It was asked about one who establishes a methodology that contradicts the methodology of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and calls people to follow it, while claiming to follow him (peace and blessings be upon him).

The questioner : My esteemed Shaykh, this group was the only option I had on my way to Pakistan to obtain a visa, so I had to travel with them. The best thing I found in them was the announcement made immediately after the Maghrib prayer and before the iqamah, where they recite the following text verbatim: "Our success and prosperity in this world and the Hereafter is by following the commands of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and the way of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)." This was the best I found in this group, but unfortunately, I found no substance to this announcement during my entire time with the group. So I told them, verbatim, that this is a truth sought to be used for falsehood, and Allah knows best. A fitnah nearly broke out at that time. When the time for the annual gathering came, and this gathering was attended by more than two and a half million people in the city of Rayyund, he saidThe Shaykh : that prayer in the microphone is invalid, and it is impossible to control two and a half million people in a single congregational prayer. The result was that the 'Asr prayer was repeated three times, and in the fourth attempt, we prayed in small groups: every ten as a group, every twenty as a group, and so on. And they say: "We want to be on the way of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)." So I said: "How many years has this call of yours been going on? If you have not been able to be like the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) until now, and you, the people of the call, have failed to do so, how can you straighten people to a call whose proponents have failed at it?" But Shaykh, what we are doing now, or what I believe, and Allah knows best, is that any person, whoever he may be, who wants to establish a methodology and order people to follow this methodology, is this not a rebellion against the heavenly methodology established by Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and approved by the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)? Or is it a dissatisfaction of this person who established the methodology and ordered people to follow it with the methodology of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)? This is the question.

The Shaykh : If I understood the question, I think it is strange, because it is as if it were said, "Is the light burning or not?" No, it is burning. So anyone who adopts a methodology other than what the Messenger (peace be upon him) brought is, as we said earlier, an innovator.

The questioner : Like when he says, "O Shaykh, this is the methodology of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)," establishing the methodology in some points, does he say?

The Shaykh : He says. Well, you answered yourself, may Allah bless you, when you said that they begin their speech with a very beautiful phrase but do not practice it. Is the criterion only the speech? Speech does not suffice for action. But what appears, and what made me find your question strange, is that you posed the question that he establishes a methodology other than the methodology of the Messenger. Well, does this need a question, Professor?! Is it hidden from a person that this methodology which contradicts the methodology of the Messenger falls under the saying of Allah the Exalted: So if this methodology, as a methodology, is contrary to the methodology of the Messenger (peace be upon him), then without a doubt it oscillates between being open sinfulness and being disbelief that takes its owner out of the religion. Or it is a methodology that conforms to the Sunnah, but it is a speech not accompanied by action, and in that case, it is said as the Lord of the Worlds said: So if it is a methodology contrary to the Sunnah, we cast it aside; if it is a methodology conforming to the Sunnah, we demand that its proponents act upon it and that it not be mere speech.