being excluded from the manhaj

BEING EXCLUDED FROM THE MANHAJ
source: silsilat ul-hudaa wa nnoor, 727/1
asaheeha translations

Q: “Imaam Ibn Hajar had some mistakes in ‘aqeedah (creed), so does that exclude him from being upon the correct manhaj?”

Shaikh al-Albaani (rahimahullaah):

“If we all remember that ‘every human being errs much and the best of them are those who repent,’[1] and that infallibility is not for anyone after the Messenger of Allaah (sallAllaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), then there is nothing odd about the fact that one who was an Imaam of the True Da’wah made a mistake. So if he made a mistake in an issue or two or three or more, that does not exclude him from the True Da’wah if he had adopted it. Haafidh bin Hajar was like Imaam an-Nawawi and others who made mistakes in some affairs of ‘aqeedah, but that does not exclude them from being among Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamaa’ah, because the crucial factor is the correct ideology or righteous actions being predominant in a person.

When is a Muslim righteous? Is it a condition, in order for him to be righteous, that he does not commit any sin or act of disobedience? The answer is no. Rather, it is part of human nature that he would commit sins and acts of disobedience over and over again. So when is a slave righteous? When his good prevails over his evil, his righteousness over his misguidance, and so on. Exactly the same thing is said about knowledge-based affairs, whether they pertain to ‘aqeedah or fiqh. So if this scholar is predominantly upon correct knowledge, he is saved. As for him having a mistake or some mistakes in fiqh or ‘aqeedah, this does not exclude him from the correct ‘aqeedah that he is predominantly upon. So what you mentioned about Ibn Hajar having these errors, that does not mean that we shouldn’t benefit from his book or that we don’t ask Allaah to have mercy on him or that we don’t include him among the Muslim scholars adhering to the Book and the Sunnah…”

To Be Continued InshaaAllaah