The Difference Between the Salafis Who Adhere to Acting in Accordance with the Book and the Sunnah on the Methodology of the Pious Predecessors (may Allah be pleased with them)

The Shaykh : ... Praise be to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our own selves and from the badness of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide, and whomsoever He leaves to misguide, none can guide. And I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger. , , . As for what follows:
Indeed, the best of speech is the speech of Allah, and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), and the worst of matters are their innovations, and every innovation is a religious innovation, and every religious innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire. And after that:
I am often asked by some individuals among the Muslims about the difference between us, the Salafi Muslims who adhere to acting in accordance with the Book and the Sunnah on the methodology of the Pious Predecessors (may Allah be pleased with them), and the rest of the Muslims who adhere to acting in accordance with one of the four schools of jurisprudence followed by them. It occurred to me tonight that my speech and lecture should be an answer to such a question, which is on the tongues of many people and in the hearts of even more. So, in answer to that, I say:
There is no doubt that the number of Muslims in this present age reaches approximately eight hundred million Muslims on the face of the earth. And there is no doubt, either, that a Muslim is everyone who testifies that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and establishes the prayer, and the rest of the five pillars of Islam. This is Islam; so whoever utters the two testimonies and fulfills their rights is a Muslim, having what we have and owing what we owe. But many of these Muslims are unaware that the reality of Islam is not this reality based merely on the utterance of the good word, "There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah," and its completion, "Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah." They are unaware that the reality of Islam is not merely the utterance of this good testimony, but rather the reality is based on two things:
The first thing: the correct understanding of this testimony and what follows it; because a word that its speaker utters without knowing its meaning hardly benefits him with anything of note. Yes, that word may benefit him in this fleeting, temporary abode; that is, by which he protects his self, his wealth, and his honor, as the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's prayers and peace be upon him) stated in the famous, authentic hadith recorded in "Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim" and others, from the hadith of al-Mughirah and Anas ibn Malik and others, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), that he said: . So this hadith is explicit in its indication that this testimony, when its speaker utters it, protects his self, his blood, and his wealth, meaning: that the rulings of Islam...
... a hadith in the authentic collections when a Muslim and a polytheist met on the battlefield. When the polytheist felt or saw that there was nothing between him and death but a hair's breadth, he said: "There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah." The Muslim did not care about it and did not give any weight to that word, so he completed the sword stroke upon him, and that polytheist met his end. When this news reached the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), he became very angry and sent for that Muslim who had killed that polytheist, and he rebuked him for killing him, and said to him: . That man said: "By Allah, O Messenger of Allah, he did not say it except out of fear of being killed." He (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: . This is a burden that cannot be borne; meaning: you cannot split open what is in his heart to know that he truly said: "There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah" to escape the stroke of your sword; this is not possible. So it is as if the Messenger (peace be upon him) is saying to that man: It was incumbent upon you not to complete the descent of the sword upon that man, but rather to lift the sword from him merely upon hearing from him: "There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah"; because it is from my law that whoever says: "There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah" has protected his self, his wealth, and his blood from me, except by its right, and his account is with Allah.
This is Islam. So, the utterance of Islam benefits him in this world, but in the Hereafter, it is obligatory that two other very important things be added to this utterance. If these are realized in everyone who utters the testimony and the good word, then those are the successful ones, and they are the saved ones on the Day of Resurrection from entering the Fire, either absolutely, or at the least from entering it eternally. So whoever says: "There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah" — as came in the authentic hadith: , — meaning: understanding it with a correct understanding and believing in it, it will benefit him on a day of his life; either he will enter Paradise without punishment, or if he is a sinner and a transgressor against himself by committing some sins, he will enter the Fire to be punished according to what he committed of those sins, then the testimony that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah will save him. This is the meaning of the saying of the Messenger (peace be upon him): , meaning in the Hereafter. So what are the two important, and very important, things in the utterance of the testimony to be successful with it on the Day of the Hereafter?
The first thing: is the knowledge and correct understanding of this word.
As for the immediate benefit in this world, if a non-Arab man who understands nothing of the Arabic language is told: "Say: There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah," and he says it, he has thereby protected his self as we mentioned. But as for salvation in the Hereafter, it is necessary that two things be added to the testimony and its utterance:
The first thing: knowledge; the correct understanding of this good word.
And the other thing: faith and firm belief in this correct understanding of this good word. If he understands it with a correct understanding and believes in it with firmness from his heart, sincerely, then he is the one for whom this word will be a benefit on a day of his life. As for the one who utters it without knowing its meaning, let alone that he has not believed in it; because belief in something is a branch of knowledge of it, and it is not possible to have the firm belief, which is firm conviction, in something unless he understands it according to its reality and its actual state.
So this one who utters without understanding, and consequently without faith in what he uttered; his example is the example of that hypocrite man whose mention came in "Sahih al-Bukhari" from the hadith of Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), as I recall: that when the believer dies and is buried in his grave, if he is asked about his Lord and his Prophet, he answers with a correct answer. But as for the disbeliever or the hypocrite; when it is said to him: "What do you say about this man?" The questioner in the grave is Munkar or Nakir, two noble angels who come to everyone who is buried in the grave, and they ask him about his Lord, his Prophet, and his religion. If it is said to the hypocrite who does not understand what he says: "What do you say about this man" — meaning Muhammad ibn Abdullah (peace and blessings be upon him) — he says — the witness here —: "I heard the people saying a saying, so I said it: The Messenger of Allah, he is the Messenger of Allah. But what is the meaning of 'Messenger of Allah'? And what is the reality of this term that he testified to? Did it come from his heart to his tongue, or did it not pass from the term to the heart? This is the affair of the hypocrite. He says explicitly, do not give, yes, he says explicitly: "I heard the people saying: Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, so I said as they said"; meaning: without knowing and without truly believing in what these people are saying.
From here it becomes clear that among the most important matters, after which there is nothing more important, is that the Muslim knows, above all else, the meaning of "There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah," and couples this knowledge with faith and firm belief.
So what is the meaning of this testimony?
In brief, its meaning is: There is no god but Allah; that is, there is no deity worthy of worship in existence except Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). The word "worthy" (bi-haqq), despite its simplicity and brevity, is the decisive criterion between the correct understanding of this beautiful word and the incorrect understanding. Regrettably, we hear, and even read, in printed messages in this age interpreting this beautiful word without mentioning this decisive criterion. They say: "There is no god but Allah," meaning: there is no deity except Allah. There is a very great difference between understanding the verse and interpreting it as "there is no deity except Allah," and understanding this testimony and interpreting it as "there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah." The difference between the two interpretations is like the difference between heaven and earth.
This is because the first, deficient interpretation—"there is no deity except Allah"—is the tawhid of the people of Wahdat (Unity), who claim that there is no Creator and no created, but rather it is one thing. "There is no deity except Allah" means, as it appears in some books of the Sufis: "Everything you see with your eye is Allah." Therefore, if there is no deity except Allah, then everything you see is a deity, because it is Allah. They have a long and very serious philosophy; they say that pure tawhid is not to say: "Two," meaning a Creator and a created; that is shirk (associating partners with Allah). Rather, one must say: "It is He and only He!" That is, there is nothing in this world except He, and He is Allah. This is their interpretation: "Everything you see with your eye is Allah." Another said: "When the Majus (Zoroastrians) worshipped the fire, they did not worship anything but the One, the Subduer." If we combine these explicit words of disbelief with that deficient interpretation of the beautiful word—"there is no deity except Allah"—this interpretation meets that explicit, widespread disbelief expressed in various phrases, all leading to one thing: that it is He and only He, that there is nothing but Allah; so everything you see with your eye is Allah.
In response to that deficient interpretation, and to refute that explicit disbelief, it is necessary to place that qualifier. It is necessary for us to say: "There is no deity worthy of worship." This qualifier, "worthy" (bi-haqq), establishes the factual reality: that there are many deities, but they are deities in falsehood, and that there is one deity worthy of worship, with no partner, and He is Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). This is the first part of the correct understanding of this beautiful word, and it is the first matter that must be realized for this testimony to benefit its owner on the Day of Resurrection; , free from everything, and especially free from shirk (associating partners with Allah) and kufr (disbelief). Otherwise, if he comes free from everything, with good morals and righteous deeds, but he does not come free from shirk and kufr, then all that good character and righteous work will never benefit him in the least. This is due to the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He): This is regarding the disbelieving polytheists, .
As for this qualifier, "there is no deity worthy of worship in existence except Allah," this brief interpretation has a detailed interpretation. This detailed interpretation is established in well-known books of tawhid (the oneness of Allah), which treat this word in detail, leaving no room for argument. In summary, and I only refer to it briefly, because my topic is explaining the difference, as I told you at the beginning of this talk, between the Salafi Muslims and the other Muslims: "There is no god but Allah." So, the word "There is no god but Allah," with its correct interpretation mentioned above—that is, there is no deity worthy of worship in existence except Allah—understands three types of tawhid: tawhid al-rububiyyah (oneness of lordship), tawhid al-uluhiyyah (oneness of worship), and tawhid al-asma' wa al-sifat (oneness of the names and attributes). Whoever unifies Allah in His essence, unifies Him in His worship, and unifies Him in His names and attributes, that is the one who understood the meaning and the correct interpretation of this beautiful word, "There is no god but Allah."
Then what comes after that? The other matter remains, which is faith (iman). As is known to all scholars, faith is firm conviction that is not mixed with any doubt or hesitation, not even the weight of a gnat's wing. If doubt enters faith, it does not benefit its owner in any way. Therefore, whoever understands the testimony that there is no god but Allah with the correct understanding mentioned above, even in general terms, and applies it in detail in his life, and believes in it with firm faith without doubt, he is the believer who will be saved from eternal abode in the Fire, at the very least, unless Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) protects him from entering the Fire at all by His grace and generosity.
If you understand that knowledge is a condition for salvation through this testimony, and that faith is required along with knowledge, then it becomes clear to you that knowledge is one thing and faith is another. This is a point that was hidden from many of the previous Islamic philosophers. We say "Islamic philosophers" in the sense that they were Muslims, but their philosophy took them out of their Islam, because they did not adhere to what came in the Book and the Sunnah in their philosophy.
This crept into some of the misguided sects, so they defined faith as knowledge. They defined the faith that leads to salvation on the Day of Resurrection as being nothing more than knowledge. This is a deficient definition of the beneficial faith in the sight of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). This is because knowledge is one thing, and firm faith and conviction in that knowledge is another thing.
Such a thing may be hidden from some people, and that is not strange, as it was hidden from many of those philosophers and those leaders of sects and misguidance. So it is not strange that it is hidden from some people who have not been given knowledge of tawhid (the oneness of Allah). You are content, if Allah wills, with our reminding you of some verses that you read or hear from the Book of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) says regarding the Jews and the People of the Book and their complete knowledge of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): . These are People of the Book who know Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and that he is a truthful Prophet by the signs they saw in him and the attributes they read about him in their books, despite the alteration and change in them. From the sum of that, they knew in their hearts that this is Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah, whom 'Isa (peace be upon him) and the noble prophets and messengers before him had foretold. And yet, did their knowledge benefit them in any way? No. Why? Because they did not believe. They knew but did not believe. Therefore, mere knowledge is not sufficient. Faith is something added to knowledge. Its essence is submission to the One in whom we believe, and obedience and humility to Him. The philosophers and their like knew that Muhammad was the servant of Allah and His Messenger, truthfully, but they did not respond to the Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law) that Allah revealed to the heart of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). Among their differences in what they said, some said: "He is a truthful Prophet, but he was not sent to us; rather, he was sent to the Arabs and the uncultured Arabs." And some said: "He is a Prophet, but he was sent to the general people and not to all people, such as us, the philosophers, the rational, the scholars, they claimed! They claimed! He was sent to some people and not to others." This knowledge they claimed regarding the Messenger (peace be upon him) did not benefit them in any way, because it was not accompanied by faith and firm conviction that the Messenger (peace be upon him) is truly the Prophet of Allah and His Messenger. Among his attributes in the Noble Qur'an: . The one who knew him as a Prophet did not believe in him as a Prophet. Therefore, there is a very great difference between mere knowledge of a thing and knowledge plus faith in it.
Therefore, Allah the Exalted said regarding all the polytheists, to whom Allah (Mighty and Majestic) sent down verses indicating the prophethood of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and his truthfulness. He said (Blessed and Exalted is He): . Thus, these people knew the Messenger (peace be upon him) with a definitive, conclusive knowledge. Yet, disbelief and denial, which is the opposite of faith, accompanied this knowledge. Therefore, it is necessary to be accompanied by the knowledge, which is the first condition, for the one who testified with this testimony to benefit in the Hereafter. The second condition is definitive faith in that knowledge.
From this, the first difference between the Salafis and the general Muslims becomes apparent. The Salafis, first and foremost, concern themselves and everyone connected with them to understand and be made to understand the meaning of this testimony, its definition, and to be compelled to have definitive faith and absolute conviction in it. Meanwhile, you find that the general people today are content with merely uttering this testimony, and then there is nothing after that in the way of correct understanding and definitive faith. Indeed, thousands upon thousands—and we are not exaggerating if we say, rather, millions upon millions, if the expression is correct—practically disbelieve in this knowledge and that faith, if it has settled in their hearts and souls. How is that? We have just mentioned that the correct understanding of this testimony necessitates the oneness of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in His worship, and the oneness of Allah in His names and attributes. Do all Muslims today, in the reality of their lives, establish this tawhid in its two categories: the oneness of worship and the oneness of the names and attributes? The answer, unfortunately, is no.
I will not lengthen this by giving examples, for they are many, and very many, and are known to all people, both those who knew this testimony with its correct meaning and those who did not. Those who come to the graves of the prophets and the righteous and call upon them other than Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He)—these people have not worshipped Allah alone, having no partner. The meaning of "La ilaha illa Allah," as you have heard, is that there is no worshipped entity with truth in existence except Allah. Worship is of many types, and very many types. The well-known verse explicitly mentions some of them, which is His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He): , meaning my supplication, meaning my slaughter, to the end of the verse . Did these Muslims unite Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) in His supplication, having no partner, or do they call upon others with Him? The answer is with you. Many of these people call upon other than Allah in times of hardship, not in times of ease. In times of ease, it is a normal factor for people to forget the Lord of people. But these people who forget Allah in times of ease remember Him in times of hardship. However, the strange thing is that misguidance, shirk, and distance from sincere faith in this tawhid have settled upon the hearts of these people to the extent that it made them forget calling upon Allah alone, having no partner, even in times of hardship, when a person at that time does not remember except the one he is certain is the one who harms and benefits, and that He is the one who grants relief and none else.
Despite this, you find individuals, indeed masses, of Muslims calling upon other than Allah in times of hardship, let alone in times of ease.
If Allah says: meaning my supplication , what is the matter with these people calling upon other than Allah? That is because they did not understand the meaning of worship, which is mentioned in the correct interpretation of that beautiful word, "no worshipped entity." "Mabud" is a passive noun derived from worship. So what is worship? They did not comprehend its meaning. Whatever Allah has legislated as worship, and people worship with it, then if an individual or individuals direct a type of this worship to other than Allah, they have worshipped that other entity other than Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), without doubt or doubt. Therefore, whoever calls upon other than Allah has not believed in "La ilaha illa Allah." Likewise, you find many people slaughtering for other than Allah and coming to shrines, which may be established shrines or fabricated ones. Whether it is this or that, they come to them and slaughter for whoever is buried there or is absent from there. This slaughter, and like it vows, is also shirk. The slaughter was mentioned in the previous verse. He said (the Exalted): for whom? . The one who calls upon other than Allah: "O Baz, save me," "O Abd al-Qadir, help me," "O Khidr, so and so," and so on. All of this is calling upon other than Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Going to the shrine of "Abd al-Qadir," "Baz," or "Sayyida Zaynab" or "Ruqayyah" with us, and I do not know what is with you; going to these shrines and slaughtering for them is shirk with Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). Thus, these Muslims who commit such types of shirk mean one of two things: either they did not know the meaning of "La ilaha illa Allah," so naturally they did not believe, as we mentioned that faith is a branch of knowledge; or they knew it and then disbelieved, and this is the greatest of catastrophes. But what we believe and profess to Allah is that these Muslims who fell into this clear misguidance, the burden of their sins and their crimes is carried by those scholars whom we hope have understood these truths, knew the meaning of the testimony with its complete and perfect meanings, and then believed in it with definitive faith. Yet, they see these masses misguided in their actions regarding the realization of this testimony, and then they do not speak, and—as it is said—do not utter a word. They do not speak at all about this tawhid while they see shirk has established its camp among these masses of Muslims. Why? For one reason or more. Some do not call to this tawhid because if they call to it, they will be labeled with a title they see these people who call Muslims to tawhid and to understanding this beautiful word with the correct understanding being labeled with. It is said to them what was said to those who preceded them in this call: that they are Wahhabis! Therefore, he prefers safety and wants to remain far from being labeled among people with this abhorrent, rejected, and refused title by the masses of people. They want to please people, and Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has admonished His Prophet with the opposite of what these people are upon today when He said (the Exalted): . These people do not call to the word of tawhid, for which the messengers were not sent and the books were not revealed except to call people to it. These scholars who knew these truths but do not call to them fear people and do not fear Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He).
And another group says—and I do not know which is worse, the first group or the other group—they say: calling to these correct concepts of this beautiful word is obligatory, but this call divides the ranks of the ummah, and we are in need today to unify the word. The matter of these people is very strange in my understanding and in my opinion. That is because, first, they prefer calling to what is in the rank of voluntary acts compared to calling to tawhid, which is the first and fundamental pillar of faith and tawhid. The example of these people who want to call people to tawhid, to unity, to the unity of the ranks, and to unifying the word, while turning away from calling them to the tawhid to which the Messenger (peace be upon him) called, is like the example that has been said since ancient times: like the one who builds a palace and demolishes a city.
On the other hand, they are unable to do what they aim to achieve, which is calling Muslims and gathering them on one word. Why? Because their efforts will undoubtedly end in loss. Why? Because they contradict what Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has decreed for all people from eternity, since the Pen was written with what was and what will be until the Day of Resurrection. Among what the Pen has written is what Allah (Mighty and Majestic) explicitly stated in the Noble Qur'an in a general manner: , and what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) detailed in the famous authentic hadith: . They asked: Who are they, O Messenger of Allah? He said: . These are the ones who want to call the eight hundred million Muslims, or perhaps one billion according to recent estimates, to gather them on one word. What is this one word? The word "Muslims" and nothing more. As for "Muslims" in the sense that benefits them in this world and the Hereafter, they do not revolve around this from one aspect; rather, as we mentioned earlier, they consider it impermissible to revolve around it from another aspect. So, is there any Muslim who thinks about what he says and what he does?
They imagine that a caller or callers can achieve what Allah and His Messenger informed us of, namely that people cannot gather on one word, as He (Mighty and Majestic) said: . Those who try to gather Muslims and unite them on the mere word of Islam will not succeed in their efforts, because their efforts contradict the will of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), which no human can oppose. As for Allah, He wants His chosen, righteous servants to call the sincere, believing people to form a group, to unite, and to gather on a just word. We must remember the following truth:
That Muslims, Jews, and Christians agree on some kind of faith. I said "some kind of faith" because there is a great difference between the faith of believing Muslims and the faith of Jews, Christians, and other disbelievers and those who associate partners with Allah. They meet in the word of faith in Allah; they meet in the word of faith in Allah. Jews and Christians believe in Allah, and they also meet with us, we Muslims all, in the belief in the Last Day, the resurrection and the rising. But they do not meet with us; in fact, they do not meet with us except in the word only. Therefore, to clarify this truth, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says in His Book to the sincere believers—we are not them today, even though we walk on the path and hope that Allah will guide us—He says to these sincere believers: . Look at how He described them as not believing in Allah. The masses of Muslims today, especially some writers, try to bring Muslims and Christians closer together, particularly today, because politics requires it in their efforts and their opinion, claiming that—my brother—they are believers. We believe in Allah and they believe in Allah. They forget or overlook this truth that you heard earlier in the saying of Allah (Mighty and Majestic): . Then He clarified who are the ones who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day by saying: . So some Muslim writers today, who may have previously claimed to gather Muslims on a word that has no concept for the masses of Muslims, it is no surprise that they move to another stage, calling Muslims to unite with whom? With the Christians, claiming that they share with us in the faith in Allah and the Last Day. And Allah (Mighty and Majestic) explicitly denied this for them in the Noble Qur'an, saying: They are to the end of the verse...