What is the meaning of Salafiyyah? To whom is it attributed? And is it permissible to depart from the understanding of the righteous Salaf in interpreting the sacred texts?

The questioner : Some of the brothers sitting here have heard about the Salafi call only by hearsay and have read about it what is written by its opponents, not by its followers and callers. Therefore, it is requested of you, since you are among the scholars and callers of the Salafiyyah, to explain the position of the Salafiyyah among the Islamic groups today.

The Shaykh : I have answered a question like this more than once, but since a question has been raised, an answer is necessary. I say: This is a word of truth in which no Muslim can argue once the reality becomes clear to him:
First of all: The Salafi call, to what is it attributed? Salafiyyah is attributed to the Salaf. Therefore, we must know who the Salaf are when the term is used by the scholars of the Muslims: the Salaf. Consequently, this attribution is understood, along with its weight in its meaning and implication. The Salaf are the people of the three centuries to whom the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) testified to their excellence in the authentic, mass-transmitted hadith recorded in the two Sahihs and others, from a group of the Companions from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) that he said: These are the three centuries to whom the Messenger (peace be upon him) testified to their excellence. So, the Salafiyyah belongs to this Salaf, and the Salafis belong to these Salaf. Once we know the meaning of the Salaf and the Salafiyyah, I then say two things:
The first thing: This attribution is not an attribution to a person or persons, as are the attributions of other groups existing today on the Islamic land. This is not an attribution to a person or to dozens of persons, but this attribution is an attribution to infallibility. This is because it is impossible for the righteous Salaf to agree upon misguidance. In contrast to that, the Khalaf (the later generations) did not receive praise in the Shari'ah; rather, blame came upon the majority of them. This is in the completion of the previous hadith where he (peace be upon him) said: to the end of the hadith. Also, he (peace be upon him) pointed to that in another hadith containing praise for a group of Muslims and blame for the majority of them by the implication of the hadith, where he (peace be upon him) said: or . So, this hadith restricted the praise in the end of time to a group. The group (al-ta'ifah) is the small group, for in the language, it is used for the individual and above.
So, if we know this meaning in the Salafiyyah and that it belongs to the group of the righteous Salaf, and that they are the infallible ones if the Muslim holds fast to what these righteous Salaf were upon, then the second thing I referred to earlier comes: That every Muslim knows this attribution and what it aims at in terms of infallibility, and it becomes impossible for him, after this knowledge and clarification, to— I do not say: to— disavow. This is a self-evident matter. But I say: It is impossible for him except to be a Salafi. Because we understood that belonging to the Salafiyyah means belonging to infallibility. Where did we take this infallibility from? We take it from a hadith that some of the Khalaf use as evidence for opposing the truth; they use it as evidence for arguing by following the majority— what the majority of the Khalaf are upon— when they bring his (peace be upon him) saying: . It is not correct to apply this hadith to the Khalaf today, given the fundamental differences among them. cannot be applied to the reality of the Muslims today, and this is a matter known by every student of this bad reality. Added to that are the authentic hadiths that came explaining what happened among those before us of the Jews and Christians, and what will happen among the Muslims after the Messenger (peace be upon him) in terms of division. So he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: They said: Who are they, O Messenger of Allah? He said: This group: It is the group of the Messenger (peace be upon him). It is the one in which it can be affirmed that the previous hadith: is intended to refer to the Companions, whom the Messenger (peace be upon him) ruled to be the saved sect, and whoever follows their path and directs himself toward them. And these righteous Salaf are those whom our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, warned us in the Noble Qur'an against opposing them and following a path other than their path, in His saying, Mighty and Majestic: I have drawn the attention of our brothers in many occasions to the wisdom of our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, in connecting His saying in this verse: to opposing the Messenger. What is the wisdom of that? Even though the verse, if it were without this phrase, if it were as follows: , would have been sufficient for the warning and rebuke of whoever opposes the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), and ruling on his bad end. The verse was not like that, but it added to that His saying, Mighty and Majestic: Is this a waste? Far be it from the speech of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, to be a waste. So, what is the purpose, what is the wisdom of connecting this phrase to ? The wisdom is in the statement of Imam al-Shafi'i, where he used this verse as evidence for scholarly consensus (ijma'). That is: Whoever follows a path other than the path of the Companions, who are the infallible ones in our previous expression, and who are the group to whom the Messenger (peace be upon him) testified that they are the saved sect, and whoever follows their path— these are the ones whom it is not permissible for one who wants to be saved from the punishment of Allah on the Day of Resurrection to oppose their path. And therefore, He, the Exalted, said:
So, the Muslims today, in the end of time, must know two things:
First: Who are the Muslims mentioned in this verse? And what is the wisdom in Allah (Mighty and Majestic) intending by it the Companions, who are the righteous Salaf, and those who follow their path? The answer to this question, or this wisdom, has been explained previously. In summary, the Companions were recently having received the revelation fresh and new from the mouth of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Then they witnessed their Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who lived among them, applying the Quran, specifically the matters mentioned in the Quran, many of which were mentioned in his words (peace and blessings be upon him). Meanwhile, the later generations did not have this honor of hearing the Quran and the hadiths of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) directly from him. Nor did they have the honor of witnessing the practical application by the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) of the texts of the Book and the Sunnah. Among the wisdoms mentioned in the Sunnah is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): From this, the poet began and took his saying: "There is no one like the one who heard." So, those who did not witness the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) are not like his Companions, who witnessed and heard his speech directly and saw him applying it practically. Today, there is a modern term used by some Islamic preachers. It is a very beautiful word, but it is even better if we make it a reality. In their lectures, sermons, and guidance, they say that we must make Islam a reality that walks on the earth. It is beautiful speech, but if we do not understand Islam in light of the understanding of the righteous Salaf, as we say, we cannot achieve this beautiful poetic statement of making Islam a practical reality that walks on the earth. Those who were able to do so were the Companions of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) for the two reasons mentioned above: they heard the speech from him directly, and they retained it better than anyone else. Then, in matters that require practical clarification, they saw the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) clarifying that to them in practice. I give you a very clear example. There are verses in the Noble Quran that a Muslim cannot understand unless he knows the Sunnah that clarifies the Noble Quran, as He (Glorified and Exalted is He) said: For example, His saying (the Exalted): Now, bring us Sibawayhi of this era in the Arabic language to interpret this noble verse for us. Who is it? Linguistically, he cannot determine the thief. What is the hand? Sibawayhi of the last era cannot give the answer to these two questions: Who is the thief who deserves the cutting of the hand? And what is the hand that should be cut for this thief? Linguistically: if a thief steals an egg, he is a thief. And the hand, if it is cut here or here or anywhere, it is a hand. But the answer is when we remember the previous verse: The answer is in the clarification. So, there is clarification by the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) of the Quran. This clarification was practically applied by him (peace and blessings be upon him) specifically for this verse as an example, and for the other verses, of which there are many. Because whoever studies the principles of jurisprudence reads in the principles of jurisprudence that there is the general and the specific, the absolute and the restricted, and the abrogating and the abrogated. These are comprehensive terms under which fall dozens of texts, if not hundreds of texts. General texts were presented in the Sunnah. I do not want to lengthen this so that we can answer the remaining questions.