A Word on Encouraging Adherence to the Methodology of the Salaf

The Shaykh : ... We praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness, and we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our own souls and from our bad deeds. Whoever Allah guides, no one can mislead, and whoever He misleads, no one can guide. And I bear witness that there is no god but 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 guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and the worst of matters are their innovations, every innovation is a religious innovation, every religious innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire. After that:
Also, we are in an age in which the saying of our Prophet (may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him) has come true, in his statement: . They said: Who are they, O Messenger of Allah? He said: . And in another narration that explains the first narration, he said (peace and blessings be upon him): . It is the group that is upon what I and my Companions are upon. If this hadith explicitly states that the Muslims will split into seventy-three sects, seventy-two of which are all in the Fire, and the saved sect is one; then it is fitting for every Muslim to know which sect he belongs to. Is he of the saved sect, whose characteristics are clear and apparent, or is he—may Allah forbid it—of one of those many sects which, according to the report of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), numbered seventy-two? And every one of these sects claims to have a connection and bond with the Islam that Allah revealed to the heart of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). But the truth says to these claimants:
"And claims, unless you establish for them proofs, their offspring are claimants"
Or as the other poet said:
"And every one claims a connection to Layla *** And Layla does not approve of that for them"
So what is the way? What is the path for the Muslim to be certain of his affair, that he is of the saved sect, or that he is of one of those deviant, astray sects? There is no way for the Muslim in this age to know that he is of the saved sect except by holding fast to the strong rope of Allah, which does not exceed the Noble Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), which is the companion of the Noble Qur'an, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the authentic hadith: . Our Messenger (may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him) left us upon the clear, pure path, its night like its day, no one goes astray or deviates from it except one who is ruined. He left us upon the Book and the Sunnah, and left us upon one way, not upon multiple ways. Therefore, Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) says in the Noble Qur'an: . My path, meaning: my way, meaning: my path. And this is a text in the Noble Qur'an, to which falsehood does not come from before it or from behind it, that the paths leading to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) are all false except this one path; which is the way that our Prophet (may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him) brought to us, and our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) informed us in His Book in the previous verse: meaning: the paths, .
And out of his mercy (peace and blessings be upon him) for his Ummah and his eagerness to clarify the legal realities he brought to them, he depicted for us the path and the way that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) commanded us to follow, and the paths that contradict and differ from it. The Messenger (peace be upon him) depicted that for his Companions one day on the ground; where he drew a straight line for them, then drew short lines around the line. This reminds me of some of the structures raised today to broadcast evil in most cases; which are the antennas they place on buildings to catch television broadcasts. You find how there are lines in it like this, parallel. So the Messenger (peace be upon him) depicted for his noble Companions the straight path and the paths that contradict it on the ground; where he drew a straight line for them, and around this straight line, short lines. And he recited for them the noble verse: , then he clarified that by saying (peace be upon him): ; the straight line is the path that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) said: , then he said (peace be upon him): short paths, Where are you going? A long and long path with no end, to me, to me, this is the path that leads to Allah. So whoever responds to this devil has gone astray from the straight path. These are paths, and at the head of every one of them is a devil calling people to it. The truth is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) conveyed the message, fulfilled the trust, and advised the Ummah with everything he brought (peace and blessings be upon him). And among that is this hadith which clarifies the previous verse: .
The paths today and before today are many and very many; some are old and some are new. So there is no salvation for the Muslim except by knowing the path of Allah; the path that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) mentioned in the previous verse. And there is no way—as we said—to know that except by returning to the Book and the Sunnah. Therefore, we always call all Muslims in all parts of the world to save themselves from falling into one of the many paths of misguidance; by recognizing the one true path that has no second; which is the path of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and it is the path that the noble Companions followed, and then the renowned Imams followed them in that, like the four Imams and all others were upon this straight path.
And the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) emphasized the matter by that, and warned that the Muslim should hold fast to something that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions were not upon, in the authentic hadith narrated by the compilers of the Sunan and others from the hadith of al-'Arba' ibn Sariyah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) preached to us a sermon that made our hearts tremble and our eyes shed tears; so we said: O Messenger of Allah, we see you as one bidding farewell, so advise us? He said: , , so what is the work? As if a questioner says: So what is the work, O Messenger of Allah? The answer comes without a question: . And in another hadith: .
So our duty today is summarized in that we should seek knowledge of the Book of Allah and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and what our righteous Salaf were upon, from the Companions and those who followed them with excellence until the Day of Judgment. And there is no path to knowing that except knowledge. And knowledge, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the established hadith about him, said: . No person is born a scholar; therefore he (peace be upon him) said: meaning that you should engage in the means that make you a scholar or at least a student of knowledge. Just as the patient, purified, and praised one is not the one whom Allah blessed and created patient, but rather the one who was created with the opposite, and then he strives against his self to be patient where he is not patient by nature and disposition. Therefore, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) linked patience with learning and said: . If knowledge is by learning, it is not permissible for the Muslim to live like this, heedless, not caring about seeking knowledge, even by the nearest path that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) legislated for people to lift from them the darkness of ignorance; which is the saying of our Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He) , . The question is, as he (peace be upon him) said, the cure for ignorance, which is ignorance, . It is obligatory for every Muslim to learn what he must know of the matters of his religion until he meets the Face of his Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He) and he is certain of his affair.
This hadith means that anyone who claims knowledge without basis is speaking without knowledge until some of them exaggerate and say, "My heart told me about my Lord." In reality, such a person is either one whom Satan has misled without his knowledge, or one who knows he is misguided and is misleading others. This is because knowledge is not mere desire or the claim of having a special connection with Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), whereby he casts knowledge upon him as our Lord (Mighty and Majestic) used to cast it and reveal it to the messengers and prophets before Muhammad (peace be upon him). As for our Prophet (may Allah's prayers and peace be upon him), the messengers ended with him, and all religions and laws ended with him. So he said (peace be upon him): . Therefore, anyone who claims Islam but does not understand Islam through the way of the Messenger (peace be upon him), or through the way of... their desires, and their knowledge is nothing but their lusts, misleads people without knowledge. We must be aware of the correct knowledge so that we may be saved by it, and not follow knowledge that is not correct and not in accordance with the Book of Allah and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).
And the scholars of the Muslims, all of them, the Salaf and the Khalaf, agree that knowledge has no path except these three paths we mentioned: the Book, the Sunnah, and following the Companions. Therefore, one of them said:
"Knowledge is: Allah said, His Messenger said, *** The Companions said, not by deception
"What is knowledge? You have set yourself up for foolishness in disagreement between the Messenger and the statement of a jurist."
To the end of what he said. Since the matter is thus, it is not permissible for a Muslim to follow every barker, every one who claims to be a scholar. Knowledge is light, and this knowledge, as you know well, is nothing but "Allah said" and "The Messenger of Allah said." So whoever calls you to what Allah said and what the Messenger of Allah said, that is the one who must be followed. As for those among the Muslims who claim Islam and follow various paths, and claim that the paths leading to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) are as numerous as the breaths of the creatures; this is a false statement that contradicts the texts of the Book and the Sunnah, especially the previous verse . Whether this caller calls to an Islam that he understands with his crooked mind, not from the Book of Allah and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah, or does not recognize Islam at all, as some of the youth today have been afflicted with, who belong to some parties and some destructive principles like communism, for example, and others; it is not permissible for Muslims to be deceived by such people; because what they have from Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and from the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) is better and more lasting.