What is your advice for one who belongs to any of the contemporary Islamic groups?

The questioner: His EminenceThe Shaykh : What is your advice for one who belongs to any of the contemporary Islamic groups, while mentioning the deviation in which the Ikhwan and the Tabligh groups fall?

The Shaykh : I think the previous answer was sufficient to answer the question, because it does not go beyond what came before it. However, I remind all Muslims that it is obligatory for every group to have in their methodology a return to the Book and to the Sunnah, and to understand them as our righteous predecessors (may Allah be pleased with them) did in all matters of religion. There is no difference between what was creed, jurisprudence, or conduct. None of the groups existing today in the Islamic arena declares their call upon this path that we affirm and call to, which is returning to the Book of Allah and to the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, and upon the methodology of the righteous predecessors. This is the methodology to which our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) referred in His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He): . Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) mentioned in this verse His saying (Mighty and Majestic): . The conjunction of this phrase to His saying: is an indication from Him (the Exalted) of the obligation to follow him (peace and blessings be upon him) and not to oppose him or contradict him in the path of our following the first believers. They are those whom the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) mentioned in the hadith of the sects, where he (peace be upon him) said in the famous hadith, at its end: . They said: Who are they, O Messenger of Allah? He said: .
The group is the path of the believers mentioned in the previous verse. The explanation of this group came in another narration, where he (peace be upon him) said: . Therefore, a Muslim should not be content with saying: "I am upon the Book and the Sunnah," and then interpret the Book and the Sunnah according to what occurs to him or comes to his mind, if not according to what suits his desire. This person does not follow the path of the believers, but rather follows his own desire. Therefore, our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) affirmed in the previous verse: . Following other than the path of the believers is evidence of deviation from following the Book and the Sunnah. This is because the earliest predecessors were upon the Book and the Sunnah in the correct sense. When the Muslims divided after the first century, especially and the centuries that followed, they divided because they did not set before their eyes the emulation of the Companions, about whom he (peace be upon him) said in the previous hadith that they are the saved sect. He (peace be upon him) affirmed this in the hadith of al-'Urbah, which is known to everyone, if Allah wills, and it is his saying (may Allah be pleased with him): "The Messenger of Allah admonished us... the righteous, guided caliphs after me," to the end of the hadith, which is well known.
What is observed here is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) did not limit himself to saying: , but he conjoined to that and said: . What is the secret in that? The secret in that is like the secret in his saying: ; that is, these Companions, and at their head the righteous caliphs, are those who received Islam clarified and explained from the mouth of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) fresh and new. Then they applied it without excess or negligence, without leaning to the right or to the left. Therefore, they are the people who should be emulated in understanding the Book and the Sunnah, and in... them in their application of them.
Therefore, it is obligatory in the present age that we do not limit ourselves to calling to act upon the Book and the Sunnah only. This is because all the sects mentioned in the hadith referred to earlier, which are seventy-three sects, do not contain a sect, especially in the present age now where people have become aware of the necessity of returning to the Book and the Sunnah, so every faction declares that it too is upon the Book and the Sunnah. However, they do not declare that they are upon the methodology of the Companions and upon the methodology of the righteous predecessors. Rather... one might say: "Those were men and we are men, and we understand the Book and the Sunnah as they understood it." By doing so, they cast those aforementioned texts to the wall and exit from being part of the saved sect. This is because its sign is that they walk upon what the Messenger and his Companions were upon. This is what we should understand regarding the groups established today, those who set before their eyes walking upon the Book of Allah and upon the hadith of the Messenger of Allah and upon the methodology of the righteous predecessors. This is the one who is hoped to be upon guidance from his Lord. We ask Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to make us among them.