Undeniably, among the most prominent of these British students to return from their studies in the Muslim lands was the late Shaykh Abu Talhah Dawūd Burbank (may Allah’s mercy be upon him). An English convert to Islam who was originally from a small village in Leicestershire, Shaykh Abu Talhah was praised for being an individual who was ‘meticulous in acting upon the Sunnah’, and those who witnessed his efforts believed that he had been ‘blessed with skills of translation’ that had not been ‘equaled (by anyone) in the West’. [1]
He was a prolific translator, having translated scores of the Scholars’ works. From them was Al-Tawassul of Shaykh al-Albānī (Allah’s mercy be upon him) and thereby clarified the belief of Ahlus-Sunnah in opposition to the grave worshippers and Sūfīs. He translated The Reality of Sūfism of Shaykh Muhammad bin Rabī al-Madkhalī; he translated The Explanation of the Three Principles of Shaykh Ibn Uthaimīn (Allah’s mercy be upon him); he translated The Methodology of the Prophets in Calling to Allah of Shaykh Rabīʿ al-Madkhalī; he translated the seminal work: The Explanation of the Creed of Imām al-Barbahārī (Allah’s mercy be upon him), and many more besides.[2]
Further, Shaykh Abu Talhah Dawūd Burbank (may Allah’s mercy be upon him) was unquestioningly regarded to be ‘from the founders’ of Salafism in the UK, and ‘a pillar of its early success’,[3] as the following quote from Shaykh Abu Khadeejah’s eulogy of him illustrates:
In the depths of battles practically throughout the whole of the nineties he [Abu Talhah] stood firm against the people of misguidance and bidʿah, translating material in clarification of the Haqq (the Truth) and propagating the Haqq, without any compromising or fearing the blame of the blamers. He stood firm against the Sufīs, the Ashʿarīs, the Khawārij and the Shiʿah—he translated the works of the scholars both past and present, making clear the path of Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jamāʿah. He defended the honour of the scholars such as Shaykh Ibn Bāz, Shaykh Al-Albānī, Shaykh Muqbil bin Hādī and Shaykh Rabīʿ al-Madkhalī when the partisans and the innovators in the West sought to dishonour and discredit them. He became a symbol and a sign of Salafiyyah in the West, and we do not praise anyone beyond Allah, the Most High.[4]
[1]Abu Khadeejah’s eulology of Abu Talhah Dawūd Burbank (2011: Salafitalk.com).
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
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