The Shaykh’s mention of the sign of the saved sect that distinguishes it from the other sects, which is the methodology of the righteous Salaf and their understanding from the Companions and those who came after them from

The Shaykh : ... So the sign of the saved sect is not only, as other groups claim in this time and before this time, that this sect’s sign is only that it belongs to acting upon the Book and the Sunnah; for no one among the Muslims, even if they are from the sects that deviate from the saved sect, no sect among those sects, old or new, can disavow belonging to the Book and the Sunnah; for if they did, they would have raised the banner of exiting Islam. Therefore, all Islamic groups and all Islamic sects; these sects that the Messenger (peace be upon him) mentioned or referred to in the previous hadith, all of them agree on one word: namely, belonging to the Book and the Sunnah. .
So following this first generation, the most radiant and purest generation of the Companions, then , these are necessary for everyone who wants to be from the saved sect; it is necessary that he belongs to acting upon what these Companions and Successors were upon, and they are the righteous Salaf whom we follow as an example. And this matter of the obligation of following these righteous Salaf is not an innovated matter, but it is the obligatory matter to which reference was made, indeed explicit mention was made, in such as His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He): . So Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) mentioned in this verse a severe warning against opposing the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and contradicting him, then He connected to that and said: . And there is no doubt that these believers whom Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) warned the Muslims not to oppose the path of the believers, there is no doubt that these are the ones mentioned in the previous verse, the emigrants and the helpers and those who followed them with excellence; for Allah was pleased with them and they were pleased with their Lord. That is the criterion that distinguishes the Muslim who belongs with his tongue to the Book and the Sunnah, then may oppose the Book and the Sunnah when he does not return to infallibility from opposing the Book and the Sunnah; namely, adhering to what the Companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) were upon. So you are now before a text from the verse and from the authentic hadith; the verse mentioned the path of the believers, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned his Companions, as he mentioned the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs in the other authentic hadith narrated by a group of the people of the Sunnah, among them Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi, Imam Ahmad, and others; from al-'Arba' ibn Sariyah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) gave us a sermon that made our hearts tremble and our eyes shed tears, so we said: Advise us, O Messenger of Allah. He said: . And with the other hadith: .
So you will find the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in this hadith also connected the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs to his Sunnah (peace and blessings be upon him); so this hadith meets with the hadith of the saved sect, and meets with His saying (Exalted is He) in the second verse; namely, His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He): . Therefore, it is not permissible for the Muslim in the name of following the Book and the Sunnah to follow opinions or sayings that oppose what our righteous Salaf were upon; for what they were upon is an explanation of the Book and the Sunnah, and you all know that the Sunnah, by the explicit text of the Noble Qur'an, is an explanation of the Noble Qur'an, as Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) said, addressing the person of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): . So just as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) took upon himself the explanation of the Qur'an with his Sunnah...