How old were you at that time, when your father migrated to ash-Shām?

كم كان لك من العمر في ذلك الوقت حين هاجر والدك إلى الشام ؟

How old were you at that time, when your father migrated to ash-Shām?

الحويني : كم كان لك من العمر يا شيخنا في الوقت الـ ؟

Al-Ḥuwaynī: How old were you, our shaykh, at the time when...?

الشيخ : الذي أذكره أنني حينما طبَبْتُ دمشق واستوطنتها كان عمري تسع سنين .

The Shaykh: What I remember is that when I entered Damascus and settled there, I was nine years old.

نعم ، إي نعم .

Yes, oh yes.

الحويني : كنت تحسن الكلام باللغة العربية وقتها ولَّا ؟

Al-Ḥuwaynī: Were you able to speak Arabic at the time, or…?

الشيخ : لا أعرف من اللغة العربية شيئًا ، بل كنتُ لا أعرف من الأحرف العربية شيئًا ، يبدو بأنه لم يكن هناك عناية من الوالد - رحمه الله - في تعليمنا ؛ مع أنه كان إمام مسجد ، وربَّما كان شيخ كُتَّاب ، فما كنا يعني لمَّا جينا إلى دمشق ما كنَّا نعرف شيئًا من القراءة والكتابة

The Shaykh: I did not know anything of the Arabic language. Rather, I did not know anything of the Arabic letters. It seems that there had not been any care from my father, may Allāh have mercy on him, in teaching us, even though he was the imām of a masjid, and perhaps he was also a kuttāb teacher (traditional Qurʾān school teacher). So when we came to Damascus, we did not know anything of reading and writing.

كما يقولون عندنا في سوريا : ما نعرف الخمسة من الطَّمسة ، ولا الألف من المسطيجة ، المسطيجة هي العصاية الطويلة التي كان يستعملها شيخ الكُتَّاب حينما يريد أن يصطاد آخر ولد يعبث هناك، بطوله بها

As they say among us in Syria: "We did not know the khamsah (five) from the ṭamsah, nor the alif from the masṭījah"(1). The masṭījah is the long stick that the kuttāb teacher used when he wanted to catch the furthest child misbehaving over there, with its length(2).

[يضحك الشيخ - رحمه الله -]

[The Shaykh laughs, may Allāh have mercy on him]

فأدخلني مدرسة هناك كانت مدرسة علمية لجمعية خيرية اسمها " جمعية الإسعاف الخيري " ، فهناك بدأَتْ بدأتُ مدارس التعليم .

So he enrolled me there in a school. It was an academic school belonging to a charitable society called Jamʿiyyat al-Isʿāf al-Khayrī (The Charitable Aid Society). There, my schooling began.

وبطبيعة الحال بسبب مخالطة الطلاب كان تعلمي للغة العربية أو بالأحرى اللغة الشامية أقوى من الذين لم يكونوا منتمين إلى المدرسة،

Naturally, because of mixing with the students, my learning of Arabic, or more precisely the Damascene dialect, was stronger than those who were not enrolled in school.

وأذكر جيدًا يبدو لتقدمي في السن بالنسبة للطلاب الابتدائيين فقد جاوزت السنة الأولى والثانية في سنة واحدة ، ولذلك حصَّلت الشهادة الابتدائية في أربع سنوات،

I also remember well that, apparently because I was older than the elementary students, I passed the first and second years in one year. Because of that, I obtained the elementary certificate in four years.

ويبدو أن الله - عز وجل - كان يعني قد فطرني على حبِّ اللغة العربية ، وهذا الحبُّ هو الذي كان سببًا كسبب مادي بعد الفضل الإلهي أن أكون متميِّزًا متفوقًا على زملائي من السوريين في علم اللغة العربية ونحوها ،

It seems that Allāh, the Mighty and Majestic, had created me with a love for the Arabic language. This love was one of the material causes, after divine favor, for me to become distinguished and ahead of my Syrian classmates in the science of Arabic and its grammar.

وأذكر - أيضًا - جيِّدًا أن أستاذ اللغة والنحو حينما كان يكتب جملة أو بيت شعر على اللوح ويسأل الطلاب عن إعراب تلك الجملة أو ذلك البيت يكون آخر من يطلب منه هو الألباني ، وكنت يومئذٍ أُعرف بالأرناؤوط ، ثم كلمة الألباني،

I also remember well that when the teacher of Arabic and grammar would write a sentence or a line of poetry on the board and ask the students to parse that sentence or that line, the last one he would ask was al-Albānī. At that time, I was known as al-Arnāʾūṭ. As for the word al-Albānī, then later, when I left school and began writing.
 

فحينما يعني خرجت من المدرسة وبدأت يعني أكتب لأنُّو كلمه الأرناؤوط هي كلمة عامة تشبه أو تقابل العرب ، وكما أن العرب ينقسمون إلى شعوب ففيهم المصري والشامي والحجازي و وإلى آخره ؛ كذلك الأرناؤوط ينقسمون إلى - مثلًا - ألبان ، والصرب - يوغسلاف يعني - ، وإلى بشناق ،

Because the word al-Arnāʾūṭ is a general word that resembles, or corresponds to, the word Arabs. Just as the Arabs are divided into peoples, among them the Egyptian, the Shāmī, the Ḥijāzī, and so on, likewise the Arnaʾūṭ are divided into, for example, Albanians, Serbs, meaning Yugoslavs, and Bosniaks.

وإذًا بين كلمة الألبان وكلمة الأرناؤوط - وعليكم السلام ، أهلين - وكلمة الأرناؤوط في عموم وخصوص ، فالألبان أخص من الأرناؤوط ، نعم ،

So between the word Albanians and the word Arnaʾūṭ, there is [a relation of] generality and specificity. Albanians are more specific than Arnaʾūṭ. Yes.

فكان أستاذ النحو يخرجني آخر واحد إذا عجز الطلاب عن الإعراب ؛ يناديني يا أرناؤوط إيش تقول ؟ فأصيب الهدف بكلمة واحدة ، فيرجع فيُعيِّر السوريين بي

So the grammar teacher would bring me out last, if the students were unable to parse the sentence. He would call out to me: "O Arnaʾūṭ, what do you say?" So I would hit the mark with a single word. Then he would turn back and shame the Syrians with me.

[الشيخ يضحك - رحمه الله -]

[The Shaykh laughs, may Allāh have mercy on him.]

يقول : مش عيب عليكم ، هذا أرناؤوطي ، إي وهذا من فضل الله علي يعني .

He would say: "Is it not shameful for you? This is an Arnaʾūṭ".
Yes, and this is from Allāh’s favor upon me.

غيره.

Another question.(2)

ترجمة الألباني - شريط : 1

توقيت الفهرسة : 00:06:10

Biography of al-Albānī, Tape 1
Index timestamp: 00:06:10

https://www.al-albany.com/audios/content/142450/

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(1): This is a colloquial Syrian way of saying that they knew nothing at all of reading and writing. The first phrase plays on how close 'khamsah' and 'ṭamsah' are in shape and sound, especially for someone who cannot distinguish the Arabic letters 'khāʾ' (خ) and 'ṭāʾ' (ط). The second phrase plays on the shape of 'alif' (ا), which looks like a straight stick, and 'masṭījah', the long stick used by the kuttāb teacher (traditional Qurʾān school teacher).

(2): Speculative translation, as the audio is unclear. It is either what I chose to go with, or "he'd hit him with it". والله أعلم.

(3): It was a habit of al-Albānī to ask for more questions when he was done answering. He was fond of teaching by way of question and answer. It is a Sunnah. A great way to learn only what matters to you. Quality over quantity.

Reflection:

Al-Albānī should be a great inspiration to non-Arabs, and to Arabs as well.

"Is it not shameful for you? This is an Arnaʾūṭ".

Note that he kept this sense with him throughout his life.

When he would discuss with Arab scholars and the discussion entered into subtle linguistic matters, he would say things like:

"This is your language. We learned it from you. I do not forget my origins".

That is humility joined with a proper realization of one's own worth.

A beautiful combination.

And that is why it feels honest, unlike fake tamaskun, the performative "I am just a poor miskeen" posture.

One sign of that honesty is that he would recount these stories and laugh while remembering them.

That comes from within.

No filter.

These people lived knowledge.

It did not remain as information stacked in the mind. It flowed into their manners, their speech, their humor, their confidence, their humility.

Like a pleasant fragrance that clings to the person without him trying to wear it.