Why do we understand the Book and the Sunnah according to the understanding of the righteous Salaf?

The Shaykh : These are witnesses, and there are many witnesses indeed, drawing the attention of the sane, obligated Muslim to the fact that it is not sufficient to believe in the texts, meaning the literal wording and phrases, but one must also believe in their meanings. A text from the Qur'an or the Sunnah sometimes has more than one meaning, so by which meaning do we take it? Here we come to the crux of this brief speech. We say: We take what the scholars of the righteous Salaf interpreted the texts with, because they were, first, more knowledgeable from the Arabic perspective, and second, closer to the era of Prophethood and the Message, so they were more knowledgeable about the concepts and meanings of the texts of the Book and the Sunnah. And here is this example before us. The good scholars of the Muslims, not the deviant, misguided ones like the Qadianis, have five opinions in interpreting his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): Five opinions. Here, the Muslim scholars are perplexed; by which of these opinions do they take? We return to our methodology, the righteous Salaf: how did they understand this text? You have seen and heard that the first narrator of the hadith, al-Miqdad ibn al-Aswad, interpreted it according to its apparent meaning and applied it practically. Likewise, the second narrator of the hadith, 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, also interpreted it according to its apparent meaning and applied it, throwing dust in the face of the one who praises himself. Because of these many meanings in which a scholar, let alone a student of knowledge, let alone a layperson, is lost in some of them, we have chosen to affiliate with the righteous Salaf in understanding the texts of the Book and the Sunnah, fearing that we might fall into the deviation that all the many sects fell into, about which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) spoke in the famous authentic hadith when he said: They said: Who are they, O Messenger of Allah? He said: So we must know what the Messenger (peace be upon him) was upon, and not only that, but also what his Companions were upon. So here are two conditions: that we know what the Messenger (peace be upon him) was upon and what his Companions were upon. This is because some of what the Messenger (peace be upon him) was upon accepts figurative interpretation, and this is the example before you, which is what he said: We must hold fast to this because this is what the Messenger (peace be upon him) was upon. But another aspect comes: how do we interpret this hadith? How do we understand it? How do we apply it? What my Companions were upon. So, according to what the Companions of the Messenger (peace be upon him) were upon in interpreting this hadith? According to its apparent meaning, throwing dust in the face of the one who praises himself. The matter ends there. This is the correct path: that we be upon what the Messenger (peace be upon him) and his Companions were upon. Otherwise, whoever claims to hold fast to the Book and the Sunnah without the restriction of what the Companions were upon will go left and right and be lost in far deviation. We ask Allah for protection and that He guide us to hold fast to the Book and the Sunnah upon the methodology of the righteous Salaf.