Shaykh al-Albānī writes in the introduction of his al-Silsilah al-Ḍaʿīfah, volume 1, pg. 27-35:

To conclude this introduction, I must address a matter to every sincere reader of ours, whether friend or foe.

I say: Some people often ask me about the reason for the harshness that appears at times in my writings when I respond to certain authors who write against me.

The answer is, (firstly) let these readers know — and all praise is due to Allāh — I do not initiate against anyone who responds to me with a knowledge-based refutation, free of attacks. Rather, I am grateful for such a person. When some harshness is found somewhere in my books, it [generally] refers to one of two situations.

Rejecting Slander and Fabrication: Pardon and Gentleness Is Not for Wrongdoers

The first: that it is a response to someone who initiated a refutation against me, went to extremes in it, and wronged me with slander and fabrication. Examples are Abū Ghuddah, al-ʾAʿẓamī, who hid behind the name “Arshad al-Salafī”, al-Ghumārī, al-Būṭī, and others, such as Shaykh Ismāʿīl al-Anṣārī on more than one occasion, and that was not long ago!

In my view, pardon and gentleness do not benefit wrongdoers such as these. Rather, it may harm them and encourage them to persist in their transgression and aggression, as the poet said:

إِذَا أَنْتَ أَكْرَمْتَ الْكَرِيمَ مَلَكْتَهُ … وَإِنْ أَنْتَ أَكْرَمْتَ اللَّئِيمَ تَمَرَّدَا
وَوَضْعُ النَّدَى فِي مَوْضِعِ السَّيْفِ بِالْعُلَا … مُضِرٌّ كَوَضْعِ السَّيْفِ فِي مَوْضِعِ النَّدَى

If you honour the honourable, you win them over
but if you honour the lowly, he rebels.
Placing generosity where the sword belongs is as detrimental to nobility,
as placing the sword where generosity belongs.

Indeed, bearing the injustice of such people, who have put themselves forward to guide and teach others, may at times be beyond human capacity. For this reason, the Islamic Sharīʿah accounts for this situation. It does not say, Al-ḥamdulilāh, as the so-called Gospel of today says, ‘Whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn him the left cheek. And whoever asks you for your cloak, give him your garment too!’ Rather, Allāh the Exalted said:

فَمَنِ اعْتَدَىٰ عَلَيْكُمْ فَاعْتَدُوا عَلَيْهِ بِمِثْلِ مَا اعْتَدَىٰ عَلَيْكُمْ

So whoever has assaulted you, then assault him in the same way that he has assaulted you.
[al-Baqarah, 2:194]

And He said:

وَجَزَاءُ سَيِّئَةٍ سَيِّئَةٌ مِّثْلُهَا

And the retribution for an evil act is an evil one like it.
[al-Shūrā, 42:40]

By Allāh’s grace, I am mindful that the rest of this second verse is:

فَمَنْ عَفَا وَأَصْلَحَ فَأَجْرُهُ عَلَى اللَّهِ ۚ إِنَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الظَّالِمِينَ ﴿٤٠﴾‏ وَلَمَنِ انتَصَرَ بَعْدَ ظُلْمِهِ فَأُولَٰئِكَ مَا عَلَيْهِم مِّن سَبِيلٍ ﴿٤١﴾‏ إِنَّمَا السَّبِيلُ عَلَى الَّذِينَ يَظْلِمُونَ النَّاسَ وَيَبْغُونَ فِي الْأَرْضِ بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ ۚ أُولَٰئِكَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ ﴿٤٢﴾‏ وَلَمَن صَبَرَ وَغَفَرَ إِنَّ ذَٰلِكَ لَمِنْ عَزْمِ الْأُمُورِ

But whoever pardons and makes reconciliation – his reward is [due] from Allāh. Indeed, He does not like wrongdoers. And whoever retaliates after having been wronged – those have not upon them any cause [for blame]. The cause is only against the ones who wrong the people and tyrannise upon the earth without right. Those will have a painful punishment. And whoever is patient and forgives – indeed, that is of the matters [worthy] of resolve.
[al-Shūrā, 42:40-43]

However, I hold that the commendable pardon and rewarded patience only applies when doing so will benefit the wrongdoer and not harm him, and it will honour the one who is patient and not humiliate him. This is indicated by the practice of Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) with his enemies, and by his saying (صلى الله عليه وسلم):

أَشَدُّ النَّاسِ عَذَابًا يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ رَجُلٌ قَتَلَ نَبِيًّا، أَوْ قَتَلَهُ نَبِيٌّ

The most severely punished of people on the Day of Resurrection is a man who killed a prophet or was killed by a prophet. [al-Ṣaḥīḥah, 281].

The least that can be taken from these verses and their like is that they permit the one wronged to defend himself with the truth, without transgression or injustice. Similarly, Allāh the Exalted says:

لَّا يُحِبُّ اللَّهُ الْجَهْرَ بِالسُّوءِ مِنَ الْقَوْلِ إِلَّا مَن ظُلِمَ

Allāh does not like the public mention of evil except by one who has been wronged. And ever is Allāh Hearing and Knowing.
[al-Nisāʾ, 4:148]

The Sunnah confirms and clarifies this, as in the Prophet’s (صلى الله عليه وسلم) words to ʿĀʾishah when one of his other wives transgressed against her:

دُونَكِ فَانْتَصِرِي قَالَتْ: فَأَقْبَلْتُ عَلَيْهَا حَتَّى رَأَيْتُهَا قَدْ يَبِسَ رِيقُهَا فِي فِيهَا، مَا تَرُدُّ عَلَيَّ شَيْئًا، فَرَأَيْتُ النَّبِيَّ ﷺ يَتَهَلَّلُ وَجْهُهُ.

Go ahead and defend yourself. She said: So I turned to her until I saw that her saliva had dried up in her mouth and she could not answer back at all, and I saw the Prophet’s face (صلى الله عليه وسلم) brightened. [Reported by al-Bukhārī in al-ʾAdab al-Mufrad and others with an authentic chain. It is referenced in the fourth volume of al-Ṣaḥīḥah, 1862]

So I hope the readers will not hasten to object. I am wronged by many who claim knowledge, and some of them may even be thought to be with us upon the methodology of the Salaf. But such a person, if that is the case, is one whose liver has been eaten away by hatred and envy, as came in the hadith:

دَبَّ إِلَيْكُمْ دَاءُ الْأُمَمِ قَبْلَكُمْ: الْحَسَدُ، وَالْبَغْضَاءُ، هِيَ الْحَالِقَةُ، حَالِقَةُ الدِّينِ، لَا حَالِقَةُ الشَّعَرِ

The disease of the nations before you has crept into you: envy and hatred. It is the shaver, it shaves the religion, not the hair. [It is a ḥasan hadith by the combination of its two routes, from Ibn al-Zubayr and Abū Hurayrah]

So I hope those who ask will be realistic and not idealistic. Let them accept from me that, in my response to the wrongdoers, I hold to the words of the Lord of the worlds:

وَلَا تَعْتَدُوا ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُعْتَدِينَ

…but do not transgress. Indeed, Allāh does not like transgressors.
[al-Baqarah, 2:190]

I do not respond in the manner of that pre-Islamic poet of old:

أَلَا لَا يَجْهَلَنْ أَحَدٌ عَلَيْنَا … فَنَجْهَلَ فَوْقَ جَهْلِ الْجَاهِلِينَا
Let no one act ignorantly against us,
lest we surpass the ignorance of the ignorant.

I seek refuge in Allāh from being among the ignorant.

Protecting the Integrity of the Ḥadīth and Its Transmitters

The second situation: that there is a gross error concerning some ḥadith, coming from someone known for a lack of careful verification. I may have then been harsh toward such a person in speaking about it, out of protective jealousy for the ḥadīth of the Messenger of Allāh (صلى الله عليه وسلم). An example is my statement below, under ḥadīth 142 (in al-Silsilah al-Dhaʿīfah):

Al-Suyūṭī — may Allāh pardon us and him — was not ashamed to cite this false chain as supporting evidence. This Abū al-Dunyá is a lying fabricator whose condition is not hidden from al-Suyūṭī…

The motive for this harshness is only out of protective jealousy for his ḥadīth (صلى الله عليه وسلم), so that something he did not say is not attributed to him. Our Salaf in this are some of the ḥuffāẓ (great memorisers) known for their religiosity. Look, for example, at the words of al-Dhahabī, may Allāh have mercy on him, about al-Ḥākim. When al-Ḥākim authenticated the hadith on the virtue of ʿAlī, may Allāh be pleased with him, which comes at number 757^[1] (in al-Silsilah al-Dhaʿīfah):

I say: Rather, by Allāh, it is fabricated, and Aḥmad al-Ḥarrānī is a liar. How ignorant you are despite the vastness of your knowledge!

Let the reader reflect on the difference between al-Ḥākim and al-Suyūṭī on one hand, and between al-Dhahabī’s words about al-Ḥākim and my words about al-Suyūṭī on the other.

[The shaykh continues…]

I apologise to the noble readers for having made this introduction long. The objective is to clarify to the readers — through the pens of other just writers [i.e., who defended Shaykh al-Albānī] — the condition of some of those who attack me without any right. They (the readers) will then refrain from condemning the harshness they may occasionally find in my responses to critics who speak from their desires and without knowledge. Indeed, it was said long ago:

قَالَ الْحَائِطُ لِلْوَتَدِ: لِمَ تَشُقُّنِي؟ قَالَ: سَلْ مَنْ يَدُقُّنِي
The wall said to the nail, ‘Why are you cracking me?’
It replied, ‘Ask the one who is whacking me’.

I hope they do not force me to resonate with the words of the poet:

غَيْرِي جَنَى وَأَنَا الْمُعَذَّبُ فِيكُمُ … فَكَأَنَّنِي سَبَّابَةُ الْمُتَنَدِّمِ
Someone else committed the crime, yet I am the one punished among you?
As though I were the finger of a man filled with regret.^[2]