him, which is better.
But if it becomes clear to him that this opinion is contrary to a saheeh
hadeeth, he must follow the saheeh hadeeth. End quote. 

Al-‘Ilm
p. 115 

3.

Shaykh al-Albaani (may
Allaah have mercy on him) did not introduce anything new into Islamic
rulings and he often stated that he did not say anything that had not been
said before. So the one who criticizes the Shaykh by saying that he came up
with odd views and fatwas should fear Allaah and those who are fanatically
devoted to the Shaykh should also fear Allaah. 

4.

It is not in accordance
with the methodology of Shaykh al-Albaani (may Allaah have mercy on him) –
or of any of the imams –to look at the verse and hadeeth and then derive
from it whatever rulings one wants! Rather the Shaykh (may Allaah have mercy
on him) often complained about those who did that. He said: We were
suffering from blind following (taqleed) and now we are suffering from a
free-for-all! And he stated that blind following of the earlier scholars is
far better than this free-for-all; rather for the ordinary Muslim, following
a scholar is obligatory and this free-for-all is haraam. 

5.

The one who follows the
Shaykh (may Allaah have mercy on him) has to realize that the Shaykh himself
criticized blind following and enjoined seeking knowledge; he called on
people to learn and said that the Muslim should follow the evidence from the
Qur’aan and Sunnah. If the Shaykh (may Allaah have mercy on him) told people
not to follow Abu Haneefah, Maalik, al-Shaafa’i and Ahmad blindly, he was
more emphatic in telling them not to follow him blindly.  

6.

The ordinary Muslim who
agrees to follow Shaykh al-Albaani (may Allaah have mercy on him), or any
other scholar of the past or present, should not issue fatwas or argue with
others. If the those who follow a Shaykh or scholar adhered to this, the
ummah would be spared many of the bad things that we hear of here and
there. 

7.

The one in whom Allaah
instils love of knowledge and the ability to weigh up the evidence and to
know which is more likely to be correct is not permitted to be a blind
follower of Shaykh al-Albaani or anyone else. 

Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih
al-‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: 

The one who has no
knowledge and no ability to engage in ijtihaad must ask the scholars,
because Allaah says: “So ask the people of the Reminder if you do not
know” [al-Anbiya’ 21:7].Allaah does not enjoin us to ask them except for
the purpose of following their opinions. This is taqleed (following). But
with regard to taqleed what is forbidden is adhering to a specific madhhab
by following it in all cases and believing that this is the way to Allaah,
so one follows it even if it goes against the evidence. 

But the one who has the
ability to work things out (ijtihaad), such as the seeker of knowledge who
has an abundant share of knowledge may engage in ijtihaad on the basis of
the evidence, and follow the one who he thinks is correct, or is most likely
to be correct. 

As for the ordinary Muslim
and the beginner seeker of knowledge, they should strive to follow the one
who they think is closer to the truth, because of his abundant knowledge,
strong religious commitment and piety. End quote. 

Al-‘Ilm,
p. 205 

And Allaah is the Source of strength.