The Shaykh 'Ayd 'Abassi's speech, and an explanation of the distinctiveness of the Salafi call compared to other calls.

The student : This call is characterized by these features in which no other call shares with it. Among these is that this call represents the middle path. This is the quality of moderation, the moderation by which Allah (Mighty and Majestic) described this community: . In this community, sects and factions arose. The call of the Salaf is the middle among these sects and factions. Some of these sects and factions are extreme in one direction, while others are extreme in the other direction, with excess and deficiency, and extremism from every side. The Salafi call stands in the middle of all these calls. For example, when you look at the belief of the Salaf regarding the attributes of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), you will find that it is the middle opinion. There are those who liken Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to the created beings, who are known in history as the Mushabbihah or the Mujassimah. They say that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is like a human being, but huge and great. Some of them went so far as to say He is exactly like a human being, except that He does not have, I think, a beard or another attribute. These are extremists, without doubt, contradicting the Book and the Sunnah, which are full of texts of transcendence and distance from likening. Standing on the opposite side are the Mu'tazilah and the Mu'tatilah, who denied what Allah (Mighty and Majestic) affirmed for Himself and contradicted the texts of the Book and the Sunnah in that, interpreting them with various figurative interpretations that neither language nor the Shari'ah can bear. These Mu'tatilah said that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has no hand, no sight, and no foot. They denied everything that came in the Book and the Sunnah regarding these attributes. They said He did not rise above the Throne; the rising is merely the seizing of dominion, and so on. These are two opposite extremes: a group that likened Allah to His creation, and a group that denied Allah these attributes by which He described Himself. The methodology of the Salaf comes in the middle to say: We affirm what Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and His Messenger affirmed for Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and we deny that there is any likeness to the created beings. Allah (Mighty and Majestic) rose above the Throne as the noble speech stated, but His rising is not like our rising, nor like the rising of anything upon anything of the created beings, ever. Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has a hand and an eye, as mentioned in the noble Book, but His hand is not like our hands, and His eye is not like our eyes. He is described with these attributes in a manner befitting His Majesty (Glorified and Exalted is He) and befitting His greatness. They affirmed from one side and did not deny what Allah mentioned or what His Messenger mentioned, but at the same time, they were free from likeness. Their methodology aligns with the noble verse: . This is the feature of the middle call; you see it in one aspect, in all aspects of this call.