Explaining What Brings Reform to the Ummah of Islam

The Shaykh: And we believe with certainty and conviction that the reform of this Ummah is only by returning to what the Salaf of this Ummah were upon. Every person of intellect and understanding is convinced with us and certain that our righteous Salaf were upon clarity regarding their religion, due to their proximity to their Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and those who received knowledge directly from him before a little or a lot of what Islam disavows mixed with it. This is unlike the reality of Muslims today, for they do not return to a chain of transmission or a reference or a basis from the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) like that which the Salaf of the Ummah used to return to. For in my belief, you all know that the enemies of Islam on one hand, and the desires of some Muslims on the other hand, were among the greatest causes that made Islam not fulfill its function in terms of complete guidance for the people, whom they adopt as a religion, because of these—if this expression is correct—these germs, these microbes, these oddities that entered into Islam, and Islam is innocent of them.
Therefore, I believe that if we want to return to what our righteous Salaf were upon in adhering to the Book and the authentic Sunnah, we must seek assistance in that from the scholars of hadith, whom Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) singled out, over the other scholars of the Muslims, with the care of purifying the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) from what entered into it and from what it is innocent of, as the wolf is innocent of the blood of the son of Ya'qub.