Some scholars hold that there is no need to name the clear call as the Salafi call or the like, but they say: the people of the Sunnah and the community.

The questioner: His EminenceThe Shaykh- May Allah preserve you - , some scholars hold that there is no need to name the clear call as the Salafi call or the like, but they say: the people of the Sunnah and the community; so what do you say, may Allah reward you?

The Shaykh : I do not agree with them in what they hold, ; that is because the old custom in this naming, "the people of the Sunnah and the community," includes sects that are not truly of the people of the Sunnah and the community; such as the Asha'irah and the Mu'tazilah. Those who use this term actually intended, in the past, for it to be a general, inclusive term covering all Muslims who remain within the circle of Islam, with a little or a lot of deviation from what the righteous Salaf (may Allah be pleased with them) were upon. Therefore, if ... one uses this term - i.e., the people of the Sunnah and the community - we include in it those who are not truly of it. Even if they were truly so, we have a test question: Is everyone who is of the people of the Sunnah and the community, according to the definition handed down to this day, upon the methodology of the righteous Salaf, and do they not permit deviating from the righteous Salaf in what they were upon of guidance and following the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); whether that be in matters of creed or in rulings? The answer - with great regret - is: Many of those who claim to be of the people of the Sunnah and the community still say: "The methodology of the Salaf is safer, and the methodology of the Khalaf is more knowledgeable and better." They still say this phrase. Based on that, they are not Salafis even in the most precious thing a Muslim must hold onto in his religion, which is the creed of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He).
And whoever among you is a student of knowledge, this reality will become clear to him in a distinct manner; because he reads in some books of the Asha'irah and also the Maturidiyyah this phrase; they say it and do not care that it contains a jab and a taunt at the righteous Salaf; where they make the Khalaf feel that the Salaf were a group - as they say in some lands - a group of dervishes; i.e., simpletons, so their methodology is safer, whereas the methodology of the Khalaf is more knowledgeable; i.e., more precise and better. How can one who says this be of the people of the Sunnah, when he jabs at the group of the first Sunnah, which recently verified that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) made the sign of the saved sect to be being upon what he and his Companions were upon? How can one be of the saved sect who says that the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) were upon no knowledge, or upon little knowledge, and not upon wise knowledge, whereas the Khalaf, their methodology is more knowledgeable and better? How then can the methodology of the people of the Sunnah be such when among them is one who says this jab or this taunt at the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who are the best of generations, the best of people, as came in the authentic, famous, indeed mass-transmitted hadith?
And we, for that reason, to be frank in our call, not flattering, not hypocrites, and not circumventing the general Muslims; we say: Our call is upon the Book and the Sunnah and the methodology of the righteous Salaf; so who is the one who can disavow the methodology of the righteous Salaf thus absolutely? And if they disavowed some of their methodology as you heard just now; when they say: The methodology of the Salaf is safer and the methodology of the Khalaf is more knowledgeable and more wise? The one who declares openly that he is upon the methodology of the Salaf means only that he held fast to what Allah and His Messenger ordered, and I do not repeat what I said just now except in very brief terms; He - the Exalted - said: ; who are the believers here? They are the first Salaf, they are certainly not the Asha'irah or the Maturidiyyah, unless they are upon the methodology of the righteous Salaf.
And the previous hadith: The saved sect is the one that holds fast to what the Messenger and his Companions were upon, and especially among them the Rightly Guided Caliphs. What is the secret, I wonder, that some people in this time refuse to affiliate themselves to the righteous Salaf, whom the Messenger of Allah praised as the best of generations, and wants to make it a general term, the people of the Sunnah and the community? The people of the Sunnah and the community are the Companions of the Messenger (peace be upon him), whereas those who came after them divided into many sects and many parties. And our Lord - Mighty and Majestic - forbade that in His saying - Blessed and Exalted is He - : , so the Islamic party is one party, and it is the one that strives - not only claims - strives to be upon what the Messenger and his Companions were upon. This is the one who is saved, and it is the one that walks together upon a straight path. As for the one who took from some of the later methodologies as we indicated just now, he is in danger; because he did not hold fast to the community that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said that holding fast to this community is salvation from the Fire, whereas he ruled upon seventy-two sects, Muslims, but Muslims who deviated in some of what they held of creeds and rulings and morals. And what of the Sufis and their deviation in conduct from what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was upon, and indeed their deviation in creed and in the oneness of Allah, until it reached them that they believe the belief of the materialists who say that there is no Creator, but rather it is as some of the people of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance said: "It is only wombs that give birth and earth that swallows." And some of the Sufis say: "Everything you see with your eye is Allah"; so in their claim there is no Creator and no created. And these Sufis to this day write some of the writings, and they claim that they are of the Muslims, indeed they claim that they are upon the straight path. As for us, we say to them: .
And I have mentioned in some of my lectures that, especially in this present age, and more specifically in the last days, the new fashion of Muslims today is claiming to hold fast to the Book and the Sunnah. This good, blessed call was not known at least half a century ago; rather, there was this Hanafi, and this Shafi'i, and this Maliki, and this Hanbali. As for hearing at that time "I am upon the Book and the Sunnah and upon what the righteous Salaf were upon"; this was not known. But now, the people have divided in this good call, the Book and the Sunnah and upon the methodology of the righteous Salaf; they divided into two groups:
A group that truly holds fast to the Book and the Sunnah, and upon what the righteous Salaf were upon, and they are called in some lands the Salafis, or the people of hadith, or the supporters of the Sunnah. All these names indicate one name, and one reality; which is walking in everything by which we worship Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) upon the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, and upon the methodology of the righteous Salaf.
As for the second group, they hope to say, "I am also with you upon the Book and the Sunnah." But if you scrutinize them and examine them closely, you will find them to be the furthest from the Book and the Sunnah in their creed, their worship, their behavior, their clothing, and so on. There is no [alignment], there is no [alignment]; yet they claim to be upon the Book and the Sunnah. I mentioned some examples of what is happening today, which the scholars of knowledge are aware of. No matter how much some sects deviate from this sound methodology—“Allah said, the Messenger of Allah said, the righteous Salaf said”—their affair does not always reach the point of exiting the circle of Islam. However, some of them have exited Islam in the name of Islam. I gave an example of this with the Qadiyyah sect. This sect is known to the scholars of knowledge who have a share in knowing the sects that have emerged in the modern era. Among the most famous of these are the Bahaiyyah, then the Qadiyyah. We do not speak about the Bahaiyyah, for no one is deceived by them except one who is like them; for they do not pray, they do not fast, and they do not perform Hajj. As for the Qadiyyah, they are upon their clear misguidance, and they are included in those who opposed the path of the believers. They pray, they fast, they perform Hajj, they pay zakah, and they testify to the first pillar of Islam, unlike the Bahaiyyah. But they have exited the circle of Islam. So do they say, “We are upon the Book and not upon the Sunnah”?
This sect today is the least of the sects that claim Islam in the name of Islam; for they denied matters that are known from the religion by necessity, which are explicitly stated in the Book and the Sunnah. Among these is the saying of the Exalted: . They said: The meaning of is not as you, O Muslims, understand it. Thus they claimed that there is no prophet after him, but rather means: the adornment of the prophets. Just as the ring on the finger is the adornment of the finger and the adornment of the fingers and the hand, so means that he (peace and blessings be upon him) is the adornment of the prophets. They believed in this verse—and here is the point—they believed in this verse, but they distorted its meaning so that this meaning would align with their misguided creed. And that is their belief that prophets will come after the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). In fact, they say that one of them has come in India, and his name is “Mirza Ghulam Ahmad al-Qadiyani.” The story of this Dajjal who claimed prophethood and was followed by millions of Muslims in India, Pakistan, and Europe. They are among the most active Islamic sects that call to Islam. But are they Muslims? And do they still respond to their call? Are they Muslims?
The answer is: No; for they deny some of the beliefs that are known from the religion by necessity, the most important of which I mentioned to you just now. So it is not befitting for us to be deceived by one who says, “We are upon the Book and the Sunnah,” unless he adds to that, “and upon what our righteous Salaf were upon.” For this addition is what preserves the Muslims from leaning to the right or the left, and from being among the sects to which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) explicitly referred in the previous hadith, indicating that they are from the people of the Fire. And he indicated in another hadith that they sometimes meet with the straight path, but Satan takes them off this straight path to the many paths that connect to this straight path. As came in the interpretation of the saying of the Blessed and Exalted: . The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) drew a straight line on the ground one day, then drew short lines on both sides of this line, and recited this verse: . And he passed his noble hand over this straight line. This is what the Lord of the Worlds referred to: , meaning: those around this line, and they are many lines, . This is the reality of the Islamic world today. So whoever... [omits] the name of following the righteous Salaf, let alone if he actually disavows it, there is no doubt that he is on one of these paths that has a close connection to the straight line, but he is outside of it, not walking evenly on a straight path.
We ask Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) to make us understand the Book of our Lord and the Sunnah of our Prophet upon the methodology of our righteous Salaf, so that we may be protected from deviation to the right or the left, or from being among the misguided sects that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) threatened with the Fire. And He make us from the saved sect, by following which we hope to be saved from the Fire. May Allah protect us and you from it.