My Meetings with Dr. Saleh as-Saleh
Those who frequented Shaykh, Dr. Saleh as-Saleh’s classes on Pal Talk may well be familiar with Br. G-Force. I recently got sent an audio file in which Br. G-Force talks about Dr. Saleh as-Saleh and his meetings with him. You can listen to / download the talk by clicking on the following link:
This is beautiful - jazaakAllahu khayr.
I too saw his name online after his death, subhaanAllah, it was very eerie.
I love how the brother speaks of his humility and generosity, mashaaAllah. I noticed the former on many subtle occasions in class, it always made us smile subhaanAllah. When he, rahimuhullah, was talking of the free books available that we can order, someone was asking for the author of one of the books (which incidently he authored), and he had such reluctance to say his name. He instead said ‘the one speaking to you now’. Also when students would ask questions he would read them aloud and then answer, they would sometimes include ‘Shaykh’ in the question addressing him and he would skip over this when reading the question aloud.
BarakAllahu feek for providing this, and the stories from the brother who met him in Egypt.
Wa Salamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatu
Subhaanallaah, the two points you mentioned are exactly the ones I was sharing with a friend a few hours ago. The book was the summary of the prophet (”A mercy to mankind”
which he, rahimahullaah, authoured. And I remember very clearly that he would not answer the repeated question of “who wrote the book, was it you?” When the people wouldn’t stop he finally said “the one who wrote the book is the one talking to you now”. He also affirmed that there were other English books you could request, after being asked, but did not mention that he wrote them. I found this out when they sent me the books and his name was on the front of them all except one.
He would skip over the term shaykh and any other word or statement that was a praise for him. Sometimes, people would come in and ask “whose the shaykh”, “are you a scholar”, “are you dr. saleh”, “did you study with ibn uthaymeen”? etc. and he would ignor it. When it became too much, he would get annoyed and say “contact the admins.”
You could almost hear the discomfort when the people would praise him, and I would think ‘lets not be a fitna for the shaykh’. But subhaanallaah, your love for him would only increase by the end of every lesson, and this lead to the praising and duas made for him. Even after 3 hours of hearing his voice you would be saddened when it came time to close the room. Rahmatullaahi ‘alayh.