What is intended in his saying

The questioner : All right, O Shaykh, regarding the meaning of the hadith and the saved group being among the groups currently present on the scene. They apply this hadith as some of the imams of hadith did, stating that if they are not the people of hadith, I do not know. As Imam Ahmad, Imam al-Bukhari, and Ali ibn al-Madini said, "They are the people of hadith, of whom there is no doubt." The Salafis are those who are upon this methodology, and whoever is not upon this methodology is outside this hadith. What is your opinion, Your Eminence?

The Shaykh : We believe this with certainty, because everyone who makes a claim must support their claim with evidence. The truth is that we observe today that there is a general awakening and a specific awakening. The general awakening includes all Muslims who were previously among the heedless, and events and experiences, whether personal or collective, have made them realize that Muslims must return to their religion. So many of them have returned to their religion, but the word "religion" in the general sense. However, what concerns us is the specific concept of religion, which, as we said in the previous hadith, is . This specific understanding is what benefits the believers and frees them from the humiliation that has befallen them and settled upon them. When this awakening appeared, we began, very recently, to hear from those we did not hear from before the words "the Book and the Sunnah." Previously, we only heard from them the words "Islam" and "religion" and general terms. As for returning to the Book and the Sunnah, it has become, we can say, the fashion of the present age. Some groups that do not adopt Islam as their religion and their policy, and so on, say, "We are upon the Book and the Sunnah." But if you look at their actions, their words, and even their beliefs, you will find them the farthest people from the Book and the Sunnah, because they have no knowledge of the Book and the Sunnah except what they share with the general public. As for having detailed knowledge, first of the disagreements we have inherited over these long centuries, and then knowing the stronger position from the weaker position among these matters, in reality, we hardly find anyone from these groups who undertakes to verify this, except those who belong to the people of hadith and the people of the Salaf. Therefore, "he who lacks a thing cannot give it." If every group now claims to be upon the Book and the Sunnah, why? Because it has become known to all Muslims that calling to the Book and the Sunnah is Islam. So no caller, regardless of how close or far they are from the methodology of the Book and the Sunnah, can ignore the call to the Book and the Sunnah. If some claim to be upon the Book and the Sunnah, we say to them: First, that is what we want. Second, bring your proof if you are truthful. And within the limits of what we know and have seen of the groups existing today on earth, we do not find anyone trying to approach the Book and the Sunnah except those who are either called the people of hadith, or the supporters of the Sunnah in some countries, or the Salafis in other countries, or the people of hadith in other countries, and so on. As for those who belong to other groups, they do not hesitate to cite the Book and the Sunnah in all aspects of their personal, public, intellectual, or political lives. We do not find among them anyone who constantly revolves around the Book and the Sunnah except the phrase "the Book and the Sunnah." We are with you upon the Book and the Sunnah, but bring what you have of evidence that you are upon the Book and the Sunnah. They do not provide an answer. Before us now is a recent and regrettable example: this Egyptian al-Ghazali. He does not disavow the Book and the Sunnah, nor does he say, "I do not call to the Book and the Sunnah," because if he said that, his affair would be exposed and his secret revealed. So he says he is upon the Book and the Sunnah. But what is the Book and the Sunnah for him? If it is from the Sunnah, it is the Sunnah that is authentic in his personal, rational perspective, not what is authentic according to the scholars of hadith who dedicated their lives over these long centuries to knowing the authentic Sunnah from the weak. All these efforts over all these centuries, this man and many like him, unfortunately, do not give weight to these efforts. All that matters is the hadith that agrees with his desire, his logic, or his culture; that is authentic. And what contradicts that is weak, even if al-Bukhari and Muslim narrated it, and even if the Ummah agreed to accept this hadith. This type, as an example, does not say, "I am not upon the Book and the Sunnah," but the Book and the Sunnah are innocent of him, because the Sunnah for him follows his desire, and he interprets the Qur'an also according to his desire. The difference for him is that he does not dare to say about the Qur'an, "This is not authentic," but he says, "This understanding is not correct." Meanwhile, this understanding is what came to us from the Companions and the Salaf. As for the hadith, how bold he is in denying it, because it is easier and lighter in his estimation to demolish the Sunnah. He says, as many other callers say, "They claimed this is a hadith of a single narrator (ahad). A hadith of a single narrator does not establish a belief." And with that, he demolishes authentic hadiths that have no doubt among the scholars of hadith regarding their authenticity. So it is not important for a group of people, or a party, or a group to claim that we are upon the Book and the Sunnah, because we say to them: We want actions, not words. Bring your proof if you are truthful. And we know that groups that belong to specific names or political parties, or the like, do not care at all about studying the Sunnah. In fact, they may explicitly state that this study divides the Ummah and divides the group, and that researching whether this hadith is authentic or not, that this is Sunnah and that is innovation, is premature. Some of them say in such matters, "This is not of the essence, but rather of the outer shell." So there is no doubt that the decisive evidence that those who are truly the saved group, as mentioned in the authentic hadith just now, are those who, as we said just now, are eager to understand the Book and the Sunnah in all aspects of their lives and apply it according to their ability and capacity. That is the saved group. And a sign of these people is that they do not affiliate with one party, nor do they belong to one leader who commands them what he wishes and forbids them what he wishes. Rather, their reference is all to the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He: . So the saved group is the group of the people of hadith and the Sunnah, and it is not the people of the Sunnah and the community as they say today, because they have agreed to include under the name "people of the Sunnah and the community" the Asha'irah, the Maturidiyyah, and finally the people of hadith, who should be mentioned first and foremost. Meanwhile, these people do not adopt returning to the Book and the Sunnah and the methodology of the righteous Salaf, as we do. I mean the Asha'irah and the Maturidiyyah, who are from the scholars of kalam (theology) who were forced to say a word of truth but with a false intention, which is their saying, "The knowledge of the Salaf is safer, and the knowledge of the Khalaf is more wise and more knowledgeable." If they attribute ignorance to the Salaf and knowledge to the Khalaf, this is the opposite of everything we mentioned just now and other texts. "The people of hadith are the people of the Prophet, even if they did not accompany him, their breaths accompanied him." And we ask Allah to make us among the people of hadith who know the Book of Allah, then the authentic Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and then act upon it according to the methodology of the Companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). And now we prepare for the prayer, if Allah wills.