The Obligation to Return to the Generation of the Righteous Predecessors in Belief and Action, and the Censure of Sectarianism

The Shaykh : The point of all this, in a detailed answer, is that one should return to realizing that ideal society, that generation which one cannot be like. But the matter is as it was said:
"So imitate them, even if you are not like them, *** For imitating the noble ones is success."
And this is until Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, permits the Muslims, or at least some of the Muslims, to return to such a society. This is necessary. As for these millions of Muslims, all of them returning to this sound methodology—Allah is capable of all things, but it is far from what reality indicates. The intention is until the Muslims return to realizing that society, which will eliminate sectarian division and party blocs in a way that, as they say today, is automatic. For history repeats itself in the early Islam: there were no schools of jurisprudence, no Sufi orders, no parties, and nothing of the sort, until this society that is incumbent upon us to establish returns. I say that at that time, every Muslim must study one of the four schools of jurisprudence if he wants to seek knowledge, but with one condition: that he does not make his study of one of these schools a religion. For the religion, as we all know by the explicit text of the Noble Qur'an, is And I want to say here to the fanatics: there is no school that represents Islam in its entirety; rather, the schools in their totality represent Islam. Is that clear? If you are fanatical about a school, your fanaticism causes you to lose a large portion of Islam, because we cannot say that the other schools are devoid of Islam, just as we cannot say that the school I grew up with is all of Islam. I gave you an example earlier: I am Al-Albani, the son of Al-Albani, and the Albanians, like the Turks, do not know Islam except as the Hanafi school. But by the grace of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, I came to know that the Hanafi school does not represent Islam from A to Z. And all the schools are like this, let alone the schools that fall outside the circle of the Sunnah. So, seek knowledge through the path of one of the schools, but keep in mind that you must reach following the truth wherever it is. This is now made easy and facilitated by these printing presses that have become available to people, providing thousands upon thousands of books, both old and new, some of which can be relied upon and some of which cannot. Thus, the researcher, at that time, is able, by means of this facility that has emerged in our era, to become acquainted with many issues in the other schools that are the truth. And at that time, he does not become fanatical about his school, because it is not all Islam; rather, he remains fanatical about it only as long as he has not become clear to him that there is a contrary view. This is the answer to what you asked. And perhaps I have answered you.