The Shaykh 'Aid 'Abassi's speech, and his words regarding the current state of the Muslim community, characterized by decline, humiliation, and degradation, and that many calls have risen for reform.

The student: And we seek His forgiveness and we take refuge in Allah from the evils of our souls and from the badness of our deeds. Whoever Allah guides, no one can mislead, and whoever He misleads, no one 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. O you who believe, fear Allah as He should be feared and do not die except as Muslims. O mankind, fear your Lord who created you from one soul and created from it its mate and dispersed from both of them many men and women. And fear Allah through whom you ask one another and the ties of kinship. Indeed, Allah is ever a Witness over you. O you who believe, fear Allah and say a just word. He will rectify for you your affairs and forgive you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has attained a great success. As for what follows, the best of speech is the Book of Allah, and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), 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. O my brothers, we live in this life and in this era in which dangers surround our community from every side. Our community is living in the depths of backwardness, decline, humiliation, degradation, division, and weakness. The reformers are divided; this one calls out to it saying, "This is the path," and another says, "Here is the way of salvation," and a third calls it to his own specific path, saying, "Come here." The calls differ and the voices rise, and everyone claims that he is the savior and that his path is the path of salvation. In this, the banner of the Salafi call is raised, calling people to it and trying to gather them upon it. It clarifies to them that there is no path except the path that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has prescribed, and there is no salvation except by following the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger and the guidance of the righteous predecessors. Every path other than the path of revelation is misguidance, and every banner that says other than the implementation of the Shari'ah is an illusion. This is our Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He) saying: , , . Everyone feels the truth of this verse. Crises follow one another and disasters succeed one another, all of which is a confirmation of His saying (the Exalted): . And there are many groups, all of which are characterized by calling to Islam, all of which clarify that Islam is the path of salvation. These calls and groups can become the controllers of public opinion and become the dominant and prevailing ones. But the problem does not end here. We believe that Islam is the path of salvation and that the Shari'ah of Allah is the solution. But this Shari'ah of Allah has many concepts in the minds of people, many concepts, each of which claims to represent Islam. There are the Sufis and their paths, there are those who make reason the judge and the law and the reference, there are those who follow a person or an imam, and there are those who understand this religion in a modern or ancient way. These different understandings must agree on which is correct. Here, in this difference and this dispute, we call for a common word. We say, O Muslims, since we have agreed that Islam is the solution, let us think about the matter. What is Islam? Why did Muhammad (peace be upon him) come to us? Does anyone doubt that the primary source of Islam is the Book of Allah? It is not possible for one to be a Muslim if he doubts that. Is not the Book of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) the one that commands us to follow the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and consider it a judgment and a proof like the Noble Book? And we read in this Book His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He): . So the Book and the Sunnah are the judgment and the reference. But the difference comes after that. How do we understand this Book and this Sunnah? What is the correct concept of them? Here we present the concise answer that the soul finds peace in and the mind finds peace in. This Book and this Sunnah came in the language of the Arabs, so it is not permissible to dispense with this language in understanding them, interpreting them, and explaining them. And after that, these texts from the Book and the Sunnah, if we want to understand an issue in them or a ruling, we must gather all the texts, and then in light of that we understand the Shari'ah ruling. And then this Sunnah, everyone knows that it contains what is authentic and what is weak, so there is no way but to judge by the authentic Sunnah only and turn away from the weak and what has not been authenticated. And after that, we seek the help of the explanations of the scholars and the sayings of the exegetes and the imams who are considered authoritative throughout the history of the Muslims. And from these foundations that define the correct concept of Islam, we return to the understanding of the righteous predecessors. And this is what distinguishes the Salafi call from others. It gives the righteous predecessors a weight, what weight? It makes the understanding of the righteous predecessors the reference in case of disagreement. If there is a disagreement in the understanding of a ruling or a text, who are the righteous predecessors? We do not exaggerate in their status. This Noble Qur'an is full of sweet praise for them to clarify that they are the best of people. Allah (Mighty and Majestic) praised them, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) is the one who praised them and clarified that they are the best of the generations of humanity, all of them, after the prophets (peace be upon them). These are the ones who were raised by the hands of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). They lived through the descent of revelation. They were the most eloquent of people, the most articulate, and the closest to the truth, to understanding, and to knowledge. These righteous predecessors, should not every Muslim give them the status that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and His Messenger (peace be upon him) gave them?