How to Know the Methodology of the Saved Sect

Question:
Peace be upon you, and Allah's mercy and blessings. Your Eminence mentioned the importance of al-Fiqh al-Akbar (theology). We know that the Saved Sect is the people of the Sunnah and the community, as you indicated from the authentic hadiths. Their methodology is protected from error. How do we know this methodology completely so that we hold fast to it completely, so that we may attain success by the grace of Allah? May Allah reward you with good.

Answer:
Yes, we can know the methodology of the Saved Sect, the people of the Sunnah and the community, by studying their books and reading them correctly, and understanding the good contained in them. This is the way to know the methodology of the righteous Salaf: by studying their writings and books, and encouraging the memorization, understanding, and acquisition of them. It is also necessary to look into the schools of thought that contradict the methodology of the Salaf, in order to know falsehood so that we avoid it and warn against it. For alongside the school of the Salaf, there is a school that opposes and contradicts it. After you have mastered the school of the Salaf and known it well, you may look into the opposing schools in order to refute them and warn against them. First, warn yourself against them, and then warn others.
Allah the Exalted said: One cannot warn unless one knows the thing from which one is warning. You must know disbelief, shirk (associating partners with Allah), hypocrisy, and the paths of the people of evil so that you can warn against them and caution against them. If you do not know them, how can you warn against them and caution against them? Yes.